NOTE TO ADMINS: Not sure if this is the most appropriate section to post this question, please feel free to move it to the most appropriate one.


Good afternoon,

My step father (American, Florida resident) passed away in July 2016. My mother (non-resident alien or NRA living abroad) is the only beneficiary.

Last year, we liquidated his annuity funds from several institutions (Dreyfus, MetLife, Valic) since we were told that, given that the beneficiary is an NRA, my mother has no right to keep these funds open.

When filing the 1040 for FY 2016, these institutions sent 1099s (1099INV, 1099-R, etc) at my stepfather name and under his SSN, so we were able to do the last joint filing (husband and wife) easily.

This year, no one of them sent anything. I called all 3 of them and each one presented different criteria for dealing with the issue. Dreyfus said that they will issue a 1042-S (given my mother is a NRA), MetLife is not sure what happened that the 1099 wasn't issued (and they are working on that) and Valic said no tax form will be issued (hard to believe since they distributed money with no withholdings in 2017, and the IRS should be informed)

My 2 questions are:

1) Given that my mother is an NRA with an ITIN (instead of SSN), what form should apply to her for liquidating retirement funds? 1042-S? It seems that 1099s are for American citizens and residents.

2) Is it mandatory for financial institutions in the US to issue tax forms following withdrawals from retirement funds, regardless of the presence or absence of withholdings?

Thank you very much.

Andres