Who is considered the payer

The payer is the financial institution that issued the 1099-R to you.  See the screenshot attached.  I've starred the box where you'll find the payer's name and address.

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When I was about to e-file, I received a message that I had to many characters for the payer.

In order to correct this, I went to forms and clicked on the one that had the payer's name. Then I edited the name to use fewer characters. This fixed the problem and I was allowed to e-file.