401K early withdrawal

[mtellez04]

Head of household filer, 2 dependents. I make about 50K a year. I need to withdraw from my 401K. Will this affect how much a will get back on my 2025 refund? Is there any way for me to know if I will owe taxes? 

[Mike9241]

it could affect your refund depending on what taxes are withheld on the withdraw and your other income and deductions. if it is not a hardship withdrawal there is also a 10% penalty.

you other option, if the plan allows this, is a loan. you are not taxed on the loan unless you fail to repay it within the stipulated period which is generally 5 years. You also must pay interest on the loan

see this webpage for a additional info and suggestions

https://www.edwardjones.com/us-en/market-news-insights/guidance-perspective/withdrawal-or-401k-loan?... 

[Opus 17]

Withdrawals from a pre-tax 401k are always subject to regular income tax.  That could be 0, 12%, 22% or more depending on your other income, deductions and dependents.  

If you are under age 59-1/2 there is an additional 10% penalty unless you qualify for a specific exception listed here.  (See that IRAs and qualified workplace plans are listed differently, and some exceptions allowed for IRAs are not allowed for workplace plans.)

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-exceptions-to-tax-o...

There is no exception for a general hardship.  If you are still employed by the plan sponsor, you must show a hardship to make a withdrawal (and some plans do not allow any hardship withdrawals).  But showing a hardship to permit a withdrawal is not the same thing as having an exception to the 10% penalty, they are different.

You will certainly owe more tax.  How much, and how much it affects your refund, will depend on your overall income, how much you withdraw, any penalties or penalty exceptions, and how much tax you have withheld from the withdrawal. You can try this estimator.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

[Hal_Al]

Another issue is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC or EITC). 

The earned income credit is first calculated (actually looked up in a table) on your earned income then it is calculated on your total income (AGI). You get the lesser of the two calculated EIC numbers.

The 401k withdrawal will increase your AGI for the year and will most likely (at "about 50K a year") reduce  or  wipe out any EIC you were going to get. 

See EIC income limits for 2025 at:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/can-you-take-earned-income-tax-credit#:~:text=minus%20certa....