Why is tax liability $1500 higher on a cashed out IRA belonging to husband than if it belonged to me?

[tnnnn]

Husband cashed out an IRA and we owe taxes. I mistakenly ticked my name as the owner, and when I went to correct it and tick my husband’s name the tax liability increased $1500! We are married filing jointly. Why would the tax liability increase depending on who’s account it was if we are married filing jointly?

[Ashby]

Is one of you over 59-1/2 and the other one not?

[tnnnn]

No, we are both well under 59-1/2

[fanfare]

sometimes the Refund Meter gets a bit behind.
Did you cash out $15,000 ??

[tnnnn]

No - it was more than that. We had 22% taxes on the amount withheld at the time of withdrawal.

[Zbucklyo]

To be honest, we could sit here all day long and speculate.  Since you have the download version, go into Forms mode and look at the tax return to see what changes when you switch the distribution from one spouse to the other.

[tnnnn]

Ok - so I did that just now. When it is entered under me, the taxable amount (1040 line 4b) is $4387 less than line 4a (the actual amount that was cashed out). When entered under my husband, there is nothing entered on line 4a, and the full amount of the cash out is listed on line 4b. So - our total taxable income is reduced $4387 when entered as my cash out versus my husband's.

[Texas Roger]

You must answer all the follow up questions after entering the 1099-R. If you are just entering the 1099-R without answering the follow up questions, you may get a different result than when you answer the followup questions.

[Zbucklyo]

Forget line 4a (since the IRS changed tax forms this year, the reporting in line 4a vs. 4b has gotten very confusing), the only thing that matters is 4b.

And just to make sure, all you are doing is switching the 1099r from one spouse to another, and not changing anything else about the 1099r?

[Zbucklyo]

To @Texas Roger point, go through the full question cycle if the distribution is reported under each spouse, making sure you answer all questions identically.

[tnnnn]

I do answer all of the questions after changing between me and my husband (it asks if we used the money for various things, disaster relief etc, there's like 10 questions each). And yes - the only thing that is switched is selecting the radio button with either my name or my husband's name, no other info about the 1099r is changed, and Line 4b is lower when my name is selected.

[Texas Roger]

There is no reason for the taxable amount to be different. Try contacting TurboTax directly to see if their support group can help find the issue: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899263-what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number">https://ttlc.intuit.com...>

[SweetieJean]

Be sure to check your birthdates in My Info.

[Zbucklyo]

If you still have problems after contacting support, let us know, and we will have some one reach out to you so you can provide a diagnostic file.

[tnnnn]

Our bdays are correct, thanks for that suggestion though because I can see how that might affect it if entered incorrectly.

I’m at work right now but will contact support this evening. Thanks.