My wife received a 1099-r form, but she hasn't done anything with her retirement. Why did she get this? She got a new job in 2016. Is that why her old job sent this?

[ChrisD1]

Should she have received this form? Again, she hasn't withdrawn or moved any retirement funds, but she did get a new job and the form was sent from her previous employer.

[DawnC0 · Accepted solution]

There are many possible reasons why she would have received a 1099-R.  Not only distributions, but conversions, rollovers, and recharacterizations will also cause a 1099-R to be generated.  It most likely came from her previous employer's retirement fund.  You should include this form when completing your federal return.

There is a code listed in box 7 that determines whether or not the amounts on the 1099-R are taxable to you.  You should enter the same Box 7 distribution code(s) as you see on your 1099-R, unless you know that the code(s) are incorrect, in which case you should try to obtain a corrected 1099-R from the payer.

A list and explanation of distribution codes starts on page 14 of the following IRS publication: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf