My spouse had to leave employment from July to November 2022. We were forced to withdraw her pension. Is there a hardship rule we can consider instead of owing?

[leeloo]

Hardship distributions are ones that are used to get money from the pension. Once you have taken it out, you could possibly apply an exception. 

See this link below to see the possible exceptions to an early distribution from a pension.  You will need to pay tax on the distribution itself, unless you rolled it over within 60 days. 

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-tax-on-early-distri...

[ErnieS0]

It depends. When you say “withdraw her pension,” I’m assuming you mean she withdrew money from a 401(k) or another qualified plan.

The list of penalty exceptions for a 401(k) are much smaller than for an IRA. The main one for your situation would be if you paid medical expenses above 7.5% of your income.

For the full list see: Retirement Topics - Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions.