Who must file Form 1099-G
File Form 1099-G if, as a unit of a federal, state or local government, you made payments of unemployment compensation; state or local income tax refunds, credits or offsets; reemployment trade adjustment assistance (RTAA) payments; taxable grants; agricultural payments; or family leave benefits under a state paid family and medical leave program. You must also file if you received payments on a Commodity Credit Corporation loan. The officer or employee having control of the payments, or the designated officer, is the filer.
The $10 test applies to unemployment compensation and tax refunds; RTAA payments, taxable grants and paid family leave benefits follow the $2,000 section 6041 amount for 2026.
Threshold: $10, $10 or more for unemployment compensation and state or local tax refunds; $2,000 or more (2026) for RTAA payments, taxable grants and governmental paid family leave benefits; agricultural payments per the instructions.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unemployment compensation | $10 or more; includes RTAA, disaster and pandemic-related unemployment programs. |
| 2 | State or local income tax refunds, credits or offsets | $10 or more; box 3 identifies the tax year. |
| 4 | Federal income tax withheld | Voluntary withholding on unemployment, and backup withholding on boxes 5 to 7 and 10. |
| 5 | RTAA payments | $2,000. |
| 6 | Taxable grants | $2,000; energy grants, subsidized grants to businesses. |
| 7 | Agriculture payments | USDA and state program payments; market facilitation and similar programs. |
| 8 | Trade or business income | Checkbox for box 2 refunds attributable to a business. |
| 9 | Market gain | Commodity Credit Corporation loans. |
| 10 | Family leave benefits | New for 2026: state paid family and medical leave benefits. |
| 10a to 11 | 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-G
- Refunds of taxes other than income tax (sales, property) and refunds under $10.
- Payments that are wages (W-2) or public assistance based on need, which are not reportable.
- Grants to a corporation follow the corporate exception unless the grant is otherwise reportable to corporations.
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.
Backup withholding and TIN matching
Unemployment compensation and tax refunds are not subject to backup withholding (unemployment has voluntary withholding at the recipient's election instead). Payments in boxes 5, 6, 7 and 10, meaning RTAA, taxable grants, agricultural payments and paid family leave benefits, are section 6041 payments and are backup-withholdable at 24% when the recipient fails to furnish a TIN or after a CP2100. Report withholding in box 4 and on Form 945. Government units filing 1099-G may use the IRS TIN Matching program; see the universities and government page.
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-G:
- Grant recipients. Grants to small businesses arrive with a business name and the owner's SSN, the same sole-proprietor mismatch as everywhere else. The award application should capture legal name and TIN type as the IRS holds them.
- Agricultural program payments often go to farm partnerships and trusts whose records were set up decades ago under an individual's name.
- Identity theft in unemployment claims produces 1099-Gs to people who never claimed; states must issue corrected returns showing $0 and keep the disputed records separately.
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-G 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-G 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-G
Do refunds under $10 have to be reported?
No.
A grant of $1,500 to a business in 2026.
Under the $2,000 section 6041 amount; not reportable unless you withheld. The 2025 figure was $600.
Which box for state paid leave benefits?
Box 10, added for 2026, with the $2,000 threshold.
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-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 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-G (Rev. December 2026); Pub 1099 (2026); IRC 6050B, 6050E, 6041, 3406. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.