IRA, 401(k), or SEP IRA Distributions

How to enter retirement distributions in Scenario Analysis.

Enter any IRA, 401(k), or SEP IRA distributions into the “IRA Distributions” field in the "1040 Income" section.  These will be taxed as Ordinary Income. You can access the "IRA Distributions Worksheet" by clicking on the pencil icon circled below, to break out and report those distributions by taxpayer and type. 


IRA Distributions Worksheet Access

Within the "IRA Distribution Worksheet" seen below, you have the option of entering a single distribution for the entire household, or by separating out distributions by taxpayer. We recommend you break out the distributions by taxpayer and type as a best practice.

NOTE: Some states require distributions reported by taxpayer for their state tax calculations. As a best practice, allocate IRA distributions to Taxpayer 1 or Taxpayer 2 instead of the "Taxable IRA Distributions (Override - All taxpayers and types combined)" field when possible.




If you have entered the date of birth for your clients in their client household screen, and you have allocated the IRA distribution to either Taxpayer 1 or Taxpayer 2, Holistiplan will call out when a distribution occurs for someone under age 59.5, and will note that an early withdrawal penalty may be assessed. Below we see the 10% penalty is flagged as outlined in red below. If your client is exempt from that early withdrawal penalty, you can check the box circled in blue below.


IRA Early Withdrawal Penalty

Amounts entered as Inherited IRA Distributions will not produce any early withdrawal penalties. For example, Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) arising from Inherited IRAs can be entered for Taxpayer 1 and/or Taxpayer 2, and no early withdrawal penalty will be calculated for or applied to your scenario.



Any early withdrawal penalties will be applied to the scenario, and can be seen in the "Other Taxes" section found before "Refundable Tax Credits" and under the "Additional Taxes" sub-section as seen outlined in red below. This early withdrawal penalty will be included in the "Total Tax" figure for any given scenario.


IRA Early Withdrawal Penalty in Other Taxes

If you are entering QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions) as well, we recommend you check out our article on QCDs for more guidance on modeling that gifting strategy. As always, if you have any questions along the way, Contact Support for assistance.