topic 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1 in Retirement tax questions

1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Paul_G — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 23:59:20 GMT

I turned 73 in 2024 and therefore was required to take the 2024 RMD by April 1 2025. I purposely took the full amount of the 2024 RMD in November of 2024, so that I didn’t have to take the RMD for 2024 and the RMD for 2025 in the same tax year. I received a 1099-R for the amount taken in 2024. My question is when reporting the RMD in Turbo Tax it is asking me the following: “We need to know the amount that was required to be distributed by December 31, 2024.” It then goes on to say “Do not include the RMDs which are due on April 1st.” Should the answer be $0 or the amount of the distribution that I took in November?

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

DianeW777 — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 00:16:34 GMT

Yes, the answer should be zero.

In TurboTax Desktop you should enter $0 for the page you reference - Do not include the RMDs which are due on April 1st.” Should the answer be $0 or the amount of the distribution that I took in November? Yes

See the image below.

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

tj-21 — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 04:08:13 GMT

I posted this same question in another topic/question, and was told to report it in this box.

If we put zero in this box, does turbo tax not tax it??

It seems like Turbo Tax is messed up this year in regards to RMD's and the questions.

Thank you

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

tj-21 — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 04:10:05 GMT

One additional comment, if you don't report it this year, and not pay tax on it, we'll be paying tax on 2 distributions for 2025. Please advise how turbo tax is handling this in the background.

Thank you

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

VolvoGirl — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 04:34:09 GMT

Even if you put 0 in for the RMD it will still tax it. The RMD info doesn't affect your return unless you do not take the full RMD. So as long as you put the amount from box 1 or 0 it's ok. It wants to know the RMD amount so that if you don't take the full RMD you owe a penalty.

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

tj-21 — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 04:50:04 GMT

VolvoGirl,

The question about RMD due by April 1, 2025:

If someone waits till Mid March to take their RMD, they're going to end up with 2 RMD's for 2025 correct?

If that is true the question is a bit misleading for people??

Thank you

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

VolvoGirl — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 04:53:07 GMT

Right they will have to take 2 RMD for 2025. I don't think the question is misleading at all. The 2024 RMD is just the amount you took in 2024 or zero since you don't have to take it until April 1 2025. Whatever you enter into 2024 won't affect your 2025 return next year.

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Ken5151 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:37:34 GMT

The question is how does the IRS know that the first RMD was taken in 2024 instead of 2025? I did the same thing by taking the first required payment on 12/24, which the IRS says you can do. That way you don’t have two payments in 2025 and raise you tax bracket and Medicare tiers. I don’t know how TurboTax is handling the 2024 distribution. Will the 2025 filing address that?

Thanks!

Ken

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

VolvoGirl — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:44:16 GMT

@Ken5151 If you took the full 2024 RMD in 2024 there is nothing to go on your 2025 return about it, just the 1099R for the 2025 RMD.

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Ken5151 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:45:21 GMT

But TurboTax needs a way to reflect the 2024 payment so that the IRS recognizes the April 2025 payment was made in 2024, which the IRS says you can do. That way, you can then make only the remaining required December 2025 payment in 2025. The point is to not make two payments in 2025 and raise your tax bracket and Medicare tiers. Thank you!

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Ken5151 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:54:14 GMT

If 2024 RMD withdrawal was never indicated in 2024, and you only make the 12/2025 payment, how would the IRS know that you’ve met both withdrawal requirements?

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Ken5151 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 18:01:14 GMT

Hi Diane,

But don’t you need a way to reflect the 2024 payment so that the IRS recognizes the April 2025 payment was already made in 2024, which the IRS says you can do. That way, you can then make only the remaining required December 2025 payment in 2025. Are you able to reflect that when you file your 2025 taxes in 2026?

The point is to not make two payments in 2025 and raise your tax bracket and Medicare tiers. Thank you!

ken

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

MarilynG1 — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:56:17 GMT

It seems you're combining a question on RMD and making Estimated Tax Payments, so I'm confused as to what your actual question is. Your tax bracket wouldn't normally go up unless you receive a large amount of income in one year, and we can't speak to Medicare tiers in this forum, although this link from Medicare may answer your question.

Here's more info on Is My Retirement Distribution RMD? and RMD FAQ's. from the IRS.

Also, a detailed article on Paying Estimated Taxes and Where to Enter Estimated Tax Payments, including those made for 2025 in 2024.

@Ken5151

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

fanfare — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 18:15:01 GMT

report on your 2024 return the amount you took out. which happens to be the entire required amount.

then you are done.

The turbotax questions are messed up.

the best workaround I've seen so far is "Tell TurboTax your required distribution is Zero."

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

Ken5151 — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 23:59:08 GMT

Sorry if I’m confusing everyone!

My question has nothing to do with estimated tax payments. And Medicare Tiers has nothing to do with these questions other than the higher your income, the more you have to pay for Medicare payments, which is based on your income from the year prior. So you can ignore these two issues.

IRS says you have two required RMD payments the year following the year you turned 73. The first payment is REQUIRED to be made April 1 and the second by December 31. IRS also says you can make the April 1 payment the same year after you turned 73. Let’s just say you made that payment 12/31 of the year you turned 73.

Since it’s not a required payment at that point, all the responses about putting in”zero” to the TurboTax question about required payments seems correct. My question is how will the IRS know the next year that your April payment was already made before it was due and you should only need to make the December payment? It seems TurboTax should include some indication for the next year that first payment was already made.

As the original poster said, the intent is to spread out the two payments into two years, as allowed by the IRS, so you don’t have two payments in one tax year. I don’t know how to make this any clearer!

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

fanfare — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 01:30:08 GMT

"Since it’s not a required payment at that point, all the responses about putting in”zero” to the TurboTax question about required payments seems correct."

The suggestion was made as a general solution regardless of your age. TurboTax has issues with Form 5329 this year.

Your RMD is your responsibilty. We're all on the honor system here.

IRS will only poke into your calculations if they decide to audit you for any reason.

Or the IRS computers get smarter ( AI ?) and examine your returns for discrepancies.

If that happens the penalties will accrue to all years back to the original year of the omission.

IRS changed the way they explain the age 73 rules. Maybe it is more confusing.

Jan 1 to April 1 of the year after you turn 73 I call a grace period. It is for people who haven't paid attention to their upcoming RBD (required beginning date) which is the year you turn 73 .

OR you can look at it the way IRS explains it.

@Ken5151

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

user17733079838 — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:48:53 GMT

I'm in the same boat as others here. I turned 73 in 2025 and paid my entire RMD in 2025. Now Turbotax is telling me that it needs to know the amount that was required to be distributed by Dec 31, 2025 and that I shouldn't report amounts due on April 1 (presumably 2026). So, if I follow the advice given here, I enter $0 because my RMD technically wasn't due until then. Following this logic, next year, it will tell me that it wants to know the amount that was required to be distributed by Dec 31, 2026. So what am I supposed to enter then?
1) Just the RMD that I paid in 2026 or

2) The sum of the amounts that I paid in 2025 and 2026, both of which are technically due by 12/31/2026. Actually, one of them would be overdue.
If TurboTax really needs to know the amount that was required to be distributed before the end of the year, as it says it does, then answer 2 is the only way for us to report it. If, on the other hand, we're all on the honor system here as someone else suggested, then why does TurboTax ask for this information at all.

This part of TurboTax is confusing at best and really needs to be rewritten to clarify if and how you're supposed to report the RMD that you took in the previous year, even if it wasn't required to be taken until April 1st. The quantity of questions about this and the unease people have with the answers given should make that obvious.

Re: 1st Year RMD reporting for withdrawals made before April 1

RogerD1 — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:21:15 GMT

So yes, you report 0 for your RMD this year because it technically is not due this year. But it is a smart idea to take it in the year you turn 73 so that you don't withdraw both your RMD for April 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026 and possibly get bumped into a higher tax bracket. For the RMD you take in 2026, when you enter that in your 2026 return next year, you only need to report the RMD amount due on December 31, 2026 and not the one due on April 1, 2026

The reason that TurboTax asks for your RMD amount is to determine if you may be subject to a penalty for not withdrawing enough RMD and helping you to file for an exception to the penalty if you didn't. The TurboTax program has no way of knowing your RMD requirement and relies on input from the taxpayer as to whether they withdrew enough funds to meet their RMD requirement. And the honor system analogy is a good one to use here.