With tax season among us, both businesses and employees are finding themselves sending and receiving their W-2 and 1099 tax forms. After an Iowa government agency sent out more than 15,000 forms with wrong ID numbers last week and many penalties for tax mistakes have increased, tax season is not the time to procrastinate, and one article from the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch explains what to do now.
For businesses, 1099 forms should have been postmarked by January 31 and sent to recipients. For businesses filing electronically with a 1099 processing service, employers have until March 31. Otherwise, the tax form deadline for paper forms is February 28th; you must file by that date. While procrastinating is never encouraged, having a longer timeline allows companies to ensure that all forms match up and there are no tax mistakes on forms.
Anyone who has had their information compromised, tax-related or not, now is the time to get an IP PIN with Form 14039. According to the article, this number “is issued to people who have informed the IRS that someone may have filed a fraudulent tax return using their Social Security number. Getting an IP PIN will ensure that only you are able to file a tax return using your own Social Security number. Even if you were a victim of credit card-related identity theft rather than tax-related theft, alert the IRS.”
Lastly, for employees, make sure that there are no duplicate forms. If 1099 forms overlap, it may appear as if you have a larger income than you do. This is the time to check back with employers and go over any potential discrepancies or other tax form mistakes.
Tab Service Company is a leading provider of 1099 processing services. As an SOC2-approved service organization, we apply industry-best practices to our approach with clients.