My pensions are from former employers. Are they annuities?

[scouse_91942]

My pensions are from former employers and payments are sent monthly. Why are they called annuities?

[JamesG1]

Not sure.

A pension is a funded retirement plan generating an income.

An annuity is a private insurance product that an individual purchases to generate income payments.

Pensions and annuities are both reported in boxes 5a and 5b of the IRS form 1040 income tax return.

Pensions and annuites are both reported on IRS form 1099-R.  TurboTax uses the same entry process for pensions and annuities.

In TurboTax Online, follow these steps to report IRS form 1099-R: 

• Down the left side of the screen, click on Federal.
• Down the left side of the screen, click on Wages & income.
• Scroll down to Retirement Plans Social Security.  Click the down arrow to the right.
• Click Start / Revisit to the right of IRA 401K Pension Plan Withdrawals.

[SteamTrain]

@scouse_91942 

TTX seems to be calling most/many 1099-R forms "Annuities" this year....even if they are regular pensions.

In a way, even regular pensions are "annuitized" but yeah, using that term generically to most  everything is causing some unnecessary concern.   

There are even several pages that seem to call it an Annuity for my once-a-year 401k RMD withdrawal, that  is no way annuitized.   I just ignore the term and answer as if it is asking about my "1099-R" in place of the word "Annuity"