I have edited and updated my reply. I was thinking about how it works when you make a repayment, and that can affect what you do for amending and for reporting the remainder.

As has been noted elsewhere and other times, the three-year spread is the default. Reporting it all in the year of the distribution is optional under an election.

And a death before the third year means reporting the remainder in that second year, the year of death; or all in the first year, the year of death.