What is a 1099 Form?

Although you don’t need to know much about tax forms with TurboTax on your side, it’s always best to organize your forms that when you sit down to do your taxes. Many people are familiar with W-2s, but they may not be aware that other financial documents could be coming, such as 1099s.

While W-2s record your salary and wages, 1099 forms are for other sources of income, such as an independent contractors’ income, unearned income like dividends and interest, and HSA distributions. Some financial institutions give you the option of downloading the forms, which allows us to get our 1099 information faster. In fact, TurboTax imports from over 1.3 million employers and financial institutions to eliminate data entry of your financial information!

Types of 1099s

There are many different types of 1099 forms you can receive during tax time. These variants are based on the income source. Here are just some of the more common ones:

• 1099-C: Cancellation of Debt
• 1099-CAP: Changes in Corporate Control and Capital Structure
• 1099-DIV: Dividends and Distributions
• 1099-G: Government Payments
• 1099-INT: Interest Income
• 1099-LTC: Long Term Care Benefits
• 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income
• 1099-OID: Original Issue Discount
• 1099-R: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement Plans, IRAs, or Insurance Contracts
• 1099-S: Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions
• 1099-SA: Distributions From an HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA
• SSA-1099: Social Security Benefit Statement

The 1099s most taxpayers are familiar with are 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and 1099-MISC. Since I’m self-employed, I keep track of what 1099s to expect from my contracts. As they come in, I put them in an accordion folder until it’s time to file our taxes. It’s an easy system that helps me have everything ready. Remember, even if you don’t receive a 1099, you still need to report that income, so keeping good financial records throughout the year is important.

Don’t worry about knowing all of these forms. TurboTax will ask simple questions about you and help you easily file your taxes.  If you’re self employed, TurboTax now has TurboTax Self-Employed that helps you uncover deductible business expenses that you didn’t even know existed.

Did you receive a 1099 this tax season? Which one did you receive? If you’re self-employed, how do you keep track and organize all your 1099s?