Who must file Form 1099-C
File Form 1099-C for each debtor for whom you canceled $600 or more of a debt owed to you if you are an applicable entity: a financial institution, a credit union, the FDIC, NCUA or RTC, a federal executive agency or the U.S. Postal Service, or any organization with a significant trade or business of lending money. The return is required when an identifiable event occurs: discharge in bankruptcy (for business or investment debt), a receivership or foreclosure that extinguishes the debt, expiration of the statute of limitations, a probate or similar proceeding, an agreed discharge, or a decision to discontinue collection. The 36-month nonpayment testing period was removed from the regulations in 2016 and is no longer an identifiable event.
If you also acquired or abandoned property securing the debt in the same year, Form 1099-A may be combined into the 1099-C.
Threshold: $600, $600 or more of principal canceled (interest and fees optional) on the occurrence of an identifiable event.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date of identifiable event | |
| 2 | Amount of debt discharged | Principal; you may include interest and show it in box 3. |
| 3 | Interest, if included in box 2 | |
| 4 | Debt description | |
| 5 | Debtor was personally liable | Checkbox. |
| 6 | Identifiable event code | A through H. |
| 7 | Fair market value of property | Only when combining 1099-A information. |
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-C
- Debt canceled by a lender that is not an applicable entity (a trade creditor forgiving an invoice, for example).
- Cancellations under $600, and interest or fees alone.
- Debt of a foreign debtor, certain debts discharged in a Title 11 case where the debt is not business or investment debt, and guarantors or sureties (report to the primary debtor only).
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 | January 31 | Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday) |
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.
Withholding and TIN matching
Canceled debt under section 6050P is not subject to backup withholding and 1099-C is not eligible for the IRS TIN Matching program. The name/TIN pair is nonetheless the most-penalized item on the form: the debtor's record was created at loan origination, often years earlier, and the IRC 6721 penalty for an incorrect TIN applies without a withholding backstop. Keep copies of 1099-C for four years from the due date (three for most information returns).
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-C:
- Co-borrowers. A 1099-C to each debtor who is personally liable, each showing the full amount, each under their own SSN.
- Business loans guaranteed by the owner. Report to the primary debtor (the business, under its EIN), not the guarantor.
- Deceased debtors. To the estate's EIN when the debt is canceled after death.
- Old records. Originations from the 2000s carry names before marriage, divorce and incorporation; run the portfolio through a name/TIN verification before the identifiable-event year.
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-C 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-C is not in the Combined Federal/State Filing program, so any state that requires it must receive it directly. Requirements by state are on the state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1099-C
The borrower stopped paying three years ago. Do we file?
Nonpayment alone is no longer an identifiable event. File when one of the listed events occurs, including your decision to discontinue collection.
Do we file for a canceled invoice?
Not unless you are an applicable entity; an ordinary business writing off a receivable does not file 1099-C.
Is 1099-C in the Combined Federal/State program?
No.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 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 Forms 1099-A and 1099-C (Rev. April 2025); Pub 1099 (2026) parts E and N; IRC 6050P; Regulations 1.6050P-1. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.