Line 7: IRA/Pension/Railroad Retirement Income

If you or your spouse receive federal taxable income from a governmental or other pension or retirement plan you may be eligible to exclude that amount from your Iowa income.

To take this exclusion, the income recipient must meet one of the following conditions:

55 years of age or older on December 31, 2025, or

Disabled, or

A surviving spouse or a survivor having an insurable interest in an individual who would have qualified for the exclusion in 2025 on the basis of age or disability.

A surviving spouse who receives amounts from a deceased spouse’s pension, regardless if the deceased spouse was 55 years of age or older or disabled, if the pension was from employment in a protection occupation, or as a sheriff, deputy sheriff, firefighter, or police officer.

Examples of distributions from the following plans that qualify for the exclusion include:

Distributions from individual retirement plans (IRA) authorized under section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)

Distributions from a simplified employee pension (SEP) plan;

Distributions from a savings incentive match plan for employees (SIMPLE) retirement plan;

Distributions from a Keogh plan;

Distributions from qualified pension plans as described in Treasury Regulation section 1.401-1(b)(1)(i), including IPERS;

Roth conversion income;

Distributions from qualified deferred compensation plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act (ERISA) including a 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plan;

Annuity distributions pursuant to IRC section 402(a).

Distributions from an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) as defined in section 4975(e)(7) of the IRC

Include in this deduction the total amount of railroad retirement income that is included in federal taxable income regardless of age or disability status.

For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, a surviving spouse may exclude amounts received from a deceased spouse’s pension, regardless if the deceased spouse was 55 years of age or older or disabled, if the pension was from employment in a protection occupation, or as a sheriff, deputy sheriff, firefighter, or police officer. Pension income must come from a retirement plan provided for under one of the following Iowa Code sections:

97A - Public Safety Peace Officers Retirement, Accident, and Disability System

97B.49B - Protection Occupation - Iowa Employees Retirement System

97B.49C - Sheriff and Deputy Sheriffs Iowa Employees Retirement System

410 - Firefighter and Police Officers - Retirement and Disability

411 - Retirement System for Police and Firefighters

Note: Distributions from the following plans are not eligible for the retirement income exclusion:

(1) Nonqualified deferred compensation plans (2) Nonqualified annuities - Most nonqualified annuity distributions will report a code of “D” in box 7 on federal form 1099-R

For more information, see Iowa Administrative Code rule 701—302.47 and our Retirement Income Tax Guidance .