The Form 1099-R instructions state, boxes 12-17 are only for the issuer's convenience and need not be reported to IRS unless state or local income tax was withheld from the distribution, boxes 14 and 17 may show the part of the distribution subject to state and/or local tax.
Is there anything in box 12 greater than zero? Is there anything in box 14 greater than zero? If not, then leave boxes 12-14 completely blank. Not even a space.
The Form 1099-R instructions state, boxes 12-17 are only for the issuer's convenience and need not be reported to IRS unless state or local income tax was withheld from the distribution, boxes 14 and 17 may show the part of the distribution subject to state and/or local tax.
Anthony, you must be confused with some other form. On the 1099-R boxes 12-17 are not in any way for the convenience of anyone. If state taxes were withheld, then data is required in boxes 12-14. If city taxes (or taxes for a locality below the state) were withheld, data in boxes 15-17 is required.
That is funny....This information was taken directly from the Form 1099-R Instruction Booklet, which is provided by the IRS! Below is the exact wording found on Page 15, directly out of the booklet itself.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf</a>
Boxes 12–17. State and Local Information
These boxes and Copies 1 and 2 are provided for your
convenience only and need not be completed for the IRS.
Use the state and local information boxes to report
distributions and taxes for up to two states or localities.
Keep the information for each state or locality separated
by the broken line. If state or local income tax has been
withheld on this distribution, you may enter it in boxes 12
and 15, as appropriate. In box 13, enter the abbreviated
name of the state and the payer's state identification
number. The state number is the payer's identification
number assigned by the individual state. In box 16, enter
the name of the locality. In boxes 14 and 17, you may
enter the amount of the state or local distribution. Copy 1
may be used to provide information to the state or local
tax department. Copy 2 may be used as the recipient's
copy in filing a state or local income tax return.
That is true for Federal, but the state (and TurboTax) certainly do care if there is state tax withheld. TurboTax will transfer any box 12 state withholding to the state return for the state listed in box 13.
However if the 1099-R has a non-zero value in box 12 then it will complain if there is no state listed in box 13 and no payers tax ID number in box 13. Having a state tax withheld and no state to apply it to is an error to TurboTax.
So the IRS doesn't need them. That's fine. But if you have numbers in boxes 12,14,15 or 17 they are required for state taxes. In the TTX program if you don't enter those amounts, then those state/local taxes will not be deducted from your federally taxable income nor will they be reported on the state return. That means you'll double-pay taxes on the state and/or local return.