Enter value of your 12/31/2022 IRA and Refund GOES DOWN!

[hlthompso]

 I'm significantly over withheld and have taken my IRA RMD.   So, Turbotax shows a nice refund as I enter the data.  But, when I answer & enter my "12/31/2022 year-end IRA balance" (with very tiny "non deductible" carryover from prior years), the refund displayed suddenly goes DOWN.  What does a yearend 2022, IRA balance carryover, have to do with 2022 refund?  Glitch in program?  Or some logical/obvious data-entry error?

[dmertz]

This is correct behavior.  Until you enter the year-end value of your traditional IRAs, TurboTax is unable to calculate the correct nontaxable amount of your traditional IRA distributions and calculates an incorrectly high nontaxable amount on Form 8606 by assuming that the year-end value is zero.  Once you provide TurboTax with the correct information, TurboTax recalculates the nontaxable portion to the correct lower amount, properly increasing the taxable amount.