Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: code H means your designated Roth account, a Roth 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b), moved directly, trustee to trustee, into a Roth IRA. No cash ever reached you, so there is nothing currently taxable and no early-distribution question.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1099-R box 5, Form 1099-R box 6 and Form 1099-R boxes 10 and 11.
What the IRS tells the payer
From the current instructions, code H is “Direct rollover of a designated Roth account distribution to a Roth IRA”. The full instruction text reads: “Use code H for a direct rollover of a distribution from a designated Roth account to a Roth IRA.” It may be used with: 4.
Why this is not a conversion
Code H is easy to confuse with a Roth conversion, but they are not the same event. A conversion moves pre-tax traditional money into a Roth account and creates taxable income; code H moves already-designated-Roth money into another Roth account, so its character does not change and nothing new becomes taxable. The instructions note the mirror image directly under code G: “Do not use code G for a direct rollover from a designated Roth account to a Roth IRA. Use code H.”
Which line it drives
A direct rollover reported with code H shows zero in box 2a. The payer instructions are explicit for a direct rollover like this one: “For a direct rollover of a distribution from a designated Roth account to a Roth IRA, enter the amount rolled over in box 1 and -0- (zero) in box 2a. Use code H in box 7a.”
Common mistakes
- Assuming any Roth-to-Roth movement must be a taxable conversion. A direct rollover under code H is not.
- Confusing code H with code G, which covers direct rollovers to another qualified plan, a section 403(b) plan, a governmental section 457(b) plan, or an IRA, and which the instructions say not to use for a direct rollover from a designated Roth account to a Roth IRA.
Box 7 is the payer’s claim, not the law
The code in Box 7a records what the custodian knew when it cut the cheque. It is not a ruling on what you owe, and the IRS instructions say so in as many words. On code 1 the instruction to payers is to use it “even if the distribution is made for medical expenses, health insurance premiums, qualified higher education expenses, a first-time home purchase…” and a list of other genuine statutory exceptions.
Related codes worth reading alongside this one: code B.
Every code in one place: the Box 7 table. If yours looks wrong: how to fix it.
Figures verified against the IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 (2026) and the 2026 Form 1099-R on September 30, 2026.
Sources
- IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 (2026), Table 1, Guide to Distribution Codes: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099r
- IRS, Instructions for Form 5329 (2025): https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i5329
Code meanings are read from the IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 (current edition, tax year 2026), Table 1, Guide to Distribution Codes, at irs.gov on September 28, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.