If I took out my retirement fund due to financial hardship because my spouse was unemployed, do I still have to pay the extra tax?

[vavroskyc]

It's a military retirement fund and I took it out early. I had just gotten out of the military and my spouse was unemployed.

[MaryK4 · Accepted solution]

Unemployment alone does not qualify for an exception, however you may be able to use:

Emergency personal expense : one distribution per calendar year for personal or family emergency expenses, up to the lesser of $1,000 or vested account balance over $1,000 (made after 12/31/2023)

Unemployed health insurance: distributions equal to the amount paid for family health insurance by an individual who was unemployed for 12 weeks and received unemployment compensation in the year of the distribution or the subsequent year