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January 31, 2024
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Inherited traditional IRA

  • January 31, 2024
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My wife inherited half of a traditional IRA. The 1099-R shows the entire distribution. Form W-4R/OMB from the Bank shows she only received half.  How do we document that for taxes?

Best answer by dmertz

It seems extremely unlikely that the custodian would make the error of reporting all on one beneficiary's Form 1099-R a distribution paid to multiple beneficiaries, but if that truly occurred, your wife needs to contact the payer to obtain a corrected Form 1099-R.  That the Form 1099-R includes the entire amount suggests that your wife inherited the entire IRA because she was the only designated beneficiary.  If your wife then gave a portion of that to someone else, that's a gift from your wife to the other person, possibly reportable on Form 709, but your wife is still responsible for paying the tax on the entire distribution.

1 reply

dmertzAnswer
Employee
February 1, 2024

It seems extremely unlikely that the custodian would make the error of reporting all on one beneficiary's Form 1099-R a distribution paid to multiple beneficiaries, but if that truly occurred, your wife needs to contact the payer to obtain a corrected Form 1099-R.  That the Form 1099-R includes the entire amount suggests that your wife inherited the entire IRA because she was the only designated beneficiary.  If your wife then gave a portion of that to someone else, that's a gift from your wife to the other person, possibly reportable on Form 709, but your wife is still responsible for paying the tax on the entire distribution.