HOWEVER - despite that the 1099R reads "UNKNOWN" in block 2a, TurboTax won't allow that entry. Instead, it won't allow letters and, if you leave it blank, it computes that NONE of block 1 is taxable! I got to this point on my first pass. I'm not sure why at some point I selected that the amount in block 1 was the taxable amount but it might be because of the result of my first pass.
Turbotax wasn't helping to let me know anything here and I might have let them tax the entire block 1 amount if I wasn't already aware that it wasn't fully taxable. The software should let the user enter what the block reads and, if it reads "UNKNOWN" the software should be programmed to guide the user to compute the taxable amount. To me this an issue and a Turbotax failure. How are you "guaranteeing" the max refund when you let the user tax their entire payout here because you won't let the user enter what block 2a commonly reads?
