Received 1099-R and STATE OF NJ wants me to fill out prt D general rule method

[Dubostica]

401-K  I took distribution and received  1099-R.  Its taxable on Federal return and i have to pay NJ additional tax since i don't know total contributions to the plan. Part D GENERAL RULE METHOD  On NJ TAX RETURN  you need  to know exact contributions you made so far (in my case 20 years), and expected return on contract total sum of distributions. ( this was only distribution i took ). I call the company and they can trace only last 10 years of contributions. WITHOUT  THIS INFORMATION looks like i have to pay NJ AGAIN?

Any advice please

[ReneV4]

If your W-2s over the years showed your NJ Wages and Federal Wages were the same in the years you contributed to the 401k, it means you have no basis to recover because your contributions were "pre-tax". In this case, you simply report the distribution as fully taxable in NJ. 

Here is how to verify:

• Check Box 2a (Taxable amount) on your Form 1099-R. If it matches Box 1 (Gross distribution), NJ will typically see the entire distribution as taxable
• Check Box 9b (Total employee contributions). If there is an amount there, it represents "after-tax" money you already paid taxes on. This is your basis*
• Check Box 5 (Current calendar year non-taxable amount). Sometimes after-tax contributions are noted here

*If you know you made after-tax contributions, but can only find 10 years of records, you can use that amount as your basis. The IRS and NJ allow for "reasonable estimates" if records are not available.

If in doubt, using zero (0) as your basis is the safest default to avoid underpaying NJ.

[Dubostica]

My box 1 on w-2 was always smaller than NJ WAGES BOX 16 . HSA & 401 -K  AMOUNTS were always in NJ wages and we paid taxes through out years. So you suggest put zero as base and pay NJ again to be safe ?

[BillM223]

I thought you said that the company could trace the last 10 years of contributions, right? Then don't enter zero as the base, enter the amount for the last ten years that your company is going to provide, as Rene said.

This is not as good as knowing the total amount for the last 20 years, but it's much better than zero.