Line 5 on my 1099R from my annuity does not show what I contributed, how do I find out?

[BMcCalpin · Accepted solution]

Because companies are bought, merged, and sold, and because pension and annuity administrators change over time, it is your responsibility to keep good records to know what your "basis" is (also called "cost" or "contribution").

Administrators may or may not transfer such information when a pension or annuity is sold or transferred to another administrator.

You can contact your current administrator who may have entered nothing because they don't know what went on before in your pension (maybe nothing).

You can contact the previous administrator (if one) and see if they have records.

You can contact your employer and ask if they have such records.

You can look at previous tax returns if this is not the first year that you took distributions from the annuity - the question of cost or basis is asked by most tax return software, so the answer might have been entered in a previous year. 

Once you find the number for your basis or contribution, keep it with your records, because you are likely to need it again.