what is an annuitant 
an annuitant is an individual who is entitled to collect the regular payments of a pension or an annuity investment the annuitant may be the contract holder or another person such as a surviving spouse annuities are generally seen as retirement income supplements they may be tied to an employee pension plan or a life insurance product the size of the payments is usually determined by the life expectancy of the annuitant as well as the amount invested understanding annuitantsan annuity is a regular payment of a guaranteed income for life or for some specified number of years an annuitant may be a retired civil servant who receives a pension plan or an investor who has paid a sum of money to an insurance company in return for a regular income supplement depending on the specifics of the contract the owner of an annuity may name one or more annuitants such as a spouse and an elderly parent or may arrange a joint annuity the annuitant can also arrange for the payments to be transferred to a surviving spouse if the need arises in any case the annuitant must be a person not a company or a trust the amount of the payments to an annuitant is based on the individual s age and life expectancy and the age and life expectancy of any beneficiaries for example if the annuitant is 65 years old but the annuity is transferrable to his 60 year old wife if she survives him the insurance company will calculate that it will make monthly payments for about 24 years which is the life expectancy of a 60 year old woman most annuities are taxed as ordinary income in yet another variation an annuity can be for a term of life plus that is the payments will continue for the annuitant s lifetime and then be transferred to a surviving spouse for a specified period of time types of annuitiesthere are many variations of annuity but they can be boiled down to two basic types taxes on annuitantsannuities are generally taxed as ordinary income the portion of the annuity payments that represents the contract holder s basis is not taxed only the gain portion in the case of an employer pension the entire payment is generally taxed as ordinary income 