IRS Form 1099-DIV – Dividends and Distributions

Form 1099-DIV reports dividends and other distributions from corporations, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, and similar payers. The current form is the January 2024 revision for continuous use. Its revision date is not the reporting year; the filer inserts the calendar year for which distributions are reported.

The IRS PDF provides an information copy, not a printable Copy A for paper filing. Copy A must meet scannable specifications, and many filers must transmit electronically. Recipient copies may be delivered through a consolidated brokerage statement that satisfies substitute-statement rules.

Who must issue the information return

A payer generally files Form 1099-DIV for each person to whom it paid at least $10 of dividends, including capital gain distributions and exempt-interest dividends, or other reportable distributions. Filing can also be required when federal income tax is withheld under backup-withholding rules, foreign tax is paid on behalf of a shareholder, or a distribution of $600 or more is made in liquidation under the form-specific instructions.

For 2026, Publication 1099 lists $10 as the general dividend threshold and $2,000 for liquidation distributions. The liquidation amount is inflation-adjusted, so filers preparing another reporting year should use that year’s published threshold rather than hard-coding the 2026 figure. Exempt recipients and specialized distributions require analysis under the separate instructions.

Nominees who receive a dividend on behalf of another person may need to issue downstream Forms 1099-DIV and report nominee distributions on Schedule B. A joint brokerage account should use the tax owner information reported to the payer, while the owners handle any allocation required on their returns.

Ordinary and qualified dividends are related, not additive

Box 1a reports total ordinary dividends. Box 1b reports the portion of box 1a that may qualify for preferential tax rates if the recipient meets the holding-period and other requirements. Do not add box 1b to box 1a. A payer’s classification does not prove that a recipient held the security long enough or avoided offsetting positions.

Qualified-dividend eligibility generally depends on the payer being a qualifying U.S. corporation or eligible foreign corporation and on the shareholder holding the stock for more than the required number of days during the statutory window. Preferred stock tied to longer dividend periods can have a different holding requirement. Dividends connected with short sales or certain hedges may fail the test.

Capital gain distributions bypass sale-level reporting

Box 2a reports total capital gain distributions, generally treated as long-term regardless of how long the recipient held the fund. Additional boxes identify unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, Section 1202 gain, collectibles gain, and certain items from qualified opportunity funds. These components retain special rate or deferral significance.

A taxpayer with only capital gain distributions and no other Schedule D requirement may sometimes report the amount directly on Form 1040. Otherwise, the distributions enter Schedule D. They generally do not go on Form 8949 because the shareholder did not report a sale of shares to produce the distribution.

Nondividend distributions reduce basis

Box 3 generally reports a return of capital rather than current dividend income. The recipient reduces stock basis by the distribution. Once basis reaches zero, an additional nondividend distribution is generally capital gain, with holding period determined from the shares. Ignoring box 3 can overstate basis and understate gain on a later sale.

A payer may not know the final earnings-and-profits classification when it makes an interim distribution. Corrected Forms 1099-DIV can arrive after year-end. Maintain basis by lot and update it for all return-of-capital amounts, corporate reorganizations, and fund notices.

Other boxes carry separate return effects

Box 4 withholding is claimed as a tax payment, even when the related dividend has another character. Foreign tax in box 7 may support a foreign tax credit or deduction, subject to limits and country information in box 8. Regulated investment companies may pass through foreign tax and foreign-source income that requires supplemental statement detail.

Cash and noncash liquidation distributions appear in boxes 9 and 10 and are compared with stock basis to determine gain or loss under liquidation rules. Exempt-interest dividends in box 12 are generally not included in regular federal taxable income but are reported and can affect other calculations. The private activity bond component in box 13 can enter alternative minimum tax.

Section 897 and Section 199A items in later boxes primarily affect shareholders in real estate investment trusts and related investments. A recipient should use the payer’s supplemental statement and the applicable return instructions rather than treating them as extra cash dividends.

Reporting dates for calendar-year 2026 dividends

The continuous-use January 2024 form remains the current final Form 1099-DIV verified for this guide and can report 2026 distributions. Publication 1099 for 2026 generally requires the recipient statement by January 31 of the following year. Because January 31, 2027, is a Sunday, the general recipient due date shifts to February 1, 2027. Specialized widely held fixed investment trust statements can use different timing.

The general IRS paper due date of February 28 likewise shifts to March 1, 2027, and the electronic filing deadline is March 31, 2027. The 10-return aggregate electronic-filing threshold applies across covered information returns. A payer close to the threshold should count all return types before ordering paper forms.

Correct classification before correcting arithmetic

Payers should reconcile declared distributions, transfer-agent records, and withholding to the forms, then follow Publication 1099 correction procedures for an error. Recipients should wait for a known corrected statement when practical, but still file by the applicable return deadline or request an extension. An amended return may be needed when a correction arrives later.

• Compare Forms 1099-DIV with brokerage annual summaries and actual account ownership.
• Test the holding period before using the qualified-dividend amount.
• Carry every box 3 distribution into the security’s basis ledger.
• Separate capital gain distributions from sales reported on Form 8949.
• Retain foreign-tax, municipal-bond, REIT, and corporate-action supplements.

A reliable dividend return preserves the layers shown on Form 1099-DIV. Ordinary income, preferential-rate income, basis recovery, capital gain distributions, and tax-exempt items should remain distinguishable through the final return and future lot records.

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