Thank you very much! Using all 2s got Turbotax to accept it. I hope that's OK with the IRS, though.
It gives me pause that you linked your answer with the misunderstanding that with foreign pensions "The actual payer information does not get transmitted as part of your tax return." Not so. In my experience (married filing jointly for 12 years now with a spouse with two foreign pensions), the process of creating a substitute 1099-R leads to generating a Form 4852 which is indeed part of the tax filing, and the payer is fully identified on it.
Last year we identifed the pensions payers with all 1s. Could changing to all 2s trigger unwanted scrutiny from the IRS? Thanks again!
