Government Thrift Savings Plan $161,000 ???

[daystar35]

I received a client who is in a nursing home and worked for the postal til he was 77. He is

having blackouts etc.  Anyway he got a 1099R from the Thrift Savings Plan of  $161,126

with taxes taken out of $31404. (about 20%).  I doubt this is a yearly amount  since really high.

Is it a total distribution? the box 7 says "7" .  Why would postal HR trigger this kind of tax event on him.

If this is a government retirement he should be getting amounts based on RMD life expectancy stats, right?

Any light on this is appreciated ...he has trouble articulating etc.

[EricG]

A "7" on line 7 means that it's a normal distribution, which just means he was over 59 1/2 at the time of distribution. 

According to the TSP board (link here), "In general, TSP withdrawal payments are subject to Federal income tax." But there are different tax rules for different withdrawal methods.  Here's the list of withdrawal methods.  It talks about Life Expectancy withdrawals like you thought. Perhaps you can show him the list and have him point at which one he did? 

Just speculating, but it looks like he might have done a full withdrawal in a single payment. 

Hope this helps, and please feel free to post again with any updates.