topic Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

Helen2014 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 04:37:52 GMT

Hi Turbo Tax Community. I have a question about excessive contribution to my 401k and how vanguard handles the situation. I requested refund of the excessive amount, and they gave me seemingly contradict information in their letter with the check to me.

Here are the details:

In 2021, I changed job and worked for two companies. I over contributed $300 to my 401k in 2021, and my current company's 401k administrator (vanguard) returned the $300 to me via a check in February 2022. The check is received along with a letter.

The letter states that:

"Your corrective contribution of excessive deferrals is required by the IRS to be reported on two 2021 IRS forms 1099-R.

One of these tax forms will be specifically coded to report the principal amount of your excessive deferrals which will be tax to you in 2022. These forms will be sent to you in January 2023.

Because you will not receive the IRS form 1099-R till next year, do not wait to file your 2021 form 1040. In addition, if you have already filed your form 1040 and did not included the principal amount of excess deferrals as taxable income (line 7), you will need to file an amended return for this year.

The amount of your refund is not eligible for rollover into another qualified plan or individual retirement account ("IRA") "

Here is my confusion:

1. In the letter it stated that I need to file my 2021 tax with the principal amount of excess 401k contribution but I will not receive any tax form for the excess till 2022. How do I report the amount?

2. I called vanguard and asked for some help and explanation and they told me that I will receive two 1099-R in 2023, and the excess $300 will be my 2022 income.

Based on my research, my employer should give me a new w-2 so that I can report it this year. He https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/excess-401k-contribution-what-to-do

But vanguard said that was not how they handle it.

If I report the excess amount in 2021 tax and vanguard gives me 1099-R in 2023 for 2022 tax, does it mean that I will be taxed twice?

Thanks.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

MinhT1 — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 21:03:32 GMT

Vanguard is correct. However, you do not need to create a 2021 form 1099-R to report your excess contribution. In 2023, when you receive your two forms 1099-R, do not report the one with the excess contribution but keep it in your tax recordsOnly report the form 1099-R with your earnings on your 2022 tax return.

Here is what you should do:

Reporting excess salary deferrals (excess 401k contributions) returned to you after the end of the tax year but by April 15th of the following tax year on your 1040. Do not create your own 1099-R for this situation.

Pages 10 and 11 of IRS Pub 525 under Excess deferrals (the IRS term for 401K contribution is deferral) tells us to include the excess deferrals as income on line 1 of Form 1040 if the money was returned after the end of the tax year but by April 15th of the following tax year. You need to report only the excess contribution, not any money generated by the investment of the excess contribution. What you earned will be covered by a 1099-R for the following tax year and will be entered then as a normal 1099-R.

Below is how to do this in TurboTax:

Click on Federal in the left-hand column, then on Wages & Income
Under All Income, scroll down to Less Common Income
Select Miscellaneous Income and click Start
Select Other income not already reported on a Form W-2 or Form 1099 and click on Start
Answer the question "Did you receive any other wages? Yes
Click through the questions till you get to Any Other Earned Income
Answer Yes to Did you earn any other wages?
Indicate Other as Source of Other Earned Income and click Continue
For the description enter "2021 Excess 401K Deferrals" and click on Done

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

Helen2014 — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 22:59:28 GMT

Thanks for your timely response.

If I do not report the $300 1099-R in 2023 for 2022 (so that I do not get double taxed) , will it cause any problem if my tax is audited? Thanks.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

BillM223 — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 03:04:31 GMT

So long as the corrective distribution was (will be)made before April 18, 2022, you can ignore the 1099-R for the excess in 2022 (it will have a code of "P", I believe).

This is because the excess was already taxed in 2022 when you went through the steps Minh gave above to add 2021 Excess 401K Deferrals to Misc income.

Your excess can be doubly taxed (the second 1099-R) if you receive the corrective distribution after April 18, 2022, but since you are already going to have it taxed in 2022, you can ignore the second 1900-R.

Just keep all these notes in your tax file in case the IRS ever writes you about it.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

GTP59 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:08:04 GMT

I have a similar situation, with another plan provider. Federal Income Tax was withheld on the distribution (refunding my 2021 excess deferral in early 2022). Would I report that tax withheld on my 2021 return (through my corrected W-2 maybe?) or wait for 2022 filing season, when I believe it would be reflected on one of my two 1099-Rs (one for the deferral, the other for earnings)?

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

DianeW777 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:23:47 GMT

No, do not include the federal withholding unless a corrected W-2 is received. You must report the distribution on the 2022 tax return along with the federal withholding assuming you do not receive a corrected W-2 for 2021, which is unlikely. You will receive the Form 1099-R, as you indicated and you will report it in 2022 if no correction is made to reflect the correct amounts on the 2021 W-2.

The codes in Box 7 on the Form 1099-R will determine the taxability of the income for 2022.

What do all the codes mean in Box 7, Form 1099-R?

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

GTP59 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:34:27 GMT

Thank you for the info! Am I right that my former employer would report the corrected income, deferral, and withholding amounts on the corrected W-2? I am also working with the plan administrator to correct the 1099-R info for next year; they mistakenly applied code 8, not code P, to the return of excess deferral. Fortunately I was able to see this online now and get it fixed, rather than being hit with a nasty surprise early next year.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

DavidD66 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 02:35:36 GMT

@GTP59 Yes, you are correct. Your employer should provide you a corrected W-2. The returned excess contribution will be added to your total taxable wages for the previous year. Any income earned from the excess contribution will be taxable in the year received, and will be reported on a 1099-R.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

GTP59 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 03:13:02 GMT

That's helpful--thank you! I am wondering if the employer would also report on the corrected w-2 the federal income tax withheld from the returned excess deferral. The plan administrator withheld the tax.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

DianeW777 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 15:54:46 GMT

Yes, if there was federal withholding as indicated then your employer should also include this in the corrected W-2 as well. Be sure to verify once you receive the form (W-2c).

Keep in mind that the W-2c will have only the corrected boxes completed so you must keep the original W-2 for all other boxes, to accurately complete your tax return.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

hozefas — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 18:53:29 GMT

Hello @DianeW777

I have a similar situation where my overall deferral for 2021 went above the limit by $500. I have NOT filed my 2021 return yet. But in my case, the 401K provider will NOT be able to refund the $500 before the tax filing deadline (April 18th 2022) - since they need more time to process the refund.

Do I have to show $500 as my income in my 2021 return?

Is that done by manually creating a 1099-R with Code 8 for $500?

Do I need to submit form 5329 and pay a 6% penalty in 2021?

Will my 401k provider send me 2 1099-Rs (Code P and Code 8 in 2023?

Do I have to amend my 2021 return? Or do I just enter that 1099-R in my 2022 return?

Thanks!!

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

macuser_22 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 19:01:36 GMT

@hozefas wrote:

Hello @DianeW777

I have a similar situation where my overall deferral for 2021 went above the limit by $500. I have NOT filed my 2021 return yet. But in my case, the 401K provider will NOT be able to refund the $500 before the tax filing deadline (April 18th 2022) - since they need more time to process the refund.

Do I have to show $500 as my income in my 2021 return?

Is that done by manually creating a 1099-R with Code 8 for $500?

Do I need to submit form 5329 and pay a 6% penalty in 2021?

Will my 401k provider send me 2 1099-Rs (Code P and Code 8 in 2023?

Do I have to amend my 2021 return? Or do I just enter that 1099-R in my 2022 return?

Thanks!!

The date to remove it is not tied the the filing date, it is written into tax law as April 15, reguardless of the filing date which can be different.

If not removed by April 15, then it should not be removed at all since after that date it becomes taxable income that must be reported on line 1 of the 1040 form as wages since it was deducted from wages when the employer withheld if from your pay. It will just stay in the account until retirment when it will be taxed again. This double tax is the penality for not meeting the Apr. 15 date.

Excess 401(k) deferrals should be reported in:
(There are several screens to click through to get to the right place)

Miscellionious Income ->
Other Income not reported on a W-2 ->
Other wages (yes) ->
House Hold employee (Continue) ->
Sick Pay (Continue) ->
Other earned income (yes) (Includes excess salary deferrals)->
Source of income (other) ->
Any other income - enter the amount of the excess deferral and an explanation.

This will add the returned excess to your 2021 wages on line 1.

For information see IRS Pub 525 page 10
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

hozefas — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:39:11 GMT

Do I not need to request a refund if I am doing this after April 15th? How do I report the excess income for 2021 in this case?

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

macuser_22 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:50:57 GMT

After April 15, 2022 it will be too late to get a refund.

Read my post. I told you exactally how to report it. It does not get reported in 2022 if it was a 2021 excess.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

hozefas — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 21:52:15 GMT

If I do not refund the excess, do I have to pay the 6% penalty in 2021? Do I have to keep paying the 6% penalty each year the excess remains in the account?

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

macuser_22 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 22:37:38 GMT

@hozefas wrote:

If I do not refund the excess, do I have to pay the 6% penalty in 2021? Do I have to keep paying the 6% penalty each year the excess remains in the account?

There is no 6% penalty for a 401(k) - the 6% penalty applies to IRA's.

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

sankumar — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 19:06:54 GMT

Hello @DianeW777

I have a similar situation with excess where I've over contributed for the year 2021 (2 employers) by almost $800. I've notified both plan administrators (although late), I have not been able to get a return of excess from either them prior to tax deadline of April 15th for excess distributions.

The excess I wanted to remove is from my second employer and is a combination of pre-tax and ROTH 401k contributions.

I plan to report the excess as income for 2021 as you had suggested earlier in this thread but since it is a combination of both ROTH (which is already taxed), do I have to still include the full amount or just the pre-tax 401K contribution?

Also, you had mentioned after the April 15th deadline the amount needs to stay in the account until it is ready for distribution (retirement). Which employer plan will I be taxed from at that time of distribution?

Thanks in advance!!

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

macuser_22 — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 20:26:59 GMT

@sankumar wrote:

Hello @DianeW777

Which employer plan will I be taxed from at that time of distribution?

Thanks in advance!!

You misunderstand.

When you take ANY 401(k) distribution it is taxed as ordinal income. The excess that stays in the plan is just part of the overall 401(k) value and is not separate. The only *additional* tax on the excess is in 2021 that you must add back into your taxable wages because excess deferrals cannot reduce your taxable income and must be added back in. That is what is meant as "double tax".

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

liza91 — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 20:16:15 GMT

I have a relating question: I have excess 2022 SOLO 401K contributions that I will file in my 2023 tax return. I have to submit an Individual 401(k) Distribution Request Form to my brokerage by the 2022 tax deadline. The form asks to list the earnings of the excess deferral amount.

What is the calculation for earnings?
Would the calculation be similar to or identical to the calculation used for the Earnings Calculation for Returned or Recharacterized IRA Contributions listed here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-00-39.pdf?

Re: Excessive contribution to 401k in 2021 - Vanguard said to report in 2022 tax return?

DanaB27 — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 15:40:41 GMT

Yes, calculating the earnings on an excess contribution will use this formula:

Contribution x (Adjusted Closing Balance -Adjusted Opening Balance)/ Adjusted Opening Balance

(26 CFR § 1.408-11)

But generally, your custodian will calculate the earnings for you.

Please be aware, if you do not take out the excess amount by April 15th, then you are taxed twice on the excess deferral left in the plan. This happens once when you contribute it (with the steps below) and again when you receive it as a distribution. You can't include the excess amount in the cost of the contract even though you included it in your income.

Please follow the steps below to add the excess deferral:

Login to your TurboTax Account
Click "Wages & Income" (under Federal) on the left side of your screen
Scroll down to "Less Common Income" and click "Show More"
Scroll down to "Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C" and click "Start"
Select "Other income not already reported on a Form W-2 or Form 1099" and click "Start"
On the "Did you receive any other wages?" screen answer "Yes" and click "Continue"
Continue until you get to the "Any other earned income" screen, answer "Yes" and click "Continue"
On the "Enter Source of Other Earned income" screen select "Other" and click "Continue"
On the "Any Other Earned Income" screen enter "2022 Excess 401(k) Deferrals" for the description, enter the amount and click "Done".

If you receive the distribution of the excess deferral and earnings by April 15th then please note for the Tax Year 2023 tax filing due April 15, 2024:

2023 Forms 1099-R will be issued reporting the excess.

Form 1099-R with code P in box 7 can be ignored if you reported the excess as described above in 2022.
However, the earnings on Form 1099-R with Code 8 in box 7 should be reported in 2023.

@liza91