2/3/2022
Contributors: Amanda Felt, Andrew Walker, Matt Stockman, Nathan Weber
When will my tax forms be available?
Most, but not all tax forms are issued by January 31st. This includes tax forms for:
- Most IRAs.
- Thrivent Mutual Funds.
- Annuities and life insurance (including Thrivent and third-party providers).
Tax forms for taxable brokerage accounts (often referred to as non-qualified or brokerage or non-IRA brokerage accounts) take longer to aggregate.
Tax forms for taxable brokerage accounts begin to issue in late January but may take until mid-March to issue.
For most investors at Fidelity, your taxable brokerage account tax form will be available online by February 12th and mailed by February 18th.
Fidelity and NFS release these tax forms in waves:
- Wave 1: late-January
- Wave 2: mid-February
- Wave 3: late-February
Fidelity offers an estimate of when your tax forms will be ready. You can check by logging into your Fidelity.com account and clicking the Tax Forms section or start here, click on ‘View tax form schedule’ then ‘View your schedule’ then login.
How can I access my tax forms online?
Please find step-by-step instructions for the following providers:
Why are my tax forms not available by Jan. 31? / Why is it taking so long from my tax forms to be ready?
- As mandated under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the IRS changed the deadline for mailing tax forms to Feb. 15. In an effort to reduce the number of corrected tax forms a member may receive, NFS & Fidelity both request an extension from the IRS that allows for mailing 1099 tax statements beyond the mid-February date for accounts holding certain mutual funds or certain complex securities.
- Note: Most accounts do not contain these complex securities. See estimated date for your tax form to be ready at Fidelity.com
- Most tax forms are available by Jan. 31st, the notable exception being consolidated 1099s for taxable brokerage accounts (often referred to as “non-qualified” or “brokerage” or “non-IRA brokerage” accounts.)
- Each fund held in your taxable brokerage account independently reports data to NFS/Fidelity. Only once all funds held have reported their data can NFS/Fidelity aggregate that data into your consolidated 1099 tax form.
- Note: Fidelity does provide an estimate for when the tax form for your taxable brokerage account will be ready. Login to your account at Fidelity.com and navigate to your tax forms section to find this estimate.
What are the common types of tax forms?
- 1099-R
- This tax form reports income from your IRAs (R for Retirement.)
- 5498
- This tax form reports contributions made to IRAs including rollovers
- It also reports some informational only things like required minimum distributions and fair market value.
- Consolidated 1099
- This tax form reports various forms of income, like dividends, interest, and capital gains for taxable brokerage accounts.
- Consolidated refers to the various components included in this report. Those being:
- 1099-Div for Dividend income
- 1099-Int for Interest income
- 1099-B for Capital Gains
What generates tax forms?
- Generally a taxable or reportable transaction will generate a tax form.
- For IRAs that could be:
- IRA Distribution
- Note: This would occur for Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) as well. See specific FAQ below for more.
- IRA Rollovers
- Though this is generally not taxable, it is reportable. A 1099-R showing the distribution can be offset by a 5498 showing the rollover deposit.
- IRA Distribution
- For taxable brokerage accounts that could be:
- Dividend income
- Interest income
- Capital Gains
- Note: Generally, all taxable (non-IRA) brokerage accounts will receive a consolidated 1099 tax form.
Why was my taxable income higher than normal in 2021?
- For most, income generated from taxable brokerage accounts (primarily capital gains) was higher in 2021 than we have seen in recent years.
- This is primarily due to the steady and strong growth in the market throughout 2021.
- Steady and strong market growth led to limited opportunities to harvest capital losses, higher realized gains while trading, and high capital gains distribution from mutual funds.
I sent funds directly from my IRA to charity or my church (referred to as a qualified charitable distribution or QCD,) why am I receiving a tax form?
- Even if funds were given directly from your IRA to charity or your church, you should still expect to receive a 1099-R tax form.
- Providers cannot and do not verify that the third party recipient of the funds are a qualified charitable organization eligible for qualified charitable distributions. Therefore, they simply report gross distributions. Investors should work with their tax professional to ensure proper reporting and use receipts issued by the receiving organization as proof of the charitable contribution.
I redeposited IRA distributions back into my IRA (referred to as a 60-day rollover or indirect rollover) in 2020. What tax forms can I expect?
- Even if the funds were deposited, the initial distribution still occurred. Therefore, you will still receive a 1099-R tax form showing the distribution. You should also receive a 5498 tax form showing the indirect rollover.
- We recommend working with your tax professional for proper reporting.
What if I need additional help?
- We’re here to help!
- Schedule a 15-min zoom call with one of our associates to verify you have all your tax forms here.
- To most effectively use this time together, please use the resources in this article to first collect all the tax forms that have been issued. During this meeting, we’ll happily review your collection to verify that you have your tax forms.