topic How do we (or is it necessary to) report retirement rollovers that haven't provided a 1099-R/5498? Why do T-IRA rollovers post as (non-taxable) income? No distribution. in Retirement tax questions

How do we (or is it necessary to) report retirement rollovers that haven't provided a 1099-R/5498? Why do T-IRA rollovers post as (non-taxable) income? No distribution.

Tank7 — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:28:59 GMT

My wife and I directly rolled over all existing IRAs (both Roth & Traditional) from multiple financial institutions to single corresponding Roth & Traditional annuities for each of us which included us rolling our respective 401Ks into the traditional pots. We have only received 1099-Rs from the 401Ks direct rollovers. Entering the 1099s as guided in TurboTax puts these funds into "income" (though not taxable). Why is that? No distribution was taken.

Also, have received nothing from the other financial institutions. No 1099-R nor 5498. I called one, my credit union, where I had a traditional IRA CD and they said since it was direct institution to institution transfer rollover (by a physical check FBO) that no 1099-R or other documentation was required. The others were all from Fidelity. Where does this leave us regarding any reporting requirements?

Lastly, my wife's former employer which she left Dec 31, 2017, made retroactive 401K contributions, posting in May 2018, 4 months after we took action in Feb 2018, to consolidate. We thought that closed the account. Not so "total" a distribution now, it appears. Again, no documentation. How should we handle this?

1) Issuing 1099-R is optional for direct transfers [in so...

Rainman12 — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:29:01 GMT

1) Issuing 1099-R is optional for direct transfers [in some cases].
2) 5498 is Not optional, but may come later in filing season to allow inclusion of retroactive contributions.
I would handle by contacting all custodians first to query re: forms status, then plan April filing.
[added] Answer below is better stated.

Trustee-to-trustee transfers from a traditional IRA to an...

dmertz — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:29:03 GMT

Trustee-to-trustee transfers from a traditional IRA to another traditional IRA or from a Roth IRA to another Roth IRA are not reportable, so they are not reported on either Form 1099-R nor on Form 5498. They are neither distributions nor rollovers, they are simply transfers. Movement of the 401(k)s to IRAs is always reportable since these movements of funds can only be done by distribution and rollover. These distributions and rollovers will appear on Forms 1099-R and Forms 5498.

All amounts reported in box 1 of Forms 1099-R are income. What you did with the money determines whether or not it is taxable income that is includible on form 1040 line 4b. In your case, the amount rolled over is not taxable income.

Mark the Total distribution box the same as is on the Form 1099-R provided by the payer. Don't worry about the fact that the account was subsequently reestablished to receive the employer contribution for 2017.