Quicken thinks an IRA withdrawal is an IRA purchase

Try deleting that scheduled transaction and set it up the other way around as a scheduled deposit to the bank account first. Especially if they take any tax withholding out of the IRA withdrawal.

@h stansfield and @Quicken Anja I see the same behavior with my IRA distributions prior to April 15 each year. Although selecting the current year and clicking OK is a relatively simple workaround, it is an annoying bug and is easily reproducible. The process below is necessary to use in order for Quicken to record the distribution and withholding so that they appear in the Tax reports and Tax Planner..

I would summarize the problem as follows:

1)  Set up an Income reminder to record the distribution in a banking account for the net amount of the RMD as a positive number.

2)  Split the Category in the Reminder:

• Line 1 of the split:  Category = the IRA account name in [square brackets] for the gross amount as a positive number. This will create a transfer from the IRA.
• Line 2 of the split:  Category = the Fed tax withholding category that you use, as a negative number.
• Line 3 of the split:  Category = the State tax withholding category that you use, as a negative number.
• Total of the split:  Must equal the net amount of the deposit.

3) Accept the Reminder.

If the deposit is made to a banking account between Jan. 1 and April 15, you will see a dialog titled “Confirm Your Contribution Tax Year”, even though this is a distribution and not a contribution. Select the current year, not the default of the previous year, and click on OK.

The problem also occurs if you enter transaction directly in the banking account, without using a Reminder.

@Quicken Anja here is an even more detailed description of the steps to reproduce this problem along with screen shots.

This problem appears even if the transaction is entered directly in the receiving account prior to 4/15. Here is what the directly entered Split transaction looks like:

When I enter the transaction, Quicken asks if it is a payment or deposit. I select Deposit and click on OK

When I enter the transaction by clicking on the green Enter icon, I get the problem dialog:

It is asking about a contribution even though this is a distribution. Also it defaults to last year. If I accept the default, the distribution appears on the 2025 Tax reports.

Note that per IRS regulations, except for the first year you take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), you must take the RMD before Dec. 31.

If I select 2026 and click on OK, the transaction is entered correctly.

-,-,-,-,-,-,

To set this up as a Reminder, I click on Manage Manual Bills and Income and select Add > Income Reminder and set it up as shown

I click on Add Category, Tag, and Memo and again set up a split like this

I click on Done to save the Reminder.

When I Enter the Reminder, I get the same "Confirm your contribution tax year" dialog as above.