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Working Around Missing
1099s
If you received interest or dividend income, sold a stock or worked as
an independent contractor, you'll get some version of the Internal Revenue
Service Form 1099 to help you complete your tax return.
As with W-2 wage statements, 1099 forms are to be mailed to recipients by
Jan. 31. If you don't receive an expected Form 1099 by a few days into
February, contact the issuer. Even if they tell you it's in the mail, ask
for a duplicate. If Feb. 15 comes and goes without the statement's
arrival, call the IRS at (800) 829-1040 for help in getting this
information.
But you don't necessarily have to wait for the statements to file your
return. You generally don't have to send in the actual 1099 forms with
your return. They are just issued so you'll know how much to report, with
copies going to the IRS so they can double-check your tax return entries.
As long as you have the correct information, you can put it on your tax
form without having the statement in hand.
Tracking down the data
The easiest way to get this missing data is to call the employer, bank or
investment company and ask for your income information over the phone. In
some cases, the amounts that would be on a 1099 are readily available from
documents you already have.
For example, your bank may put a summary of the interest paid during the
year on your December or January account statement. Many financial
companies make the interest figure available through customer service
phone lines or Web sites. And most investment firms include the year's
Form 1099 cumulative amounts as part of quarterly dividend statements.
If your missing 1099 does finally show up, don't discard it because you
got the information elsewhere and already filed your return. Check to make
sure the amount on the form is the same as you reported. If there is any
discrepancy, call the issuer to reconcile the differences.
If the late-arriving 1099 is correct, you'll need to file a Form 1040X, an
amended tax return, correcting the amount. If you don't, expect a call
from the IRS because the agency will use the final 1099 as its basis for
reviewing your return for accuracy.
Below is a listing of the various 1099 forms. Don't be concerned if
the interest statements from separate financial institutions don't look
alike. The IRS doesn't care what format the issuer uses. It just wants the
income and tax information.
- Form 1099-B Proceeds from
broker and barter exchange transactions
- Form 1099-DIV Dividends and
distributions
- Form 1099-G Certain government
and qualified state tuition program payments (this includes refunds of
state income taxes paid)
- Form 1099-INT Interest income
- Form 1099-MISC Miscellaneous
income
- Form 1099-OID Original issue
discount payments
- Form 1099-R Distributions from
pensions, annuities, retirement or profit-sharing plans, IRAs, insurance
contracts, etc. This is an exception to the non-filing rule. You will
need to send in a 1099-R with your return if the statement shows income
tax was withheld.
- Form SSA-1099 Social Security
benefit statement
- Form RRB-1099 Payments by the
Railroad Retirement Board
Source:
Bankrate.com
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