Box 1099-R box 16 (State Distribution) is blank but TurboTax is forcing a value. Should I put 0 or value that is in Box 2A Taxable Amount?

[Critter-3]

If blocks 14 & 17 on the 1099-R  are blank or have zeros in them then leave boxes 14 thru 19 blank in the TT program ... don't even put zeros ... 

[SteamTrain]

If box 14 has a real value in it...several states require a value in box 16 that is greater than box 14....that is usually box 2a, if box 2a has a real non-zero value in it.

IF box 2a is empty, or "undetermined" then it would be the Federally-taxable amount of box 1  (which is usually the same as box 1, unless after-tax contributions were made to that retirement account)

[MonikaK1 · Accepted solution]

If there is an entry in Boxes 14 or 15 on your 1099-R, TurboTax will expect an amount in Box 16.

If Box 14 shows State Tax withheld, you can enter the amount from Box 2a.

If no state tax was withheld, you can delete the State ID number, so that Boxes 14, 15, and 16 are blank.

See this article for more information on Form 1099-R.

[wolfed1]

Thanks, that answered my question.  Interestingly enough, the same situation occurred in my 2023 return however TT2023 did not flag it as an error.  This year, it was flagged.

[tvinci1]

My 1099R’s have entry in box14 but box 16 is blank. TT requires an entry. 0 does not work.

[VolvoGirl]

If box 14 has an amount and box 16 is blank put in the amount from box 2a in box 16.  If 2a is blank then put in the amount from box 1.

[pamwilson1957]

This was still true in 2025. . .  our 1099-Rs were all automatically imported from Edward Jones so it seems that this is a real problem. I'm not sure if it's an error from Edward Jones or TurboTax but manually filling in the information that was located in Box 2a made a difference in our state refund and lowered what we owed for federal by a little.