What is a 1099 form? Types of 1099 forms and who receives one

If you receive income outside of a W-2 job—think freelance work, investment, real estate, etc.—you might have received a specific type of tax form called Form 1099. As you may have guessed, 1099 tax forms are common IRS forms covering several potentially taxable income situations. Depending on what’s happened in your financial life during the year, you could get one or more tax form 1099 “types” or even more than one of the same 1099 forms.

We’re here to answer, “What are 1099s?” and other frequently asked questions about the form, like who receives a 1099, where to get 1099 forms, what the form reports for each situation, and 1099 reporting best practices.

What is a 1099 form?

1099 forms are considered “informational returns,” which means a third party sends these tax documents to report transactions to you and the IRS.  Different 1099 forms report various types of income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Keep in mind: The income reported on an IRS 1099 is different from the income on your Form W2. Independent contract workers, check out our Guide to gig worker taxes and avoid tax-time surprises.

Who gets a 1099 tax form?

It can get a little confusing to talk about the 1099 form generically. And here’s why: as we’ve hinted above, there’s a series of 1099 forms that apply to multiple types of income, ranging from investment income to self-employment. So, if you’re trying to figure out who receives a 1099 form, the answer is, a lot of people—and for a lot of reasons.

The types of 1099s you may encounter during the tax season are:

• Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions
• Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions
• From 1099-INT, Interest Income
• Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
• Form 1099-Q, Payments from Qualified Educational Programs
• Form 1099-S, Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions
• Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information
• Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation
• Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions
• Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments
• Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt
• Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds from Broker Transactions

What is a 1099 form used for?

Notice a pattern above? The first group of 1099 forms involves investment income, while the second group covers income from non-investment income such as rents, royalties, and nonemployee work.

There are differences to note, so we’ve categorized them into two sections to outline what 1099s are used for:

• 1099 forms for investment income
• 1099 forms for non-investment income

1099 tax forms for investment income

You may or may not receive a 1099 form for a specific tax year. Your investment company or financial institution will review your account activity for the year to see if you should receive a form. If you don’t have a certain type of income activity in that year, you won’t get that 1099 type.

For example, if your financial account didn’t earn much interest last year, you won’t receive a 1099-INT this year. (We cover 1099-INT below).

Form 1099-B

Form 1099-B shows proceeds from securities transactions. Use the information on Form 1099-B to fill out IRS Form 8949. If you have an account at a brokerage or mutual fund company, the Form 1099-B you received could report single or multiple transactions.

You need this information when preparing your tax return:

• Box 1a: Description—This is a brief description of the asset sold. Enter this amount on your Form 8949.
• Box 1b: Date acquired—This is the date you acquired the asset.
• Box 1c: Date of sale or exchange—This is the transaction’s date. Use it as the sales date on your Form 8949.
• Box 1d: Proceeds—This is the amount of money you receive on the sale of your securities. Report it as the sales price on your Form 8949. The brokerage firm or mutual fund company usually reduces this amount by commissions.
• Box 1e: Cost or other basis—Usually, financial firms also provide information about the cost basis of the asset sold. You can use this information on Form 8949. Under most circumstances, brokers and mutual fund companies must report the basis of the shares bought and sold on Form 1099-B.
• Box 2: Form 1099-B must classify the resulting gain or loss as either short or long-term.
• Box 5: If the broker does not report basis, then this box must be checked.

Form 1099-DIV

1099-DIV reports income from stocks and mutual funds from dividends or capital gain distributions. You need this information to prepare your tax return:

• Box 1a: Ordinary dividends—Enter this amount on Form 1040 or on Schedule B (if required). The amount shown is taxable at ordinary income rates.
• Box 1b: Qualified dividends—This amount shows the portion of the dividends in Box 1a that are taxed at a lower rate. Box 1a amounts aren’t always taxed at ordinary income rates.
• Box 2a: Total capital gain distributions—Enter this amount on Form 1040 or Schedule D (if required). Gains might be eligible for a lower tax rate.
• Box 7: Foreign tax paid—This amount shows taxes you may be able to claim as a foreign tax credit or itemized deduction on your Form 1040, Schedule A. The qualifying amount of taxes paid for the credit or deduction can be part or all of this amount. Special rules apply to both the deduction and the credit; check with a tax pro if you are unsure of the best option.

Form 1099-INT

Form 1099-INT reports interest income received. When preparing your income tax return, the following 1099-INT information is helpful:

• Box 1: Interest income—Enter this amount on Form 1040 or on Schedule B (if required). It’s taxable as ordinary income.
• Box 2: Early withdrawal penalty—The penalty shown in Box 3 is applied when you withdraw a time savings, like a CD, early. Enter this amount as an adjustment to income on Form 1040, Schedule 1, line 18.
• Box 3: Interest on U.S. Savings Bonds and Treasury obligations—Report this interest on Form 1040 or Schedule B (if required). It’s usually taxable on your federal return. It’s usually not taxable for local taxes and for state taxes on your state return.

Form 1099-R

Form 1099-R reports distributions from pensions, annuities, retirement or profit-sharing plans, IRAs, and insurance contracts.

• Box 1: Gross distribution— This is the total amount distributed to you (before withholding), regardless of whether the total amount is taxable. Even if part of the distribution is taxable and part is nontaxable, the entire distribution amount is reported in box 1. .
• Box 2a: Taxable amount—Enter this amount on Form 1040, line 4a and 4b for IRA distributions or 5a and 5b for pensions and annuities.  An entry of zero may indicate distributions that are excludable or tax-deferred, such as a rollover.  Also, if the plan administrator lacks certain data, the box is blank, and the taxable amount has not been calculated for you.     
• Box 2b: If the first box is checked, the payer was unable to determine the taxable amount, and you must determine how much of the box 1 amount is taxable. You may need to use other forms, like Form 8606 or Form 4972.  When the total distribution box is checked, this indicates the entire balance of your account was distributed.
• Box 7: Distributions code(s) —The codes in this box help you determine taxability and whether you will be required to pay an additional 10% tax on early distributions, using Form 5329. In addition, the box will be checked if this is an IRA, SEP, or SIMPLE plan.

You may also receive Forms SSA-1099, RRB-1099, or RRB-1099-R from the Social Security Administration or Railroad Retirement Board to report the benefits you received during the year.

• Social Security benefits (and equivalent railroad retirement benefits) are reported on Form 1040, lines 6A and 6B.
• Railroad retirement benefits that are pension benefits are generally reported on Form 1040, lines 5A and 5B.

Form 1099-Q

Form 1099-Q reports how much money is taken out from a qualified tuition program (QTP), like a 529 plan. In addition to your distribution amount, the 1099-Q shows how much money was withdrawn from the account; you’ll need to determine what to report on your tax return. You’ll need to know if the money was used for qualified education expenses, like tuition and books, which might mean you don’t have to pay taxes on it.

• Box 1: Shows the total amount of money taken out from the education savings account during the year.
• Box 2: Shows the earnings part of the total withdrawal. This is the part that might be taxable if not used for education.
• Box 3: Shows the original amount of money you put in (contributions) that was taken out.
• Box 4: Tells if the amount in Box 1 is from a trustee-to-trustee transfer, which means money was moved from one education savings account to another.
• Box 5: Tells if the distribution is from a QTP established by a private eligible educational institution or from a QTP established by a state.
• Box 6: Tells if the recipient is the designated beneficiary (the student) or someone else.

Learn more about the taxation of college savings plans.

Form 1099-S

Form 1099-S shows proceeds from real estate transactions. The form reports:

• Account or escrow number
• Buyer’s information, including the buyer’s share of real estate tax
• Closing date
• Gross proceeds from sale
• Seller’s information, including the seller’s share of real estate tax

If you receive Form 1099-S for the sale of your main home, and you don’t qualify to exclude -all of the gain, you’ll report the sale.  If the home was never used for business or rental, use Form 8849 and Schedule D. If you receive Form 1099-S for the sale of business or rental real estate, there are several additional considerations when determining whether you have taxable income from the sale, which is typically reported on Form 4797.

Form 1099-DA

Starting with tax year 2025, the IRS will require brokers and other reporting entities to send a new type of 1099—the 1099-DA. This form reports important tax information from cryptocurrency (crypto) and NFT (digital collectables) transactions and includes reporting gain, loss, and cost-basis info and back-up withholding status. 

While it’s always been required to report these types of transactions, the new Form 1099-DA aims to make it easier to properly report them.

Note: If you buy real property using digital collectibles or cryptocurrency, this may be treated as a reportable sale of cryptocurrency and you receive Form 1099-DA. Starting January 1, 2026, if you sell real property paid for with digital assets or cryptocurrency, Form 1099-S will include reporting requirements for digital asset payments in real estate transactions. 

1099 tax forms for non-investment income

These next types of 1099 forms may require you to report the income on Schedule C, which is typically subject to self-employment tax, or on Schedule E.

Form 1099-MISC

Form 1099-MISC tax form reports many types of income, including rents, royalties, prizes and awards, crop insurance proceeds, medical and healthcare payments, direct sales for consumer products exceeding $5,000, payments to an attorney, and fishing boat proceeds.

The main kinds of income—rents or royalties—usually require you to file additional forms on your return. Include this tax information when preparing your return:

• Box 1: Rents—Report real-estate rental income you receive on Schedule E. Report rent for personal property, like machinery, on Schedule C if you are engaged in a trade or business. Otherwise, report nonbusiness income in a for-profit activity on Schedule 1, line 8k, and expenses on Schedule 1, line 24b. 
• Box 2: Royalties—Income you receive for:
  • The right to your work over a specified period of time, and
  • Extracting natural resources from your property on Schedule E.

Form 1099-NEC

You’ll receive a 1099-NEC (nonemployee compensation) for income you receive for contract labor or self-employment of more than $600 in 2025 and $2,000 in tax year 2026.

Heads-up for those working for more than one company. If you work for more than one payor, you’ll receive a 1099-NEC tax form from each company.

Form 1099-K

Using an app or online platform for payments? For tax year 2025 and beyond, if you received 200 or more payments, or over $20,000 of business income or payments for goods and services online through a third-party payment system, you’ll be sent a summary of those payments on a 1099-K.

The payments can be made through any:

• Payment app
• Online community marketplace
• Craft or maker marketplace
• Auction site
• Car sharing or ride-hailing platform
• Ticket exchange or resale site
• Crowdfunding platform
• Freelance marketplace

The gross amount of each reportable payment transaction that a payment processor processes for you is often included in a Form 1099-K. You will get individual 1099-Ks from each payment processor documenting the payments you got if you meet the reporting threshold for that particular year from one or more payment processors or third-party payment enterprises. Changes for credits, cash equivalents, discount amounts, fees, returned amounts, or additional sums are not included in the total gross amount displayed on your 1099-K.

Form 1099-G

The 1099-G form reports the following payments to the IRS:

• Unemployment compensation
• State or local income tax refunds, credits, or offsets
• Reemployment trade adjustment assistance (RTAA) payments
• Taxable grants
• Agricultural payments or payments on a Credit Corporation (CCC) loan

Federal, state, or local governments will file this form and give you a copy. If you receive these payments, you will use this information return to report income generated from the above sources.

Each box on Form 1099-G corresponds to specific types of payments or important information. Let’s break down what it reports:

• Box 1: Reports the total unemployment compensation paid to you.
• Box 2: Reports refunds, credits, or offsets of state or local income tax.
• Box 5: Total amount of reemployment trade adjustment assistance.
• Box 6: Reports any taxable grants you received from the government.
• Box 7: Payments from a federal or state program to help you with crop or livestock losses.
• Box 9: Reports market gains from certain loans or agricultural programs.
• Box 11: State income tax withheld.

Form 1099-C

IRS 1099-C reports that a lender discharged (cancels or forgives) debt of more $600 or more. The issuer also reports the amount of debt forgiveness on the form to the IRS.

The party that cancels your debt files a 1099-C form with the IRS. They’ll send you a copy of the form to file with your return. You’ll get another copy to keep for your personal records.

The 1099-C box items include:

• Date of the event
• Amount of debt discharged
• Interest (if included)
• Debt description
• Whether you are personally liable for the debt (recourse loans)
• Identifiable event code (such as bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc.)
• Fair market value of the property

Where to get 1099 forms?

You’ll get a 1099 from the person who paid you. Some entities send the form via mail, while others send it digitally. If sent online, you’ll get an email or a link to a portal where you can download the 1099.

When are 1099s sent?

The 1099 form series has different deadlines when they are required to be sent. Below, you’ll see an overview of “required to be sent by” dates. If the date falls on a holiday or weekend, the due date is typically the next business date.

Tax forms	Recipient deadline
1099-C, 1099-DIV, 1099-G, 1099-INT, 1099-K, 1099-MISC (No Data in Boxes 8 or 10), 1099-NEC, 1099-Q, 1099-R	1/31
1099-B, 1099-S, 1099-MISC (With Data in Boxes 8 or 10), 1099-DA	2/17

1099 forms and backup withholding

In certain cases, income reported on Form 1099 may be subject to backup tax withholding. Generally, you will file a Form W-9 with the payer that will exempt you from backup withholding. You will only have backup withholding if you do not give a correct (or any) SSN, or if you’ve not paid your taxes on this type of income before. The IRS will notify you if you aren’t exempt.

If backup withholding applies, the payers of the income will:

• Show the tax withheld on Form 1099, and
• Withhold tax at a rate of 24%, if any of these apply:
  • You don’t provide the payer with your tax identification number, like your Social Security number (SSN).
  • The Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) you provide is incorrect.
  • The IRS notifies the payer that you’ve been underreporting interest or dividends.
  • You haven’t certified that you’re exempt from backup withholding.

1099 form FAQs

If we haven’t answered every 1099 question yet, read our answers to commonly asked questions.

Can I e-file 1099 forms?

Yes, income from 1099 forms can be reported on electronically-filed returns. Whether you file with a pro or use our online tax filing options, you can e-file your 1099s with H&R Block.

What if I don’t receive all the 1099s I need?

If you haven’t received all your 1099s by the January 31 or February 17 deadlines, contact the business or agency responsible for sending the 1099 and request they resend a copy of your form.

If you don’t receive the missing form from your issuer by the end of February, contact the IRS at 800-829-1040. The IRS may instruct you to complete Form 4852: Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement or Form 1099-R: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement, or Profit Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, Etc.

Regardless, you should report all income received on your tax return even if you don’t have the 1099. This helps you avoid potential IRS penalties or audits come tax time. You can always file an amended return using Form 1040-X to correct any errors.

What if there’s an error on my 1099 form?

If you spot a 1099 error, contact the issuer and ask them to send a corrected form. In some cases, they may be able to correct the error before sending the incorrect 1099 form to the IRS. The issuer should refile the 1099 with the IRS and send a recipient copy to you so you can file your taxes.

If you don’t get the corrected form in time, use your own records to report the correct income. Include a statement explaining the discrepancy to help minimize taxes due. Once you receive the corrected form, file an amended return using Form 1040-X to correct any errors based on the new 1099. This process ensures your tax return is accurate and helps you avoid IRS audits or penalties.

What’s the difference between a 1099 and W-2 form?

A 1099 form reports income from non-employee situations such as self-employment, freelance work, and investments. A W-2 form reports wages, salaries, and taxes withheld for employees by their employer. Learn more about the difference between W-2 and 1099 forms.

Why did I receive a 1099 and not an employee W-2?

At tax time, employees should receive Form W-2 from their employer. If you’ve received a 1099 form instead of an employee W-2, your company treats you as a self-employed worker. This is generally known as an independent contractor.

For deeper insights, review our post “How to know if you’re an employee or contractor.”

What should I do if I get a 1099 but think I should get a W-2 instead?

If you get a 1099 form instead of a W-2 and think you should be classified as a W-2 employee, you should first contact your employer to be reclassified correctly. If the employer disagrees, you can have the IRS make the determination. You’ll need to file Form SS-8: Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding to officially make the request.

You might also need to file a Form 8919: Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages to report and pay your share of these taxes.

Get help with reporting 1099 form income

If you’re looking for help filing your Internal Revenue Service 1099 forms, H&R Block is here for you. Whether you file with a tax pro or file with H&R Block Online, you can rest assured that we’ll get you the biggest refund possible.