Hi.
Working with TT Deluxe 2021 on Windows, I'm confused by what I'm seeing for this form. I took a withdrawal from my 401k in March of 2021, which I've entered in TT. I've answered all the questions asked, and I have a form 8915-E now, but it says "DO NOT FILE" in red. TT also tells me:
"Unfortunately, IRS instructions related to disaster distributions weren't ready in time for us to include them in this release. Please revisit this area later."
Other posts here I found say that TT should have this information by now, which it seems to in part.
This page doesn't even have an entry for TT ever supporting form 8915-ET, which is already in my application.
It just seems like there is mixed information, and I'm not sure if I'm still waiting for an update or not, or when to expect this update, or something else.
Can someone please clarify what I need to do with regards to this form?
Did you take a disaster distribution from your pension funds between 2018 and 2020? A disaster distribution allowed you to spread the distribution over three 1040 tax returns.
If so, IRS Form 8915 will be needed to complete your tax return but that form is not yet available.
If you did not take a disaster distribution from your pension funds between 2018 and 2020, follow these steps.
Hi! Thanks for the reply.
> Did you take a disaster distribution from your pension funds between 2018 and 2020?
Actually, no. I took it in March of 2021, and it appears that it was not part of the CARES act that included qualified distributions from retirement plans, but rather the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which extended the 401k distribution beyond 12/30/2020. I think that is the root of my problem here. Is there a way to tell TT about a Consolidated Appropriations Act related distribution?
@cwneal wrote:
Hi! Thanks for the reply.
> Did you take a disaster distribution from your pension funds between 2018 and 2020?
Actually, no. I took it in March of 2021, and it appears that it was not part of the CARES act that included qualified distributions from retirement plans, but rather the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which extended the 401k distribution beyond 12/30/2020. I think that is the root of my problem here. Is there a way to tell TT about a Consolidated Appropriations Act related distribution?
Nothing in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 refers to extending the retirement account distributions allowing the distribution to be spread out over three years. This only applied to tax year 2020 and was used with IRS Form 8915-E. The 8915-E was only used for tax year 2020 and no other tax year.
The new IRS Form 8915-F, Qualified Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Retirements replaces all prior year Form 8915 series.
IRS Form 8915-F instructions - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8915f.pdf
See - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Appropriations_Act,_2021
Uh oh. So there was no way in 2021 to withdraw early from a 401k due to Covid and avoid the 10% penalty? I could have sworn there was. I really thought it was the Consolidated Appropriations Act, but as you know, your wiki link says nothing about that. Maybe it was something else?
There was no extension
Definition of coronavirus-related distribution Section 2202(a)(4)(A) of the CARES Act defines a coronavirus-related distribution as any distribution from an eligible retirement plan made on or after January 1, 2020, and before December 31, 2020, to a qualified individual. Section 2202(a)(2) of the CARES Act limits the amount of aggregate distributions 6 from all eligible retirement plans that can be treated as coronavirus-related distributions to no more than $100,000.