1040 Lines 4a and 4b: IRA Distributions, Rollovers, and QCDs

On Form 1040, Line 4a is where you report the gross amount of IRA distributions you received during the year, and Line 4b is where you report the portion that is taxable. If the entire distribution is taxable, the IRS instructions tell you to skip Line 4a and put the full amount on Line 4b.¹ Both numbers come from Form 1099-R: Box 1 feeds Line 4a, and Box 2a (or your own calculation) feeds Line 4b.²

Only IRA Distributions Belong Here

Lines 4a and 4b are reserved for distributions from IRAs, meaning traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE accounts. Pensions, annuities, 401(k) distributions, 403(b) plans, governmental 457(b) plans, and military retirement pay all belong on Lines 5a and 5b, even though they arrive on the same Form 1099-R.¹ If you received both kinds of income in the same year, you report them on separate pairs of lines.

The 2025 Form 1040 also has a Line 4c, a set of checkboxes for flagging special situations such as rollovers, qualified charitable distributions, and health savings account funding distributions. Annotations that used to be hand-written next to Line 4b on older returns now go on Line 4c instead.¹

Fully Taxable vs. Partially Taxable Distributions

Most traditional IRA owners made only deductible contributions, so every dollar coming out is taxable. In that case, enter the total on Line 4b and leave Line 4a blank.¹ This feels backward the first time you do it, but the logic holds: Line 4a is there to show the IRS that more came out of the account than you are reporting as income. If nothing is excluded, nothing extra needs showing.

You use both lines whenever a portion of the distribution is not taxable. The common situations are:

You have basis in a traditional IRA from nondeductible contributions, so part of each distribution recovers already-taxed dollars.
You rolled the distribution into another retirement account.
You made a qualified charitable distribution directly to a charity.
You took a Roth IRA distribution that is partly or fully tax-free.

In each of these cases, the gross amount from Box 1 of your 1099-R goes on Line 4a, the smaller taxable amount goes on Line 4b, and you check the appropriate box on Line 4c when one applies. If you received multiple IRA distributions during the year, add the gross amounts together for Line 4a and the taxable amounts together for Line 4b.¹

Figuring the Taxable Amount When You Have Basis

If you ever made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA, you have basis: money you already paid tax on and should not be taxed on again. The IRS does not let you pull that basis out first, though. Every distribution is treated as a proportional mix of taxable and non-taxable money under the pro-rata rule, which applies across all your traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs combined as if they were a single account.³

If you have $20,000 of nondeductible contributions spread across three IRAs worth $200,000 together, only 10% of any distribution is tax-free, regardless of which account you draw from.

You run this calculation on Form 8606, which tracks your running basis and determines the non-taxable portion for the year. The denominator is the year-end total value of all your traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs plus the distributions you took during the year. The result flows to Line 4b.

Skipping Form 8606 is a costly mistake. If you had nondeductible contributions and do not file, the IRS will treat the full distribution as taxable, and you risk paying tax on the same dollars twice. There is also a $50 penalty for each year you were required to file Form 8606 and did not, unless you can show reasonable cause.³

Reporting a Rollover

When you move IRA money into another retirement account, the full gross amount still shows up on Line 4a, Line 4b is zero, and you check the rollover box on Line 4c to explain the gap.⁴

The cleanest version is a direct rollover, sometimes called a trustee-to-trustee transfer, where the money moves straight from one custodian to another and you never touch it. Your 1099-R will show distribution code G and Box 2a will already read zero.²

An indirect rollover is riskier. The custodian sends the check to you, and you have 60 days to deposit the money into another eligible account. Miss the deadline and the whole amount becomes taxable on Line 4b, potentially with a 10% early withdrawal penalty on top.⁴ The 1099-R for an indirect rollover often shows the full amount in Box 2a or marks it “taxable amount not determined,” so you have to override that figure on your return by entering zero on Line 4b and checking the rollover box on Line 4c.

One more trap on the indirect side: the IRS allows only one indirect IRA-to-IRA rollover in any 12-month period across all your IRAs combined. A second one inside that window does not qualify, so the excess amount lands in your gross income, may trigger the 10% early distribution penalty, and if you deposit it anyway can be treated as an excess contribution subject to a 6% annual penalty until removed.⁵ Direct rollovers and trustee-to-trustee transfers do not count against this limit.

Reporting a Qualified Charitable Distribution

If you are 70½ or older, you can send up to $111,000 per year (the 2026 inflation-adjusted limit) from a traditional IRA directly to a qualified charity as a qualified charitable distribution. The amount is excluded from your taxable income entirely and also counts toward your required minimum distribution for the year if you have one.

On the return, put the full distribution on Line 4a. If the whole thing was a QCD, enter zero on Line 4b and check the QCD box on Line 4c. If only part of the distribution was a QCD, reduce Line 4b accordingly and still check the box.¹ The 1099-R will not distinguish the QCD from a regular distribution, so keep your own records, including an acknowledgment letter from the charity.

Roth IRA Entries

A “qualified distribution” from a Roth IRA is entirely tax-free and does not land on Line 4b at all. To qualify, you must have held any Roth IRA for at least five tax years, and one of the following must apply: you are 59½ or older, you are disabled under the tax code’s standard, the money went to a first-time home purchase up to a $10,000 lifetime limit, or the distribution went to your beneficiary or estate after death.⁶ The five-year clock starts on January 1 of the first year you contributed to any Roth IRA, not the specific account you withdraw from.

For a non-qualified Roth distribution, the IRS applies ordering rules that favor you. Your contributions come out first and are always tax-free. Conversion amounts come next, taxed only if withdrawn within five years of the conversion. Earnings come out last, and only the earnings portion is taxable and reported on Line 4b.⁷ Many Roth owners can take substantial withdrawals without owing anything, even when the distribution does not technically qualify.

Where the Rest of the 1099-R Goes

Federal income tax withheld from your IRA distribution sits in Box 4 of the 1099-R. That withholding does not go on Line 4a or 4b. Report it on Line 25b of Form 1040, where it counts as a tax payment and either reduces what you owe or increases your refund.¹

The 10% additional tax for distributions taken before age 59½ is calculated on Form 5329, not on Lines 4a or 4b. The taxable amount still goes on Line 4b the normal way; the penalty is a separate line further down the return.⁸

If Your 1099-R Is Wrong

If the 1099-R contains an error and the custodian will not issue a corrected form, you can contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 to open a complaint, and the IRS will request the correction from the issuer. If a corrected form does not arrive in time to file, you can use Form 4852 as a substitute, estimating the correct figures as closely as you can. When your return shows different numbers than what the custodian reported, attach Form 8275 to explain the discrepancy. The IRS matches 1099-R data against returns automatically, so an unexplained mismatch is the fastest way to draw a notice.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040
2
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 408A – Roth IRAs
7
Internal Revenue Service. Roth IRAs
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 557, Additional Tax on Early Distributions From Traditional and Roth IRAs