Hi. I discovered the answer! I have to modify the Fed 1099-r (I was trying to modify the State's 1099-R , which was a copy and hence read-only).
Bottom Line: your answer was correct - put Distribution value from Box 1 into Box 14 on the Fed 1099-R, and the it will flow thru to the NewYork state form 1099-R in TurboTax. I did that and TT did not complain (plus I verified it in the generated form) .
Thanks so much for the help!
