1099-R Insurance Premiums

[cgmartin]

I am retired and get a form 1099-R from my service in law enforcement. While in Turbo Tax, I scroll down to "Forms," find my designated 1099-R form for tax year 2022, and scroll down to where it asks for the "Amount of insurance premiums deductible on Schedule A." 

Right below, it then asks for: "Amount of qualified insurance premiums paid from an eligible retired public safety officer distribution."  Since the amount of my insurance premiums are deducted from my retirement check. I enter the total amount in the "Amount of qualified insurance premiums paid from an eligible retired public safety officer." 

Turbo Tax does not automatically populate the answers. It copies the amount to line d of the Medical Expenses Worksheet for form 1099-R and also to Schedule A.   

My question is: What amount do I enter in response to the first question? Should the answer be the same amount as I entered for the second question?

[Anonymous_]

@dmertz 

[PipiR]

I must be missing something, but I do not see the reply.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

You would enter the amount of the distribution that was taken out for the payment of the insurance premiums.  Up to $3,000 of that amount is excludible from income with the "PSO" notation next to line 5b of Form 1040.  The remainder of whatever was taken out for the payment of insurance premiums, if any, is includible on Schedule A in determining the amount that is eligible to be treated as a medical-expense deduction.

[cgmartin]

The total amount taken from my retirement check to pay for medical insurance premiums in 2022 was $2,368

Turbo Tax automatically inserts $2,801 in line 5b of form 1040 on the PSO line. 

Why does Turbo Tax use a different total than the $2,368, which as the instructions state, should be the lower of $2,368 or $3,000?

[VolvoGirl]

How much is on line 5a?  Line 5b is the taxable amount after the 2368 insurance is subtracted.  

[cgmartin]

Line 5a is $124,548 and line 5b is $121,747, which is a difference of $2,801

[dmertz]

The difference of $2,801 implies that in addition to the $2,368, another $433 is excludible from income for some reason, perhaps some amount of after-tax pension income.