During entry of my NY state 1099-R pension data, I'm asked for annuity information on the account. Is this an error?

[lnashett]

Is a request for annuity information a part of completing 1099-R pension information?

[SteamTrain]

@lnashett 

Unfortunately, the question in the interview may be misleading for your situation...

If your box 2a has a non-zero number in it..(not blank, nor marked as undetermined), and that number is somewhat lower than the box 1 number, due to an after-tax contribution amount that is noted in box 5...then edit that retirement form again, and when you get to the following page (below), answer it as-if the displayed edits were present  (i.e. you needed to answer YES).  

Answering YES will use the box 2a $$ amount on your for 1040.  Check lines 5a and 5b before and after entering that 1099-R. 

 (But if you answered No, and already entered some $$ in the "General" or "Simplified" calculation area ,you might need to delete your 1099-R first and re-enter it from scratch...not sure of that though)

__________________________________________

[lnashett]

Thanks for your response,  @SteamTrain. 

When I viewed your reply, there was nothing present after the following three sentences:

"...and when you get to the following page (below), answer it as-if the displayed edits were present  (i.e. you needed to answer YES)." 

"Answering YES will use the box 2a $$ amount on your for 1040.  Check lines 5a and 5b before and after entering that 1099-R." 

"(But if you answered No, and already entered some $$ in the "General" or "Simplified" calculation area, you might need to delete your 1099-R first and re-enter it from scratch...not sure of that though)".

Now, for the first time, in this request asking if my question was answered, I see that you had inserted an image of a TurboTax interview page with red arrows, etc. intended to clarify what you were saying above.

So, unfortunately, I didn't know what "following page" you were referring to.  

After trying many different answers to the TurboTax interview questions that suddenly started referring to my pension as an annuity which it is not (and deleting and re-entering my 1099-R form as many times as I tried different answers), I solved myproblem by simply ignoring the questions and pressing forward without answering them.  To my surprise, this worked and resulted in tax returns that treated my pension exactly as it has in previous years' returns. Not only did I find this exasperating and very time consuming, I paid $138 dollars to TurboTax for this "service".

Turbo Tax should fix this problem and they should be offering me free future tax filing for pointing this out.

lnashett