After a covid 19 401k distribution, are any 401k contributions i made after the distribution considered a repayment?

[SweetieJean]

No.  A repayment is a specific event.

[fanfare]

a repayment has to be recorded by the custodian as such.

meanwhile your 401k payroll contributions continue if you are employed.

you have three years to pay back some or all and get a refund, including for year 2020 (if done by May 17, or Oct 15 with an extension).

talk to your custodian about  how to do it.

[fanfare]

I believe you can also pay back into an IRA.

Talk to your prospective new custodian about how to do that and have it recorded properly.

[macuser_22]

A repayment can only go into the account that the distribution came from.

New *contributions* are not repayments of the money that was distributed.

[fanfare]

"A repayment can only go into the account that the distribution came from."

Not according to the IRS instructions for COVID distributions.

[macuser_22]

---

@fanfare wrote:

"A repayment can only go into the account that the distribution came from."

Not according to the IRS instructions for COVID distributions.

---

What instruction is that?

And 401(k) contributions can only come a pay deduction on a W-2 box 12 and is NOT a "repayment".

[fanfare]

I could say, where does it say what you say ?

It's too late at night to go searching IRS documents.

[macuser_22]

deleted

[fanfare]

It has nothing to do with payroll contributions.

Instructions for Form 8915-E

Repayment of a Qualified 2020
Disaster Distribution
Do not use this form to report
repayments of qualified 2016, 2017,
2018, or 2019 disaster distributions.
Instead see Form 8915-A, 8915-B, 8915-C,
or 8915-D, respectively, and their instructions.
If you choose, you can generally repay any portion

of a qualified 2020 disaster distribution that is eligible

for tax-free rollover treatment to an eligible retirement plan [emphasis added].

 Also, you can repay a qualified 2020 disaster
distribution made on account of hardship
from a retirement plan. However, see
Exceptions, later, for qualified 2020 disaster
distributions you can’t repay.
Your repayment can't be made any earlier
than the day after the date you received the
qualified 2020 disaster distribution. You have
3 years from the day after the date you
received the distribution to make a
repayment. The amount of your repayment
cannot be more than the amount of the
original distribution. Amounts that are repaid
are treated as a trustee-to-trustee transfer
and are not included in income. Also, for
purposes of the one-rollover-per-year
limitation for IRAs, a repayment to an IRA is
not considered a rollover.

[dmertz]

Repayment of a Coronavirus-Related Distribution from a 401(k) can indeed be repaid to an IRA instead of back to the 401(k).  Repayment can be made to any type of account eligible to receive a nontaxable rollover from the distributing account.

[macuser_22]

Correct, But that is not a contribution. . Which is what the question asked.

The question asked if 401(k)  contributions counted a repayments - it had noting to do with an IRA.

[fanfare]

Vindicated by @dmertz  Take that, macuser_22  !

Come on now, @macuser_22 

be honest.

we were conversing about your statement above

"A repayment can only go into the account that the distribution came from."

[SweetieJean]

If you regularly have money deducted from your paycheck to go into an employer-sponsored retirement account, that won’t count toward your repayment. You’ll either need to pause your regular contributions until you catch up with your rollover contribution (which may mean you miss out on an employer match) or make your regular contributions plus your rollover contribution.

How to Repay Your Coronavirus Retirement Distribution (lifehacker.com)

[macuser_22]

"account" was the wrong choice of words, the point was a contribution is not a repayment.