CSA 1099R Initial Entries Do Not Match Entries Transferred To Form 1099-R

[tville74]

When I make my initial annuity entries in TT from my CSA 1099R under "Federal Taxes/Wages & Income", and then go to the top menu under "View/Forms/ Form 1099R", some of the amounts are in the wrong boxes when looking at boxes 1 - 9b. If I make the correct changes on this form and then go back to check my entries under "Federal Taxes/Wages & Income", box 5 will now have the same amount that box 9b contains (which is definitely not the correct amount). If I change it back correctly here and then check Form 1099R again, the amounts on the form change. This is a never ending cycle; the software is not transposing the figures to the form correctly. 

Also, since my CSA 1099R has "Unknown" in box 2a, there is not a choice for this in my initial annuity entry; however, on the form there is a box for "Unknown" to be checked. Can this "Unknown" selection for 2a be added to the initial entries when inputing the annuity amounts in TT?

[BillM223]

First, did you auto-import the CSA-1099-R? If you did, delete the CSA-1099-R and re-enter it by hand. 

Second, did you choose the button for CSA-1099-R when you started (sorry, I have to ask)?

Third,  when you said "If I make the correct changes on this form and then go back to check my entries under "Federal Taxes/Wages & Income", box 5 will now have the same amount that box 9b contains (which is definitely not the correct amount)." did you mean that you changed some of the boxes, you then went back to the Step-by-Step interview and saw that some of the entries had changed? But if you immediately jumped back into Forms mode without changing anything in the Step-by-step interview, are the numbers in Forms mode still correctly? If so, then I would not worry about it; it may be just a presentation error - as long as Forms mode is correct, you should be OK.

Last, for whatever reason, the OPM puts in UNKNOWN in box 2a, and for another whatever reason, TurboTax is not expecting it. Just blank out Box 2a, which is what the UNKNOWN really is. 

[tville74]

Hello Bill, I did not import any amounts; all entries were manually entered.

I chose the correct selection for my entries in the "Step-by-Step" mode which was CSA-1099-R.

When I change and make the correct entries in the "Forms" section and then go back to the "Step-by-Step" section, Box 5 in this "Step-by-Step" section will be blank and Box 9b will have the amount that Box 5 should contain; if I then jump back to the "Forms" section, the correct entries are still there. I have done this numerous times (both entering the correct amounts in the "Step-by-Step mode and then in the "Forms" section) always with the same result; each time I save my return to make sure the changes take.

I just happened to look at the "Forms" section and caught the discrepancy. If I hadn't, my Form 1099-R would have been incorrect. TT needs to address this software flaw as I'm sure there are tens of thousands of Civil Service employees making the same entries and not checking their Form 1099-R. Thanks!

[BillM223]

I see that the software does what you say it does, however, I am not sure that this is a problem.

The IRS instructions for line 9b state: "You are not required to enter the total employee contributions or designated Roth contributions in box 9b. However, because this information may be helpful to the recipient, you may choose to report them." As a test, I put in ridiculous numbers like $50,000,000 on a $20,000 pension, and nothing changed on the tax return. My thought is that TurboTax does not use this number in its calculations. The publisher of the 109-R is not even required to put any value in box 9b at all.

For box 5, however, this is the amount of cost (basis) recovered in the current year of pension payments; therefore, the amount in box 5 is related (using the Simplified Method) to the amount in box 2a. The IRS Instructions say that the amount in box 5 can also be "the employee's contributions, designated Roth contributions, or insurance premiums that the employee may recover tax free this year". Again, I do not think that the number in box 5 is used anywhere in the tax return. Try entering ridiculous numbers to see if your tax due or refund changes.

There may be a relationship in the numbers in box 5 and box 9b - the box 5 amount is the amount of basis recovered in the current year, which you would think would get added over to time the amount in box 9b (total contributions). This could explain why the box 5 amount was moved to box 9b; however, it's not a great explanation because if there is already a number in box 9b, it doesn't get added to the box 5 amount, rather, the box 5 amount just overwrites it.

If you find something different, please let me know.

I will report this up the line, but as I said, I don't think this is an error, even if odd. Thanks for pointing it out.

@tville74

[wingman56]

I am confused.  I am CSRS.  When entering a CSA 1099-R why does "Show Relevant Forms" display a regular 1099-R rather than the correct form?  Is this why my employee contributions from Block 9b. magically jumped to Block 5 and the entry from Block 5 jumped to the adjacent box labeled (does not apply)?.  This does NOT look correct.

I went into the form and moved them back, we'll see if they stay put upon review.