What Is Form 1099-R and How Do You Report It?

To report Form 1099-R on your tax return, transfer the numbers from the form onto Form 1040: gross distribution from Box 1 goes on Line 4a for IRAs or Line 5a for pensions, annuities, 401(k)s, and other employer plans, and the taxable amount from Box 2a goes on Line 4b or 5b. Any federal tax withheld in Box 4 moves to the payments section of your 1040 as a credit against what you owe. The code in Box 7 tells the IRS why the money came out, and that code determines whether you need to attach Form 8606, Form 5329, or nothing extra at all.¹

If Box 2a equals Box 1 and the whole distribution is taxable, some filers only fill in Line 4b or 5b and leave the “a” line blank. Tax software walks you through this automatically once you type in the form as it appears. On a paper return, attach Copy B of the 1099-R when Box 4 shows federal tax withheld.

The Boxes You Actually Transcribe

Only a handful of boxes drive the numbers on your return.

Box 1, gross distribution: the total paid out during the year, taxable and non-taxable combined.
Box 2a, taxable amount: what the payer believes is subject to federal income tax. This may be blank or match Box 1.
Box 2b, taxable amount not determined: if checked, the payer could not calculate the taxable portion and you have to figure it, usually on Form 8606.
Box 4, federal income tax withheld: a credit on your return.
Box 5, employee contributions or insurance premiums: after-tax money that comes back to you tax-free and reduces the taxable amount.
Box 6, net unrealized appreciation: gain built into employer stock distributed from a plan, given special tax treatment and excluded from Box 2a.²
Box 7, distribution code: the single most important box for tax treatment.

Boxes 14 through 16 carry state information: tax withheld, the state and payer’s state ID, and the state distribution amount. Those are not needed on the federal return but you use them on your state return.³

What the Box 7 Code Changes

The alphanumeric code in Box 7 tells both you and the IRS what kind of distribution this was. It decides whether the 10% early withdrawal penalty applies, whether the money is taxable at all, and whether you owe an extra form.

Code 1, early distribution, no known exception: you were under 59½ and the payer applied no exception. The IRS will expect the 10% additional tax unless you claim an exception on Form 5329.⁴
Code 2, early distribution with exception: under 59½ but a qualifying exception applies, such as separation from service at 55, substantially equal periodic payments, or a Roth conversion. No additional penalty.
Code 7, normal distribution: you were 59½ or older, no early withdrawal penalty.
Code G, direct rollover: funds moved straight to another qualified plan or IRA. Generally not taxable.⁵
Code 4, death: paid to a beneficiary after the account holder died.

Roth IRA distributions use their own codes. Code Q means the distribution is fully qualified: the five-year holding period is met and you are at least 59½, disabled, or the payment goes to a beneficiary. Code T means the age or other condition is met but the payer does not know whether the five-year rule was satisfied. Code J is an early Roth distribution where neither Q nor T applies. Under a Roth code, Box 2a is often blank with the “taxable amount not determined” box checked, because payers cannot usually track your contribution basis across multiple custodians. You have to work the taxable portion out yourself.³

When You Need Form 8606

Form 8606 comes into play any time your traditional IRA has basis, meaning after-tax dollars you contributed but never deducted. Without Form 8606, the IRS treats the entire distribution as taxable income. The form tracks your basis (total nondeductible contributions minus what you have already withdrawn tax-free) and pro-rates it across all of your traditional IRA balances combined. You cannot pull only the after-tax dollars and leave the pre-tax money behind.⁶

Failing to file Form 8606 when required carries a $50 penalty, and overstating your nondeductible contributions triggers a $100 penalty. Keep every 8606 you have ever filed, along with your Form 5498 contribution statements, until you have taken all distributions from your IRAs.

When You Need Form 5329

Form 5329 is for two situations that come out of a 1099-R.

The first is claiming an exception to the 10% early withdrawal penalty. Payers sometimes default to Code 1 in Box 7 even when your circumstances qualify for an exception, because they do not know your full story. On Line 2 of Form 5329, you enter the amount that qualifies for an exception and the exception number.⁷ The exceptions that come up most often:

Separation from service at 55 or older, for that employer’s plan only (age 50 for public safety employees), not for IRAs.
Total and permanent disability, or death of the account holder.
Substantially equal periodic payments based on life expectancy, taken at least annually for five years or until 59½, whichever is later.
Qualified higher education expenses (IRAs only).
First-time home purchase, up to a $10,000 lifetime cap (IRAs only).
Birth or adoption, up to $5,000 per child.
Unreimbursed medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of adjusted gross income.
Federally declared disaster losses, up to $22,000.⁴

Check the account type before you claim an exception. The Rule of 55 works for 401(k)s but not IRAs; education and first-time home purchase work for IRAs but not employer plans. If no exception applies and you do owe the penalty, Form 5329 is also where you calculate it. The penalty runs on the taxable portion of the distribution, not the gross amount.⁸

The second situation is a missed required minimum distribution. Falling short on an RMD triggers a 25% excise tax on the amount you should have taken. Correct the shortfall within two years and the penalty drops to 10%. You report and calculate this on Form 5329.⁹

Rollovers

A direct rollover (Code G) is not taxable. You still report the gross amount on Line 4a or 5a, put zero (or the taxable portion, if any) on 4b or 5b, and write “Rollover” next to it.

Indirect rollovers are where reporting gets complicated. The payer sends the check to you and you have 60 days to redeposit the funds into another eligible account. Miss the window and the whole distribution becomes taxable, plus the 10% penalty if you are under 59½.¹⁰ On an indirect rollover from an employer plan, the payer must withhold 20% for federal taxes before sending you the check, and you cannot opt out.¹¹ To roll over the full original balance, you have to make up that 20% from other money within the 60 days. Whatever you do not redeposit is treated as a taxable distribution. You get credit on your return for the amount withheld, but the tax and any penalty still apply to the portion you kept.

Roth Conversions

Converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA produces a 1099-R even when the money never leaves the same custodian. The form shows the conversion amount in Box 1 and Box 2a, with Code 2 in Box 7 if you are under 59½ or Code 7 if you are 59½ or older.³ The converted amount is taxable income for the year but no 10% early withdrawal penalty applies, because the conversion is itself an exception.

Report the conversion on Part II of Form 8606 and carry the taxable amount to Line 4b of your 1040. If part of the converted amount came from after-tax basis tracked on prior 8606 filings, that portion comes out tax-free. The pro-rata rule still applies: the IRS looks at all of your traditional IRA balances together when deciding how much of the conversion is taxable.

Required Minimum Distributions

Once you turn 73, RMDs from traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and employer plans like 401(k)s must begin. The age rises to 75 for anyone who turns 73 after December 31, 2032, under the SECURE 2.0 Act.¹² Roth IRAs have no RMD during the original owner’s lifetime.

Your first RMD is due April 1 of the year after you turn 73. Every RMD after that is due December 31. If you push the first RMD to April, you take two in the same calendar year, each on its own 1099-R, and the combined income can push you into a higher bracket.⁹ Report each 1099-R on Line 4a/4b (IRA) or 5a/5b (employer plan) as usual.

Inherited Accounts

For accounts inherited from someone who died in 2020 or later, the SECURE Act’s 10-year rule usually applies to non-spouse beneficiaries: the account must be emptied by the end of the 10th year after the original owner’s death.¹³ Each distribution generates its own 1099-R, generally with Code 4 in Box 7, and you report it the same way the original owner would have: IRA distributions on Lines 4a/4b, employer plan distributions on Lines 5a/5b.

Spouse beneficiaries can roll the inherited account into their own IRA and treat it as theirs. Minor children of the deceased, disabled individuals, and beneficiaries not more than 10 years younger than the decedent may still use the older life-expectancy method instead of the 10-year rule.

If the Form Is Wrong or Missing

If the amount, the code, or any other detail on the 1099-R looks wrong, contact the payer first and ask for a corrected form.¹⁴ If the payer does not respond by the end of February, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 with your name, address, Social Security number, and the payer’s name and address ready. The IRS will contact the payer and send you Form 4852, a substitute for the missing or incorrect 1099-R.¹⁵

If April 15 arrives without a corrected form, file with Form 4852 using your best estimates of the distribution and any tax withheld. When a corrected 1099-R eventually shows different numbers, amend the return with Form 1040-X.

The Filing Deadline

Your federal return, with the 1099-R reported on it, is due April 15. Filing an extension buys you more time to file but not more time to pay. If you owe tax on a distribution, interest starts running after April 15 whether or not you extended.¹⁶ The payer’s own deadline to send you the form is January 31, so if it has not arrived by early February, start with a call to the payer.⁵

1
Internal Revenue Service. 1040 (2025)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
4
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8606
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 5329
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
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eCFR. 26 CFR 31.3405(c)-1 – Withholding on Eligible Rollover Distributions
12
Congress.gov. Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Rules for Original Owners
13
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
14
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 154, Form W-2 and Form 1099-R (What to Do if Incorrect or Not Received)
15
Internal Revenue Service. Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, or Form 1099-R
16
Internal Revenue Service. Need More Time to File? Don’t Wait, Request an Extension