@anna38 , I am assuming that this was "total disbursement " of your pension account in the USA ( employee contribution or 401(k) type of tax advantaged savings for pension --- so the statements about exemption code just tells that either this was chapter 3 i.e. disbursed to an individual and there fore there was no exemption to withholding OR the monies were sent to an account in a Foreign Financial Institution ( FFI ) -- chapter 4 payment where the receiving institution is exempt from withholding, probably because the withholding was from the individual. In any case just ignore all these .
When you prepare the substitute 1099-R / equivalent make sure that you show your basis in the account i.e. any monies that you contributed AFTER tax -- there is box for that on 1099-R.
If I am wrong about my assumptions , please correct me so I can address that
Stay safe
pk
