We are awaiting Form 8915-E available in TurboTax. If upgrade to TurboTax Live, can CPA help us now? And do we pick the CPA we can work with, or does TurboTax assign you?

You wont have to wait long. Form 8915-E: Qualified 2020 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments, which is used for COVID-related early distributions, will be e-fileable starting 2/24.  The IRS is updating form 5329’s instructions to make it clear that COVID related exceptions cannot use 5329 and should use the new 8915-E.

If you upgrade to TurboTax Live, a tax professional can help you with filing your return or they can prepare your return and file it.  However, its potluck on who is assigned to you.  Also, its a very busy time of year so you may have some wait time to talk to a professional.

The 8915-E will be used for penalty relief from early retirement plan distributions and include the option to spread the distribution income over 3 years.  This may be a good option if the distribution is pushing you into a higher marginal tax bracket.  You may end up paying less tax if you spread the distribution over the 3 years