Tax time: Is it necessary to include 1099's with form 1040?

[CoastalMaineiac]

All of the 1099’s seem to say that the data were furnished to the IRS. I’ve thrice tabulated all amounts (doing things the pen and paper way this year), and of course included all of the amounts on the 1040 form.

I know they want a copy of the W-2 form, but I can’t seem to get a straight answer about the 1099’s. They all add up to just under $1,300, if that makes any difference.

[samclem]

On my previous returns, my 1040 worksheet on lines 7-15 (Income) say “Attach forms W-2 here. Also attach forms 1099_R if taxes were withheld.”

[BorgHunter]

You attach forms W-2 and 2439, if you have them. Additionally, attach forms W-2G and 1099-R if they show federal taxes withheld on them. Otherwise, do not attach any forms you receive unless requested to by the IRS.

Page 77 of the 2016 Form 1040 Instructions says:

Assemble any schedules and forms behind Form 1040 in order of the “Attachment Sequence No.” shown in the upper right corner of the schedule or form. If you have supporting statements, arrange them in the same order as the schedules or forms they support and attach them last. Do not attach correspondence or other items unless required to do so. Attach Forms W-2 and 2439 to the front of Form 1040. If you received a Form W-2c (a corrected Form W-2), attach your original Forms W-2 and any Forms W-2c. Attach Forms W-2G and 1099-R to the front of Form 1040 if tax was withheld.

[aktep]

For your basic 1099 (for contract work or other payout), no, do not include it.

[CoastalMaineiac]

Thanks for the quick responses, folks! My return is in the mail and I can cross that off of my to-do list for the long weekend.

[RealityChuck]

Basically, the IRS doesn’t bother you if you report income they don’t have records of. No one is going to deliberately overreport.

[Alley_Dweller]

@RealityChuck

Basically, the IRS doesn’t bother you if you report income they don’t have records of. No one is going to deliberately overreport.

You would be shocked at how creative people get.

One of the most popular methods for committing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) fraud is to report fictitious self-employment income. The EITC payments go up as you earn more income until they reach a peak, at which point they start to decrease. People report fictitious income in order to reach this peak.

Also, well-meaning but overzealous parents want to start Roth IRA accounts for their children. A Roth IRA account requires the taxpayer to have “compensation income.” Parents create fake jobs for their children and claim to pay them salaries in order to qualify them for a Roth IRA.

[glowacks]

There’s also eligibility for the Premium Tax Credit, which requires at least the poverty level in income. Most people around there are going to be on Medicaid anyway, but for someone in my situation where I had a supporting parent paying for a lot of my expenses, I was able to keep a (absolutely needed) Gold level health plan at my low income level, partly due to the PTC. If I hadn’t asked my employer for a taxable advance at the end of the year, I wouldn’t have had enough income to be able to claim it. Now that I have a steady job at this CPA firm I hopefully won’t run into this problem again, but it definitely was odd for me to be in the position of wanting to claim more income than I actually had.