If you didn’t receive a 1099-INT, you still have to report the interest you earned. Banks are only required to issue Form 1099-INT when they pay you $10 or more in interest during the year, so smaller amounts often generate no form at all.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6049 – Returns Regarding Payments of Interest When the form is simply lost or late, you can pull the numbers straight from your bank statements and report the income on your return. Leaving interest off because no form arrived is one of the easiest ways to trigger an IRS notice months later.
Why the Form May Never Come
Financial institutions must send a 1099-INT any time they pay a person $10 or more in interest during a calendar year, and your copy must be furnished by January 31 of the following year.2Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025) For interest earned in 2025, that means you should have the form by January 31, 2026.
Below $10, the bank has no obligation to issue anything. That doesn’t make the money tax-free. The IRS expects you to report every dollar of taxable interest regardless of amount.3eCFR. 26 CFR 1.6049-4 – Return of Information as to Interest Paid and Original Issue Discount Includible in Gross Income After December 31, 1982 A savings account that paid you $6 still counts. You just won’t get paperwork about it.
There are also plenty of ordinary reasons a form for a larger amount fails to reach you: an outdated mailing address, an email filter, or a bank that stopped sending paper copies and posts everything to its online tax center instead.
Get the Interest Figure Yourself
Your bank’s year-end statement or online tax center is the fastest way to find your exact interest total. Most banks post a year-end summary in January, often labeled “Year-to-Date Interest Paid,” in a tax documents section of the website or app. That figure matches what would appear on a 1099-INT, so you can use it on your return with confidence.
For each account, note the payer’s name and the total interest earned down to the cent. If you need the bank’s Employer Identification Number for your records, check a prior year’s 1099-INT or the bank’s website. Getting these details organized before you file prevents the rounding errors and omissions that invite follow-up questions.
Where the Number Goes on Your Return
Taxable interest goes on Line 2b of Form 1040. You enter the combined total from every bank, credit union, brokerage, and other source that paid you interest during the year.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1040 and 1040-SR If your total across all payers exceeds $1,500, you also need to complete Schedule B and attach it to your return.5Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule B (Form 1040), Interest and Ordinary Dividends
Schedule B, Part I asks you to list each payer by name alongside the interest amount they paid you.6Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule B (Form 1040) The totals from Schedule B flow back to Line 2b. Without a 1099-INT in hand, you fill in these lines the same way, just using figures from your bank statements.
One thing to watch: if the bank withheld tax on your interest because you never gave a correct taxpayer identification number, that 24% backup withholding would normally show up in Box 4 of the 1099-INT and be claimed as a credit on your return.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide If you suspect this applies to you, get the form or an equivalent statement from the bank before filing. Otherwise you leave that credit on the table.
Track Down a Missing Form
Start by confirming that your mailing address and email are current with the bank. Outdated contact details are the most common reason forms go missing. Then check the “Tax Documents” or “e-Documents” section of your online banking portal, since many banks have stopped mailing paper forms by default.
If you still can’t find a copy, call the bank’s customer service line. Most institutions can reissue the form through secure message or mail within a few business days.
If a bank paid you $10 or more in interest and refuses to provide the form, you can call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Have the bank’s name, address, and phone number ready along with your own information, and the IRS will contact the bank and request the missing form.8Internal Revenue Service. What to Do When a W-2 or Form 1099 Is Missing or Incorrect
File on Time Even Without the Form
Don’t let a missing 1099-INT delay your entire return. The IRS is clear: file on time using your best available figures, even if you’re still waiting for a document.9Internal Revenue Service. How to File When Taxpayers Have Incorrect or Missing Documents In most cases the bank’s year-end statement gives you the same total the 1099-INT would have shown, so the missing form doesn’t actually block accurate reporting.
If your only option is to estimate, use your monthly or quarterly statements to piece together the year’s interest. File with those numbers on time. When the actual form arrives later and shows a different figure, you can correct the difference on an amended return using Form 1040-X. You generally have three years from the original filing date, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, to amend.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X
If you need more time to sort things out, Form 4868 gives you an automatic six-month extension, pushing the filing deadline to October 15. An extension buys time to file, not time to pay. If you owe, interest starts accruing on any unpaid balance after the original April deadline.
What Happens If You Skip the Interest
The IRS receives a copy of every 1099-INT your bank files, even the one you never got. Its automated matching system compares those forms against your return, and when the numbers don’t line up it generates a CP2000 notice proposing changes.11Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP2000 Series Notice A CP2000 isn’t a bill, but it’s the first step toward one. You can agree with the proposed changes or explain why the IRS has it wrong. Ignoring it leads to an automatic assessment.
The financial consequences of unreported interest stack in layers:
- An accuracy-related penalty of 20% of the underpaid tax can apply when the IRS finds you failed to report income shown on an information return like a 1099-INT.12Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty
- The failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid amount per month, up to a maximum of 25%.13Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty
- Interest runs on unpaid tax from the original due date. For the first quarter of 2026, the individual underpayment rate is 7%, compounded daily.14Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
For someone with a few hundred dollars of unreported interest, the total is manageable but completely avoidable. Where the costs get serious is when someone has significant interest across several accounts and skips it for multiple years. The 20% accuracy penalty, monthly failure-to-pay charges, and compounding interest can turn a small oversight into a surprisingly large balance. Reporting the interest up front, even from an estimate off a bank statement, avoids nearly all of it.