topic Leave the box blank, no zero. in Retirement tax questions

Your percentage of total distribution

edstaniek — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 21:13:21 GMT

I cannot proceed past 9a on a 2016 retirement tax information form. I am told the amount has to be greater than 0.01%. The form, line 9a shows 0%. Ed

Leave the box blank, no zero.

Lisa995 — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 21:13:22 GMT

Leave the box blank, no zero.

Box9a is not between the prescribed upper & lower limits.

clmillegan — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:19:38 GMT

Turbotax is asking for my percentage of total distribution when the 1099r is blank.

What to do?

Re: Box9a is not between the prescribed upper & lower limits.

macuser_22 — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:35:22 GMT

Zero is not allowed. The box must be blank.

(Box 9a is only used if the box 1 amount was split between 2 or more payees and tells you what your share is. A "0" (zero) would indicate that the 1099-R is reporting your share of nothing, which would be nonsense.)

Some payers insist on putting zero in the box to indicate that it is not used, when they should leave it blank according to the 1099-R form rules. TurboTax follows the rules and complains if it is zero.