I may have jumped the gun, i'm looking for a knowledgable "tax advisor" or a place where I can read the answers.

I just withdrew and ultimately closed my roth IRA, possibly subject to penalties for doing so early if I do not roll over the money within 60 days. I want to move it into my TSP Roth account, but once I started reading about trying to do that TSP states the will not take money that has been distributed back to the individual, it seems they want to take it straight from the financial institutions account.

Is there a way to unscrew this, or do I need to find another qualifying place to put the money to avoid tax penalties? It's not a lot of money about $1,500, I   would like to consolidate that into a single retirement account rather than having two separate ones.

If the TSP won't take it, find a firm that (most) will.

I assume you really want it in the TSP but in reality, the only thing the TSP offers over anyone else is the G Fund and unless you're retired (which, based on this post I assume you're probably not) isn't really good for anything.

And lesson learned:  better to let one financial institution pull it from the other.

I've done it before to both Vanguard and Fidelity but that was back in the day when you could park it in savings for 2 months and actually earn a little interest; these days are not those days.

Send it to Vanguard.

This is what I would do. Move funds to any reputable 3rd party before time (60 days) is up.  Provide copies of all the documents with your applicable tax return that shows Roth distribution out to you...then from you to the aforementioned third party.