My wife turned 70 1/2 in 2017. She deferred her 2017 RMDs until 2018 before April 1st. This year, we included her RMDs for both years in our reported income, entered the basis of nondeductible contributions for her IRA accounts, and entered the yearend IRA balances where asked for. When entering the yearend balances, the calculator reduced the potential refund as discussed in the original question. Why. What happens in that calculation and why would yearend balances affect the refund if full RMDs were taken during the year?
