IRS Releases Publication 575 (2016), Pension and Annuity Income

Reminders

Future developments. For the latest information about developments related to Pub. 575, such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to http://www.irs.gov/pub575.

Net investment income tax. For purposes of the net investment income tax (NIIT), net investment income doesn't include distributions from a qualified retirement plan (for example, 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A, or 457(b) plans). However, these distributions are taken into account when determining the modified adjusted gross income threshold. Distributions from a nonqualified retirement plan are included in net investment income. See Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax -- Individuals, Estates, and Trusts, and its instructions for more information.

Expanded exception to the tax on early distributions from a governmental plan for qualified public safety employees. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2015, in addition to those employees described in Qualified public safety employees, the definition is expanded to include the following:

For more information, see Tax on Early Distributions later.

Rollovers to SIMPLE retirement accounts. You can roll over amounts from a qualified retirement plan (as described under Rollovers, later) or an IRA into a SIMPLE retirement account as follows:

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Introduction

This publication discusses the tax treatment of distributions you receive from pension and annuity plans and also shows you how to report the income on your federal income tax return. How these distributions are taxed depends on whether they are periodic payments (amounts received as an annuity) that are paid at regular intervals over several years or nonperiodic payments (amounts not received as an annuity).

What is covered in this publication? This publication contains information that you need to understand the following topics.

CAUTION: A "corrected" Form 1099-R replaces the corresponding original Form 1099-R if the original Form 1099-R contained an error. Make sure you use the amounts shown on the corrected Form 1099-R when reporting information on your tax return.

What isn't covered in this publication? The following topics aren't discussed in this publication.

The General Rule. This is the method generally used to determine the tax treatment of pension and annuity income from nonqualified plans (including commercial annuities). For a qualified plan, you generally can't use the General Rule unless your annuity starting date is before November 19, 1996. Although this publication will help you determine whether you can use the General Rule, it won't help you use it to determine the tax treatment of your pension or annuity income. For that and other information on the General Rule, see Pub. 939, General Rule for Pensions and Annuities.

Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs). Information on the tax treatment of amounts you receive from an IRA is in Pub. 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

Civil service retirement benefits. If you are retired from the federal government (regular, phased, or disability retirement) or are the survivor or beneficiary of a federal employee or retiree who died, get Pub. 721, Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits. Pub. 721 covers the tax treatment of federal retirement benefits, primarily those paid under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). It also covers benefits paid from the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

Social security and equivalent tier 1 railroad retirement benefits. For information about the tax treatment of these benefits, see Pub. 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits. However, this publication (575) covers the tax treatment of the non-social security equivalent benefit portion of tier 1 railroad retirement benefits, tier 2 benefits, vested dual benefits, and supplemental annuity benefits paid by the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board.

Tax-sheltered annuity plans (403(b) plans). If you work for a public school or certain tax-exempt organizations, you may be eligible to participate in a 403(b) retirement plan offered by your employer. Although this publication covers the treatment of benefits under 403(b) plans and discusses in-plan Roth rollovers from 403(b) plans to designated Roth accounts, it doesn't cover other tax provisions that apply to these plans. For that and other information on 403(b) plans, see Pub. 571, Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans (403(b) Plans) For Employees of Public Schools and Certain Tax-Exempt Organizations.

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Tax questions. If you have a tax question not answered by this publication, check IRS.gov and How To Get Tax Help at the end of this publication.

Useful Items

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Publication

General Information

Definitions. Some of the terms used in this publication are defined in the following paragraphs.

Pension. A pension is generally a series of definitely determinable payments made to you after you retire from work. Pension payments are made regularly and are based on such factors as years of service and prior compensation.

Annuity. An annuity is a series of payments under a contract made at regular intervals over a period of more than 1 full year. They can be either fixed (under which you receive a definite amount) or variable (not fixed). You can buy the contract alone or with the help of your employer.

Qualified employee plan. A qualified employee plan is an employer's stock bonus, pension, or profit-sharing plan that is for the exclusive benefit of employees or their beneficiaries and that meets Internal Revenue Code requirements. It qualifies for special tax benefits, such as tax deferral for employer contributions and capital gain treatment or the 10-year tax option for lump-sum distributions (if participants qualify). To determine whether your plan is a qualified plan, check with your employer or the plan administrator.

Qualified employee annuity. A qualified employee annuity is a retirement annuity purchased by an employer for an employee under a plan that meets Internal Revenue Code requirements.

Designated Roth account. A designated Roth account is a separate account created under a qualified Roth contribution program to which participants may elect to have part or all of their elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan designated as Roth contributions. Elective deferrals that are designated as Roth contributions are included in your income. However, qualified distributions (explained later) aren't included in your income. You should check with your plan administrator to determine if your plan will accept designated Roth contributions.

Tax-sheltered annuity plan. A tax-sheltered annuity plan (often referred to as a 403(b) plan or a tax-deferred annuity plan) is a retirement plan for employees of public schools and certain tax-exempt organizations. Generally, a tax-sheltered annuity plan provides retirement benefits by purchasing annuity contracts for its participants.

Types of pensions and annuities. Pensions and annuities include the following types.

Fixed-period annuities. You receive definite amounts at regular intervals for a specified length of time.

Annuities for a single life. You receive definite amounts at regular intervals for life. The payments end at death.

Joint and survivor annuities. The first annuitant receives a definite amount at regular intervals for life. After he or she dies, a second annuitant receives a definite amount at regular intervals for life. The amount paid to the second annuitant may or may not differ from the amount paid to the first annuitant.

Variable annuities. You receive payments that may vary in amount for a specified length of time or for life. The amounts you receive may depend upon such variables as profits earned by the pension or annuity funds, cost-of-living indexes, or earnings from a mutual fund.

Disability pensions. You receive disability payments because you retired on disability and haven't reached minimum retirement age.

More than one program. You may receive employee plan benefits from more than one program under a single trust or plan of your employer. If you participate in more than one program, you may have to treat each as a separate pension or annuity contract, depending upon the facts in each case. Also, you may be considered to have received more than one pension or annuity. Your former employer or the plan administrator should be able to tell you if you have more than one contract.

Example. Your employer set up a noncontributory profit-sharing plan for its employees. The plan provides that the amount held in the account of each participant will be paid when that participant retires. Your employer also set up a contributory defined benefit pension plan for its employees providing for the payment of a lifetime pension to each participant after retirement.

The amount of any distribution from the profit-sharing plan depends on the contributions (including allocated forfeitures) made for the participant and the earnings from those contributions. Under the pension plan, however, a formula determines the amount of the pension benefits. The amount of contributions is the amount necessary to provide that pension.

Each plan is a separate program and a separate contract. If you get benefits from these plans, you must account for each separately, even though the benefits from both may be included in the same check.

CAUTION: Distributions from a designated Roth account are treated separately from other distributions from the plan.

Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO). A QDRO is a judgment, decree, or order relating to payment of child support, alimony, or marital property rights to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a participant in a retirement plan. The QDRO must contain certain specific information, such as the name and last known mailing address of the participant and each alternate payee, and the amount or percentage of the participant's benefits to be paid to each alternate payee. A QDRO may not award an amount or form of benefit that isn't available under the plan.

A spouse or former spouse who receives part of the benefits from a retirement plan under a QDRO reports the payments received as if he or she were a plan participant. The spouse or former spouse is allocated a share of the participant's cost (investment in the contract) equal to the cost times a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the present value of the benefits payable to the spouse or former spouse. The denominator is the present value of all benefits payable to the participant.

A distribution that is paid to a child or other dependent under a QDRO is taxed to the plan participant.

Variable Annuities

The tax rules in this publication apply both to annuities that provide fixed payments and to annuities that provide payments that vary in amount based on investment results or other factors. For example, they apply to commercial variable annuity contracts, whether bought by an employee retirement plan for its participants or bought directly from the issuer by an individual investor. Under these contracts, the owner can generally allocate the purchase payments among several types of investment portfolios or mutual funds and the contract value is determined by the performance of those investments. The earnings aren't taxed until distributed either in a withdrawal or in annuity payments. The taxable part of a distribution is treated as ordinary income.

For information on the tax treatment of a transfer or exchange of a variable annuity contract, see Transfers of Annuity Contracts under Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments, later.

Net investment income tax. Annuities under a nonqualified plan are included in calculating your net investment income for the net investment income tax (NIIT). For information see the Instructions for Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax -- Individuals, Estates and Trusts.

Withdrawals. If you withdraw funds before your annuity starting date and your annuity is under a qualified retirement plan, a ratable part of the amount withdrawn is tax free. The tax-free part is based on the ratio of your cost (investment in the contract) to your account balance under the plan.

If your annuity is under a nonqualified plan (including a contract you bought directly from the issuer), the amount withdrawn is allocated first to earnings (the taxable part) and then to your cost (the tax-free part). However, if you bought your annuity contract before August 14, 1982, a different allocation applies to the investment before that date and the earnings on that investment. To the extent the amount withdrawn doesn't exceed that investment and earnings, it is allocated first to your cost (the tax-free part) and then to earnings (the taxable part).

If you withdraw funds (other than as an annuity) on or after your annuity starting date, the entire amount withdrawn is generally taxable.

The amount you receive in a full surrender of your annuity contract at any time is tax free to the extent of any cost that you haven't previously recovered tax free. The rest is taxable.

For more information on the tax treatment of withdrawals, see Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments, later. If you withdraw funds from your annuity before you reach age 59 1/2, also see Tax on Early Distributions under Special Additional Taxes, later.

Annuity payments. If you receive annuity payments under a variable annuity plan or contract, you recover your cost tax free under either the Simplified Method or the General Rule, as explained under Taxation of Periodic Payments, later. For a variable annuity paid under a qualified plan, you generally must use the Simplified Method. For a variable annuity paid under a nonqualified plan (including a contract you bought directly from the issuer), you must use a special computation under the General Rule. For more information, see Variable annuities in Pub. 939 under Computation Under the General Rule.

Death benefits. If you receive a single-sum distribution from a variable annuity contract because of the death of the owner or annuitant, the distribution is generally taxable only to the extent it is more than the unrecovered cost of the contract. If you choose to receive an annuity, the payments are subject to tax as described above. If the contract provides a joint and survivor annuity and the primary annuitant had received annuity payments before death, you figure the tax-free part of annuity payments you receive as the survivor in the same way the primary annuitant did. See Survivors and Beneficiaries, later.

Section 457 Deferred Compensation Plans

If you work for a state or local government or for a tax-exempt organization, you may be able to participate in a section 457 deferred compensation plan. If your plan is an eligible plan, you aren't taxed currently on pay that is deferred under the plan or on any earnings from the plan's investment of the deferred pay. You are generally taxed on amounts deferred in an eligible state or local government plan only when they are distributed from the plan. You are taxed on amounts deferred in an eligible tax-exempt organization plan when they are distributed or otherwise made available to you.

Your 457(b) plan may have a designated Roth account option. If so, you may be able to roll over amounts to the designated Roth account or make contributions. Elective deferrals to a designated Roth account are included in your income. Qualified distributions (explained later) aren't included in your income. See the Designated Roth accounts discussion under Taxation of Periodic Payments, later.

This publication covers the tax treatment of benefits under eligible section 457 plans, but it doesn't cover the treatment of deferrals. For information on deferrals under section 457 plans, see Retirement Plan Contributions under Employee Compensation in Pub. 525.

Is your plan eligible? To find out if your plan is an eligible plan, check with your employer. Plans that aren't eligible section 457 plans include the following:

If you retired on disability, you generally must include in income any disability pension you receive under a plan that is paid for by your employer. You must report your taxable disability payments as wages on line 7 of Form 1040 or Form 1040A or on line 8 of Form 1040NR until you reach minimum retirement age. Minimum retirement age generally is the age at which you can first receive a pension or annuity if you aren't disabled.

TIP: You may be entitled to a tax credit if you were permanently and totally disabled when you retired. For information on this credit, see Pub. 524.

Beginning on the day after you reach minimum retirement age, payments you receive are taxable as a pension or annuity. When you receive pension or annuity payments you are able to recover your cost or investment. Your cost is generally your net investment in the plan as of your annuity starting date. It doesn't include pre-tax contributions. For more information, see Cost (Investment in the Contract) and Taxation of Periodic Payments, later.

Report the payments on Form 1040, lines 16a and 16b; Form 1040A, lines 12a and 12b; or on Form 1040NR, lines 17a and 17b.

TIP: Disability payments for injuries incurred as a direct result of a terrorist attack directed against the United States (or its allies) aren't included in income. For more information about payments to survivors of terrorist attacks, see Pub. 3920, Tax Relief for Victims of Terrorist Attacks.

Military and government disability pensions. Certain military and government disability pensions aren't taxable.

Service-connected disability. You may be able to exclude from income amounts you receive as a pension, annuity, or similar allowance for personal injury or sickness resulting from active service in one of the following government services:

If you are an eligible retired public safety officer (law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew), you can elect to exclude from income distributions made from your eligible retirement plan that are used to pay the premiums for accident or health insurance or long-term care insurance. The premiums can be for coverage for you, your spouse, or dependents. The distribution must be made directly from the plan to the insurance provider. You can exclude from income the smaller of the amount of the insurance premiums or $3,000. You can only make this election for amounts that would otherwise be included in your income. The amount excluded from your income can't be used to claim a medical expense deduction.

An eligible retirement plan is a governmental plan that is:

If you are retired on disability and reporting your disability pension on line 7 of Form 1040A, or line 8 of Form 1040NR, include only the taxable amount on that line and enter "PSO" and the amount excluded on the dotted line next to the applicable line.

Railroad Retirement Benefits

Benefits paid under the Railroad Retirement Act fall into two categories. These categories are treated differently for income tax purposes.

The first category is the amount of tier 1 railroad retirement benefits that equals the social security benefit that a railroad employee or beneficiary would have been entitled to receive under the social security system. This part of the tier 1 benefit is the social security equivalent benefit (SSEB) and you treat it for tax purposes like social security benefits. If you received, repaid, or had tax withheld from the SSEB portion of tier 1 benefits during 2016, you will receive Form RRB-1099, Payments by the Railroad Retirement Board (or Form RRB-1042S, Statement for Nonresident Alien Recipients of Payments by the Railroad Retirement Board, if you are a nonresident alien) from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

For more information about the tax treatment of the SSEB portion of tier 1 benefits and Forms RRB-1099 and RRB-1042S, see Pub. 915.

The second category contains the rest of the tier 1 railroad retirement benefits, called the non-social security equivalent benefit (NSSEB). It also contains any tier 2 benefit, vested dual benefit (VDB), and supplemental annuity benefit. Treat this category of benefits, shown on Form RRB-1099-R, as an amount received from a qualified employee plan. This allows for the tax-free (nontaxable) recovery of employee contributions from the tier 2 benefits and the NSSEB part of the tier 1 benefits. (The NSSEB and tier 2 benefits, less certain repayments, are combined into one amount called the Contributory Amount Paid on Form RRB-1099-R.) Vested dual benefits and supplemental annuity benefits are non-contributory pensions and are fully taxable. See Taxation of Periodic Payments, later, for information on how to report your benefits and how to recover the employee contributions tax free. Form RRB-1099-R is used for U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and nonresident aliens.

Nonresident aliens. A nonresident alien is an individual who isn't a citizen or a resident alien of the United States. Nonresident aliens are subject to mandatory U.S. tax withholding unless exempt under a tax treaty between the United States and their country of legal residency. A tax treaty exemption may reduce or eliminate tax withholding from railroad retirement benefits. See Tax withholding next for more information.

If you are a nonresident alien and your tax withholding rate changed or your country of legal residence changed during the year, you may receive more than one Form RRB-1042S or Form RRB-1099-R. To determine your total benefits paid or repaid and total tax withheld for the year, you should add the amounts shown on all forms you received for that year. For information on filing requirements for aliens, see Pub. 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens. For information on tax treaties between the United States and other countries that may reduce or eliminate U.S. tax on your benefits, see Pub. 901, U.S. Tax Treaties.

Tax withholding. To request or change your income tax withholding from SSEB payments, U.S. citizens should contact the IRS for Form W-4V, Voluntary Withholding Request, and file it with the RRB. To elect, revoke, or change your income tax withholding from NSSEB, tier 2, VDB, and supplemental annuity payments received, use Form RRB W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Railroad Retirement Payments. If you are a nonresident alien or a U.S. citizen living abroad, you should provide Form RRB-1001, Nonresident Questionnaire, to the RRB to furnish citizenship and residency information and to claim any treaty exemption from U.S. tax withholding. Nonresident U.S. citizens can't elect to be exempt from withholding on payments delivered outside of the United States.

Help from the RRB. To request an RRB form or to get help with questions about an RRB benefit, you should contact your nearest RRB field office if you reside in the United States (call 1-877-772-5772 for the nearest field office) or U.S. consulate/Embassy if you reside outside the United States. You can visit the RRB on the Internet at https://secure.rrb.gov/

Form RRB-1099-R. The following discussion explains the items shown on Form RRB-1099-R. The amounts shown on this form are before any deduction for:

Generally, amounts shown on your Form RRB-1099-R are considered a normal distribution. Use distribution code "7" if you are asked for a distribution code. Distribution codes aren't shown on Form RRB-1099-R.

There are three copies of this form. Copy B is to be included with your income tax return if federal income tax is withheld. Copy C is for your own records. Copy 2 is filed with your state, city, or local income tax return, when required. See the illustrated Copy B (Form RRB-1099-R) above.

TIP: Each beneficiary will receive his or her own Form RRB-1099-R. If you receive benefits on more than one railroad retirement record, you may get more than one Form RRB-1099-R. So that you get your form timely, make sure the RRB always has your current mailing address.

Box 1--Claim Number and Payee Code. Your claim number is a six- or nine-digit number preceded by an alphabetical prefix. This is the number under which the RRB paid your benefits. Your payee code follows your claim number and is the last number in this box. It is used by the RRB to identify you under your claim number. In all your correspondence with the RRB, be sure to use the claim number and payee code shown in this box.

Box 2--Recipient's Identification Number. This is the recipient's U.S. taxpayer identification number. It is the social security number (SSN), individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), or employer identification number (EIN), if known, for the person or estate listed as the recipient.

TIP: If you are a resident or nonresident alien who must furnish a taxpayer identification number to the IRS and aren't eligible to obtain an SSN, use Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, to apply for an ITIN. The Instructions for Form W-7 explain how and when to apply.

Box 3--Employee Contributions. This is the amount of taxes withheld from the railroad employee's earnings that exceeds the amount of taxes that would have been withheld had the earnings been covered under the social security system. This amount is the employee's cost that you use to figure the tax-free part of the NSSEB and tier 2 benefit you received (the amount shown in box 4). (For information on how to figure the tax-free part, see Partly Taxable Payments under Taxation of Periodic Payments, later.) The amount shown is the total employee contribution amount, not reduced by any amounts that the RRB calculated as previously recovered. It is the latest amount reported for 2016 and may have increased or decreased from a previous Form RRB-1099-R. If this amount has changed, the change is retroactive. You may need to refigure the tax-free part of your NSSEB/tier 2 benefit for 2016 and prior tax years. If this box is blank, it means that the amount of your NSSEB and tier 2 payments shown in box 4 is fully taxable.

Box 4--Contributory Amount Paid. This is the gross amount of the NSSEB and tier 2 benefit you received in 2016, less any 2016 benefits you repaid in 2016. (Any benefits you repaid in 2016 for an earlier year or for an unknown year are shown in box 8.) This amount is the total contributory pension paid in 2016. It may be partly taxable and partly tax free or fully taxable. If you determine you are eligible to compute a tax-free part as explained later in Partly Taxable Payments under Taxation of Periodic Payments, use the latest reported employee contribution amount shown in box 3 as the cost.

Box 5--Vested Dual Benefit. This is the gross amount of vested dual benefit (VDB) payments paid in 2016, less any 2016 VDB payments you repaid in 2016. It is fully taxable. VDB payments you repaid in 2016 for an earlier year or for an unknown year are shown in box 8.

Note. The amounts shown in boxes 4 and 5 may represent payments for 2016 and/or other years after 1983.

Box 6--Supplemental Annuity. This is the gross amount of supplemental annuity benefits paid in 2016, less any 2016 supplemental annuity benefits you repaid in 2016. It is fully taxable. Supplemental annuity benefits you repaid in 2016 for an earlier year or for an unknown year are shown in box 8.

Box 7--Total Gross Paid. This is the sum of boxes 4, 5, and 6. The amount represents the total pension paid in 2016. Include this amount on Form 1040A, line 12a; or Form 1040NR, line 17a.

Box 8--Repayments. This amount represents any NSSEB, tier 2 benefit, VDB, and supplemental annuity benefit you repaid to the RRB in 2016 for years before 2016 or for unknown years. The amount shown in this box hasn't been deducted from the amounts shown in boxes 4, 5, and 6. It only includes repayments of benefits that were taxable to you. This means it only includes repayments in 2016 of NSSEB benefits paid after 1985, tier 2 and VDB benefits paid after 1983, and supplemental annuity benefits paid in any year. If you included the benefits in your income in the year you received them, you may be able to deduct the repaid amount. For more information about repayments, see Repayment of benefits received in an earlier year, later.

TIP: You may have repaid an overpayment of benefits by returning a payment, by making a payment, or by having an amount withheld from your railroad retirement annuity payment.

Box 9--Federal Income Tax Withheld. This is the total federal income tax withheld from your NSSEB, tier 2 benefit, VDB, and supplemental annuity benefit. Include this on your income tax return as tax withheld. If you are a nonresident alien and your tax withholding rate and/or country of legal residence changed during 2016, you will receive more than one Form RRB-1099-R for 2016. Determine the total amount of U.S. federal income tax withheld from your 2016 RRB NSSEB, tier 2, VDB, and supplemental annuity payments by adding the amounts in box 9 of all original 2016 Forms RRB-1099-R, or the latest corrected or duplicate Forms RRB-1099-R you receive.

Box 10--Rate of Tax. If you are taxed as a U.S. citizen or resident alien, this box doesn't apply to you. If you are a nonresident alien, an entry in this box indicates the rate at which tax was withheld on the NSSEB, tier 2, VDB, and supplemental annuity payments that were paid to you in 2016. If you are a nonresident alien whose tax was withheld at more than one rate during 2016, you will receive a separate Form RRB-1099-R for each rate change during 2016.

Box 11--Country. If you are taxed as a U.S. citizen or resident alien, this box doesn't apply to you. If you are a nonresident alien, an entry in this box indicates the country of which you were a resident for tax purposes at the time you received railroad retirement payments in 2016. If you are a nonresident alien who was a resident of more than one country during 2016, you will receive a separate Form RRB-1099-R for each country of residence during 2016.

Box 12--Medicare Premium Total. This is for information purposes only. The amount shown in this box represents the total amount of Part B Medicare premiums deducted from your railroad retirement annuity payments in 2016. Medicare premium refunds aren't included in the Medicare total. The Medicare total is normally shown on Form RRB-1099 (if you are a citizen or resident alien of the United States) or Form RRB-1042S (if you are a nonresident alien). However, if Form RRB-1099 or Form RRB-1042S isn't required for 2016, then this total will be shown on Form RRB-1099-R. If your Medicare premiums were deducted from your social security benefits, paid by a third party, refunded to you, and/or you paid the premiums by direct billing, your Medicare total won't be shown in this box.

Repayment of benefits received in an earlier year. If you had to repay any railroad retirement benefits that you had included in your income in an earlier year because at that time you thought you had an unrestricted right to it, you can deduct the amount you repaid in the year in which you repaid it.

If you repaid $3,000 or less in 2016, deduct it on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 23. The 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit applies to this deduction. You can't take this deduction if you file Form 1040A.

If you repaid more than $3,000 in 2016, you can either take a deduction for the amount repaid on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 28 or you can take a credit against your tax. For more information, see Repayments in Pub. 525.

Withholding Tax and Estimated Tax

Your retirement plan distributions are subject to federal income tax withholding. However, you can choose not to have tax withheld on payments you receive unless they are eligible rollover distributions. (These are distributions, described later under Rollovers, that are eligible for rollover treatment but aren't paid directly to another qualified retirement plan or to a traditional IRA.) If you choose not to have tax withheld or if you don't have enough tax withheld, you may have to make estimated tax payments. See Estimated tax, later.

The withholding rules apply to the taxable part of payments you receive from:

TIP: There will be no withholding on any part of a distribution where it is reasonable to believe that it won't be includible in gross income.

Choosing no withholding. You can choose not to have income tax withheld from retirement plan payments unless they are eligible rollover distributions. You can make this choice on Form W-4P for periodic and nonperiodic payments. This choice generally remains in effect until you revoke it.

The payer will ignore your choice not to have tax withheld if:

If you don't give the payer a home address in the United States or its possessions, you can choose not to have tax withheld only if you certify to the payer that you aren't a U.S. citizen, a U.S. resident alien, or someone who left the country to avoid tax. But if you so certify, you may be subject to the 30% flat rate withholding that applies to nonresident aliens. This 30% rate won't apply if you are exempt or subject to a reduced rate by treaty. For details, get Pub. 519.

Periodic payments. Unless you choose no withholding, your annuity or similar periodic payments (other than eligible rollover distributions) will be treated like wages for withholding purposes. Periodic payments are amounts paid at regular intervals (such as weekly, monthly, or yearly) for a period of time greater than 1 year (such as for 15 years or for life). You should give the payer a completed withholding certificate (Form W-4P or a similar form provided by the payer). If you don't, tax will be withheld as if you were married and claiming three withholding allowances.

Tax will be withheld as if you were single and were claiming no withholding allowances if:

Nonperiodic distributions. Unless you choose no withholding, the withholding rate for a nonperiodic distribution (a payment other than a periodic payment) that isn't an eligible rollover distribution is 10% of the distribution. You can also ask the payer to withhold an additional amount using Form W-4P. The part of any loan treated as a distribution (except an offset amount to repay the loan), explained later, is subject to withholding under this rule.

Eligible rollover distribution. If you receive an eligible rollover distribution, 20% of it generally will be withheld for income tax. You can't choose not to have tax withheld from an eligible rollover distribution. However, tax won't be withheld if you have the plan administrator pay the eligible rollover distribution directly to another qualified plan or an IRA in a direct rollover. For more information about eligible rollover distributions, see Rollovers, later.

Estimated tax. Your estimated tax is the total of your expected income tax, self-employment tax, and certain other taxes for the year, minus your expected credits and withheld tax. Generally, you must make estimated tax payments for 2017 if you expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax (after subtracting your withholding and credits) and you expect your withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:

TIP: In figuring your withholding or estimated tax, remember that a part of your monthly social security or equivalent tier 1 railroad retirement benefits may be taxable. See Pub. 915. You can choose to have income tax withheld from those benefits. Use Form W-4V to make this choice.

Cost (Investment in the Contract)

Distributions from your pension or annuity plan may include amounts treated as a recovery of your cost (investment in the contract). If any part of a distribution is treated as a recovery of your cost under the rules explained in this publication, that part is tax free. Therefore, the first step in figuring how much of a distribution is taxable is to determine the cost of your pension or annuity.

In general, your cost is your net investment in the contract as of the annuity starting date (or the date of the distribution, if earlier). To find this amount, you must first figure the total premiums, contributions, or other amounts you paid. This includes the amounts your employer contributed that were taxable to you when paid. (However, see Foreign employment contributions, later.) It doesn't include amounts withheld from your pay on a tax-deferred basis (money that was taken out of your gross pay before taxes were deducted). It also doesn't include amounts you contributed for health and accident benefits (including any additional premiums paid for double indemnity or disability benefits).

From this total cost you must subtract the following amounts.

TIP: Form 1099-R. If you began receiving periodic payments of a life annuity in 2016, the payer should show your total contributions to the plan in box 9b of your 2016 Form 1099-R.

Annuity starting date defined. Your annuity starting date is the later of the first day of the first period for which you received a payment or the date the plan's obligations became fixed.

Example. On January 1, you completed all your payments required under an annuity contract providing for monthly payments starting on August 1 for the period beginning July 1. The annuity starting date is July 1. This is the date you use in figuring the cost of the contract and selecting the appropriate number from Table 1 for line 3 of the Simplified Method Worksheet.

Designated Roth accounts. Your cost in these accounts is your designated Roth contributions that were included in your income as wages subject to applicable withholding requirements. Your cost will also include any in-plan Roth rollovers you included in income.

Foreign employment contributions. If you worked abroad, your cost may include contributions by your employer to the retirement plan, but only if those contributions would be excludible from your gross income had they been paid directly to you as compensation. The contributions that apply are:

This section explains how the periodic payments you receive from a pension or annuity plan are taxed. Periodic payments are amounts paid at regular intervals (such as weekly, monthly, or yearly) for a period of time greater than 1 year (such as for 15 years or for life). These payments are also known as amounts received as an annuity. If you receive an amount from your plan that isn't a periodic payment, see Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments, later.

In general, you can recover the cost of your pension or annuity tax free over the period you are to receive the payments. The amount of each payment that is more than the part that represents your cost is taxable (however, see Insurance Premiums for Retired Public Safety Officers, earlier).

Designated Roth accounts. If you receive a qualified distribution from a designated Roth account, the distribution isn't included in your gross income. This applies to both your cost in the account and income earned on that account. A qualified distribution is generally a distribution that is:

Period of participation. The 5-tax-year period of participation is the 5-tax-year period beginning with the first tax year for which the participant made a designated Roth contribution to the plan. Therefore, for designated Roth contributions made for 2016, the first year for which a qualified distribution can be made is 2021.

However, if a direct rollover is made to the plan from a designated Roth account under another plan, the 5-tax-year period for the recipient plan begins with the first tax year for which the participant first had designated Roth contributions made to the other plan.

Your 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan may permit you to roll over amounts from those plans to a designated Roth account within the same plan. This is known as an in-plan Roth rollover. For more details, see In-plan Roth rollovers, later.

Fully Taxable Payments

The pension or annuity payments that you receive are fully taxable if you have no cost in the contract because any of the following situations applies to you (however, see Insurance Premiums for Retired Public Safety Officers, earlier).

Deductible voluntary employee contributions. Distributions you receive that are based on your accumulated deductible voluntary employee contributions are generally fully taxable in the year distributed to you. Accumulated deductible voluntary employee contributions include net earnings on the contributions. If distributed as part of a lump sum, they don't qualify for the 10-year tax option or capital gain treatment, explained later.

Partly Taxable Payments

If you have a cost to recover from your pension or annuity plan (see Cost (Investment in the Contract), earlier), you can exclude part of each annuity payment from income as a recovery of your cost. This tax-free part of the payment is figured when your annuity starts and remains the same each year, even if the amount of the payment changes. The rest of each payment is taxable (however, see Insurance Premiums for Retired Public Safety Officers, earlier).

You figure the tax-free part of the payment using one of the following methods.

If you had more than one partly taxable pension or annuity, figure the tax-free part and the taxable part of each separately.

Qualified plan annuity starting before November 19, 1996. If your annuity is paid under a qualified plan and your annuity starting date (defined earlier under Cost (Investment in the Contract)) is after July 1, 1986, and before November 19, 1996, you could have chosen to use either the Simplified Method or the General Rule. If your annuity starting date is before July 2, 1986, you use the General Rule unless your annuity qualified for the Three-Year Rule. If you used the Three-Year Rule (which was repealed for annuities starting after July 1, 1986), your annuity payments are generally now fully taxable.

Exclusion limit. Your annuity starting date determines the total amount of annuity payments that you can exclude from income over the years. Once your annuity starting date is determined, it doesn't change. If you calculate the taxable portion of your annuity payments using the simplified method worksheet, the annuity starting date determines the recovery period for your cost. That recovery period begins on your annuity starting date and isn't affected by the date you first complete the worksheet.

Exclusion limited to cost. If your annuity starting date is after 1986, the total amount of annuity income that you can exclude over the years as a recovery of the cost can't exceed your total cost. Any unrecovered cost at your (or the last annuitant's) death is allowed as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on the final return of the decedent. This deduction isn't subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit.

Example 1. Your annuity starting date is after 1986, and you exclude $100 a month ($1,200 a year) under the Simplified Method. The total cost of your annuity is $12,000. Your exclusion ends when you have recovered your cost tax free, that is, after 10 years (120 months). After that, your annuity payments are generally fully taxable.

Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except you die (with no surviving annuitant) after the eighth year of retirement. You have recovered tax free only $9,600 (8 × $1,200) of your cost. An itemized deduction for your unrecovered cost of $2,400 ($12,000 - $9,600) can be taken on your final return.

Exclusion not limited to cost. If your annuity starting date is before 1987, you can continue to take your monthly exclusion for as long as you receive your annuity. If you chose a joint and survivor annuity, your survivor can continue to take the survivor's exclusion figured as of the annuity starting date. The total exclusion may be more than your cost.

Simplified Method

Under the Simplified Method, you figure the tax-free part of each annuity payment by dividing your cost by the total number of anticipated monthly payments. For an annuity that is payable for the lives of the annuitants, this number is based on the annuitants' ages on the annuity starting date and is determined from a table. For any other annuity, this number is the number of monthly annuity payments under the contract.

Who must use the Simplified Method. You must use the Simplified Method if your annuity starting date is after November 18, 1996, and you meet both of the following conditions.

Annuity starting before November 19, 1996. If your annuity starting date is after July 1, 1986, and before November 19, 1996, and you chose to use the Simplified Method, you must continue to use it each year that you recover part of your cost. You could have chosen to use the Simplified Method if your annuity is payable for your life (or the lives of you and your survivor annuitant) and you met both of the conditions listed earlier under Who must use the Simplified Method.

Who can't use the Simplified Method. You can't use the Simplified Method if you receive your pension or annuity from a nonqualified plan or otherwise don't meet the conditions described in the preceding discussion. See General Rule, later.

How to use the Simplified Method. Complete Worksheet A in the back of this publication to figure your taxable annuity for 2016. Be sure to keep the completed worksheet; it will help you figure your taxable annuity next year.

To complete line 3 of the worksheet, you must determine the total number of expected monthly payments for your annuity. How you do this depends on whether the annuity is for a single life, multiple lives, or a fixed period. For this purpose, treat an annuity that is payable over the life of an annuitant as payable for that annuitant's life even if the annuity has a fixed-period feature or also provides a temporary annuity payable to the annuitant's child under age 25.

TIP: You don't need to complete line 3 of the worksheet or make the computation on line 4 if you received annuity payments last year and used last year's worksheet to figure your taxable annuity. Instead, enter the amount from line 4 of last year's worksheet on line 4 of this year's worksheet.

Single-life annuity. If your annuity is payable for your life alone, use Table 1 at the bottom of the worksheet to determine the total number of expected monthly payments. Enter on line 3 the number shown for your age on your annuity starting date. This number will differ depending on whether your annuity starting date is before November 19, 1996, or after November 18, 1996.

Multiple-lives annuity. If your annuity is payable for the lives of more than one annuitant, use Table 2 at the bottom of the worksheet to determine the total number of expected monthly payments. Enter on line 3 the number shown for the annuitants' combined ages on the annuity starting date. For an annuity payable to you as the primary annuitant and to more than one survivor annuitant, combine your age and the age of the youngest survivor annuitant. For an annuity that has no primary annuitant and is payable to you and others as survivor annuitants, combine the ages of the oldest and youngest annuitants. Don't treat as a survivor annuitant anyone whose entitlement to payments depends on an event other than the primary annuitant's death.

However, if your annuity starting date is before 1998, don't use Table 2 and don't combine the annuitants' ages. Instead, you must use Table 1 at the bottom of the worksheet and enter on line 3 the number shown for the primary annuitant's age on the annuity starting date. This number will differ depending on whether your annuity starting date is before November 19, 1996, or after November 18, 1996.

Fixed-period annuity. If your annuity doesn't depend in whole or in part on anyone's life expectancy, the total number of expected monthly payments to enter on line 3 of the worksheet is the number of monthly annuity payments under the contract.

Line 6. The amount on line 6 should include all amounts that could have been recovered in prior years. If you didn't recover an amount in a prior year, you may be able to amend your returns for the affected years.

Example. Bill Smith, age 65, began receiving retirement benefits in 2016 under a joint and survivor annuity. Bill's annuity starting date is January 1, 2016. The benefits are to be paid for the joint lives of Bill and his wife, Kathy, age 65. Bill had contributed $31,000 to a qualified plan and had received no distributions before the annuity starting date. Bill is to receive a retirement benefit of $1,200 a month, and Kathy is to receive a monthly survivor benefit of $600 upon Bill's death.

Bill must use the Simplified Method to figure his taxable annuity because his payments are from a qualified plan and he is under age 75. Because his annuity is payable over the lives of more than one annuitant, he uses his and Kathy's combined ages and Table 2 at the bottom of Worksheet A in completing line 3 of the worksheet. His completed worksheet is shown later.

Bill's tax-free monthly amount is $100 ($31,000 ÷ 310) as shown on line 4 of the worksheet. Upon Bill's death, if Bill hasn't recovered the full $31,000 investment, Kathy will also exclude $100 from her $600 monthly payment. The full amount of any annuity payments received after 310 payments are paid must be included in gross income.

If Bill and Kathy die before 310 payments are made, a miscellaneous itemized deduction will be allowed for the unrecovered cost on the final income tax return of the last to die. This deduction isn't subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit.

Worksheet A. Simplified Method

 Keep for Your Records

 Keep for Your Records

General Rule

Under the General Rule, you determine the tax-free part of each annuity payment based on the ratio of the cost of the contract to the total expected return. Expected return is the total amount you and other eligible annuitants can expect to receive under the contract. To figure it, you must use life expectancy (actuarial) tables prescribed by the IRS.

Who must use the General Rule. You must use the General Rule if you receive pension or annuity payments from:

If you had to use the General Rule (or chose to use it), you must continue to use it each year that you recover your cost.

Who can't use the General Rule. You can't use the General Rule if you receive your pension or annuity from a qualified plan and none of the circumstances described in the preceding discussions apply to you. See Simplified Method, earlier.

More information. For complete information on using the General Rule, including the actuarial tables you need, see Pub. 939.

Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments

This section of the publication explains how any nonperiodic distributions you receive under a pension or annuity plan are taxed. Nonperiodic distributions are also known as amounts not received as an annuity. They include all payments other than periodic payments and corrective distributions.

For example, the following items are treated as nonperiodic distributions.

TIP: If your retirement plan made a corrective distribution of excess amounts (excess deferrals, excess contributions, or excess annual additions), your Form 1099-R should have the code "8," "B," "P," or "E" in box 7.

For information on plan contribution limits and how to report corrective distributions of excess contributions, see Retirement Plan Contributions under Employee Compensation in Pub. 525.

Figuring the Taxable Amount

How you figure the taxable amount of a nonperiodic distribution depends on whether it is made before the annuity starting date, or on or after the annuity starting date. If it is made before the annuity starting date, its tax treatment also depends on whether it is made under a qualified or nonqualified plan. If it is made under a nonqualified plan, its tax treatment depends on whether it fully discharges the contract, is received under certain life insurance or endowment contracts, or is allocable to an investment you made before August 14, 1982.

TIP: You may be able to roll over the taxable amount of a nonperiodic distribution from a qualified retirement plan into another qualified retirement plan or a traditional IRA tax free. See Rollovers, later. If you don't make a tax-free rollover and the distribution qualifies as a lump-sum distribution, you may be able to elect an optional method of figuring the tax on the taxable amount. See Lump-Sum Distributions, later.

Annuity starting date. The annuity starting date is either the first day of the first period for which you receive an annuity payment under the contract or the date on which the obligation under the contract becomes fixed, whichever is later.

Distributions of employer securities. If you receive a distribution of employer securities from a qualified retirement plan, you may be able to defer the tax on the net unrealized appreciation (NUA) in the securities. The NUA is the net increase in the securities' value while they were in the trust. This tax deferral applies to distributions of the employer corporation's stocks, bonds, registered debentures, and debentures with interest coupons attached.

If the distribution is a lump-sum distribution, tax is deferred on all of the NUA unless you choose to include it in your income for the year of the distribution.

A lump-sum distribution for this purpose is the distribution or payment of a plan participant's entire balance (within a single tax year) from all of the employer's qualified plans of one kind (pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plans), but only if paid:

If the distribution isn't a lump-sum distribution, tax is deferred only on the NUA resulting from employee contributions other than deductible voluntary employee contributions.

The NUA on which tax is deferred should be shown in box 6 of the Form 1099-R you receive from the payer of the distribution.

When you sell or exchange employer securities with tax-deferred NUA, any gain is long-term capital gain up to the amount of the NUA that isn't included in your basis in the employer securities. Any gain that is more than the NUA is long-term or short-term gain, depending on how long you held the securities after the distribution.

Your basis in the employer securities is the total of the following amounts.

Distribution On or After Annuity Starting Date

If you receive a nonperiodic payment from your annuity contract on or after the annuity starting date, you generally must include all of the payment in gross income. For example, a cost-of-living increase in your pension after the annuity starting date is an amount not received as an annuity and, as such, is fully taxable.

Reduction in subsequent payments. If the annuity payments you receive are reduced because you received a nonperiodic distribution, you can exclude part of the nonperiodic distribution from gross income. The part you can exclude is equal to your cost in the contract reduced by any tax-free amounts you previously received under the contract, multiplied by a fraction. The numerator is the reduction in each annuity payment because of the nonperiodic distribution. The denominator is the full unreduced amount of each annuity payment originally provided for.

Single-sum in connection with the start of annuity payments. If you receive a single-sum payment on or after your annuity starting date in connection with the start of annuity payments for which you must use the Simplified Method, treat the single-sum payment as if it were received before your annuity starting date. (See Simplified Method under Taxation of Periodic Payments, earlier, for information on its required use.) Follow the rules discussed under Distribution Before Annuity Starting Date From a Qualified Plan, later.

Distribution in full discharge of contract. You may receive an amount on or after the annuity starting date that fully satisfies the payer's obligation under the contract. The amount may be a refund of what you paid for the contract or for the complete surrender, redemption, or maturity of the contract. Include the amount in gross income only to the extent that it exceeds the remaining cost of the contract.

Distribution Before Annuity Starting Date From a Qualified Plan

If you receive a nonperiodic distribution before the annuity starting date from a qualified retirement plan, you generally can allocate only part of it to the cost of the contract. You exclude from your gross income the part that you allocate to the cost. You include the remainder in your gross income.

For this purpose, a qualified retirement plan is:

  Amount      Cost of contract     Tax-free

Example. Ann Brown received a $50,000 distribution from her retirement plan before her annuity starting date. She had $10,000 invested (cost) in the plan. Her account balance was $100,000. She can exclude $5,000 of the $50,000 distribution, figured as follows:

                $10,000

Example. Ryan participates in a defined contribution plan that treats employee contributions and earnings allocable to them as a separate contract. He received a non-annuity distribution of $5,000 before his annuity starting date. He had made after-tax contributions of $10,000. The earnings allocable to his contributions were $2,500. His employer also contributed $10,000. The earnings allocable to the employer contributions were $2,500.

To determine the tax-free amount of Ryan's distribution, use the same formula shown above. However, because employee contributions are treated as a separate contract, the account balance would be the total of Ryan's contributions and allocable earnings.

Thus the tax-free amount would be $5,000 × ($10,000 ÷ $12,500) = $4,000. The taxable amount would be $1,000 ($5,000 - $4,000).

If the employee contributions weren't treated as a separate contract, the tax-free amount would be $2,000 ($5,000 × ($10,000 ÷ $25,000)) and the taxable amount would be $3,000 ($5,000 - $2,000).

Plans that permitted withdrawal of employee contributions. If you contributed before 1987 to a pension plan that, as of May 5, 1986, permitted you to withdraw your contributions before your separation from service, any distribution before your annuity starting date is tax free to the extent that it, when added to earlier distributions received after 1986, doesn't exceed your cost as of December 31, 1986. Apply the allocation described in the preceding discussion only to any excess distribution.

Distribution Before Annuity Starting Date From a Nonqualified Plan

If you receive a nonperiodic distribution before the annuity starting date from a plan other than a qualified retirement plan (nonqualified plan), it is allocated first to earnings (the taxable part) and then to the cost of the contract (the tax-free part). This allocation rule applies, for example, to a commercial annuity contract you bought directly from the issuer. You include in your gross income the smaller of:

Exception to allocation rule. Certain nonperiodic distributions received before the annuity starting date aren't subject to the allocation rule in the preceding discussion. Instead, you include the amount of the payment in gross income only to the extent that it exceeds the cost of the contract.

This exception applies to the following distributions.

Distribution of U.S. savings bonds. If you receive U.S. savings bonds in a taxable distribution from a retirement or profit-sharing plan, report the value of the bonds at the time of distribution as income. The value of the bonds includes accrued interest. When you cash the bonds, your Form 1099-INT will show the total interest accrued, including the part you reported when the bonds were distributed to you. For information on how to adjust your interest income for U.S. savings bond interest you previously reported, see How To Report Interest Income in chapter 1 of Pub. 550, Investment Income and Expenses.

Loans Treated as Distributions

If you borrow money from your retirement plan, you must treat the loan as a nonperiodic distribution from the plan unless it qualifies for the exception to this loan-as-distribution rule explained later. This treatment also applies to any loan under a contract purchased under your retirement plan, and to the value of any part of your interest in the plan or contract that you pledge or assign (or agree to pledge or assign). It applies to loans from both qualified and nonqualified plans, including commercial annuity contracts you purchase directly from the issuer. Further, it applies if you renegotiate, extend, renew, or revise a loan that qualified for the exception below if the altered loan doesn't qualify. In that situation, you must treat the outstanding balance of the loan as a distribution on the date of the transaction.

You determine how much of the loan is taxable using the allocation rules for nonperiodic distributions discussed under Figuring the Taxable Amount, earlier. The taxable part may be subject to the additional tax on early distributions. It isn't an eligible rollover distribution and doesn't qualify for the 10-year tax option.

Exception for qualified plan, 403(b) plan, and government plan loans. At least part of certain loans under a qualified employee plan, qualified employee annuity, tax-sheltered annuity (403(b) plan), or government plan isn't treated as a distribution from the plan. This exception to the loan-as-distribution rule applies only to a loan that either:

Substantially level payments. To qualify for the exception to the loan-as-distribution rule, the loan must require substantially level payments at least quarterly over the life of the loan. If the loan is from a designated Roth account, the payments must be satisfied separately for that part of the loan and for the part of the loan from other accounts under the plan. This level payment requirement doesn't apply to the period in which you are on a leave of absence without pay or with a rate of pay that is less than the required installment. Generally, this leave of absence must not be longer than 1 year. You must repay the loan within 5 years from the date of the loan (unless the loan was used to acquire your main home). Your installment payments after the leave ends must not be less than your original payments.

However, if your plan suspends your loan payments for any part of the period during which you are in the uniformed services, you won't be treated as having received a distribution even if the suspension is for more than 1 year and the term of the loan is extended. The loan payments must resume upon completion of such period and the loan must be repaid in substantially level installments within 5 years from the date of the loan (unless the loan was used to acquire your main home) plus the period of suspension.

Example 1. On May 1, 2016, you borrowed $40,000 from your retirement plan. The loan was to be repaid in level monthly installments over 5 years. The loan wasn't used to acquire your main home. You make nine monthly payments and start an unpaid leave of absence that lasts for 12 months. You weren't in a uniformed service during this period. After the leave period ends and you resume active employment, you resume making repayments on the loan. You must repay this loan by April 30, 2021 (5 years from the date of this loan). You can increase your monthly installments or you can make the original monthly installments and on April 30, 2021, pay the balance.

Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except that you are on a leave of absence performing service in the uniformed services for 2 years. The loan payments were suspended for that period. You must resume making loan payments at the end of that period and the loan must be repaid by April 30, 2023 (5 years from the date of the loan plus the period of suspension, which is 2 years in this example).

Related employers and related plans. In determining loan balances for purposes of applying the exception to the loan-as-distribution rule, you must add the balances of all your loans from all plans of your employer and from all plans of your employers who are treated as a single employer. Treat separate employers' plans as plans of a single employer if they are treated that way under other qualified retirement plan rules because the employers are related.

Employers are related if they are:

Denial of interest deduction. If the loan from a qualified plan isn't treated as a distribution because the exception applies, you can't deduct any of the interest on the loan during any period that:

Effect on investment in the contract. If your loan is treated as a distribution, you must reduce your investment in the contract to the extent that the distribution is tax free under the allocation rules for qualified plans explained earlier. Repayments of the loan increase your investment in the contract to the extent that the distribution is taxable under those rules.

If you receive a loan under a nonqualified plan other than a 403(b) plan, including a commercial annuity contract that you purchase directly from the issuer, you increase your investment in the contract to the extent that the distribution is taxable under the general allocation rule for nonqualified plans explained earlier. Repayments of the loan don't affect your investment in the contract. However, if the distribution is excepted from the general allocation rule (for example, because it is made under a contract entered into before August 14, 1982), you reduce your investment in the contract to the extent that the distribution is tax free and increase it for loan repayments to the extent that the distribution is taxable.

Transfers of Annuity Contracts

If you transfer without full and adequate consideration an annuity contract issued after April 22, 1987, you are treated as receiving a nonperiodic distribution. The distribution equals the excess of:

Tax-free exchange. No gain or loss is recognized on an exchange of an annuity contract for another annuity contract if the insured or annuitant remains the same. However, if an annuity contract is exchanged for a life insurance or endowment contract, any gain due to interest accumulated on the contract is ordinary income.

If you transfer a full or partial interest in a tax-sheltered annuity that isn't subject to restrictions on early distributions to another tax-sheltered annuity, the transfer qualifies for nonrecognition of gain or loss.

If you exchange an annuity contract issued by a life insurance company that is subject to a rehabilitation, conservatorship, or similar state proceeding for an annuity contract issued by another life insurance company, the exchange qualifies for nonrecognition of gain or loss. The exchange is tax free even if the new contract is funded by two or more payments from the old annuity contract. This also applies to an exchange of a life insurance contract for a life insurance, endowment, annuity, or qualified long-term care insurance contract.

If you transfer part of the cash surrender value of an existing annuity contract for a new annuity contract issued by another insurance company, the transfer qualifies for nonrecognition of gain or loss. The funds must be transferred directly between the insurance companies. Your investment in the original contract immediately before the exchange is allocated between the contracts based on the percentage of the cash surrender value allocated to each contract.

Example. You own an annuity contract issued by ABC Insurance. You assign 60% of the cash surrender value of that contract to DEF Insurance to purchase an annuity contract. The funds are transferred directly between the insurance companies. You don't recognize any gain or loss on the transaction. After the exchange, your investment in the new contract is equal to 60% of your investment in the old contract immediately before the exchange. Your investment in the old contract is equal to 40% of your original investment in that contract.

Tax-free transfers for certain cash distributions. If you receive cash from the surrender of one contract and invest the cash in another contract, you generally don't have a tax-free transfer. However, you can elect to receive tax-free treatment for a cash distribution from an insurance company that is subject to a rehabilitation, conservatorship, insolvency, or similar state proceeding if all of the following conditions are met.

Date of purchase of contract received in a tax-free exchange. If you acquire an annuity contract in a tax-free exchange for another annuity contract, its date of purchase is the date you purchased the annuity you exchanged. This rule applies for determining if the annuity qualifies for exemption from the tax on early distributions as an immediate annuity. See Tax on Early Distributions, later.

Lump-Sum Distributions

TIP: This section on lump-sum distributions only applies if the plan participant was born before January 2, 1936. If the plan participant was born after January 1, 1936, the taxable amount of this nonperiodic payment is reported as discussed earlier.

A lump-sum distribution is the distribution or payment in 1 tax year of a plan participant's entire balance from all of the employer's qualified plans of one kind (for example, pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plans). Additionally, a lump-sum distribution is a distribution that was paid:

The participant's entire balance from a plan doesn't include certain forfeited amounts. It also doesn't include any deductible voluntary employee contributions allowed by the plan after 1981 and before 1987.

If you receive a lump-sum distribution from a qualified employee plan or qualified employee annuity and the plan participant was born before January 2, 1936, you may be able to elect optional methods of figuring the tax on the distribution. The part from active participation in the plan before 1974 may qualify as capital gain subject to a 20% tax rate. The part from participation after 1973 (and any part from participation before 1974 that you don't report as capital gain) is ordinary income. You may be able to use the 10-year tax option, discussed later, to figure tax on the ordinary income part.

Each individual, estate, or trust who receives part of a lump-sum distribution on behalf of a plan participant who was born before January 2, 1936, can choose whether to elect the optional methods for the part each received. However, if two or more trusts receive the distribution, the plan participant or the personal representative of a deceased participant must make the choice.

Use Form 4972 to figure the separate tax on a lump-sum distribution using the optional methods. The tax figured on Form 4972 is added to the regular tax figured on your other income. This may result in a smaller tax than you would pay by including the taxable amount of the distribution as ordinary income in figuring your regular tax.

Alternate payee under qualified domestic relations order. If you receive a distribution as an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order (discussed earlier under General Information), you may be able to choose the optional tax computations for it. You can make this choice for a distribution that would be treated as a lump-sum distribution had it been received by your spouse or former spouse (the plan participant). However, for this purpose, the balance to your credit doesn't include any amount payable to the plan participant.

If you choose an optional tax computation for a distribution received as an alternate payee, this choice won't affect any election for distributions from your own plan.

More than one recipient. One or all of the recipients of a lump-sum distribution can use the optional tax computations. See Multiple recipients of a lump-sum distribution in the Instructions for Form 4972.

Reemployment. A separated employee's vested percentage in his or her retirement benefit may increase if he or she is rehired by the employer within 5 years following separation from service. This possibility doesn't prevent a distribution made before reemployment from qualifying as a lump-sum distribution. However, if the employee elected an optional method of figuring the tax on the distribution and his or her vested percentage in the previous retirement benefit increases after reemployment, the employee must recapture the tax saved. This is done by increasing the tax for the year in which the increase in vesting first occurs.

Distributions that don't qualify. The following distributions don't qualify as lump-sum distributions for the capital gain treatment or 10-year tax option.

Electing optional lump-sum treatment. You can choose to use the 10-year tax option or capital gain treatment only once after 1986 for any plan participant. If you make this choice, you can't use either of these optional treatments for any future distributions for the participant.

Complete Form 1040 if you choose to use one or both of the tax options. If you received more than one lump-sum distribution for a plan participant during the year, you must add them together in your computation. If you and your spouse are filing a joint return and you both have received a lump-sum distribution, each of you should complete a separate Form 4972.

Time for choosing. You must decide to use the tax options before the end of the time, including extensions, for making a claim for credit or refund of tax. This is usually 3 years after the date the return was filed or 2 years after the date the tax was paid, whichever is later. (Returns filed before their due date are considered filed on their due date.)

Changing your mind. You can change your mind and decide not to use the tax options within the time period just discussed. If you change your mind, file Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, with a statement saying you don't want to use the optional lump-sum treatment. Generally, you must pay any additional tax due to the change with the Form 1040X.

How to report. If you elect capital gain treatment (but not the 10-year tax option) for a lump-sum distribution, include the ordinary income part of the distribution on Form 1040, lines 16a and 16b, or on Form 1040NR, lines 17a and 17b. Enter the capital gain part of the distribution in Part II of Form 4972. Include the tax from Form 4972, line 7 in the total on Form 1040, line 44, or on Form 1040NR, line 42.

If you elect the 10-year tax option, don't include any part of the distribution on Form 1040, lines 16a or 16b, or on Form 1040NR, lines 17a or 17b. Report the entire distribution in Part III of Form 4972 or, if you also elect capital gain treatment, report the capital gain part in Part II and the ordinary income part in Part III. Include the tax from Form 4972, line 30 in the total on Form 1040, line 44, or on Form 1040NR, line 42.

Taxable and tax-free parts of the distribution. The taxable part of a lump-sum distribution is the employer's contributions and income earned on your account. You may recover your cost in the lump sum and any net unrealized appreciation (NUA) in employer securities tax free.

Cost. In general, your cost is the total of:

Net unrealized appreciation (NUA). The NUA in employer securities (box 6 of Form 1099-R) received as part of a lump-sum distribution is generally tax free until you sell or exchange the securities. (See Distributions of employer securities under Figuring the Taxable Amount, earlier.) However, if you choose to include the NUA in your income for the year of the distribution and there is an amount in box 3 of Form 1099-R, part of the NUA will qualify for capital gain treatment. Use the NUA Worksheet in the instructions for Form 4972 to find the part that qualifies.

Losses. You may be able to claim a loss on your return if you receive a lump-sum distribution that is less than the plan participant's cost. You must receive the distribution entirely in cash or worthless securities. The amount you can claim is the difference between the participant's cost and the amount of the cash distribution, if any.

To claim the loss, you must itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040). Show the loss as a miscellaneous deduction subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit.

You can't claim a loss if you receive securities that aren't worthless, even if the total value of the distribution is less than the plan participant's cost. You recognize gain or loss only when you sell or exchange the securities.

TIP: A loss under a nonqualified plan, such as a commercial variable annuity, is deductible in the same manner as a lump-sum distribution.

Capital Gain Treatment

Capital gain treatment applies only to the taxable part of a lump-sum distribution resulting from participation in the plan before 1974. The amount treated as capital gain is taxed at a 20% rate. You can elect this treatment only once for any plan participant, and only if the plan participant was born before January 2, 1936.

Complete Part II of Form 4972 to choose the 20% capital gain election.

Figuring the capital gain and ordinary income parts. Generally, figure the capital gain and ordinary income parts of a lump-sum distribution by using the following formulas.

Capital Gain:

  Total Taxable      Months of active participation before 1974

  Total Taxable      Months of active participation after 1973

The capital gain part should be shown in box 3 of Form 1099-R or other statement given to you by the payer of the distribution.

Reduction for federal estate tax. If any federal estate tax (discussed under Survivors and Beneficiaries, later) was paid on the lump-sum distribution, you must decrease the capital gain by the amount of estate tax applicable to it. Follow the Form 4972 instructions for Part II, line 6, to figure the part of the estate tax applicable to the capital gain that is used to reduce the capital gain. If you don't make the capital gain election, enter on line 18 of Part III the estate tax attributable to the total lump-sum distribution. For information on how to figure the estate tax attributable to the lump-sum distribution, get the Instructions for Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, or contact the administrator of the decedent's estate.

10-Year Tax Option

The 10-year tax option is a special formula used to figure a separate tax on the ordinary income part of a lump-sum distribution. You pay the tax only once, for the year in which you receive the distribution, not over the next 10 years. You can elect this treatment only once for any plan participant, and only if the plan participant was born before January 2, 1936.

The ordinary income part of the distribution is the amount shown in box 2a of the Form 1099-R given to you by the payer, minus the amount, if any, shown in box 3. You can also treat the capital gain part of the distribution (box 3 of Form 1099-R) as ordinary income for the 10-year tax option if you don't choose capital gain treatment for that part.

Complete Part III of Form 4972 to choose the 10-year tax option. You must use the special Tax Rate Schedule shown in the instructions for Part III to figure the tax.

Examples

The following examples show how to figure the separate tax on Form 4972.

Example 1. Robert C. Smith, who was born in 1935, retired from Crabtree Corporation in 2016. He withdrew the entire amount to his credit from the company's qualified pension plan. In December 2016, he received a total distribution of $175,000 (the $25,000 tax-free part of the distribution consisting of employee contributions plus the $150,000 taxable part of the distribution consisting of employer contributions and earnings on all contributions).

The payer gave Robert a Form 1099-R, which shows the capital gain part of the taxable distribution (the part attributable to participation before 1974) to be $10,000. Robert elects 20% capital gain treatment for this part. Filled-in copies of Robert's Form 1099-R and Form 4972 follow. He enters $10,000 on Form 4972, Part II, line 6 and $2,000 ($10,000 × 20%) on Part II, line 7.

The ordinary income part of the taxable distribution is $140,000 ($150,000 - $10,000). Robert elects to figure the tax on this part using the 10-year tax option. He enters $140,000 on Form 4972, Part III, line 8. Then he completes the rest of Form 4972 and includes the tax of $24,270 in the total on line 44 of his Form 1040.

The cash part of the distribution, $160,000, is all ordinary income and is shown on her Form 1099-R below. She chooses to figure the tax on this amount using the 10-year tax option. Mary also received an annuity contract as part of the distribution from the plan. Box 8, Form 1099-R, shows that the current actuarial value of the annuity was $10,000. She enters these figures on Form 4972 (shown later).

After completing Form 4972, she includes the tax of $28,070 in the total on Form 1040, line 44.

If you withdraw cash or other assets from a qualified retirement plan in an eligible rollover distribution, you can generally defer tax on the distribution by rolling it over to another qualified retirement plan, a traditional IRA or, after 2 years of participation in a SIMPLE IRA sponsored by your employer, a SIMPLE IRA under that plan. You don't include the amount rolled over in your income until you receive it in a distribution from the recipient plan or IRA without rolling over that distribution. (For information about rollovers from traditional IRAs, see chapter 1 of Pub. 590-A.)

If you roll over the distribution to a traditional IRA, you can't deduct the amount rolled over as an IRA contribution. When you later withdraw it from the IRA, you can't use the optional methods discussed earlier under Lump-Sum Distributions to figure the tax.

Self-employed individuals are generally treated as employees for the rules on the tax treatment of distributions, including the rules for rollovers.

See Designated Roth accounts, later, for information on rollovers (including in-plan Roth rollovers) related to those accounts. Also, see Rollovers to Roth IRAs, later, for information on rollovers from a qualified retirement plan to a Roth IRA.

Qualified retirement plan. For this purpose, the following plans are qualified retirement plans.

Rollover of nontaxable amounts. You may be able to roll over the nontaxable part of a distribution (such as your after-tax contributions) made to another qualified retirement plan that is a qualified employee plan or a 403(b) plan, or to a traditional or Roth IRA. The transfer must be made either through a direct rollover to a qualified plan or 403(b) plan that separately accounts for the taxable and nontaxable parts of the rollover or through a rollover to a traditional or Roth IRA.

If you roll over only part of a distribution that includes both taxable and nontaxable amounts, the amount you roll over is treated as coming first from the taxable part of the distribution.

Any after-tax contributions that you roll over into your traditional IRA become part of your basis (cost) in your IRAs. To recover your basis when you take distributions from your IRA, you must complete Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs, for the year of the distribution. For more information, see the Form 8606 instructions.

Withholding requirements. If an eligible rollover distribution is paid to you, the payer must withhold 20% of it. This applies even if you plan to roll over the distribution to another qualified retirement plan or to an IRA. However, you can avoid withholding by choosing the direct rollover option, discussed later. Also, see Choosing the right option at the end of this discussion.

Exceptions. An eligible rollover distribution isn't subject to withholding to the extent it consists of net unrealized appreciation from employer securities that can be excluded from your gross income. (For a discussion of the tax treatment of a distribution of employer securities, see Figuring the Taxable Amount under Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments, earlier.)

In addition, withholding from an eligible rollover distribution paid to you isn't required if:

There is an automatic rollover requirement for mandatory distributions. A mandatory distribution is a distribution made without your consent and before you reach age 62 or normal retirement age, whichever is later. The automatic rollover requirement applies if the distribution is more than $1,000 and is an eligible rollover distribution. You can choose to have the distribution paid directly to you or rolled over directly to your traditional or Roth IRA or another qualified retirement plan. If you don't make this choice, the plan administrator will automatically roll over the distribution into an IRA of a designated trustee or issuer.

No tax withheld. If you choose the direct rollover option, or have an automatic rollover, no tax will be withheld from any part of the distribution that is directly paid to the trustee of the other plan. If any part of the eligible rollover distribution is paid to you, the payer must generally withhold 20% of it for income tax.

Payment to you option. If an eligible rollover distribution is paid to you, 20% generally will be withheld for income tax. However, the full amount is treated as distributed to you even though you actually receive only 80%. You generally must include in income any part (including the part withheld) that you don't roll over within 60 days to another qualified retirement plan or to a traditional or Roth IRA.

If you are under age 59 1/2 when a distribution is paid to you, you may have to pay a 10% tax (in addition to the regular income tax) on the taxable part (including any tax withheld) that you don't roll over. See Tax on Early Distributions, later.

Partial rollovers. If you receive a lump-sum distribution, it may qualify for special tax treatment. See Lump-Sum Distributions, earlier. However, if you roll over any part of the distribution, the part you keep doesn't qualify for special tax treatment.

CAUTION: Rolling over more than amount received. If you decide to roll over an amount equal to the distribution before withholding, your contribution to the new plan or IRA must include other money (for example, from savings or amounts borrowed) to replace the amount withheld.

Example. You receive an eligible rollover distribution of $10,000 from your employer's qualified employee plan. The payer withholds $2,000, so you actually receive $8,000. If you want to roll over the entire $10,000 to postpone including that amount in your income, you will have to get $2,000 from some other source to add to the $8,000 you actually received.

If you roll over only $8,000, you must include the $2,000 not rolled over in your income for the distribution year. Also, you may be subject to the 10% additional tax on the $2,000 if it was distributed to you before you reached age 59 1/2.

Time for making rollover. You generally must complete the rollover of an eligible rollover distribution paid to you by the 60th day following the day on which you receive the distribution from your employer's plan.

The IRS may waive the 60-day requirement where the failure to do so would be against equity or good conscience, such as in the event of a casualty, disaster, or other event beyond your reasonable control.

Example. In the previous example, you received the distribution on June 30. To postpone including it in your income, you must complete the rollover by August 29, the 60th day following June 30.

Ways to get a waiver of the 60-day rollover requirement. There are three ways to obtain a waiver of the 60-day requirement:

Frozen deposits. If an amount distributed to you becomes a frozen deposit in a financial institution during the 60-day period after you receive it, the rollover period is extended. An amount is a frozen deposit if you can't withdraw it because of either:

Retirement bonds. If you redeem retirement bonds purchased under a qualified bond purchase plan, you can roll over the proceeds that exceed your basis tax free into an IRA or qualified employer plan. Subsequent distributions of those proceeds, however, don't qualify for the 10-year tax option or capital gain treatment.

Annuity contracts. If an annuity contract was distributed to you by a qualified retirement plan, you can roll over an amount paid under the contract that is otherwise an eligible rollover distribution. For example, you can roll over a single sum payment you receive upon surrender of the contract to the extent it is taxable and isn't a required minimum distribution.

Rollovers of property. To roll over an eligible rollover distribution of property, you must either roll over the actual property distributed or sell it and roll over the proceeds. You can't keep the distributed property and roll over cash or other property.

If you sell the distributed property and roll over all the proceeds, no gain or loss is recognized on the sale. The sale proceeds (including any portion representing an increase in value) are treated as part of the distribution and aren't included in your gross income.

If you roll over only part of the proceeds, you are taxed on the part you keep. You must allocate the proceeds you keep between the part representing ordinary income from the distribution (its value upon distribution) and the part representing gain or loss from the sale (its change in value from its distribution to its sale).

Example 1. On September 4, 2016, Paul received an eligible rollover distribution from his employer's noncontributory qualified employee plan of $50,000 in nonemployer stock. On September 24, 2016, he sold the stock for $60,000. On October 2, 2016, he contributed $60,000 cash to a traditional IRA. Paul doesn't include either the $50,000 eligible rollover distribution or the $10,000 gain from the sale of the stock in his income. The entire $60,000 rolled over will be ordinary income when he withdraws it from his IRA.

Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except that Paul sold the stock for $40,000 and contributed $40,000 to the IRA. Paul doesn't include the $50,000 eligible rollover distribution in his income and doesn't deduct the $10,000 loss from the sale of the stock. The $40,000 rolled over will be ordinary income when he withdraws it from his IRA.

Example 3. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except that Paul rolled over only $45,000 of the $60,000 proceeds from the sale of the stock. The $15,000 proceeds he didn't roll over includes part of the gain from the stock sale. Paul reports $2,500 ($10,000 ÷ $60,000 × $15,000) as capital gain and $12,500 ($50,000 ÷ $60,000 × $15,000) as ordinary income.

Example 4. The facts are the same as in Example 2, except that Paul rolled over only $25,000 of the $40,000 proceeds from the sale of the stock. The $15,000 proceeds he didn't roll over includes part of the loss from the stock sale. Paul reports $3,750 ($10,000 ÷ $40,000 × $15,000) capital loss and $18,750 ($50,000 ÷ $40,000 × $15,000) ordinary income.

Property and cash distributed. If both cash and property were distributed and you didn't roll over the entire distribution, you may designate what part of the rollover is allocable to the cash distribution and what part is allocable to the proceeds from the sale of the distributed property. If the distribution included an amount that isn't taxable (other than the net unrealized appreciation in employer securities) as well as an eligible rollover distribution, you may also designate what part of the nontaxable amount is allocable to the cash distribution and what part is allocable to the property. Your designation must be made by the due date for filing your tax return, including extensions. You can't change your designation after that date. If you don't make a designation on time, the rollover amount or the nontaxable amount must be allocated on a ratable basis.

Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO). You may be able to roll over tax free all or part of a distribution from a qualified retirement plan that you receive under a QDRO. (See Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) under General Information, earlier.) If you receive the distribution as an employee's spouse or former spouse (not as a nonspousal beneficiary), the rollover rules apply to you as if you were the employee.

Rollover by surviving spouse. You may be able to roll over tax free all or part of a distribution from a qualified retirement plan you receive as the surviving spouse of a deceased employee. The rollover rules apply to you as if you were the employee. You can roll over the distribution into a qualified retirement plan or a traditional or Roth IRA. For a rollover to a Roth IRA, see Rollovers to Roth IRAs, later.

A distribution paid to a beneficiary other than the employee's surviving spouse is generally not an eligible rollover distribution. However, see Rollovers by nonspouse beneficiary next.

Rollovers by nonspouse beneficiary. If you are a designated beneficiary (other than a surviving spouse) of a deceased employee, you may be able to roll over tax free all or a portion of a distribution you receive from an eligible retirement plan of the employee. The distribution must be a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to your traditional or Roth IRA that was set up to receive the distribution. The transfer will be treated as an eligible rollover distribution and the receiving plan will be treated as an inherited IRA. For information on inherited IRAs, see What if You Inherit an IRA? in chapter 1 of Pub. 590-B.

How to report. Enter the total distribution (before income tax or other deductions were withheld) on Form 1040, line 16a; Form 1040A, line 12a; or Form 1040NR, line 17a. This amount should be shown in box 1 of Form 1099-R. From this amount, subtract any contributions (usually shown in box 5 of Form 1099-R) that were taxable to you when made. From that result, subtract the amount that was rolled over either directly or within 60 days of receiving the distribution. Enter the remaining amount, even if zero, on Form 1040, line 16b; Form 1040A, line 12b; or Form 1040NR, line 17b. Also, write "Rollover" next to the line.

Written explanation to recipients. The administrator of a qualified retirement plan must, within a reasonable period of time before making an eligible rollover distribution, provide you with a written explanation. It must tell you about all of the following.

Designated Roth accounts. You can roll over an eligible rollover distribution from a designated Roth account into another designated Roth account or a Roth IRA. If you want to roll over the part of the distribution that isn't included in income, you must make a direct rollover of the entire distribution (see Direct rollover option, earlier) or you can roll over the entire amount (or any portion) to a Roth IRA. Also, if you are a plan participant in a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan, your plan may permit you to roll over amounts in those plans to a designated Roth account within the same plan (in-plan Roth rollover). The rollover of any untaxed amounts are included in income. See In-plan Roth rollovers below.

A qualified distribution from a designated Roth account isn't includible in income. (A qualified distribution is defined earlier in the discussion of designated Roth accounts under Taxation of Periodic Payments). Generally, you can't have a qualified distribution within the 5-tax-year period beginning with the first tax year for which the participant made a designated Roth contribution to the plan. If a direct rollover is made from a designated Roth account under another plan or an in-plan Roth rollover is made, the 5-tax-year period of participation begins on the first day of your tax year for which you first had designated Roth contributions made to the account either making the distribution or receiving the distribution, whichever was earlier.

If you roll over only part of an eligible rollover distribution that isn't a qualified distribution and not paid as a direct rollover contribution, the part rolled over is considered to be first from the income portion of the distribution.

Example. You receive an eligible rollover distribution that isn't a qualified distribution from your designated Roth account. The distribution consists of $11,000 (investment) and $3,000 (income earned). Within 60 days of receipt, you roll over $7,000 into a Roth IRA. The $7,000 consists of $3,000 of income and $4,000 of investment. Since you rolled over the part of the distribution that could be included in gross income (income earned), none of the distribution is included in gross income.

In-plan Roth rollovers. If you are a participant in a 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan, your plan may permit you to roll over any vested amounts from those plans to a designated Roth account within the same plan. The in-plan Roth rollover must be an eligible rollover distribution (defined earlier under Eligible rollover distribution). Any untaxed amounts included in the in-plan Roth rollover must be included in income in the year you receive the distribution.

You can make the in-plan Roth rollover by direct transfer of the amount from the non-Roth account to your designated Roth account within the same plan. The 20% mandatory withholding doesn't apply to in-plan Roth rollovers made by direct rollover. You can also effect the in-plan Roth rollover by receiving an eligible rollover distribution from your 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan and within 60 days deposit it into a designated Roth account in the same plan.

Your plan must provide a written explanation of the consequences of making an in-plan Roth rollover. In-plan Roth rollovers can't be undone. Unlike rollovers to Roth IRAs, you can't later recharacterize an in-plan Roth rollover.

TIP: If you received employer securities as a part of your in-plan Roth rollover distribution, the rollover is treated as a distribution for the purpose of net unrealized appreciation (NUA). See Distributions of employer securities, earlier.

Mandatory 20% withholding. A payor must normally withhold 20% when a rollover distribution is paid to you. However, some part of your distribution may not be subject to the mandatory 20% withholding. Otherwise nondistributable amounts aren't subject to the mandatory 20% withholding. An example of otherwise nondistributable amounts are employer matching contributions in a 401(k) plan. See Payment to you option, earlier.

CAUTION: You can't roll over amounts from your Traditional TSP to your Roth TSP. See Pub. 721 for more details.

How to report. Enter the total amount of the distribution before income tax or deductions were withheld on Form 1040A, line 12a; or Form 1040NR, line 17a. This amount should be shown in box 1 of Form 1099-R. From this amount, subtract any contributions (usually shown in box 5 of Form 1099-R) that were taxable to you when made. Enter the remaining amount, even if zero, on Form 1040, line 16b; Form 1040A, line 12b; or Form 1040NR, line 17b.

CAUTION: If you must include any amount in your gross income, you may have to increase your withholding or make estimated tax payments. See Pub. 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Rollovers to Roth IRAs. You can roll over distributions directly from a qualified retirement plan (other than a designated Roth account) to a Roth IRA. You must include in your gross income distributions from a qualified retirement plan (other than a designated Roth account) that you would have had to include in income if you hadn't rolled them over into a Roth IRA. You don't include in gross income any part of a distribution from a qualified retirement plan that is a return of contributions to the plan that were taxable to you when paid. In addition, the 10% tax on early distributions doesn't apply.

Any amount rolled over into a Roth IRA is subject to the same rules for converting a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. For more information, see Converting From Any Traditional IRA Into a Roth IRA in chapter 1 of Pub. 590-A.

How to report. Enter the total amount of the distribution before income tax or deductions were withheld on Form 1040A, line 12a; or Form 1040NR, line 17a. This amount should be shown in box 1 of Form 1099-R. From this amount, subtract any contributions (usually shown in box 5 of Form 1099-R) that were taxable to you when made. Enter the remaining amount, even if zero, on Form 1040, line 16b; Form 1040A, line 12b; or Form 1040NR, line 17b.

CAUTION: If you must include any amount in your gross income, you may have to increase your withholding or make estimated tax payments. See Pub. 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Choosing the right option. Table 1 may help you decide which distribution option to choose. Carefully compare the effects of each option.

Table 1. Comparison of Payment to You Versus Direct Rollover

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Qualified settlement income that you contribute to a qualified retirement plan will be treated as having been rolled over in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer within 60 days of the distribution. The amount contributed isn't included in your taxable income and it isn't considered to be investment in the contract.

You are a qualified taxpayer if you are:

Special rule for Roth IRAs and designated Roth accounts. Qualified settlement income that is contributed to a Roth IRA or a designated Roth account will be:

To discourage the use of pension funds for purposes other than normal retirement, the law imposes additional taxes on early distributions of those funds and on failures to withdraw the funds timely. Ordinarily, you won't be subject to these taxes if you roll over all early distributions you receive, as explained earlier, and begin drawing out the funds at a normal retirement age, in prorated amounts over your life expectancy. These special additional taxes are the taxes on:

If you must pay either of these taxes, report them on Form 5329. However, you don't have to file Form 5329 if you owe only the tax on early distributions and your Form 1099-R correctly shows a "1" in box 7. Instead, enter 10% of the taxable part of the distribution on Form 1040, line 59 and enter "No" under the heading "Other Taxes" to the left of line 59. If you file Form 1040NR, enter 10% of the taxable part of the distribution on line 57 and enter "No" under the heading "Other Taxes" to the left of line 57.

Even if you don't owe any of these taxes, you may have to complete Form 1040 or Form 1040NR. This applies if you meet an exception to the tax on early distributions but box 7 of your Form 1099-R doesn't indicate an exception.

Tax on Early Distributions

Most distributions (both periodic and nonperiodic) from qualified retirement plans and nonqualified annuity contracts made to you before you reach age 59 1/2 are subject to an additional tax of 10%. This tax applies to the part of the distribution that you must include in gross income. It doesn't apply to any part of a distribution that is tax free, such as amounts that represent a return of your cost or that were rolled over to another retirement plan. It also doesn't apply to corrective distributions of excess deferrals, excess contributions, or excess aggregate contributions (discussed earlier under Taxation of Nonperiodic Payments).

For this purpose, a qualified retirement plan is:

Distributions from designated Roth accounts allocable to in-plan Roth rollovers within the 5-year period. If, within the 5-year period starting with the first day of your tax year in which you rolled over an amount from your 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) plan to a designated Roth account, you take a distribution from the designated Roth account, you may have to pay the additional 10% tax on early distributions. You generally must pay the 10% additional tax on any amount attributable to the part of the in-plan Roth rollover that you had to include in income (recapture amount). A separate 5-year period applies to each in-plan Roth rollover. See Figuring your recapture amount, later, to determine the recapture amount, if any.

The 5-year period used for determining whether the 10% early distribution tax applies to a distribution allocable to an in-plan Roth rollover is separately determined for each in-plan Roth rollover, and isn't necessarily the same as the 5-year period used for determining whether a distribution is a qualified distribution.

Figuring your recapture amount. For any early distribution in 2016 from your designated Roth account that is allocable to an in-plan Roth rollover, you allocate the amount from your 2016 Form 1099-R, box 10, to the amounts, if any, you have rolled over into that designated Roth account.

If you haven't taken a distribution from your designated Roth account before 2016, then allocate the amount in box 10 of your 2016 Form 1099-R to the amounts you reported on the lines listed in the Recapture Allocation Chart (filling in the Taxable column first, and then the Nontaxable column for each year) until you have covered the entire amount in box 10.

If you have taken a distribution from your designated Roth account prior to 2016, then allocate the amount in box 10 of your 2016 Form 1099-R to the amounts you reported on the lines listed in the Recapture Allocation Chart (filling in the Taxable column first, and then the Nontaxable column for each year). However, don't start at the beginning, instead begin with the first line that hasn't been used fully for a previous distribution.

Your recapture amount is the sum of the amounts you allocated for 2012 through 2016 under the Taxable column in the Recapture Allocation Chart. You will also include this amount on Form 5329, line 1.

Recapture Allocation Chart

 Keep for Your Records

In December of 2016, at age 57, you took a distribution of $35,000 from your designated Roth account. The 2016 Form 1099-R shows the distribution of $35,000 reported in box 1, the taxable portion of the distribution of $3,500 reported in box 2a, and the amount of $31,500 allocable to the in-plan Roth rollover reported in box 10. Since you had no in-plan Roth rollovers in prior years, you would allocate the $31,500 reported in box 10 of Form 1099-R as shown in the Example Recapture Allocation Chart.

Example Recapture Allocation Chart

 Keep for Your Records

Exceptions to tax. Certain early distributions are excepted from the early distribution tax. If the payer knows that an exception applies to your early distribution, distribution code "2," "3," or "4" should be shown in box 7 of your Form 1099-R and you don't have to report the distribution on Form 5329. If an exception applies but distribution code "1" (early distribution, no known exception) is shown in box 7, you must file Form 5329. Enter the taxable amount of the distribution shown in box 2a of your Form 1099-R on line 1 of Form 5329. On line 2, enter the amount that can be excluded and the exception number shown in the Form 5329 instructions.

TIP: If distribution code "1" is incorrectly shown on your Form 1099-R for a distribution received when you were age 59 1/2 or older, include that distribution on Form 5329. Enter exception number "12" on line 2.

General exceptions. The tax doesn't apply to distributions that are:

Additional exceptions for qualified retirement plans. The tax doesn't apply to distributions that are:

Example. George separated from service from his employer at age 49. In the year he reached age 55 he took a distribution from his retirement plan. Because he separated from service before he reached age 55, he didn't meet the requirements for the exception for a distribution made from a qualified retirement plan (other than an IRA) after separating from service in or after reaching age 55 (age 50 for qualified public safety employees).

Qualified public safety employees. If you are a qualified public safety employee, distributions made from a governmental defined benefit pension plan aren't subject to the additional tax on early distributions. You are a qualified public safety employee if you provided police protection, firefighting services, or emergency medical services for a state or municipality, and you separated from service in or after the year you attained age 50.

Qualified reservist distributions. A qualified reservist distribution isn't subject to the additional tax on early distributions. A qualified reservist distribution is a distribution (a) from elective deferrals under a section 401(k) or 403(b) plan, or a similar arrangement, (b) to an individual ordered or called to active duty (because he or she is a member of a reserve component) for a period of more than 179 days or for an indefinite period, and (c) made during the period beginning on the date of the order or call and ending at the close of the active duty period. You must be ordered or called to active duty after September 11, 2001.

TIP: You can choose to recontribute part or all of the distributions to an IRA. These additional contributions must be made within 2 years after your active-duty period ends. Any amount recontributed must be reported on Form 8606 as a nondeductible contribution. You can't take a deduction for these contributions. However, the normal dollar limitations for contributions to IRAs do not apply to these special contributions, and you can make regular contributions to your IRA, up to the amount otherwise allowable.

Additional exceptions for nonqualified annuity contracts. The tax doesn't apply to distributions that are:

TIP: A change from method (2) or (3) to method (1) isn't treated as a modification to which the recapture tax (discussed next) applies.

Recapture tax for changes in distribution method under equal payment exception. An early distribution recapture tax may apply if, before you reach age 59 1/2, the distribution method under the equal periodic payment exception changes (for reasons other than your death or disability). The tax applies if the method changes from the method requiring equal payments to a method that wouldn't have qualified for the exception to the tax. The recapture tax applies to the first tax year to which the change applies. The amount of tax is the amount that would have been imposed had the exception not applied, plus interest for the deferral period.

The recapture tax also applies after you reach age 59 1/2 if your payments under a distribution method that qualifies for the exception are modified within 5 years of the date of the first payment. In that case, the tax applies only to payments distributed before you reach age 59 1/2.

Report the recapture tax and interest on line 4 of Form 5329. Attach an explanation to the form. Don't write the explanation next to the line or enter any amount for the recapture on lines 1 or 3 of the form.

Tax on Excess Accumulation

To make sure that most of your retirement benefits are paid to you during your lifetime, rather than to your beneficiaries after your death, the payments that you receive from qualified retirement plans must begin no later than your required beginning date (defined later). The payments each year can't be less than the minimum required distribution.

If the actual distributions to you in any year are less than the minimum required distribution (RMD) for that year, you are subject to an additional tax. The tax equals 50% of the part of the required minimum distribution that wasn't distributed.

For this purpose, a qualified retirement plan includes:

State insurer delinquency proceedings. You might not receive the minimum distribution because assets are invested in a contract issued by an insurance company in state insurer delinquency proceedings. If your payments are reduced below the minimum because of these proceedings, you should contact your plan administrator. Under certain conditions, you won't have to pay the 50% excise tax.

Required beginning date. Unless the rule for 5% owners applies, you generally must begin to receive distributions from your qualified retirement plan by April 1 of the year that follows the later of:

If you reach age 70 1/2 in 2016, you may be required to receive your first distribution by April 1, 2017. Your required distribution then must be made for 2017 by December 31, 2017.

5% owners. If you are a 5% owner, you must begin to receive distributions from the plan by April 1 of the year that follows the calendar year in which you reach age 70 1/2. This rule doesn't apply if your retirement plan is a government or church plan.

You are a 5% owner if, for the plan year ending in the calendar year in which you reach age 70 1/2, you own (or are considered to own under section 318 of the Internal Revenue Code) more than 5% of the outstanding stock (or more than 5% of the total voting power of all stock) of the employer, or more than 5% of the capital or profits interest in the employer.

Age 70 1/2. You reach age 70 1/2 on the date that is 6 calendar months after the date of your 70th birthday. For example, if your 70th birthday was on June 30, 2016, you reached age 70 1/2 on December 30, 2016. If your 70th birthday was on July 1, 2016, you reached age 70 1/2 on January 1, 2017.

Required distributions. By the required beginning date, you must either:

Example. You retired under a qualified employee plan in 2015. You reached age 70 1/2 on August 20, 2016. For 2016 (your starting year), you must receive a minimum amount from your retirement plan by April 1, 2017. You must receive the minimum required distribution for 2017 by December 31, 2017.

Distributions after the employee's death. If the employee was receiving periodic distributions before his or her death, any payments not made as of the time of death must be distributed at least as rapidly as under the distribution method being used at the date of death.

If the employee dies before the required beginning date, the entire account must be distributed under one of the following rules.

If the employee or the beneficiary didn't choose either rule and the plan doesn't specify the rule that applies, distribution must be made under Rule 2 if the employee has a designated beneficiary or under Rule 1 if the employee doesn't have a designated beneficiary.

Distributions under Rule 2 generally must begin by December 31 of the year following the year of the employee's death. However, if the surviving spouse is the beneficiary, distributions need not begin until December 31 of the year the employee would have reached age 70 1/2, if later.

If the surviving spouse is the designated beneficiary and distributions are to be made under Rule 2, a special rule applies if the spouse dies after the employee but before distributions are required to begin. In this case, distributions may be made to the spouse's beneficiary under either Rule 1 or Rule 2, as though the beneficiary were the employee's beneficiary and the employee died on the spouse's date of death. However, if the surviving spouse remarries after the employee's death and the new spouse is designated as the spouse's beneficiary, this special rule applicable to surviving spouses doesn't apply to the new spouse.

Minimum distributions from an annuity plan. Special rules may apply if you receive distributions from your retirement plan in the form of an annuity. Your plan administrator should be able to give you information about these rules.

Minimum distributions from an individual account plan. Your plan administrator should be able to give you information about how the amount of your required distribution was figured.

If there is an account balance to be distributed from your plan (not as an annuity), your plan administrator must figure the minimum amount that must be distributed from the plan each year.

What types of installments are allowed? The minimum amount that must be distributed for any year may be made in a series of installments (for example, monthly or quarterly) as long as the total payments for the year made by the date required aren't less than the minimum amount required for the year.

More than minimum. Your plan can distribute more in any year than the minimum amount required for that year but, if it does, you won't receive credit for the additional amount in determining the minimum amount required for future years. However, any amount distributed in your starting year will be credited toward the amount required to be distributed by April 1 of the following year.

Combining multiple accounts to satisfy the minimum distribution requirements. Generally, the required minimum distribution must be figured separately for each account. Each qualified employee retirement plan and qualified annuity plan must be considered individually in satisfying its distribution requirements. However, if you have more than one tax-sheltered annuity account, you can total the required distributions and then satisfy the requirement by taking distributions from any one (or more) of the tax-sheltered annuities.

Survivors and Beneficiaries

Generally, a survivor or beneficiary reports pension or annuity income in the same way the plan participant would have reported it. However, some special rules apply, and they are covered elsewhere in this publication as well as in this section.

Estate tax deduction. You may be entitled to a deduction for estate tax if you receive amounts included in your income as income in respect of a decedent under a joint and survivor annuity that was included in the decedent's estate. You can deduct the part of the total estate tax that was based on the annuity, provided that the decedent died after his or her annuity starting date. (For details, see section 1.691(d)-1 of the regulations.) Deduct it in equal amounts over your remaining life expectancy.

If the decedent died before the annuity starting date of a deferred annuity contract and you receive a death benefit under that contract, the amount you receive (either in a lump sum or as periodic payments) in excess of the decedent's cost is included in your gross income as income in respect of a decedent for which you may be able to claim an estate tax deduction.

You can take the estate tax deduction as an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040). This deduction isn't subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limit on miscellaneous deductions. See Pub. 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators, for more information on the estate tax deduction.

Survivors of employees. Distributions the beneficiary of a deceased employee gets may be accrued salary payments; distributions from employee profit-sharing, pension, annuity, or stock bonus plans; or other items. Some of these should be treated separately for tax purposes. The treatment of these distributions depends on what they represent.

Salary or wages paid after the death of the employee are usually the beneficiary's ordinary income. If you are a beneficiary of an employee who was covered by any of the retirement plans mentioned, you can exclude from income nonperiodic distributions received that totally relieve the payer from the obligation to pay an annuity. The amount that you can exclude is equal to the deceased employee's investment in the contract (cost).

If you are entitled to receive a survivor annuity on the death of an employee, you can exclude part of each annuity payment as a tax-free recovery of the employee's investment in the contract. You must figure the taxable and tax-free part of each payment using the method that applies as if you were the employee. For more information, see Taxation of Periodic Payments, earlier.

Survivors of retirees. Benefits paid to you as a survivor under a joint and survivor annuity must be included in your gross income. Include them in income in the same way the retiree would have included them in gross income. See Partly Taxable Payments under Taxation of Periodic Payments, earlier.

If the retiree reported the annuity under the Three-Year Rule and recovered all of the cost tax free, your survivor payments are fully taxable.

If the retiree was reporting the annuity under the General Rule, you must apply the same exclusion percentage to your initial survivor annuity payment called for in the contract. The resulting tax-free amount will then remain fixed for the initial and future payments. Increases in the survivor annuity are fully taxable. See Pub. 939 for more information on the General Rule.

If the retiree was reporting the annuity under the Simplified Method, the part of each payment that is tax free is the same as the tax-free amount figured by the retiree at the annuity starting date. This amount remains fixed even if the annuity payments are increased or decreased. See Simplified Method under Taxation of Periodic Payments, earlier.

Guaranteed payments. If you receive guaranteed payments as the decedent's beneficiary under a life annuity contract, don't include any amount in your gross income until your distributions plus the tax-free distributions received by the life annuitant equal the cost of the contract. All later distributions are fully taxable. This rule doesn't apply if it is possible for you to collect more than the guaranteed amount. For example, it doesn't apply to payments under a joint and survivor annuity.

How To Get Tax Help

If you have questions about a tax issue, need help preparing your tax return, or want to download free publications, forms, or instructions, go to IRS.gov and find resources that can help you right away.

Preparing and filing your tax return. Find free options to prepare and file your return on IRS.gov or in your local community if you qualify.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and limited-English-speaking taxpayers who need help preparing their own tax returns. The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help for all taxpayers, particularly those who are 60 years of age and older. TCE volunteers specialize in answering questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors.

You can go to IRS.gov and click on the Filing tab to see your options for preparing and filing your return which include the following.

Using direct deposit. The fastest way to receive a tax refund is to combine direct deposit and IRS e-file. Direct deposit securely and electronically transfers your refund directly into your financial account. Eight in 10 taxpayers use direct deposit to receive their refund. IRS issues more than 90% of refunds in less than 21 days.

Delayed refund for returns claiming certain credits. Due to changes in the law, the IRS can't issue refunds before February 15, 2017, for returns that claim the earned income credit (EIC) or the additional child tax credit (ACTC). This applies to the entire refund, not just the portion associated with these credits.

Getting a transcript or copy of a return. The quickest way to get a copy of your tax transcript is to go to IRS.gov/transcripts. Click on either "Get Transcript Online" or "Get Transcript by Mail" to order a copy of your transcript. If you prefer, you can:

Understanding an IRS notice or letter. Go to IRS.gov/notices to find additional information about responding to an IRS notice or letter.

Contacting your local IRS office. Keep in mind, many questions can be resolved on IRS.gov without visiting an IRS Tax Assistance Center (TAC). Go to IRS.gov/letushelp for the topics people ask about most. If you still need help, IRS TACs provide tax help when a tax issue can't be handled online or by phone. All TACs now provide service by appointment so you'll know in advance that you can get the service you need without waiting. Before you visit, go to IRS.gov/taclocator to find the nearest TAC, check hours, available services, and appointment options. Or, on the IRS2Go app, under the Stay Connected tab, choose the Contact Us option and click on "Local Offices."

Watching IRS videos. The IRS Video portal (IRSvideos.gov) contains video and audio presentations for individuals, small businesses, and tax professionals.

Getting tax information in other languages. For taxpayers whose native language isn't English, we have the following resources available. Taxpayers can find information on IRS.gov in the following languages.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service Is Here To Help You

What is the Taxpayer Advocate Service?

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. Our job is to ensure that every taxpayer is treated fairly and that you know and understand your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

What Can the Taxpayer Advocate Service Do For You?

We can help you resolve problems that you can't resolve with the IRS. And our service is free. If you qualify for our assistance, you will be assigned to one advocate who will work with you throughout the process and will do everything possible to resolve your issue. TAS can help you if:

We have offices in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Your local advocate's number is in your local directory and at taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov. You can also call us at 1-877-777-4778.

How Can You Learn About Your Taxpayer Rights?

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights describes 10 basic rights that all taxpayers have when dealing with the IRS. Our Tax Toolkit at taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov can help you understand what these rights mean to you and how they apply. These are your rights. Know them. Use them.

How Else Does the Taxpayer Advocate Service Help Taxpayers?

TAS works to resolve large-scale problems that affect many taxpayers. If you know of one of these broad issues, please report it to us at IRS.gov/sams.

Low Income Taxpayer Clinics

Low Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITCs) serve individuals whose income is below a certain level and need to resolve tax problems such as audits, appeals, and tax collection disputes. Some clinics can provide information about taxpayer rights and responsibilities in different languages for individuals who speak English as a second language. To find a clinic near you, visit IRS.gov/litc or see IRS Publication 4134, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic List.