How to add Form CSF 1099-R_LS for the beneficiary of a decedent who was retired from federal civil service and was born before 1936?

[r5836915]

It is a small one time death benefit (received by a non-spouse beneficiary) and box 7 includes a single code, code 4. Since the decedent was retired and born before 1936, I understand it may qualify for a special 10 year tax treatment using Form 4972? The TurboTax questionnaire does not ask questions about this and is only asking several questions about "my annuity start date", "number of payments", etc. What could I be doing wrong or what am I misunderstanding?

[LindaS5247]

Please clarify if this was a qualified lump sum payment of the decedents entire account balance within one tax year.

[r5836915]

@LindaS5247 I assume yes to both?

Here's what I know: Per the following information, it would be the lump sum of the annuity owed to the deceased ( Lump Sum Benefit ). I don't know how to answer about the account balance because there is no information on that. This was a one time payment (not recurring). The OPM website indicates retiree amounts from OPM are considered qualified retirement plans. The Form CSF 1099R_LS received is titled "Statement of Survivor Annuity Paid" with matching values in box 1 and 2a and a Distribution code 4 in box 7. 

[MarilynG1]

As long as there is an amount in Box 2a of your CSF 1099-R, that is generally the taxable amount.  Eligibility for 10-year averaging usually requires Code A (in addition to Code 4) in Box 7 of the 1099-R. If your form only has Code 4, the software may default to treating it as regular income.

In this case, you can enter your CSF-1099-R as a regular 1099-R, so you can check Box 2b for 'total distribution'. If you received any prior distributions from this account as a beneficiary before this final distribution, that may disqualify you from using the 10-year averaging method.

Here's more discussion on Form 4972, Special 10-Year Averaging.

@r5836915