"I will need to check with my broker tomorrow to be sure about the dividend choice but I know I had no choice on the capital gains distribution reported on the 1099-D."
You're going to have to provide a fund name here. Typically the decision to reinvest ANY fund distribution into new shares of stock is entirely in you hands and, accordingly, taxable. Maybe there's an exception to that generalization, though I'm not aware of any. But by providing the funds name at least the issue could be researched.
As it stands right now I can't see how you can justify deferring gains.
