Participant A was 52 years old in 2008, worked for 2 companies, and contributed more than the 2008 limit of $15,500 plus the $5,000 catch up allowed. The contributions to the first employer's 401k plan have been rolled into a Rollover IRA account. The Rollover IRA owner (i.e. participant A) can take a distribution from the Rollover IRA, but how should the distribution be coded for tax purposes?

I see that IRS Publication 525 says to add the excess to the W-2 wages on the tax return, but not sure how to code the Rollover IRA distribution.

In order to answer this, I would need to know in what year the rolled over amount was distributed. Most likely, the answer will be that the IRA rollover was valid and that the distribution from the IRA should be taxed in the year received. The amounts contributed to 401(k) Plan 2 would probably be deemed to include the excess deferrals and the excess catch-up contributions and would have to be distributed as adjusted for gains and losses, if any. These latter amounts would be taxable in 2009, the year of distribution.