I receive a pension as a retired teacher. Is it really necessary to enter this annuity info: plan cost, tax free amount previously recovered, death benefit exclusion?

The answers to these questions are used by the Simplified Method to determine how much of your pension distribution is taxable.

If you made after-tax contributions to your pension while you were working, then these amounts - amortized over an actuarial life span - are returned to you tax-free.

However, if you didn't make any after-tax contributions to your pension while you were working, then you know that 100% of your pension is taxable. This is the typical case for many taxpayers.

Is box 2a on your 1099-R blank? Is the box for "Taxable amount not determined" checked? If so, this means that your pension plan administrator claims not to know if you made any after-tax contributions or not (this amount is called "basis" or "cost").

If there is an amount in box 2a (likely the same as box 1), then you can respond to the question just before the questions about plan cost, start date, etc., "yes, the amount in box 2a was used as the taxable amount."

But if box 2a is blank and/or the "taxable amount not determined" box is checked AND you know that you made no after-tax contributions, then when you see the questions for the Simplified Method, enter the approximate start date (it won't matter if you have no basis in the pension), enter 0 for plan cost, enter 12 for the number of months (or whatever it was for you), 0 for the Tax-free Amount previously recovered, and 0 for death benefit exclusion.

Then answer the question about the pension/annuity covering more than one person, and answer the retirement age questions.

The last screen should tell you that the Simplified Method shows that the taxable amount is $X, which should be the same as the distribution in Box 1 on the 1099-R.

If you had no basis (after-tax contributions) in the plan, then this is the right answer.