Who must file Form 1099-R
File Form 1099-R for each person to whom you made a designated distribution of $10 or more from a profit-sharing or retirement plan, an IRA (including SEP, SIMPLE and Roth), an annuity, pension, insurance contract, survivor income benefit plan, permanent and total disability payments under a life insurance contract, or a charitable gift annuity. Direct rollovers, Roth conversions, recharacterizations, corrective distributions and loans treated as distributions are reported. Death benefits from nonqualified deferred compensation plans go on 1099-MISC, not here.
For 2026 the form adds checkboxes 7b (IRA/SEP/SIMPLE), 7c (Trump Account) and box 7d for earnings on excess contributions, and Form 5498-TA is under development for Trump Account contributions.
Threshold: $10, $10 or more of distributions in the year; any amount if federal income tax was withheld.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gross distribution | Total before withholding. |
| 2a and 2b | Taxable amount, and 'not determined' / 'total distribution' checkboxes | |
| 3 | Capital gain | Lump-sum distributions. |
| 4 | Federal income tax withheld | Pension withholding under section 3405, not backup withholding; reported on Form 945. |
| 5 | Employee contributions or insurance premiums | After-tax basis recovered. |
| 6 | Net unrealized appreciation | Employer securities. |
| 7 | Distribution code(s) | The letter and number codes that drive the recipient's tax treatment; 7b, 7c and 7d checkboxes added for 2026. |
| 8 and 9a to 9b | Other, and percentage of total distribution | |
| 10 to 11 | Amount allocable to IRR and first year of designated Roth | |
| 12 to 19 | FATCA checkbox, date of payment, and state and local information | Convenience boxes for state copies. |
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-R
- Distributions under $10 with no withholding.
- Trustee-to-trustee transfers between like IRAs (not reportable); loans that are not deemed distributions.
- Section 404(k) dividends (1099-DIV) and NQDC death benefits (1099-MISC).
- Distributions to a nonresident alien, which are reported on Form 1042-S with chapter 3 withholding.
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
Pension and retirement distributions are exempt from backup withholding, and 1099-R is not one of the forms eligible for the IRS TIN Matching program. Withholding is instead the section 3405 pension withholding elected (or defaulted) on Forms W-4P and W-4R, reported in box 4 and deposited with Form 945. A missing TIN still has a consequence: a payee who has not furnished a TIN cannot elect out of withholding, so the plan withholds at the default rate.
Because TIN matching is unavailable, plan administrators lean on the W-4P/W-9 collection and on Letter 147C or a Social Security card copy when a CP2100 arrives; the B-Notice procedure still applies to a 1099-R with an incorrect name/TIN for penalty purposes.
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-R:
- Beneficiaries. A distribution after the participant's death is reported to the beneficiary's SSN, or the estate's or trust's EIN, never the participant's SSN.
- Alternate payees under a QDRO. Their own name and SSN.
- Name changes over a 40-year participation. Retirees' plan records date from hire; the SSA record may carry a later married name. Solicit before the first distribution, not after the CP2100.
- Roth conversions and recharacterizations are one participant reported twice (1099-R and 5498); keep the pair identical.
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-R 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-R 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-R
Is a 1099-R subject to backup withholding?
No. Pension withholding under section 3405 applies instead.
Can we use IRS TIN Matching for 1099-R payees?
No; the program covers 1099-B, DA, DIV, G, INT, K, MISC, NEC, OID and PATR only. Third-party services that validate name/TIN pairs are not restricted by form.
Do we still get a CP2100 for 1099-R mismatches?
Yes, and a 972CG penalty can follow for an incorrect TIN; the B-Notice and solicitation record are still the reasonable-cause defense.
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-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 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-R and 5498 (2026); Pub 1099 (2026) What's New and Guide to Information Returns; IRC 6047(d), 3405. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.