Allow me to enter a blank 1099-R for RMD purposes

[Lee-K]

I have several IRA accounts that are subject to a RMD. This year I did not withdraw any money from some accounts but the total amount drawn from other accounts was sufficient to cover the total RMD. This is legal. I did not get a 1099-R for those accounts without any activity. So that I could show that the excess RMD covered all my accounts I entered manually some 1099-R's and entered the distribution as 0. This worked fine as i was later asked about RMD etc. But when I tried to finish the return I received error messages that the number in the distribution could not be 0 (or less than $0.50). It let me go until the last moment of sending the e-file when it refused this error. In the end I added $0.51 as the distributed amount and then everything went through. 
It would be great if TTax would allow the $0 entry. Or is there a different way I should/could have entered the additional RMD due?

[rjs]

There is no such thing as an "excess RMD." There is a lot of misunderstanding about the term RMD (Required Minimum Distribution). The RMD is not money that you took out of an IRA. It's the minimum amount that you are required to take out. The money that you took out of the account is a distribution, not an RMD. As long as the total distributions are at least as much as the total RMDs for all of your accounts, it doesn't matter if they're more than the RMD. You do not have to explain the excess, and you do not have to report the RMD amount for an IRA that you did not take a distribution from.

You should not have made up 1099-R forms that you did not actually receive. What you did is report distributions that you did not actually take. Each one was reported as a $1 distribution ($0.51 rounded to whole dollars). The IRS is not likely to bother you about it. TurboTax does not allow a zero distribution amount because you would not get a 1099-R for a particular account if you did not take any distribution from that account.

The RMD questions in TurboTax for 2024 are very confusing. They are revising the questions for 2025.

[Mike9241]

the IRS get form 5498 from the IRA custodians which tells it the RMD for the year. All the IRS cares is that you take the RMD. It doesn't care which qualified account it is taken from. you could have 10 IRA accounts and take the entire RMD from just 1. However, there are special rules for inherited IRAs

[Lee-K]

Thanks rjs. I understand. But my concern was how does the IRS know that the total distribution was sufficient for the sum of all account RMDs if it doesn't know the RMD for the accounts that did not have a 1099-R? That was why I created the extra 1099-Rs so that I could indicate what the total RMD was for all accounts... Is there another way to enter the total RMD due for all accounts? (I'm happy to hear that "They are revising the questions for 2025")!

[rjs]

"Is there another way to enter the total RMD due for all accounts?"

You don't enter the total RMD on your tax return.

"But my concern was how does the IRS know that the total distribution was sufficient for the sum of all account RMDs if it doesn't know the RMD for the accounts that did not have a 1099-R?"

As Mike9241 explained, the IRS knows the RMD for all the accounts because they get a copy of the Form 5498 for each account from the custodian. The 5498 shows the RMD for every account, whether or not you took a distribution from the account.

[VolvoGirl]

The IRS only needs to know if you didn't take out the total RMD from all your accounts.  They get form 5498 from your IRA accounts that tells them the RMD you need to take out.  I just went though my Desktop program to test the RMD questions again.   Maybe this will help especially since you have the same version as me.  I still have a couple questions  maybe someone could  clear up  @dmertz ?

10/12/25 I checked my Desktop Home & Business program again for the IRA RMD questions. No matter how you answered the RMD, it doesn't show any errors or excess accumulations until you finish entering Deductions and hit Done with Deductions at the bottom.

Then it checks for missing deductions (about 3 screens).
Then it shows your Retirement Income results screen
THEN if you made a IRA contribution or have a penalty, it shows the IRA Contributions Results screen. At the bottom of this screen it has Tax on excess accumulations in retirement account.

The Excess Accumulation in IRA accounts is on form 5329.   In my test return my total RMD was 20,000 but I entered the 20,000 for the RMD on each 1099R (I had 3 1099R forms) which was wrong. So form 5329 showed my RMD for all accounts was 60,000 (20,000x3). So I had a very large penalty.

I went back and changed the RMD to the amount on each 1099R box 1. Then I didn't get a penalty or form 5329. But I only entered a total of 15,000 which was less than the total RMD 20,000. So I need to have a penalty for not taking enough.

So on each 1099R how do you answer the RMD amount due by Dec. 31, 2024 question? If you didn't take the full total 20,000 RMD over several accounts and only took out 15,000 (say 2,000+8,000+5,000)?    I added the 5,000 shortage to the last 1099R and said the RMD on that one was 10,000.   That worked and gave me the 25% penalty of 1,250 on the 5,000 shortage.

And how do you answer the RMD questions on each 1099R when you took out less RMD from 1 account and more RMD from another account? Then I guess you answer that the RMD is the same as 1099R box 1 as long as you took the total RMD for the year.

[Lee-K]

Thanks all; I didn't know about form 5498, which makes sense. And I appreciate your answers. But if I'm short on my total RMD for the year**, TTax doesn't know that, and the only way I'll know my penalty, or have a chance to explain why I missed it, is after I submit my return and get a "you owe us" penalty message from the IRS... Anyway, maybe next year the process will be clearer. But for sure I'll be a lot more active in monitoring my RMD withdrawals to ensure this doesn't happen to me again!!!

**my investment advisor staff screwed up, and i didn't know that until it was too late...

[VolvoGirl]

@Lee-K   But in your first post you said......This year I did not withdraw any money from some accounts but the total amount drawn from other accounts was sufficient to cover the total RMD.

Was that wrong and you didn't take 100% of the total RMD?  Read my long post above.  For each 1099R enter the amount from box 1 for the RMD question on that 1099R.  If you know the amount you were short then add it to the RMD question on one of the 1099R forms and Turbo Tax will calculate the penalty for the missing amount on form 5329.