E-File was rejected because of "duplicate" 1099-R forms.

[Sooz]

The messages I got had no reason code listed (there may have been one, if so Turbo Tax filtered it from what I saw).  The messages also said that the IRS had rejected the file, not that TT’s transmission didn’t work. That tells me it was on IRS side, but I could be wrong. We don’t get to see all the behind-the-scenes details on our end.

the IRS does check the 1099-R amounts as submitted by the brokers against your reported income. Again, a one penny difference will probably not raise any eyebrows, but we ARE dealing with the IRS so you just never know:

[Henry K]

I got a different answer from Customer Service claiming it was a cache or windows version problem.   It is obviously a logic issue with either TurboTax or IRS.      Check other message boards for H &R Block and you probably wont find any issue.

[Sooz]

Not sure I buy that answer from customer service. A browser cache error could be an issue when you’re trying to create the 1099-R online. If it were, we’d get a message at the time we saved our own data. This isn’t the case. Our errors result from the data file created and transmitted to the IRS. 

I really think the problem is on the IRS side. They are the “owners” of the data coming to them, and responsible for defining the requirements that vendors such as TurboTax and H&R Block incorporate into their feed.

 I do however think that TT could add more edits when we create/update these forms, so that any potential errors are caught sooner.  “An ounce of prevention....”

[Fred_ri]

I have to say I love the internet because you can find posts like these that answers a tricky question about the exact problem I'm having with our return with TT. Like @Sooz who asked the original question I worked in SW but for a company called BBN that did a lot of the internet development "back in the day".  And I had to work on debugging many problems like this. Reading all the answers and searching for other posts on this problem I notice that even though there are some like this one:

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=344645&p=5916531

They all are tied to filing through TT.  Also, all these problems started being reported in the past few days. I found nothing older than that. So I think some update put online very recently at Intuit broke something in Turbotax efile and that's what needs to get fixed.

I went with the "add $.01 to the line 1 distribution amount". But I do wish Intuit would get their act together and get this fixed! This is one of the most annoying bugs I have seen from them in 20+ years of using their program. Then again, stupid bugs like this are par for the course I think these days as software continues to get more and more complex and the push to get SW to market accelerates.

Thanks to all you great folks who helped chase this down!!

[Sooz]

@Fred_ri , this conversation started recently because I’m the one who posed the original question, and I didn’t attempt to file until this week. 

admittedly I get frustrated with things like this, and even more so over not being able to speak to a dang human...such is life in the internet & cloud age. I am very old school and really miss not having access to the software and database to debug things like this. And don’t get me started on the lack of testing on someone’s part!!!!! Grrrr.

[adamkwitkop]

I'm also having this issue - if it is a TT issue, are there any efforts from TT to correct the bug?  I'm hesitant to add in an additional $.01 in the rare event of an audit, and the mail in option is not ideal.

[macuser_22]

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@adamkwitkop wrote:

I'm also having this issue - if it is a TT issue, are there any efforts from TT to correct the bug?  I'm hesitant to add in an additional $.01 in the rare event of an audit, and the mail in option is not ideal.

---

There is zero chance of an audit since the "cents" are transmitted to the IRS as long as it does not add or subtract a dollar because of rounding.  

[fillingformfun]

This happened to me too, the rejection code was:

Reject Code Duplicate1099R

I had two identical amounts from the same payer to different payees. My guess is that the check is broken and they aren't checking payees in their duplicate detection, and that it is on the IRS side according to TT. The rejection only showed up a day or so after I filed. I'm adding a penny like others to see if it will go through.

[Lacrosse]

I too was rejected for duplicate 1099-R's (husband/wife same). After calling Intuit I changed one of them by adding 1 penny (which did not affect the rounded up dollar amount) and my return was then accepted.

[HDRKC07]

I also have been dealing with this for several days.  Every year prior to this year I have had no issues.  I have two 1099-R's from the same Payor to the same Payee with exactly the same amounts distributed and taxes withheld. I will add the penny and hopefully like others my return will be accepted.  I'll continue to monitor this thread for any updates.  Thanks

[HDRKC07]

Just received notification that my eFiled return has been accepted.  The penny issue worked for me.

[kagiyama]

I too have had the exact same problem.  E-file return rejected with no error code, but when logging back into TT, it says the problem is duplicate 1009-Rs (same text that @TomKiel posted).  I have a similar situation to most.  Eight 1099-Rs, from three different payers, but the closest thing to "duplicate" are identical distribution amounts for me and my wife from the same payer.  In previous years this has never been an issue.  I originally E-filed this past Sunday night, and received the rejection Monday morning, so a slightly earlier, but similar timeframe to @Sooz original post.

Thinking there was some sort of subtle data corruption, I deleted the 1099-Rs with identical amounts, but different recipients, and resubmitted on Tuesday morning.  Same rejection message less than 90 minutes later.  Thinking maybe it had to do with the other 1099Rs from other payers, or the sequence in which I entered, I deleted and manually re-entered (instead of importing) all 1009-Rs Wednesday afternoon.  I was hopeful when I did not get an immediate rejection, but alas, early Thursday morning the same rejection.

I guess I'll try the one penny work around.  I vaguely recall some other situation from several years ago where I kept getting Turbo Tax errors (not IRS rejections) that was solved by a $0.01 adjustment.  Never got a "special" envelope from the IRS on that one.  However, I have had a couple situations over a couple decades where forgetting to insert a zero in a blank field resulted in a "special" envelope even though there was no tax liability involved.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and suggestions.

[madas]

same problem here, rejected three times, every time I delete and re-enter (manually, import, even changed the payer name slightly). All same result. I'll try the $0.01 since it seems to work for others. not sure it TT or IRS issue though, it is hard to tell.  but it should have been fixed by now, its been 4 days.

[kagiyama]

Sure enough, the "one penny" work around" took care of things.  Return was accepted in less than 30 minutes. 

I'm starting to think this is more of a TurboTax issue.  I found a thread I used in 2019  https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/retirement/discussion/i-have-the-same-issue-turbotax-has-a-bug-the... where TurboTax kept giving an "out of balance" error and the I had to go into Forms mode and do a similar one penny trick.

Glad to be done with this and thanks again for everyone sharing.

[ngozman]

I was just wondering how IRS can even tell that there are duplicate 1099-R.

It is perfectly fine for the person to have two IRA accounts with the same broker and withdraw the same amount from both. 1099-R will be identical but not duplicates because accounts are different. But account number is not part of 1099-R. 

Besides, before we send our returns brokers already sent all 1099-R to IRS and no rejects. 

Very strange...