What Does STMT Mean on K-1: Where to Find It and How to Report

On a Schedule K-1, STMT is shorthand for “statement.” It appears in a box when the figures for that box are too detailed to fit in the small data field, and it points you to a separate supplemental page — attached to the same K-1 packet — where the numbers are itemized. You use that attached page, not the STMT notation itself, to fill in your return.

Why a Box Says STMT Instead of a Number

Schedule K-1 boxes are sized for a single dollar amount or code. When a partnership, S corporation, or trust needs to report several categories of income, deductions, or credits inside one box, it prints STMT there and lists the components on an attached page. The qualified business income deduction is a typical trigger: a single box has to convey your share of the entity’s W-2 wages, the unadjusted basis of qualified property, and your portion of net qualified income and loss. No single-line field can hold all of that.

Where to Find the Supplemental Statement

The supplemental pages normally sit right behind the one-page K-1 in your tax packet. In a PDF from the entity’s accountant, they are the pages immediately following the main form, with headers such as “Supplemental Information,” “Footnotes,” or “Statement 1,” “Statement 2,” and so on.

Match each statement to its box by reading the header. A well-prepared statement labels each section by box number and code, for example “Box 20, Code Z” or “Box 11, Code A,” so every STMT notation on the main form can be traced to a corresponding breakdown. If the partnership has international operations, that detail may appear on Schedule K-3 rather than in a freeform statement. Schedule K-3 is the standardized form the IRS introduced to replace the informal attachments partnerships previously used for international tax items.¹

What the Statement Usually Contains

Qualified Business Income (Box 20, Code Z)

The most common reason you will see STMT is Box 20, Code Z on a partnership K-1, which reports the components of your qualified business income deduction. That deduction can reduce taxable income by up to 20 percent of net qualified business income, qualified REIT dividends, and qualified publicly traded partnership income.²

For each trade or business, the Code Z statement typically lists:

Your share of qualified items of income, gain, deduction, and loss.
Your share of the entity’s W-2 wages allocable to the qualified business income of that trade or business.
Your share of the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition (UBIA) of qualified property.
Section 199A dividends (net REIT dividends eligible for the deduction).

You plug these figures into Form 8995 or Form 8995-A. If your taxable income before the QBI deduction is at or below roughly $201,750 (about $403,500 for married filing jointly) for 2026 and you are not a patron of an agricultural or horticultural cooperative, the simplified Form 8995 works.³ Above those thresholds, the W-2 wages and UBIA numbers from the statement become essential inputs on Form 8995-A because they cap the size of the deduction.⁴

Section 179 Deductions

Statements also frequently detail Section 179 deductions, which let a business expense the full cost of qualifying equipment in the year it is placed in service instead of depreciating it over time. The statement lists each asset and the cost allocated to you as a partner or shareholder. Keep that itemization in your records: the deduction is subject to annual dollar caps and to a taxable-income limit from active business operations, and if you later stop using the property primarily in a business, the IRS can recapture part of the deduction.⁵

Passive vs. Nonpassive Detail

Statements often flag whether each income or loss item is passive or nonpassive. That classification controls whether you can use a loss to offset other income. Passive losses, typically from rental activities or businesses in which you do not materially participate, can generally only offset passive income, not wages or portfolio income.⁶

Other Common Items

Noncash charitable contributions (for example, Box 20, Code AH), showing the adjusted basis and fair market value of the contributed property.³
Net investment income items feeding Form 8960 for the 3.8 percent net investment income tax, including which income is from a passive trade or business.⁷
At-risk activity breakdowns of income, expenses, and deductions for each at-risk and not-at-risk activity, used to complete Form 6198.⁸

Reporting the Statement on Your Return

Most tax software prompts you to indicate that a K-1 box holds a statement rather than a single number. Choosing that option opens a secondary screen where you enter each line item from the supplemental page. The software then routes each figure to the right form: Schedule E for pass-through and rental income, Form 8995 or 8995-A for QBI, Form 8960 for net investment income tax, and so on.³

Preparing by hand, you transfer each itemized figure to the appropriate line on the same forms. Sometimes you sum multiple items from a statement before entering a total; other times you report them on separate lines depending on the form’s instructions. For a trust or estate K-1 (Form 1041), the general rule is to report each item the same way the estate or trust treated it on its return.⁹

Skipping items — whether by accident or because the number looks small — can create a mismatch between what the entity reported to the IRS and what appears on your return. The IRS cross-checks these figures, and inconsistencies can trigger a notice or additional tax.

One Boundary: Losses and Basis

If your K-1 shows a loss, the statement does not by itself tell you how much you can deduct. A partner or S corporation shareholder can only claim losses up to their adjusted basis in the entity at year end, with any excess suspended and carried forward. The capital account information in Item L of the K-1 is based on the entity’s books and cannot be used directly as your outside basis; you track that separately using the worksheet in the K-1 instructions.¹⁰ Losses that clear the basis test still have to pass the at-risk rules (Form 6198) and the passive activity rules before they actually reduce taxable income.

If the Statement Is Missing or Wrong

When your K-1 shows STMT in a box but the supplemental page is not in your packet, contact the entity’s tax preparer or the partnership’s designated representative and request the attachment. Do not guess at the figures and do not leave the box blank.

If a figure on the K-1 or its statements looks incorrect, the IRS instructions say to notify the entity and ask for a corrected K-1, not to change numbers on your own copy. The corrected version must also go to the IRS.³

If you end up reporting an item differently than the entity did, or the entity was required to file a return and has not, you must attach Form 8082 (Notice of Inconsistent Treatment or Administrative Adjustment Request) to your return explaining the inconsistency. Failing to file Form 8082 when required can produce an accuracy-related penalty on top of any additional tax the IRS assesses to make your return consistent with the entity’s.⁹

If Your K-1 Arrives Late

Partnerships and S corporations generally have to provide K-1s by March 15 following the close of the tax year. Many entities extend their own returns, though, which can push your K-1 into September or later. If April 15 approaches without a K-1 in hand, file Form 4868 for an automatic six-month extension of time to file. An extension does not extend the time to pay, so estimate what you expect to owe and send that amount by April 15 to avoid interest and late-payment penalties.¹¹ Once the K-1 and its statements arrive, complete the return with the actual figures.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedules K-2 and K-3 (Form 1065)
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 199A – Qualified Business Income
3
Internal Revenue Service. Partner’s Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2025)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8995-A (2025)
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 179 – Election to Expense Certain Depreciable Business Assets
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 925
7
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8960 – Net Investment Income Tax
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 6198 At-Risk Limitations
9
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1041) for a Beneficiary Filing Form 1040 or 1040-SR
10
Internal Revenue Service. Partner’s Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065)
11
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 304, Extensions of Time to File Your Tax Return