What is IRS distribution code G? Referring to retirement funds

[lurapickett]

My former employer sent me a retirement check for $4,894, that I did not contribute to. I am over 50 yoa. I immediately rolled it into an IRA. Do I have to report this income any where??

[Texas Roger · Accepted solution]

Code G in box 7 of a 1099-R is a direct rollover to an IRA. You need to enter the 1099-R and answer all the follow up questions to make sure your are not taxed on the rollover. Normally you would not receive a check with a direct rollover but the funds would be sent directly to the financial institution where the IRA is.

To enter a 1099-R, click on Federal Taxes, Wages and Income, I'll choose what I work on.

Scroll down to Retirement Plans and Social Security and select the appropriate line.

[SweetieJean]

"My former employer sent me a retirement check for $4,894."  If you received a check, then Code G would seem to be incorrect.  Did you roll to a Traditional or Roth IRA?

[dmertz]

Plans often make the check out to the destination IRA and send it to the employee to forward to the IRA custodian, as was done it this case.  It still qualifies as a direct rollover, code G.

[lurapickett]

yes, it was made out to Fidelity and I sent it to them

[lurapickett]

It was rolled to a Traditional IRA, I think  I understand now, thank you

[lurapickett]

However, I do not have a 1099-R all I have from my employor is a letter or statement showing the payment amount, their ID #, and the IRS Dist.code 'G' and a line that says type of dist......Exempt Withdrawal (1) So it is hard to answer Turbo tax questions about entering amounts in certain boxes  because I dont know have numbered boxes on my statement

[Texas Roger]

Ask your employer why you did not receive a 1099-R. They are required to send you one.

[Devine1]

I have an IRA rollover with G in box 7, but Turbotax makes me enter non-zero value in box 9a, making it look like I withdrew the money, therefore, the money is taxable.  Is this a bug in the software or did I enter something to trigger this?  I am using Turbotax Premiere 2019.

[macuser_22]

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@Devine1 wrote:

I have an IRA rollover with G in box 7, but Turbotax makes me enter non-zero value in box 9a, making it look like I withdrew the money, therefore, the money is taxable.  Is this a bug in the software or did I enter something to trigger this?  I am using Turbotax Premiere 2019.

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Zero is not allowed. The box must be blank.

(Box 9a is only used if the box 1 amount was split between 2 or more payees and tells you what your share is. A "0" (zero) would indicate that the 1099-R is reporting your share of nothing, which would be nonsense.)

Some payers insist on putting zero in the box to indicate that it is not used, when they should leave it blank according to the 1099-R form rules. TurboTax follows the rules and complains if it is zero.

[Devine1]

I removed 0 from 9a.  But it still shows the withdrawal amount as the rollover amount.  I entered as shown exactly on 1099-R.  What am I doing wrong here?

[dmertz]

Code G means a rollover.  Did you somehow cause the rollover of the entire gross amount not to be completed?  That's not supposed to be possible if the financial institutions do their jobs properly.

[macuser_22]

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@Devine1 wrote:

I removed 0 from 9a.  But it still shows the withdrawal amount as the rollover amount.  I entered as shown exactly on 1099-R.  What am I doing wrong here?

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Exactly where are you seeing that?

Look at the 1040 line 4c and 4d.   The box 1 amount should be on 4c and blank or zero on the taxable amount 4d with the word ROLLOVER next to it.

[Devine1]

Yes, they do.  Thank you!  Do I enter the same dollar amount in the "Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions" in the Deductions & Credits section?  

[macuser_22]

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@Devine1 wrote:

 Do I enter the same dollar amount in the "Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions" in the Deductions & Credits section?  

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NO.  A rollover is NOT a new IRA contribution.  Only the 1099-R is reported.