1099-R Box 7 Distribution Codes (tax year 2026): the payer's claim, not the law

All 28 distribution codes reported in Box 7 of IRS Form 1099-R with the IRS's own explanatory text, transcribed from the current Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 (Table 1, Guide to Distribution Codes), read 2026-08-03. The point of the dataset: the Box 7 code records what the payer knew, not what the taxpayer owes. The IRS instructs payers to use code 1 — early distribution, no known exception — even if the distribution qualifies for a genuine section 72(t)(2) exception, because the payer is not required to know. The exception is claimed by the taxpayer on Form 5329. Consumer material routinely misreads the code as a verdict on tax liability. Two current-year findings: code Y for qualified charitable distributions is optional for tax year 2026, so a QCD can still be reported as a plain code 7; and codes Q and T differ only in whether the custodian could confirm the Roth five-year clock.