For an early distribution from a retirement account do you have to pull the full amount in order NOT to pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty for an emergency use.

[mrjoeya2013]

The IRS states: one distribution per calendar year for personal or family emergency expenses, up to the lesser of $1k or vested account balance over $1k. Does it have to be the full amount sitting in the account over $1k or could it be a portion of it?

[CatinaT1]

The exception to the 10% penalty for a distribution related to an Emergency, only applies to $1,000. You would have the 10% early withdrawal penalty on any amount over $1,000.

The IRS says one distribution per calendar year for personal or family emergency expenses, up to the lesser of $1,000 or vested account balance over $1,000. 

The second part of that sentence is confusing, because $1,000 is always going to be the lesser. I looked into it more and included the language below from the IRS Code along with the link.

Emergency personal expense distributions are subject to three limitations. First, section 72(t)(2)(I)(ii) provides that not more than one distribution per calendar year is permitted to be treated as an emergency personal expense distribution by any individual. Second, section 72(t)(2)(I)(iii) permits an individual to treat a distribution as an emergency personal expense distribution in any calendar year in an amount up to a maximum of $1,000. Third, section 72(t)(2)(I)(vii) provides rules that limit taking subsequent emergency personal expense distributions. IRS Link

[mrjoeya2013]

I challenge the response about the your $1,000 limit. As I stated and from the IRS website, is says "up to the lesser of $1,000 OR vested account balance "OVER" $1,000. Which means you would have to take the full amount of the account (if over $1000) for a distribution to qualify, correct? That is my question. 

[DawnC]

You can take less than $1K or more than $1K, but only $1K of the distribution will be exempt from the penalty.  

[mrjoeya2013]

If the limit is $1,000 then why does turbo tax ask how much of my distirbution was used for an emergency to check for a tax break? I entered the full vested amount which way over the $1,000 and turbo tax reduced my tax liability significantly. 

This is clear as mud.

Thank,

[SusanY1]

Since there are various limits for different types exceptions to the early withdrawal penalty, TurboTax does immediately remove the penalty on the entry page.  However, if you have a number greater than $1,000 on the line for "distributions for eligible emergency expense distributions", you will get an error during the Smart Check that occurs before filing.  

The number entered for this exception (line W of the worksheet) should not exceed $1,000 which is the maximum allowable amount for this type of early distribution exception.