RMDS calculating incorrectly

[0350]

My RMDs are coming out at an annuity well in excess of required amounts.  I post them on 1099 R.  When I answer the question for RMD distribution it doubles the amount I have to pay.  If I show zero it calculates a penalty.  Do I have to file manually to get around this?

[vsoloway]

There seems to be a problem if you have more than one Traditional or Rollover IRA account. 

It looks to me like Turbotax computes a RMD for each Traditional or Rollover IRA account you have and assesses a penalty if you don't take the computed RMD from any one account.  This is incorrect; your RMD should be computed from the total value of all your Traditional/Rollover IRA accounts. 

I ran into this problem --I have two Trad IRA accounts and took a disproportionate part of my RMD from one.  I had taken the correct RMD based on the total value of the two accounts, but Turbtax assessed me a $600+ penalty.  I fixed it by going into the forms view (which is available in Turbotax Deluxe) and manually changing the two RMDs so that the RMD for each account was equal to what I took out of that account.  I lost a lot of hair figuring this out.

[RogerD1]

TurboTax does not have a means of calculating RMD amounts for your Traditional retirement accounts.  If you know you have satisfied your RMD over multiple accounts, the best practice is to enter the amount of the distribution (Box 1 of the 1099-R) as the RMD due by Dec. 31 on the screen "Let's get more information about your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)".  Then on the next screen, check "The entire distribution applied to the December 31, 20xx RMD" for each 1099-R you enter.

The RMD is figured from the total aggregated value of all your traditional retirement accounts, but you can pull all your RMD from just once account and then report it as suggested above.

If you happen to know that you have not completely pulled all your RMD out by the end of the year, you can still make a corrective distribution to satisfy the RMD after the end of the year and report this on your taxes prior to filing them.  This can reduce the 25% penalty for amount not withdrawn by the end of the year down to 10%, or possible total elimination of the penalty as well.

[vsoloway]

That sounds like as good a workaround as the one I used, where I went into the forms view and changed numbers for my two accounts.  But it shouldn't take hours of scratching my head to figure out why TurboTax is saying I owe a penalty for not taking my entire RMD when I know I did take it.  

I don't see why TurboTax can't compute the RMD I owe -- It knows my birthday and how much I had in my IRAs at the end of last year. (That's in the 1099Rs)

But if there is a reason it can't calculate my RMD, then it should just say so and ask, "What is your RMD?" with an explanation that the RMD is based on your total Trad and Rollover IRA assets and the IRS's life expectancy tables.  

I emphasized the word "total" above because I think the source of the confusion here is that TurboTax talks about a RMD for each Trad/Rollover IRA account, when, in reality, there is only one RMD for all your accounts.  (Of course, if you are filing jointly, you and your spouse each have your own RMD.)