Who must file Form 1099-B
A broker, meaning anyone who in the ordinary course of business stands ready to effect sales to be made by others, files Form 1099-B for each customer for whom it sold stocks, bonds, commodities, regulated futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, forward contracts, debt instruments, options or securities futures contracts for cash, and for certain corporate actions. A barter exchange files for each member who exchanged property or services through the exchange. Sales of digital assets by a broker are reported on Form 1099-DA from 2025.
Corporations are exempt recipients here too, with two carve-outs: a broker must report the sale of a covered security acquired after 2011 by an S corporation, and dispositions of interests in a qualified opportunity fund are reported whoever the holder is. Barter exchanges report corporate members as well, on an aggregate basis if they choose. Sales of digital assets that are also securities ("dual classification assets", including tokenized securities) go on Form 1099-DA rather than 1099-B, with narrow exceptions for section 1256 contracts and money market fund shares.
Threshold: All amounts, every sale or barter exchange, no minimum; brokers may aggregate sales of the same security on a single statement.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1a to 1e | Description, dates acquired and sold, proceeds, cost basis | Covered securities carry basis; the form shows short- or long-term and whether basis was reported to the IRS. |
| 1f and 1g | Accrued market discount and wash sale loss disallowed | Adjustments the broker is required to track. |
| 2 | Short-term / long-term / ordinary | Holding-period checkbox. |
| 3 | Collectibles or QOF | Checkboxes. |
| 4 | Federal income tax withheld | Backup withholding; Form 945. |
| 5 | Noncovered security | Basis not required. |
| 6 | Reported to IRS: gross or net proceeds | Whether commissions were netted. |
| 7 | Loss not allowed based on amount in 1d | Acquisition of control or substantial change in capital structure. |
| 8 to 11 | Regulated futures and section 1256 contracts | Profit or loss realized and unrealized, aggregate profit. |
| 12 | Basis reported to IRS | Checkbox. |
| 13 | Bartering | Cash, property, services and credits received through the exchange. |
| 14 to 16 | State information | Convenience boxes. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1099-B
- Sales for exempt recipients: charities, IRAs, Archer MSAs and HSAs, the United States and the states, and corporations (other than a covered security sold by an S corporation that acquired it after 2011). For covered securities you may not treat a customer as a corporation from its name alone; you need an insurance-company name, a per se corporation, a W-9 exemption certificate showing it is not an S corporation, or a W-8 certifying a foreign corporation.
- Sales initiated by dealers in securities and financial institutions; sales by custodians and trustees reported on a properly filed Form 1041; shares in a money market fund; fractional shares with gross proceeds under $20.
- Obligor payments on nontransferable obligations such as savings bonds and CDs; retirements of registered obligations issued before 2014; sales of short-term obligations issued after 2013 (interest goes on 1099-INT); sales of foreign currency outside a forward or futures contract; Commodity Credit Corporation certificates; spot or forward sales of agricultural commodities; some precious-metal sales below the CFTC contract quantity; grants and purchases of options.
- Sales for exempt foreign persons documented on a Form W-8; sales of digital assets (Form 1099-DA); real estate (Form 1099-S).
- For barter exchanges: an exchange with fewer than 100 transactions in the year, exempt foreign persons, and exchanges of property or services worth less than $1.
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | February 28 | Monday, March 1, 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday) |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 31 | Wednesday, March 31, 2027 |
| To the recipient | February 15 | Monday, February 15, 2027 |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Backup withholding and TIN matching
Gross proceeds under section 6045 are backup-withholdable, and broker accounts opened after 1983 require a certified TIN, so an account with an uncertified number is treated as one with no TIN. The amount subject to withholding on a margin-account sale is limited to the cash available for withdrawal after settlement. The 60-day awaiting-TIN exemption applies to readily tradable instruments. Withholding is reported in box 4 and on Form 945.
Brokers may use the IRS TIN Matching program.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. A mismatch produces a CP2100 line the following autumn and, unless the solicitation record is in order, a 972CG penalty the year after: $340 per return for 2026 forms filed in 2027 that are late or wrong, $690 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $4,191,500 ($1,397,000 for small filers) under Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The errors that recur on Form 1099-B:
- Account titling. Joint tenants, tenants in common, custodial, trust and IRA accounts each dictate whose name and TIN go on line 1; the first-named owner's TIN is the one the IRS matches.
- Transferred accounts. When an account moves between brokers, the receiving broker relies on the transferor's basis statement but must obtain its own W-9; a name/TIN inherited from the old firm may already be on a CP2100.
- Entity accounts with an individual's SSN. An LLC's brokerage account opened under the member's SSN reports under the member's name, not the LLC's.
- Corporate status you cannot see. "Inc." in the name is not enough to skip a covered-security sale; an S corporation is reportable. The W-9 exemption code, or a name that is an insurance company or per se corporation, is what lets you treat the customer as exempt. A broker may require an exempt recipient to furnish a W-9 and treat one that refuses as non-exempt.
- Second TIN notice box. Check it after two IRS notices within three calendar years for the same payee; two notices in one year, or for the same tax year, count as one and do not require a second B-Notice.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1099-B need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1099-B is a Combined Federal/State Filing program form: e-file it with the CF/SF election and the IRS forwards it to participating states. Whether that satisfies a given state, or the state wants a direct filing with its own transmittal, is on each state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1099-B
Why is the recipient date February 15 rather than January 31?
Section 6045 statements (1099-B, 1099-DA, 1099-S, and 1099-MISC boxes 8 and 10) have a February 15 statement date to give brokers time for reclassification. The IRS filing dates are unchanged.
Do we report a sale with $0 proceeds?
Yes, there is no minimum; every sale is a transaction.
Our client is an S corporation.
Report the sale if it is a covered security the S corporation acquired after 2011; other sales by an S corporation fall under the corporate exemption. QOF dispositions are reported for every holder, corporate or not.
Does a barter club with 60 trades a year file?
No. A barter exchange with fewer than 100 transactions in the year is not required to file, and neither are exchanges worth less than $1. Members who trade services directly, outside an exchange, do not file 1099-B at all (a 1099-MISC or NEC may apply).
Where does crypto go?
Form 1099-DA for sales effected by a broker on or after January 1, 2025. See the 1099-DA page.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026); Pub 1099 (2026), Guide to Information Returns and parts J, N and P; IRC 6045, 3406; Regulations 1.6045-1. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.