Retained earnings vs accumulated earnings

[new_user2020]

Hi I am currently filling out the form 5452 worksheet and they have two columns: "Retained Earnings Shown in Books" and "Accumulated Earnings and Profits Credit Balance". I tried googling retained vs accumulated E&P, but most articles I could find mention they are basically synonymous. 

Retained earnings: "is the amount of net income left over for the business after it has paid out dividends to its shareholders"

Accumulated E&P: " are a company's net profits after paying dividends to the stockholders, serving as a measure of the economic ability of a corporation to pay such cash distributions"

[taxes4sumting]

don't know if this helps but the E&P amount is used to determine if distributions are taxable or not.....if E&P is less than a distribution, then it's not taxable to the extent it's less.