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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > IRS

Millions of Americans Dodging Taxes on Early Retirement Withdrawals

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What You Need to Know

  • Nearly 3 million taxpayers who received $12.9 billion in 2021 failed to pay the extra 10% tax, according to a Treasury watchdog.
  • These taxpayers could be subject to approximately $1.29 billion in additional taxes and $322 million in in Form 5329 penalties.
  • Approximately 2.3 million of these taxpayers didn't report the distributions as taxable income, TIGTA finds.

Nearly 3 million taxpayers who received early retirement plan distributions of $12.9 billion failed to pay taxes, according to a newly released report from Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

TIGTA’s analysis of 2021 tax return information identified approximately 2.8 million taxpayers who received early distributions of approximately $12.9 billion but did not pay the additional 10% tax and did not file Form 5329, according to the report.

“These taxpayers could be subject to approximately $1.29 billion in additional taxes and/or approximately $322 million in Form 5329 failure to file penalties,” TIGTA said.

Additionally, approximately 2.3 million of the 2.8 million taxpayers did not properly report $11.4 billion in early distributions as taxable income, including 880 taxpayers with distribution amounts over $200,000, according to the TIGTA report.

“In general, taxpayers for whom third parties reported early distributions should have reported and paid the additional 10% tax, filed a Form 5329 claiming an exception, or both if only a portion of the early distribution was excepted,” the report states.

The failure to file penalty for Form 5329 applies to the amount owed from the return due date (not the extended due date) until the form is filed, with a maximum delinquency of five months (5% per month, 25% maximum penalty).

“Without the Form 5329 failure to file penalty, there are potentially no consequences for taxpayers who take an early retirement distribution, do not pay the additional 10% tax, and do not provide the IRS with the exception they are claiming for not paying the additional tax,” the report states.

TIGTA states that its analysis “applied the Form 5329 failure to file penalty on the 10% additional tax owed because the law applies the penalty to the amount owed on the return due date.”

However, “IRS management was uncertain if it was appropriate to apply the penalty to this amount because taxpayers who belatedly file Forms 5329 are claiming exceptions to the tax and the subsequent amount owed is potentially zero, rendering the penalty amount to zero,” the report states.

The IRS’ Automated Underreporter (AUR) function — which compares tax returns against inforomation from third parties like employers — may notify taxpayers of potential noncompliance. But TIGTA states that, according to AUR management, taxpayers who are potentially noncompliant with early distributions may not always receive notifications.

“Amending the AUR notice program to alert taxpayers who are potentially noncompliant with income and taxes associated with early distributions could help bring more taxpayers into compliance,” TIGTA said.


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