Thank you so much you are a true champ. This is my situation and I believe this is the solution for me. If you by chance see this
@macuser_22 If you by chance see this, I wanted to clarify after going through the replies, yes I agree it does NOT make sense to attempt to withdraw if you are under age 59 1/2 because then you would be taxed 10% for the early withdrawal penalty. In that case, it makes sense to simply do the 1040, file the excess income as miscellaneous income, and pay the tax as you described in the above or as T1Minh described.
However, I was also reading about another 6% tax penalty where every year if your plan has exceeded the contribution limit, you will get taxed 6%. I've been reading a lot of mixed things about whether this applies to 401(k)s but from what I understand, this penalty only applies to IRAs. Is that right? Or do I still need to file to remove the contribution to avoid this 6% penalty? It's unclear to me if someone was to file the 1040 and mark it as miscellaneous income, if they still need to try and pull out the excess from my 401(k) to avoid other penalties.
