How to handle Canadian Pension for US Taxes?

[Mimi_Six]

I am a US citizen and resident,

I have a Canadian pension from a private employer paid in Canadian dollars.  The pension is not my own, it was my husband's (now deceased).

My understanding is that I need to create a manual 1099-R for the pension and then file a request for a foreign tax credit.  However, after trying to work through the process in TurboTax, I am unsure how to actually do this.

For the 1099-R, my questions are this:

• What should I enter for the "Federal ID Number"?
• Should the gross distribution and taxable amount be the same?
• Should there be zero federal income tax withheld or should I list the Canadian taxes withheld as "federal income tax withheld"?
• Is my Canadian pension considered a “qualified government or public pension”?
• Is my Canadian pension considered to be from a “qualified plan”?
• Should I say that “all of this distribution was for an RMS”?
• Is this Canadian pension considered a RRSP or RRIF?

For the foreign tax credit, my questions are:

• I believe I want the tax credit instead of the deduction?
• Do I want to enter "income and deductions for AMT purposes"?
• What is the "Income Type" for the pension?  Is it "passive income"?
• When asked for the "gross income" for Canada, should that be the pre-tax value of my annual pension payments, or something else?
• Should I enter anything on the "Definitely Related Expenses" form?
• Should I enter anything on the "foreign losses" form?
• For the "Foreign Taxes Paid" for Canada, should I enter the total value of the taxes paid on my pension last year, or something else?
• Should I enter anything for "Other Deductions Not Definitely Related"?
• Should I enter anything on the "Reduction in Foreign Taxes" sheet?
• Should I enter anything on the "High Tax Kickout" sheet?
• Should I enter any "Gross Income Adjustment"?

When I look at what my husband did in previous years, it seems that he was forced to file his return using a paper copy?  Is it possible to file electronically when you have a foreign pension?

Thank you.

[ThomasM125]

You will have to leave the identification number blank, so you will need to mail your return in.

The gross distribution and taxable amount are the same, assuming all of the pension is taxable. The tax withheld should be blank. It is likely not a qualified government pension.

It is not passive income. I don't have an answer to the other questions in the top section.

You do normally want the credit as opposed to the deduction. You would normally not need to enter AMT income or deductions.

Gross income would be the pension distribution amount. The foreign taxes paid would be the taxes paid on the pension to Canada. You normally wouldn't need to enter anything accept the income and foreign taxes paid in the foreign tax credit section, unless you had unused credits that were available from the previous year(s).

[Edited 3/1/21 8:07 PM PST]

@Mimi_Six