dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

You mention the pro-rata rule.  My guess is that your wife made $7,000 nondeductible traditional IRA contribution for 2025, so the $1,030.61 distribution became subject to the pro-rata rule.  In that case the result would be a taxable amount of $1,030.61 * 1,030.61 / ($7,000 + $1,030.61) = $132.  The penalty is therefore 10% of $132 or $13.  That agrees with TurboTax's result.

 

I don't understand why your wife would not have just converted the $1,030.61 to Roth.  That would have avoided the early-distribution penalty entirely and you would have $1,030.61 more in the Roth IRA for the same amount of taxable income.