IRA Rollover to avoid taxation and penalty. Does the rollover have to equal the distrubution amount?

mochachreme: IRA Rollover to avoid taxation and penalty. Does the rollover have to equal the distrubution amount?
I received a check from a defined benefit plan upon switching jobs. I want to reinvest it before the 60 days to get rollover credit, but I don’t want to deposit the entire amount. Can I get tax credit for a partial reinvestment or does it have to be the entire thing in order to count?
I received a 1099 R and the taxable portion was very low.

Answers and Views:

Answer by 🙂
If you don’t roll-over the entire amount, you will have to pay interest and penalties on the amount that you don’t roll-over.

Answer by msquaredinc
You must roll over the entire amount. If you did roll over only a partial amount the excess would be taxed and maybe even penalized depending on your plan.

Answer by Vic
Roll the entire amount! Otherwise what you keep will be counted as income – BUT – the taxation on it will be increased because it was previously tax deferred and intended to be retirement savings. This is the benefit and the whole idea behind a retirement account.