Will form 8915B be available for efile for the 2019 tax season. This form was supposed to be released March 2018.

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

The IRS Form Form 8915B, Qualified 2017 Disaster Retirement Plan Distribution & Repayments for tax year 2018 is estimated to be available on 02/22/19

See this TurboTax support FAQ for IRS Forms availability - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1908854-irs-forms-availability-table-for-turbotax-individual-perso...

[tprintz2010]

Irs website says  Qualified 2017 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments  Revision: 2018  posted: 02/07/2019.  Looks like it is ready on the irs site.

[DoninGA]

The TurboTax forms have to be approved by the IRS before they are available to be used for e-filing

[brandyrachelle]

I thought it wasn’t available to e-file? So if it is on the IRS site and I want to file ASAP can I print what I have on turbo tax and mail it in Witt the form from the IRS?

[DoninGA]

It is the IRS that is the hold up on finalizing the 8915B.  The IRS has not updated the instructions for the 8915B for tax year 2018.  Only the 2017 instructions are available on the IRS website.  That is why the estimated date for being available is 02/22/19

[joe-missy]

On the turbo tax site it now says 02/28/19 and unsupported for efile. Does that mean that it will not be supported for efile ever on the Turbo Tax site?

[DoninGA]

It will not be supported for e-filing with a 2018 tax return.  The form can only be included with a printed and mailed tax return.

[misteranders79]

Turbotax is taking forever with this form what is the fastest way to mail in our tax return to the IRS? For instance should we overnight it certified mail? If so how?

[macuser_22]

@joe.missy - it will never be able to be e-filed per the IRS.

And the IRS just published the 2018 *instructions* for the form on 2/14.  It takes 2 or more weeks to test with the IRS to insure that the new instructions are complied with.   The IRS must approve TurboTax's form before it can be released.

[misteranders79]

Why does the form that turbotax uses have to be approved? Don't they use the same form that the IRS just released?

[brandyrachelle]

This doesn’t make sense to me. If the IRS site has the form and instructions I need to file my taxes. How do I do that? Will turbo tax allow me to download the info I have now? My plan is to combine that with the form on the IRS site and mail it in. My concern is this gets pushed back every week!

[macuser_22]

"Why does the form that turbotax uses have to be approved"

Because TurboTax is a ERO service provider licensed by the IRS and must comply with all IRS regulations.   Any form that TurboTax has must meet the IRS specifications for that form and must be submitted to the IRS for final approval before it can be released.   

That is mainly for e-filing since the form encrypted by TurboTax according to IRS specifications must be able to be unencrypted by the IRS when they receive it so it must pass all IRS tests prior to release.

There are only a few "mail only" forms and the IRS does not have a different procedure for those - all forms must go though the same testing.   And paper filed forms must also meet IRS specifications so that they can be machine scanned by the IRS when received to avoid manual data entry.

[jdolivares1231]

i was told it was gonna be available to efile this friday  the 22nd now i keep getting different answers. what is the accurate answer???

[DoninGA]

The IRS Form 8915B, Qualified 2017 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions & Repayments  is currently estimated to be available on 02/28/19.
See this TurboTax support FAQ for IRS Forms availability - <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1908854-irs-forms-availability-table-for-turbotax-individual-perso...>...