A method for operating a user equipment (UE) comprises receiving, from a base station (BS), CSI feedback configuration information; determining, based on the CSI feedback configuration information, CSI feedback including, for each layer l of a total number of v layers, an indicator i1,8,l indicating an index of a strongest coefficient among KNZ,l coefficients, wherein l∈{1, . . . , v} is a layer index, v≥1 is a rank value, and KNZ,l is a number of non-zero coefficients for layer l; determining a payload of the indicator i1,8,l for each layer l based on the rank value; and transmitting, to the BS, over an uplink (UL) channel, the CSI feedback including the indicator i1,8,l each layer l of the total number of v layers.