Tax Documents You’ll Need To File Your Taxes

Tax season is underway, and that means you should keep a closer eye on your mailbox and inbox, as now is the time that companies send out tax documents. Be on the lookout for paper or electronic statements from employers, banks, stockbrokers and other institutions or agencies that were involved in your finances last year.

For many people, one of the main forms you’ll need to file your taxes is your W-2, which will come from your employer. Companies are required by law to send out these annual tax statements by Jan. 31, or the next business day when that date falls on a weekend. However, companies have until mid-February to send tax forms disclosing other sources of income — including 1099-B and 1099-MISC forms.

Many taxpayers now receive these documents electronically, so be sure to double-check your email. For those tax forms you’re expecting from a financial institution, you should be able to download the necessary documents by logging into your online account.

The list of possible tax forms you could receive is lengthy, and will depend on your situation. Here are some of the most common tax documents you may need to file your federal income taxes.

Common tax documents for income from work

Most taxpayers depend on the same basic data to file returns. If you have a job, your employer must provide both you and the IRS with a W-2 that details your earnings and taxes withheld for the prior year. If you’re self-employed, you should receive a 1099 detailing the amount you earned.

W-2 — This is the key form for employees, and you need one from each employer you worked for during the past year. Your W-2 shows how much money you made, how much income tax was withheld, Social Security and Medicare taxes paid, and any benefit contributions — retirement plans, medical accounts and child care reimbursement plans.

1099-NEC — This form is specifically for non-employee compensation, and includes payments for work you may have done as an independent contractor, freelancer or for commissions. Companies must provide you with a form if they paid you $600 or more in the past year.

1099-K — This form is common for gig workers or people who operate online businesses. If you received payments via credit or debit cards or from third-party payment processors, such as Venmo, PayPal, Amazon and eBay, you might receive a 1099-K reporting those amounts. These companies are now required to issue these forms to people who received more than $5,000 in total payments in 2024 and more than $2,500 in 2025. For the 2026 tax year and beyond, these forms will be mandatory for total payments of $600 or more. Even if you don’t receive a 1099-K, this income is taxable and you should report it on your tax return.

1099-MISC — This form is used to report a wide variety of miscellaneous income. You should receive these forms if you earned at least $600 in rents, prizes and awards, medical and health care payments, and other income payments. You should get a separate 1099-MISC for each independent source of income you had during the previous tax year.

Common tax documents for other income sources

Beyond the work you do or services that you provide, you are required to report to the IRS other sources of income — often from investments. Here are common forms you may receive:

1099-INT — If you earned more than $10 in interest on a bank account or a certificate of deposit, you’ll get one of these forms for each account. Don’t dismiss this statement if you reinvested the interest. Tax law says you received the income even if you didn’t actually have it in your hand, and reinvested earnings are still taxable income. 1099-INT statements also are issued to people who cashed in savings bonds.

1099-DIV — The earnings you receive as an investor in individual stocks, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds are reported on Form 1099-DIV. You should receive these forms from all relevant financial institutions where you hold investments, and it will show the dividends and capital gains distributed over $10. As with reinvested interest, if you used the dividends or distributions to buy additional shares of the stock or mutual fund, you still have to pay taxes. That said, capital gains distributions and certain qualified dividends may be taxed at lower capital gains rates.

1099-B — If you sold stocks, bonds or mutual funds, you will receive a 1099-B from your broker or mutual fund company. This form details proceeds from broker transactions (or barter exchanges, if relevant) and will tell you the number of shares sold, when they sold and the amount you got for the sale. You’ll need this information, along with the date you bought the shares and the amount you paid for them, to figure your taxes. Brokers are required to report cost basis information on this form. (Keep in mind that cost basis for trades of securities purchased before 2011 or so, depending on the type of investment, may not appear on the form.)

1099-G — Taxpayers who got a refund of state or local taxes last year will get this form. If you used those taxes as a deduction on your previous year’s federal income tax return, you’ll need to report the 1099-G amount on this year’s return. You won’t have to worry about reporting this refund as income, however, if you take the federal standard deduction instead of itemizing.

1099-R — If you received a pension or a distribution from an IRA or retirement plan, the 1099-R provides the details of these transactions. The form is issued by your broker, pension plan manager or mutual fund company. You’ll also get a 1099-R if you rolled over money in a retirement plan, usually a 401(k) to an IRA, or if you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. A rollover usually is not a taxable event, but a pension payout may be.

1099-S — If you sold real estate in the past year, you may receive a 1099-S form, which details proceeds from real estate transactions.

Common tax documents for deductions

In determining your adjusted gross income (AGI), the IRS takes into account your income in addition to the deductions you’re allowed to claim. Be on the lookout for common tax forms related to possible deductions, including:

1098 — For most homeowners, mortgage interest is tax-deductible, and this document will tell you how much you paid last year. Your lender is required to send you one of these forms if you paid $600 or more in interest during the year. The form your lender sends may look different from the standard IRS form, but it will include the same information. In addition to mortgage interest, other information often found on this statement includes amounts paid toward points to get the loan and escrow disbursements for property for real estate taxes (also deductible) and property insurance (not deductible).

1098-E — Are you paying back a student loan? The interest on your educational debt is reported on this form; your lender must send you one if the interest tally is at least $600. If you meet the necessary income and loan requirements, you may be able to deduct your student loan interest and possibly other loan-related amounts, such as origination fees and capitalized interest. To figure the deductible portion of the interest amount found here, use the worksheet in your Form 1040 instructions (or a reputable tax software program should calculate it for you).

Health care statements

If you or someone in your family had health coverage in the past year, you will get a 1095 form. There are three versions, and the one relevant to you will depend on your situation.

Form 1095-A — If you, your spouse or a dependent enrolled in health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace, also referred to as the exchange, you should receive 1095-A. The information on this form details the health insurance coverage, including premiums paid and advanced payments of the premium tax credit. You’ll need this form to reconcile the amount of any premium tax credits on your return. Only individuals who bought medical insurance through the marketplace will receive this form. If you do not get your Form 1095-A, contact the marketplace from which you purchased your coverage.

Form 1095-B — This form confirms that you, your spouse (if you file a joint return) and your dependents had at least minimum qualifying health insurance coverage for some or all months of the prior tax year. Form 1095-B is sent by your health insurance provider (including Medicaid) and/or your employer if the company has fewer than 50 full-time employees. While you don’t need this form to file your federal income taxes, you may need it to file your state return.

Form 1095-C — This form is issued by employers with 50 or more full-time employees to confirm that employees and their spouses (if filing jointly) and dependents had minimum essential coverage for all or part of the prior tax year. While this form isn’t necessary for filing your federal tax returns, you may need it to file your state return.

Late-arriving forms

There are a couple of statements you might need for your tax records, but because of the intricacies of the financial arrangements they cover, the documents don’t always arrive before the April filing deadline. But if you get an extension to file, you shouldn’t have any issues.

Form 5498 — Any contributions made during the calendar year to any IRAs are reported on this form. The 5498 shows traditional IRA contributions that might be deductible on your tax return, as well as any rollovers, including a direct rollover to a traditional IRA, made during the last tax year. It also reports amounts recharacterized from one type of IRA to another. It notes any amounts converted from a traditional IRA, simplified employee pension or savings incentive match plan for employees to a Roth IRA. You can use this form to confirm that the deductible portion of your IRA contributions is accurate, but you don’t necessarily need the form to file your taxes.

Form 5498-ESA — Contributions to Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, formerly known as Education IRAs, previously were reported on Form 5498, but these plans now are tracked on this statement. The youngster named as account beneficiary should get a copy of this document by April 30.

Schedule K-1 — If you received money from an estate, trust, partnership or S corporation last year, you should get a Schedule K-1. However, because of the complexity of many of these arrangements, account managers tend to send out K-1s later in the tax season — sometimes not until after the April filing deadline.

Because you do need to know this amount of K-1 income to file your return, taxpayers who get K-1s tend to file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File, to get six more months to get all their tax statements in hand. While this latter form gives you more time to file your return, it doesn’t extend the deadline to pay any taxes owed.