What Is a 1099-G Tax Form: Boxes, Refunds, and Filing

A 1099-G tax form is a document a federal, state, or local government agency sends you to report certain payments it made to you during the year, most often unemployment benefits or a state or local income tax refund. The agency files its own copy with the IRS by January 31 of the following year, so the amounts on your form are already in the IRS’s system when you sit down to file. You use the numbers on the form to complete your federal return accurately.¹

What Payments Show Up on a 1099-G

A government agency issues Form 1099-G for any of the following payments made to you during the year:

Unemployment compensation of $10 or more, including Railroad Retirement Board unemployment benefits and state paid family leave from contributory programs
State or local income tax refunds, credits, or offsets of $10 or more
Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA) payments for workers displaced by foreign trade
Taxable grants of $600 or more, including certain energy-related grants
USDA agricultural subsidy payments
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loan amounts

Scholarship and fellowship grants do not go on a 1099-G; those are reported on Form 1099-MISC or Form 1099-NEC instead.¹

The two boxes most people encounter are Box 1 (unemployment compensation, before any withholding) and Box 2 (state or local tax refund, credit, or offset). Box 4 shows any federal income tax already withheld from those payments. Boxes 10a–11 show state withholding information. The paying agency’s name, address, and federal ID number appear at the top.

Is the State Tax Refund in Box 2 Actually Taxable?

A number in Box 2 does not automatically mean you owe federal tax on your state refund. The refund is taxable only if you itemized deductions on the prior year’s return and got a tax benefit from deducting those state or local taxes. If you took the standard deduction, the refund generally is not taxable.²

Even if you itemized, you may not owe tax on the whole refund. The federal deduction for state and local taxes is capped at $10,000, so some itemizers could not deduct every dollar of state tax they paid. Only the portion of the refund that actually reduced your prior-year federal tax counts as taxable income now. The State and Local Income Tax Refund Worksheet in the Instructions for Schedule 1 (Form 1040) walks through the calculation.³

Where the Numbers Go on Your Return

Unemployment compensation is fully taxable federal income under 26 U.S.C. § 85.⁴ Report the Box 1 total on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Line 7. If any of your state refund in Box 2 is taxable after running the worksheet, put that taxable amount on Schedule 1, Line 1. Those totals then feed into your Form 1040 income.⁵

If Box 4 shows federal tax already withheld from your unemployment, add that to the payments section of your Form 1040 so you get credit for it. Agricultural payments, taxable grants, and CCC loan amounts also count as income; follow the line-specific instructions for your situation.⁶

Getting Tax Withheld from Unemployment

Unemployment benefits do not have taxes taken out automatically. To have federal income tax withheld, file Form W-4V (Voluntary Withholding Request) with the agency paying your benefits. The withholding rate is a flat 10 percent of each payment; no other percentage is available.⁷

If you skip withholding, you may need to make quarterly estimated payments with Form 1040-ES to avoid a large balance and possible underpayment penalties at filing time.⁸ This matters most when unemployment is your main income for an extended stretch.

If Your 1099-G Is Missing

Agencies must send your copy by January 31 of the year after the payments were made.⁹ If it has not shown up by mid-February, check the issuing agency’s online portal or contact it directly to request a copy.

Still nothing? Pull a wage and income transcript from the IRS, which shows the data reported on 1099-series returns. Transcripts cover the past ten tax years and are available through your IRS online account or by submitting Form 4506-T.¹⁰ You are responsible for reporting the income either way; file with the best information you have rather than waiting indefinitely.

If the Amount Is Wrong

When the total on your 1099-G does not match your records, contact the issuing agency and ask for a corrected form. Common problems include payments tagged to the wrong tax year, overstated benefits, and refund figures that don’t account for repayments you made during the year.¹¹

If a corrected form does not arrive before the filing deadline, the IRS says to file an accurate return reporting only what you actually received rather than filing the wrong number or waiting.¹¹

If You Get a 1099-G for Benefits You Never Received

A 1099-G showing unemployment benefits you never applied for usually means someone filed a fraudulent claim using your identity. State agencies continue to flag these cases. If it happens:

Contact the state unemployment agency, report the fraudulent claim, and ask for a corrected 1099-G showing zero benefits paid to you
File IRS Form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit) to notify the IRS that your Social Security number was misused. You can submit it online, by fax to 855-807-5720, or by mail
If identity theft blocks you from e-filing because your SSN was already used on a fraudulent return, attach Form 14039 to the back of your paper return and mail it to your normal IRS filing address

Do not report the fraudulent unemployment as income. Report only what you actually received.¹¹

What Happens If You Skip It

The IRS Automated Underreporter program matches every 1099-G filed by a government agency against what appears on your return. When it finds a gap, a tax examiner reviews it and the IRS sends a CP2000 notice proposing an adjustment.¹²

On top of the tax you owe, the IRS can add an accuracy-related penalty of 20 percent of the underpayment linked to the unreported income. The IRS lists leaving off income shown on an information return as an example of negligence.¹³ Reporting the income and then working with the issuing agency on any dispute is the safer path.

Amending After a Late or Corrected Form

If you already filed and then a 1099-G surfaces (or a corrected one arrives with a different number), amend the return with Form 1040-X. File electronically or on paper, and attach supporting documents including the corrected 1099-G and an updated Schedule 1.¹⁴

You generally have three years from the date you filed the original return, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, to file an amendment and claim any refund. You can file up to three amended returns for the same tax year.¹⁵

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-G (03/2024)
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues Guidance on State Tax Payments
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 (2025), Taxable and Nontaxable Income
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 85 – Unemployment Compensation
5
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule 1 (Form 1040)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-G (Rev. March 2024)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4V (Rev. January 2026)
8
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals
9
Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025)
10
Internal Revenue Service. How to Get a Wage and Income Transcript or Copy of Form W-2
11
Internal Revenue Service. What to Do When a W-2 or Form 1099 Is Missing or Incorrect
12
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 652, Notice of Underreported Income – CP2000
13
Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty
14
Internal Revenue Service. File an Amended Return
15
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X (09/2024)