My husband is a retired public safety officer who is receiving monthly distributions before the age of 59 1/2. The pension is from a trust and the monthly payments are for our joint lives and began after he separated from service. According to the instructions on Form 5329, he falls under exception #2 "Distributions made as part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments (made at least annually) for your life (or life expectancy) or the
joint lives (or joint life expectancies) of you and your designated beneficiary (if from an employer plan,
payments must begin after separation from service). I also reviewed Publication 575 (2021) and it also mentions the same exemption on page 35. What do I need to do so that I can apply this exemption and the 10% tax is not automatically added to the pension taxable amount?
