Form 8915-D: 2019 Disaster Retirement Distributions and Repayments

Form 8915-D is the IRS form for reporting qualified 2019 disaster retirement plan distributions and any repayments of those distributions. Because the withdrawal windows for every 2019 disaster have closed, no one takes new distributions under this form anymore. If you still deal with Form 8915-D, it is almost certainly because you are repaying a distribution you took years ago, or because you are still spreading the taxable income from that distribution across the three-year window.¹

What Form 8915-D Is Used for Now

The form was created under the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019, which let people affected by federally declared 2019 disasters pull up to $100,000 from retirement accounts with favorable tax treatment.² The last covered event was the 2019 Puerto Rico Earthquakes (DR-4473-PR), with a distribution deadline of June 24, 2021.³

Today the form has one practical job: reporting money you put back into an eligible retirement plan to reverse a qualified 2019 disaster distribution, and finishing out any income you are still recognizing under the three-year spread election.

The $100,000 Cap and How It Applied

Across all your retirement plans, qualified distributions for any single 2019 disaster were capped at $100,000.⁴ The cap was per disaster, not per account. Eligible plans included traditional and Roth IRAs, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and governmental 457(b) plans.

The Tax Benefits You’re Working With

Two features of a qualified disaster distribution shape how you fill out Form 8915-D today.

The first is the three-year income spread. Rather than reporting the full distribution in the year you received it, the default treatment is to include one-third in that year and one-third in each of the next two years.⁵ A $90,000 distribution becomes $30,000 of additional income each year for three years. You could have elected to report the whole amount up front, but that choice, once made for a year’s distributions, applied to all qualified disaster distributions received that year.

The second is the exemption from the 10% additional tax on early withdrawals (25% for certain SIMPLE IRA distributions). Qualified disaster distributions skip that penalty regardless of your age when you took the money.⁶ Regular income tax still applies to any portion you don’t repay.

Repaying a 2019 Disaster Distribution

You can cancel out the income tax on some or all of a qualified disaster distribution by putting the money back into an eligible retirement plan. You have three years from the day after you received the distribution to finish repaying.⁷ The repayment is treated as a trustee-to-trustee transfer, so it does not eat into your annual contribution limits.⁸

A few distributions can’t be repaid at all: distributions received as a beneficiary (unless you are the surviving spouse), required minimum distributions, and distributions that were part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments.⁷

Reporting the Repayment on This Year’s Form

Report the repayment on Form 8915-D for the tax year the repayment happened. The form reduces the distribution income that would otherwise carry forward into that year’s return. On a 2024 return, for example, a repayment of a Puerto Rico Earthquakes distribution goes on the 2024 Form 8915-D and can reduce the income you would otherwise include for 2024 or an earlier year under the three-year spread.⁹

Amending Earlier Returns After a Repayment

If your repayment covers income you already reported on a prior return, the current year’s 8915-D alone won’t get you the refund. File Form 1040-X for the earlier year to remove the distribution income you reported, and the IRS will recalculate your tax for that year.⁵ Skipping the amendment is the most common mistake here. People repay, report the repayment going forward, and never claim back the tax they already paid on the earlier installments.

Filing Mechanics

You’ll need the Form 1099-R from the plan that issued the original distribution. On Form 8915-D you enter the total qualified distribution, subtract amounts already repaid, and calculate the taxable portion for the current year. Attach the form to your Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.⁵ Tax software handles the attachment automatically when you file electronically.

One exception: if you are not otherwise required to file a tax return but you do need to report a repayment, you can send Form 8915-D by itself. Complete the address section, sign the form, and mail it to the same IRS address that would take your 1040.¹⁰

If Your Disaster Was in 2020 or Later, Use Form 8915-F

Form 8915-D covers 2019 disasters only. For any federally declared disaster from 2020 forward, the IRS uses Form 8915-F, a permanent form that replaced the earlier lettered series (8915-A through 8915-E). Form 8915-F handles both the initial reporting and every subsequent year of income inclusion or repayment.⁷ The three-year income spread, the penalty exemption, and the three-year repayment window carry over, though the dollar cap differs by disaster year.

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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8915-D, Qualified 2019 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments
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Congress.gov. Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8915-D Qualified 2019 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments (2021)
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8915-D Qualified 2019 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments (2020)
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8915-D
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8915-F (Rev. December 2025)
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Internal Revenue Service. Disaster Relief Bill Includes Retirement Plan Distribution and Loan Options
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8915-D
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8915-D Qualified 2019 Disaster Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments (2024)