If I used money from a 401k to pay federal taxes does that reduce some of the penalty?

[ErinH · Accepted solution]

Paying past due federal tax is not an exception that allows you to escape the 10% early withdrawal penalty. Here are the exceptions: 

• A qualified disaster distribution. See Form 8915A or Form 8915B, as applicable, for more details.
• A qualified HSA funding distribution from an IRA (other than a SEP or SIMPLE IRA). See Qualified HSA funding distribution under Health Savings Accounts in Pub. 969 for details.
• A distribution from a traditional or SIMPLE IRA that was converted to a Roth IRA.
• An in-plan rollover to a designated Roth account.
• A distribution of certain excess IRA contributions (see the instructions for line 15, later, and the instructions for line 23, later). 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5329.pdf