January and the ensuing months are Form 1099 season! Each year there are interesting developments that happen with regards to banks issuing form 1099s for interest, bank bonuses, referral bonuses, etc. Remember that time when Chase considered 500 Ultimate Rewards points as $500 on the Form 1099? I digress.
Most of the standard tax forms we’ll receive by the beginning of February since banks are required to send them out by the end of January. There are a few tax forms which are sent out in later months.
The comments here are a dedicated discussion post where we can discuss all things related to tax form 1099 for year 2023: when forms become available, which banks don’t send out 1099s, which earnings are supposed to be reported on the form 1099, referral bonus discussion, and any other weirdnesses that happen.
I’ll add in below any specific tidbits that catch my eye, and we’ll likely republish this post as things develop on the 2023 tax forms end. If there is a significant story we’ll publish that separately as well.
Note, receiving a tax form or not receiving one has no bearing on your actual tax liability. This discussion is just to inform people on what to expect, when to look out for a form, check for any mistakes, remember to report something from a bonus that isn’t getting a tax form, etc. Consult a tax advisor about actual tax liability.
- Acorns 1099 includes their Earn offers.
- American Express business checking is sending out a 1099 on points bonuses at a value of 1 cent per point. They reportedly send it in your personal name, not business, which is weird.
- American Express business checking sending out the 1099 for the bank bonus late
- Capital One sending out a 1099 for referrals at 1 cent per point
- Capital One no longer 1099ing the travel credit since it’s now a discount on booking
- Chase sending out 1099s for points referral bonus on cobranded cards (e.g. United, Marriott) at a value of 1 cent per point. For Marriott, the valuation doesn’t seem reasonable.
- Chase sending out 1099s for the five-night-free signup bonus on Marriott credit card.
- Chase – A reader reports getting $10 added to their 1099, apparently due to a $10 mobile app promo.
- Chase is 1099ing the Chase Amazon card signup bonus of an Amazon gift card. We’ve reported on this in the past. (It might only get 1099ed if you got $600+ in total bonuses from Chase, e.g. if you also got some referral bonuses).
- Chase 1099ing an annual fee reimbursement. That’s just cruel.
- Chase 1099ing a spend bonus.
- Chase possibly reporting certain Merchant Offers on a 1099?
- Chase 1099ing a paperless bonus
- Citi checking valuing the points at half-cent per point
- Some of the Fidelity brokerage bonuses were not reported on the tax form.
- First Tech FCU is including the $15 membership credit on the 1099.
- IRS change: The IRS is delaying the $600 reporting requirement. For 2023 they’ll use the old $20,000 amount, and for 2024 they’ll begin the transition by lowering the threshold to $5,000. This hopefully means that Paypal, Venmo, shopping portals, etc will not send out reporting forms to those of us who are under $20k/200 transactions, (though they still might ask you for verification documents).
- SecurityPlus does not include Amazon gift card referral bonus
- Treasury Direct 1099 (for I Bonds, etc) don’t generate a pdf, you just have to download the page.
- To be continued…
See prior posts for many specific details on what happened then and for general guidance as well:
