Who must file Form 1099-SB
File Form 1099-SB if you are the issuer of a life insurance contract (or the issuer's designee) and you receive a reportable policy sale statement (a copy of Form 1099-LS) for the contract, or notice that the contract was transferred to a foreign person. File a separate form for each seller. You need not file if the seller surrendered the contract to you by the due date, and exceptions apply for foreign beneficial owners and rescinded sales under Regulations 1.6050Y-3. If the sale is rescinded after filing, file a corrected 1099-SB within 15 calendar days of notice.
The statement to the seller is due February 15 of the year after the sale, or 30 days after notice when notice of a transfer to a foreign person arrives after January 31.
Threshold: All amounts, every reportable policy sale or transfer to a foreign person of which the issuer receives notice.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Investment in contract | Aggregate premiums paid less amounts received under the contract that were excluded from gross income. |
| 2 | Surrender amount | What the seller would have received had the contract been surrendered on the sale date. |
| Issuer's information contact | Name, address and telephone of a contact who can answer the seller's questions. |
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-SB
- Contracts surrendered to the issuer before the filing due date.
- Sellers who are foreign beneficial owners, and sales rescinded before filing, per Regulations 1.6050Y-3(f).
- Sales of which the issuer never receives notice (no obligation arises).
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.
Withholding and TIN matching
Nothing on a 1099-SB is a payment, so backup withholding cannot apply and the IRS TIN Matching program does not cover it. The seller's name and TIN are the ones the issuer holds for the policy owner, which for a trust-owned contract is the trust's EIN. The 1099-LS from the acquirer is the check: if the acquirer's seller name differs from the issuer's owner record, resolve it before both returns go out with different pairs for the same person.
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-SB:
- Owner of record. The seller is the policy owner at the time of sale, often an irrevocable trust, under the trust's EIN and legal name.
- Two filers, one seller. The acquirer's 1099-LS and the issuer's 1099-SB report the same seller; the IRS matches both. Reconcile the name/TIN between them.
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-SB 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-SB 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-SB
The buyer never sent us a 1099-LS.
Then no 1099-SB obligation has arisen; the issuer files on notice. If you learn of the sale another way, the regulations still treat certain notices as triggering the requirement.
Why is the seller's statement due February 15?
Section 6050Y sets it, with a 30-days-after-notice rule for late notice of a transfer to a foreign person.
Is 1099-SB 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-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 · 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-SB (Rev. April 2025); Pub 1099 (2026); IRC 6050Y(b); Regulations 1.6050Y-3. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.