Foreign pension

[ClancyP]

I am a retired US citizen resident in Switzerland. I receive payments from the Swiss Retirement system (AHV: equivalent to US Social Security) and payments from my former Swiss employer's retirement plan. Both report annual payments in CHF for Swiss income tax reporting purposes.

In past years I have declared these incomes on substitute1099-Rs (and filled out form 4853) and used

00-0000000 as the Payer's Federal identification number for these payors. 2021 Turbotax Premier no longer accepts that work around.

So, how to declare this foreign income in TurboTax 2021?

[Mike9241]

try 36-1234567 or the same EIN from the US pension.  the EINs used are not transmitted to the IRS

[ClancyP · Accepted solution]

Yes, Mike9241, your solution works. I.e., it gets past TurboTax's tax return review requirement to have an EIN.

I found another solution with which I am more comfortable. Having filled out the 1099-R with no EIN, before running the review go to the 4853 form, override the EIN and then blank it out. After all, Form 4853 field 6 label says: "Employer's or Payer's TIN (if known)". So the form itself is not requiring an EIN.