topic My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age 50. Never called an early distribution before, now Turbo Tax says it is in Retirement tax questions

My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age 50. Never called an early distribution before, now Turbo Tax says it is

michellealan — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:00:29 GMT

I am now 60, I have been collecting for 10 years without any penalty. Why now?

Re: My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age...

MarilynG1 — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 23:32:44 GMT

If you used TurboTax previously without a penalty on your 401K distribution, you may have answered a question differently when entering your 1099-R this year. There has not been a change to early retirement penalty exceptions. Separation from service if age requirements are met is one of them.

If you imported your 1099-R, go back and delete it and then enter it manually.

Re: My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age...

michellealan — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 03:17:30 GMT

Thanks you.

The age requirement for that company was age 50, but I was not a public safety officer. So, assumed that did not pertain to me.

Re: My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age...

BillM223 — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 04:14:18 GMT

TurboTax has no way of knowing if a distribution is "early" for your pension (your plan sets the age of normal retirement), so TurboTax has to depend on the codes in box 7 on the 1099-R reporting the plan distribution.

I am guessing that the code in box 7 on your 1099-R is different this year than from previous years.

What is the box 7 code this year, and what was the box 7 code on your 1099-R in previous years?

Re: My previous employer (County Government) allows for distribution of retirement pension at age 50. Never called an early distribution before, now Turbo Tax says it is

Opus 17 — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 04:56:36 GMT

What do you mean by "pension"? Exactly what kind of plan is it?

Is it a defined benefits plan (you get a guaranteed benefit based on age and service time) or is it a defined contribution plan (you and the employer contribute money to a retirement fund and you and withdraw whatever you want based on how your investments perform). Do you know if it is specifically a 401k, 403b, 457a, 401a, or some other number?

What codes are in box 7 of your 1099-R? What codes were present in your 2021 1099-R?

All this is important because "early" has different meanings and different consequences for different kinds of plans. The other expert answer seems to assume this is a 401(k) plan, but I think that would be unusual for a county government employee.