I discovered the solution to the problem after I used the assistance of a turbo tax expert online. It turns out every time you submit a 1099R (which I did for multiple retirement pension 1099Rs), TT asks the following question without any explanation: "What is your minimum distribution?" Instead, TT should include the language: "Only include an amount in the space provided if all or part of your minimum distribution for this year pertains to this 1099R." Since TT did not offer that explanation, I provided my total minimum distribution amount for every 1099R that I submitted. This led TT to incorrectly add together the many minimum distributions so that my calculated tax (plus penalty) was more than $6000, (when I'm actually getting a federal refund).
I understand that TT decided to ask the same questions for all 1099R submissions for the sake of efficiency, but the failure to provide an adequate explanation caused me to spend the extra money to talk to an expert (who was great by the way and needed to really do some sleuthing to figure out the problem). TT needs to fix this problem for 1099Rs! Efficiency at the expense of effectiveness.
