Called in again and got someone a bit more empowered, and who also confirmed that the 1099-R had been issued in error. They actually got a corrected 1099-R produced while I held on the phone for a couple of hours, then emailed it to me.
New 1099-R looks like prior 1099-R, with boxes 1 and 2a (previously $35,000 and $25,000, respectively) now blank, which I take to be functionally equivalent to $0. Problem still [?]: The Corrected box at top was not checked! How would/will IRS recognize that this mostly blank 1099-R supersedes the erroneous one? I wrote back to the email address and got this reply: "The IRS will be notified of the correction via disk so they will know it has been corrected by the company. There is no need for zero’s to be placed on your copy."
My inclination at this point is to write to the insurance company a letter summarizing these interactions, in case the 1099-R form transmissions to IRS do not occur as the representative states. Apropos, the representative also said on the phone that transmission to IRS of these forms does not occur until April, which makes it at least possible that the original, erroneous form will not be submitted.
Now back to TurboTax: I would still like to file electronically, if at all possible. Is my best strategy at this point just to say no 1099-Rs received? Or should I enter the information from one with blanks in all boxes by 7 (4D still entered) and 15 (state identified), plus the account number, my address, and their address and EIN.
