If you sold property, you probably will get a 1099, but which one depends on what you sold and who ran the transaction. Real estate closings generate Form 1099-S from the settlement agent. Stock, bond, and fund sales generate Form 1099-B from your broker. Cryptocurrency and other digital asset sales move to the new Form 1099-DA starting with the 2026 tax year. Personal items sold through platforms like eBay or Etsy can trigger Form 1099-K once you cross a payment threshold. None of these forms is a tax bill. They are information returns telling the IRS a sale happened, and you owe tax on any gain whether or not a form ever reaches you.
Which 1099 You Get by What You Sold
Real estate is the big one. When you sell land, a house, a condominium, cooperative housing stock, a commercial building, or an interest in standing timber, the closing agent files Form 1099-S with the IRS and sends you a copy.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-S (04/2025) The form is due to you by February 15 of the year following the sale.2Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025) It shows two numbers that matter: the closing date and the gross proceeds. Gross proceeds is the full sale price, before commissions, mortgage payoff, or any other closing cost comes out. That figure is almost always much larger than your actual gain.
Securities sales work differently. When you sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, or commodities through a broker, the broker issues Form 1099-B.3Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions For covered securities, the form usually includes your cost basis, so the IRS sees both what you sold for and what you paid. For noncovered securities, generally those bought before certain cutoff dates, the broker reports only proceeds and you’re on your own for basis. Leaving that field blank on your return is expensive: the IRS defaults to a basis of zero, which means the whole sale price gets treated as gain.
Digital assets have their own form now. Starting with the 2026 tax year, brokers report cryptocurrency and other digital asset sales on Form 1099-DA rather than 1099-B, and they must also report cost basis for these assets for the first time.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026) The IRS treats digital assets as property, so every sale, swap, or use of crypto to pay for something is a taxable event.
Selling personal items through a payment platform can generate Form 1099-K. A payment processor must file one when your gross payments exceed $20,000 and you have more than 200 transactions in the calendar year.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill; Dollar Limit Reverts to $20,000 The 1099-K reports gross payment volume, not profit. If you sold used furniture for $25,000 that originally cost you $40,000, you have no taxable gain, though you’ll still need to explain on your return why the reported number doesn’t equal income. Losses on personal-use property are not deductible.
When a Home Sale Skips the 1099-S
Many homeowners never see a 1099-S because the most common transaction, a modest-gain sale of a primary residence, qualifies for a reporting exemption. The closing agent can skip the filing when two things line up: the gross sale price is $250,000 or less (or $500,000 or less for a married seller who certifies as such), and the seller signs a written certification under penalties of perjury.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-S (04/2025)
The certification has to state that the property is the seller’s principal residence, that the full gain qualifies for exclusion under Section 121, and that there was no period of nonqualified use after December 31, 2008. Each seller on the deed signs separately, and the closing agent keeps the certification on file for four years.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-S (04/2025)
Do not confuse the reporting exemption with the tax break. Section 121 lets a single filer exclude up to $250,000 of gain and a married couple filing jointly exclude up to $500,000, if both spouses used the home as their primary residence for at least two of the five years before the sale.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence Those are separate rules. If your sale price is above the reporting thresholds, the closing agent files a 1099-S even when your gain is fully excludable. If your gain is above the exclusion limits, you owe tax on the excess whether a form arrives or not.
A 1031 like-kind exchange is a middle case. The closing agent still files a 1099-S but enters zero in the gross proceeds box and checks the box showing you received property as part of the consideration.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-S Transfers to government bodies and certain corporate transactions are exempt from 1099-S reporting entirely, and some foreclosure situations skip the 1099-S but may produce a Form 1099-C for canceled debt instead.
What the 1099 Actually Tells You (and What It Doesn’t)
A 1099 is a reporting event, not a tax bill. The 1099-S in particular shows gross proceeds, so the number on it is your full sale price. It has nothing to say about your commission, your mortgage payoff, what you originally paid, or the improvements you made along the way. Your actual tax liability turns on your gain, and you calculate that yourself.
What the form does do is put the IRS on notice. The IRS matches gross proceeds against what shows up on your return. If your return never mentions the sale, expect an automated notice. That mismatch is the single most common way property sellers pull IRS attention onto themselves, and it usually comes not from an audit but from a computer noticing that a 1099-S has no corresponding entry on Schedule D.
Figuring Your Actual Gain
Gain equals the amount realized minus your adjusted basis. Both pieces take some work.
Amount Realized
Start with the sale price and subtract allowable selling expenses. For real estate, that includes real estate commissions, advertising costs, legal fees, transfer taxes, and loan charges you paid on the buyer’s behalf.8Internal Revenue Service. Publication 523 (2025), Selling Your Home Each of these reduces your reportable gain dollar for dollar, which is why keeping the closing statement matters.
Adjusted Basis
Basis starts with what you paid for the property, plus acquisition costs like title insurance and legal fees. You adjust it upward for capital improvements: a new roof, an addition, a full kitchen remodel. Routine maintenance and repairs don’t count.
You adjust basis downward for any depreciation you claimed, which is common if the property was ever a rental. The rule is strict. The IRS treats depreciation as “allowed or allowable,” so your basis is reduced by the depreciation you could have claimed even if you didn’t.
Inherited property gets a stepped-up basis: the fair market value on the date of the decedent’s death, not what the original owner paid.9Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances That step-up often reduces or eliminates gain on inherited property. If the executor filed an estate tax return and elected the alternate valuation date, basis is the value six months after death instead.
Where You Report It
Capital asset sales go on Form 8949, which reconciles the proceeds on your 1099 with your actual gain or loss. Totals flow to Schedule D of your Form 1040. Some transactions with basis already reported on a 1099-B and no adjustments needed can go directly on Schedule D without Form 8949.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 (2025) Sales of business or rental real property are reported on Form 4797, which feeds into Schedule D.
What the Gain Costs You
Holding period sets the rate. Property held one year or less produces a short-term gain taxed at your ordinary income rate. Property held longer than one year is a long-term capital gain, taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your taxable income.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses For 2026, the 0% rate applies to taxable income up to $49,450 for single filers and $98,900 for joint filers. The 15% rate runs up to $545,500 (single) or $613,700 (joint). Above those thresholds, the rate is 20%.
Two adjustments to watch. If you sold rental or other depreciable real property, the portion of your gain equal to prior depreciation is taxed at a maximum 25% rate as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, calculated on a worksheet in the Schedule D instructions and reported on Schedule D, line 19.12Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040) Gain from collectibles like art, coins, antiques, or precious metals is taxed at up to 28%.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses
Higher-income sellers also owe an extra 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax on capital gains when modified adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (joint). Gain excluded under the Section 121 home-sale exclusion is not subject to NIIT.13Internal Revenue Service. Net Investment Income Tax
If the 1099 Is Wrong or Never Arrives
Errors on 1099-S forms are common, usually an incorrect gross proceeds figure caused by inconsistent treatment of closing items. Contact the issuer and ask for a corrected form. If you can’t get a correction by the end of February, call the IRS at 800-829-1040.14Internal Revenue Service. What to Do When a W-2 or Form 1099 Is Missing or Incorrect
Do not sit on your return waiting for the paper to be fixed. File with the numbers you know are accurate. If a corrected 1099 shows up later with materially different figures, file an amended return on Form 1040-X.14Internal Revenue Service. What to Do When a W-2 or Form 1099 Is Missing or Incorrect What matters is that your return reflects reality. If it doesn’t match the 1099, be ready to explain why.