TIGTA Recommendations For From 1099-R

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recommended changes to Form 1099R in a report released on Tuesday. The recommendations would improve taxpayer compliance with reporting and paying tax on income detailed in Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirment or Profti-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.

In 2007 the TIGTA audited selected tax returns to determine if the IRS’s processes and controls were sufficient to ensure proper reporting of the taxable portion of retirement income. The audit revealed that taxpayers received confusing and contradictory information on Form 1099-R, and that taxpayers reported gross distributions but left the taxable amount blank.

The recommended changes made by TIGTA for Form 1099R are below:

• Clarification of the meaning of “Taxable amount not determined” from box 2b
• Inclusion of instructions that state the taxpayer must determine the taxable amount
• Inclusion of distribution and transfer dates on both From 1099-R and Form 5498
• Creation of procedures to transcribe additional lines from other forms

See Sally P. Schreiber, TIGTA: Revise Form 1099-R to Improve Taxpayer Compliance, Journal of Accountancy, Feb. 7, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.