The following tables are to be used in connection with computations under section 72 and the regulations thereunder. Tables I, II, IIA, III, and IV are to be used if the investment in the contract does not include a post-June 1986 investment in the contract (as defined in § 1.72-6(d)(3)). Tables V, VI, VIA, VII, and VIII are to be used if the investment in the contract includes a post-June 1986 investment in the contract (as defined in § 1.72-6(d)(3)).

In the case of a contract under which amounts are received as an annuity after June 30, 1986, a taxpayer receiving such amounts may elect to treat the entire investment in the contract as post-June 1986 investment in the contract and thus apply Tables V through VIII. A taxpayer may make the election for any taxable year in which such amounts are received by attaching to the taxpayer's return for such taxable year a statement that the taxpayer is electing under § 1.72-9 to treat the entire investment in the contract as post-June 1986 investment in the contract. The statement must contain the taxpayer's name, address, and taxpayer identification number. The election is irrevocable and applies with respect to all amounts that the taxpayer receives as an annuity under the contract in the taxable year for which the election is made or in any subsequent taxable year. (Note that for purposes of the examples in §§ 1.72-4 through 1.72-11 the election described in this section is disregarded (i.e., it assumed that the taxpayer does not make an election under this section).) See also § 1.72-6(d)(3) for rules treating the entire investment in a contract as post-June 1986 investment in a contract if the annuity starting date of the contract is after June 30, 1986, and the contract provides for a disqualifying form of payment or settlement, such as an option to receive a lump sum in full discharge of the obligation under the contract. In addition, see § 1.72-6(d) for special rules concerning the tables to be used and the separate computations required if the investment in the contract includes both a pre-July 1986 investment in the contract and a post-June 1986 investment in the contract and the election described in § 1.72-6(d)(6) is made with respect to the contract.

If (a) the terms of the contract involve a life or lives, and are such that the above tables cannot be correctly applied, and (b) the amounts received under the contract are at least partly “amounts received as an annuity” under a contract to which section 72 applies, the taxpayer may submit with his return an actuarial computation based upon the applicable annuity table (described below) with ages set back one year, showing the appropriate factors applied in his case, subject to the approval of the Commissioner upon examination of such return. The applicable annuity table is the 1937 Standard Annuity Table (if the investment in the contract does not include a post-June 1986 investment in the contract) or the gender-neutral version of the 1983 Basic Table (if the investment in the contract includes a post-June 1986 investment in the contract). In the case of a contract to which § 1.72-6(d) (relating to contracts in which amounts were invested both before July 1, 1986, and after June 30, 1986) applies, the actuarial computation shall be based on both tables in accordance with the principles of § 1.72-6(d). Computations involving factors to compensate for the effects of contingencies other than mortality, such as marriage or remarriage, re-employment, recovery from disability, or the like, will not be approved. [T.D. 6500, 25 FR 11402, Nov. 26, 1960; 25 FR 14021, Dec. 21, 1960, as amended by T.D. 8115, 51 FR 45706, Dec. 19, 1986; 60 FR 16381, Mar. 30, 1995]