OPM Survivor 1099-R with UNKNOWN in Boxes 2a/9b - How to handle this on taxes?
I'm in a really confusing situation with my mom's survivor benefits from OPM. My father passed away last year (2024) and things were straightforward with his final 1099-R from the Office of Personnel Management - it had actual numbers in boxes 2a and 9b. The problem started when my mom began receiving survivor benefits mid-2024. Her 1099-R from OPM now shows "UNKNOWN" in boxes 2a and 9b instead of dollar amounts. I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to report this correctly! When I use TurboTax, it automatically sets box 2a equal to whatever is in box 1 (the gross distribution amount), which would make the entire amount taxable. But that doesn't seem right for survivor benefits. I checked the OPM website and it vaguely mentions that if these boxes show "UNKNOWN," then the distribution is "more than likely non-taxable" - but that's not very reassuring! I'm especially confused since this is specifically a transition from a regular federal retirement 1099-R to a survivor 1099-R. I have both my dad's final 1099-R (with actual numbers) and my mom's new survivor 1099-R (with the "UNKNOWN" entries). The worst part is, I just realized we completely forgot to file the 2024 survivor 1099-R on my mom's taxes, so I'll need to file an amended return once I figure this out. Has anyone dealt with OPM survivor benefits and these "UNKNOWN" entries before? How do you determine what's taxable vs. non-taxable from year to year?
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Emma Morales
This is a common issue with OPM survivor benefits. The "UNKNOWN" designation in boxes 2a and 9b happens because OPM doesn't calculate the taxable portion for survivors - they leave it to you and the IRS to figure out. Here's how to handle this: For OPM survivor annuities, you need to apply the Simplified Method to determine how much is taxable. This method allows your mom to recover her tax basis (your dad's after-tax contributions to his retirement) tax-free over her life expectancy. Look at your dad's final 1099-R and find the amount in box 5 - that's his total employee contributions that were already taxed. Your mom gets to recover this amount tax-free over her expected lifetime. You'll need to complete the Simplified Method Worksheet (found in the 1040 instructions) to calculate how much of each payment is taxable. For the amended return, you'll need to gather both 1099-Rs and complete the worksheet for the partial year your mom received benefits. The IRS Publication 721 "Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits" has detailed information on this process.
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Declan Ramirez
•Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! That makes a lot more sense now. I was getting so frustrated trying to make sense of the "UNKNOWN" designation. So if I understand correctly, I need to find the amount in box 5 of my dad's final 1099-R (which appears to be around $147,000) and then use the Simplified Method Worksheet to spread that out over my mom's life expectancy? That would determine how much of each payment is non-taxable? Also, do you know if I need to keep track of this calculation year-to-year, or will it be the same percentage each year?
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Emma Morales
•You've got it right! Take that $147,000 figure from box 5 of your dad's final 1099-R and use the Simplified Method Worksheet to determine the non-taxable portion based on your mom's life expectancy. You will definitely need to keep track of this calculation from year to year. Each year, you'll subtract the non-taxable portion from that original $147,000 contribution amount. Once your mom has recovered the entire $147,000 tax-free (which may take many years), all future payments become fully taxable. I recommend creating a spreadsheet to track this annually to make future tax filings easier.
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Katherine Hunter
After my husband passed away, I struggled with the exact same OPM survivor annuity tax situation. The "UNKNOWN" in those boxes drove me crazy until I found a solution that saved me hours of frustration and probably thousands in taxes. I uploaded images of both 1099-Rs to https://taxr.ai and their system immediately recognized the OPM survivor benefit pattern. Their tax experts explained that with survivor annuities, you need to use the Simplified Method to determine the taxable portion, but tracking this correctly over years is crucial or you could pay taxes twice on the same money. The tool helped me calculate exactly how much of each payment should be taxable based on my life expectancy and my husband's after-tax contributions. It also created a year-by-year tracking document so I won't lose track of how much of the contribution basis I've recovered so far.
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Lucas Parker
•How does this taxr.ai thing actually work? I've got a similar situation with my mom's survivor benefits from my dad's federal pension, but the "expert" at H&R Block just shrugged and said to report the full amount as taxable. Can this actually help with OPM-specific issues?
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Donna Cline
•I'm skeptical about using some random website for tax help with something this complicated. Did they explain WHY the OPM puts "UNKNOWN" on survivor 1099-Rs? Seems like a weird practice from a government agency. Did you verify their advice with an actual CPA before filing?
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Katherine Hunter
•The way it works is you upload images of your tax documents and their system analyzes them using some kind of AI, but then actual tax experts review everything. For OPM benefits specifically, they knew exactly what to do with the "UNKNOWN" fields. The reason OPM uses "UNKNOWN" is because they don't track how much of the after-tax contributions have been recovered by survivors - that responsibility falls on the taxpayer. Their system correctly identified my husband's contribution amount from his final 1099-R and calculated the proper exclusion ratio based on my age. They even cited the specific IRS publications and rules.
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Lucas Parker
I wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai for my mom's OPM survivor benefits situation. I was initially unsure but decided to try it after stressing about the "UNKNOWN" boxes on her 1099-R for weeks. I uploaded both her survivor 1099-R and my dad's final regular 1099-R, and within a day I had a comprehensive explanation. They confirmed that we needed to use the Simplified Method worksheet and showed exactly how to determine the tax-free portion. The really valuable part was they created a multi-year tracking document showing how much of the contribution basis would be recovered each year. This saved us significant money because we discovered we'd been incorrectly reporting the full amount as taxable income! They also helped with the amended return process for the previous year. Honestly wish I'd found this earlier when my dad first passed.
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Harper Collins
When my wife passed away, I had the same issue with her federal pension and the "UNKNOWN" boxes on the survivor 1099-R. I spent WEEKS trying to get someone at the OPM on the phone for clarification. It was impossible to get through - either endless hold times or being disconnected. I eventually found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They have this service that basically waits on hold with the IRS or other government agencies for you, then calls you when they reach a live person. I was super skeptical but desperate after wasting days trying to get through. They got me connected with an OPM benefits specialist within a few hours. The specialist confirmed I needed to use the Simplified Method worksheet and explained exactly how to determine the taxable portion of my survivor benefits. They even sent me a follow-up email with written instructions.
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Kelsey Hawkins
•How does this actually work? Does someone literally sit on hold for you? Because I've been trying to reach someone at OPM about my dad's retirement stuff for literally three weeks. Every time I call it's 2+ hour wait times and I can't stay on that long with my job.
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Dylan Fisher
•Yeah right. This sounds like BS. Why would anyone need a service to wait on hold? Just use the callback feature. And even if this is real, I bet they charge a fortune just to have someone wait on a phone line. Waste of money when you could just email OPM directly.
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Harper Collins
•The service uses some kind of automated system that stays on hold for you. You create an account, tell them who you're trying to reach, and they call that agency. When they finally get a real human on the line, you get a call and are connected immediately to that person. You'd be surprised how many government agencies don't offer callbacks, especially for specialized departments. OPM retirement services is notoriously difficult to reach. I tried emailing twice with no response before resorting to calls. The time savings alone was worth it for me - I would have spent probably 5-6 hours on hold otherwise.
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Dylan Fisher
I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to talk to someone at OPM about my mother's survivor benefits with the same "UNKNOWN" issue. The service got me through to an OPM benefits specialist in about 90 minutes, while I was able to continue working. The specialist explained that the "UNKNOWN" in boxes 2a and 9b is actually normal for survivor benefits, and walked me through how to apply the Simplified Method based on my mother's age and my father's contribution amount from his final 1099-R. What would have been days of frustration trying to reach someone was solved in less than two hours. The specialist even emailed me the specific calculation worksheet to use. Definitely changed my opinion about this service and saved me a ton of stress dealing with this annuity tax situation.
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Edwards Hugo
Just wanted to add my experience with OPM survivor benefits. My husband was a federal employee for 30 years, and after he passed, I received the survivor annuity with the same "UNKNOWN" boxes on the 1099-R. The key is definitely the Simplified Method worksheet. The amount that's non-taxable each year is calculated by dividing your deceased spouse's total contributions (box 5 on their final 1099-R) by the number of anticipated monthly payments based on your age when you began receiving the survivor benefits. For example, if the deceased contributed $100,000 total, and based on your age you're expected to receive 310 monthly payments, then $100,000 ÷ 310 = $322.58 of each monthly payment would be non-taxable return of contribution. The rest is taxable income.
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Declan Ramirez
•Thank you for sharing this example! That makes it much clearer. Based on my mom's age (she's 67), I'll need to look up the anticipated payment number on the Simplified Method table. One more question - once I figure out how much of each payment is non-taxable, do I just report that on my mom's tax return somewhere? Or do I need to fill out a special form?
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Edwards Hugo
•You'll report the total annual amount received (from box 1 of the 1099-R) on line 5a of Form 1040. Then you'll report the taxable amount (after subtracting the non-taxable portion) on line 5b. You don't need to submit the Simplified Method worksheet with your tax return, but definitely keep it with your tax records. Also create a running record of how much of the contribution basis has been recovered each year, because once you've recovered the entire contribution amount, all future payments become fully taxable.
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Gianna Scott
Has anyone else noticed that OPM is TERRIBLE about explaining the "UNKNOWN" issue to survivors? When my dad passed and my mom started getting the survivor benefits, we called OPM like 5 times and got 5 different answers about how to handle the taxes. One rep told us it was all taxable, another said none was taxable, and one even said "just ask your tax preparer" which wasn't helpful at all! We ended up overpaying taxes for 2 years before a CPA finally explained the Simplified Method to us.
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Alfredo Lugo
•OPM is THE WORST with documentation. I work for a tax prep service and see this confusion every year. The problem is that OPM doesn't track the recovery of the deceased employee's contributions for survivors - they just print "UNKNOWN" and leave you to figure it out. The most important thing is to KEEP RECORDS! Once you calculate using the Simplified Method, you need to track how much of the contribution basis has been recovered each year. If you don't keep records, you might end up recovering more than was contributed (effectively taking the tax break twice).
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Ev Luca
I'm dealing with this exact same situation right now! My father passed away in early 2024, and my mother started receiving OMP survivor benefits in June. We just received her first full-year 1099-R and sure enough - "UNKNOWN" in boxes 2a and 9b. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful. I had no idea about the Simplified Method worksheet, and our tax preparer seemed just as confused as we were. They actually suggested we might need to report the entire amount as taxable, which based on what everyone is saying here would have been a huge mistake. Does anyone know if there are any special considerations for mid-year benefit starts? My mom only received survivor benefits for about 6 months in 2024, so I'm wondering if that affects the Simplified Method calculation at all, or if we just pro-rate based on the actual months she received payments? Also, has anyone successfully amended returns for this issue? We're probably looking at needing to file an amended return too since we may have reported this incorrectly initially.
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