I was laid off June 2023 and had to take money from my 401k in 2024 to survive. An Intuit help article says this qualifies as a Qualified Disaster. Can anyone confirm?

[musikaddict]

I just downloaded my 1099-R and am at the stage in Turbotax prep where I need to figure out if I can check the Qualified Disaster checkbox or not in the 401k section.

[Vanessa A]

No, it does not qualify as a disaster.  A disaster is something like a major flood or the wildfires.  Losing your job allows you to take a withdraw and allow the exemption if you are over 55.  

There is a $1,000 emergency personal expense allowance which is allowed to be taken one time per year.  This start December 1, 2024.  You will be able to enter that in a screen several screens after it asks about the disaster distribution. 

Exemptions to tax on early distributions