In my case, 9b on the 1099-R was blank. I finally figured out that I had put my retirement year, 2016, in a window on the form that was intended for people who had retired prior to 1998. It would likely work better if the instruction about the timeframe appeared above rather than below the window. It also would have been better if I had slowed down and read more carefully. Finally, with the advice from a councilor in a Chat, I cleared my form and started over again. That worked properly.