OK. I posted earlier and forced TT to enter 4a &4b as I thought it should be (I unchecked the IRA/SEP box making TT see my IRA as a 401k). I got my refund correctly. HOWEVER, I went back and read the 1040 instructions. It does say to enter nothing on 4a if the entire distribution is taxable. So 4b can be larger than 4a. HOWEVER, HOWEVER... I made a test input of an IRA that was not fully taxable and TT entered the gross into line 4b, WRONG. FYI, I tested TaxACT and they did 4a and 4b as most here interpret it (4a is gross, 4b is taxable) which I now think is wrong per the IRS instructions. Of course if 4b is correct, the IRS is happy, except for this NJ(?) post. What a mess.
