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

[AkinaLO]

Please contact TurboTax support for assistance.

What is the TurboTax phone number?

[gobttax]

I did the community recomended penny workaround on my 1099-R and on the W2 and it worked. My returns have been accepted. Since dozens and dozens have reported the same issue and called support without a resolution, seems like me calling also is just a waste of your time and mine. Look forward to TurboTax fixing their problem. Thank you

[plaz]

To ed­_b. – The last sentence of my post answers this – There is a bug in TT software and you need to get around that bug to E-file. You are NOT trying to submit an erroneous tax document to the IRS. Remember, the IRS gets a copy of the 1099R directly from the payer. You do not submit it with your filing, nor does TT.

For example, for an IRA distribution, the “1099R” that TT generates when you download the info from the payer (or enter manually) is an internal document to TT to help prepare your taxes and generate the dollar value that goes on line 4b of your 1040. It is easy to verify this.

If I compare the 1099Rs I get from my payer with the related “1099Rs” generated in TT, they are not identical. While key information – amount of distribution, taxes withheld, payer and payee tax ID – is identical, the TT “1099R” does not include other text information that clearly differentiates my two 1099Rs from the payer that coincidentally have identical distribution and tax numbers.

My IRA distribution included 1099R’s for each of more than a dozen individual funds within my IRA. If I add those, including the cents column, I get: $XX,XX6.99. If, before adding them, I first round them to whole dollar amounts, I get: $XX,XX8. So, if I now round the former I get: $XX,XX7. If I look at line 4b on the 1040 generated by TT it is: $XX,XX8. So TT must be rounding each 1099R before adding them together. IRS permits you to do either, so reporting either $XX,XX8., or $XX,XX7., on line 4b of form1040 would be acceptable to IRS. Also, since the IRS gets the 1099R directly from the payer they would also have the information that distinguishes two 1099Rs with coincidentally identical distribution and tax values.

This also explains why the $.01 and similar small adjustment solutions work to get your E-file accepted and does not put you at risk with the IRS: it provides a numerical difference that the TT filter can use to differentiate two apparently identical 1099Rs, but does not alter what appears on line 4b in a material manner.

[patZZZ]

I can't believe they recommended that!  Just add the penny like everyone else is doing.  We had the same thing as you ... two 1099s from same broker both with same amount.  This has to be a TT bug and it needs to be fixed!!

[CindyKJA]

This is a new issue... I had the same situation (2 1099Rs from same broker, different SSNs, same amount) last year and electronically filed, without incident. 

I am reluctant to add the penny so am just sucking it up and paper filling this year (for the first time in as long as I can remember).

Since there is a document ID on the 1099-R (like on a W2), if that went into Turbo Tax, they could tell them apart. Seems like it is a TTax issue in the way the data is being organized and transmitted to the IRS.

[patZZZ]

I added the penny.  Reluctant to send SSNs and 1099s with account numbers through the US Mail.

[CindyKJA]

Thanks for your comment and it made me reconsider. I ended up adding the penny and we'll see if it goes through. I haven't mailed a return in so many years that I did not even think of all that identity info circling through the postal service.

[TV20]

There are two 1099-Rs with the same distribution amount.  They are for two different social security numbers - one for myself, one for my spouse.  The Payer is Allianz.  Is this the problem they are referring to?  These are two separate 1099s, not duplicates.

[stuart ng]

Most people have come to the conclusion that this is a bug with TurboTax that crops up on different tax years. 2020 being one of them.  It's also seems to be the consensus that TurboTax has not acknowledge this issue and is most likely not going to fix it. The 1 cent hack is to work around TurboTax issue since the underlying tax form does not change.  You can check like I did by comparing the forms generated.  No one can advise you whether this is something you want to do.   You can always follow the TurboTax suggestion of filing the tax by mail.  This may cause other issues.  NYS no longer wants a mailed tax form if its generated by tax software.  Everyone who commented on using the 1 cent hack has reported that it has been successful transmitted and/or accepted by the tax authority.

[ScottsdaleDesertDweller]

Yes.  My problem was similar to that.

[CindyKJA]

That was our issue... My spouse and I had equal distributions (same numbers on 1099-R with different SSNs) from the same broker. The .01 hack worked and returns submitted electronically, without error.

[Saynt614]

I had the same error this morning.  I'd never had a return rejected before.  My heart sank. I was somewhat relieved to find out so many people had the same issue.  I just added a penny to my taxable distribution and resubmitted.  Fingers Crossed!

[arunkotte]

Same issue, rejected due to Spouse and my 1099R being the same amount. i guess penny method is the only workaround for now.  

[NASABob]

I think I have the answer.  I just got off the phone with Turbo Tax and Tricia seemed to know the answer and it makes total sense.  She had me remove one of the 1099-R and go to the end and do smart check and take it to the point that I was ready to hit transmit and then had me go back to Income and add the 1099-R back in and them go to smart check and actually transit.  I have not received a reject yet and based on the other two tries I would gotten a reject by now.   I suspect they have fixed the problem at their end and what we are doing is allowing their program to make the correction.  I just checked again.  No rejection.

[RCFitzhugh76]

This year with with no withdrawal from two different retirement plans I left the basic information in Turbotax with zero amounts and my e-file was rejected for duplicate 1099-R forms.  I deleted both from my Turbotax and refiled successfully.