Retirement tax questions

@pugsweb 

was this a qualified retirement account, such as an IRA, or was it your regular investment account?

 

if it was a qualified retirement account and the money was withdrawn, it should be reported on a 1099R form and there is a 60 day time limit to return the money without paying tax on it.

 

if it was a regular investment account, that holds stocks, bonds, or other instruments, then whenever you withdraw cash, that means you are selling investments, cashing them out and taking the money. That is taxable to you at that instant. (although it should generally be reported on a 1099B, 1099-DIV, or 1099-INT.)   Then if you “return” the money, that simply means you’re investing money back in the account and buying new securities or investments.    You pay tax on the money you withdrew, and then the new investments that you purchased have an updated cost basis, which will result in less income tax owed the next time you cash out your account. 

it’s really not clear what you did or why you got a 1099 MISC instead of a 1099B.  But if you took them if you sold securities in order to take money out of a regular investment account, that is taxable income to you at that moment, even if you later reinvested the money in your broker account.