I randomly looked at returns back to 2008 - different tax programs -- they are all like this.FWIW, I looked back at the last 3 years of my H&R Block returns (2020, 2021 and 2022), and 4a is blank on each 1040 but 4b is properly completed. The dummy 2023 return I completed in TurboTax has entries in both 4a and 4bI was curious about this too, but I read somewhere that it's not really required in line 4a unless you have a 1099-R distribution that's only partially taxable, and/or multiple distributions some of which are taxable and some not. I'm not a pro, so take that for what it's worth, but with only one distribution, which is taxable, I'm just going to leave the number in line 4b only. YMMVThe current form 1040 has the taxable amount in line 4b, but doesn't have a distribution amount in line 4a.
edit: if you look at the 1040 instructions for Box 4a it appears (I only skimmed) that this is per IRS instructions.
Statistics: Posted by jebmke — Tue Feb 13, 2024 1:27 pm — Replies 116 — Views 13369