Why is money I pulled out of a college savings plan for my grandson to reconfigure for additional grandkids considered by Turbo as all income rather just the earnings?

[MinhT1]

TurboTax only taxes the earnings entered in box 2 of your form 1099-Q when the distributions are not used for education.

Please revisit your entry of your form 1099-Q to make sure that earnings have been properly entered.

[ljburdick]

But why then does it show up, the distribution, not earnings, as income??

My distribution was 4825, earnings 675, basis 4150.  When I enter it all and go back to Wages and Income,  4825 shows up under misc income.  Maddening.

[LindaB1993]

It seems that the corresponding qualifying educational expenses for 2019 may not be reflected in TurboTax completely.  These should offset the distribution.  Also, the Form 1099-Q should be linked to the "student" receiving the the benefit.

The account owner (such as a parent) will receive a copy of the 1099-Q instead if the distributions from a 529 plan aren’t made directly to the beneficiary or to an educational institution for the benefit of the beneficiary. (This will eliminate this reporting requirement)

When the beneficiary enrolls in school and starts taking distributions to pay school expenses, he will begin receiving a Form 1099-Q each year. And as long as the distributions are used to pay only qualified education expenses, the beneficiary doesn’t pay income tax on the distributions.