Fidelity files a standard set of tax forms with the IRS each year documenting the income, sales, distributions, and contributions in your accounts. The core forms Fidelity files with the IRS are Form 1099-B for investment sales, Form 1099-DIV for dividends, Form 1099-INT for interest, Form 1099-R for retirement distributions, Form 1099-DA for digital asset sales starting with the 2025 tax year, Form 1099-SA for HSA distributions, and Forms 5498 and 5498-SA for IRA and HSA contributions. Fidelity sends identical copies to you and to the IRS, which is how the agency cross-checks your return against what your broker reported.
Form 1099-B: Investment Sales
Fidelity files Form 1099-B whenever you sell stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, or other securities in a taxable brokerage account. The form shows your sale proceeds, your cost basis, and whether the gain or loss is short-term (held one year or less) or long-term (held more than one year).1Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses
Fidelity is required to report cost basis to the IRS for “covered” securities, which generally means stocks purchased in 2011 or later and mutual funds and most other securities purchased in 2012 or later. For older “non-covered” holdings, Fidelity reports the sale proceeds but not the basis. You calculate and report your own cost basis on Form 8949 for those sales.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949
The 1099-B also flags wash sales. If you sell a security at a loss and repurchase a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale, the loss is disallowed and added to the basis of the replacement shares. Fidelity reports the disallowed loss in Box 1g when both the sale and repurchase happen in the same account.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-B (2026) Wash sales across different accounts or brokers are your responsibility to track.
Form 1099-DIV: Dividends and Distributions
This form covers dividends and fund distributions paid to your taxable account. Box 1a shows total ordinary dividends, taxed at your regular income rate. Box 1b breaks out qualified dividends, which are eligible for the lower long-term capital gains rates.4Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions
Box 2a reports capital gain distributions, which mutual funds and REITs pass through when they sell holdings at a profit. These are always taxed at long-term rates regardless of how long you held the fund shares.4Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions The form also shows non-taxable return-of-capital distributions, which reduce your cost basis rather than creating current taxable income. Foreign taxes paid on dividends appear on the form as well, and you can claim a credit for that amount on your return.5Internal Revenue Service. Foreign Tax Credit
Form 1099-INT: Interest Income
Form 1099-INT reports taxable interest credited to your account during the year. This includes interest from corporate bonds, brokered CDs, and cash in money market positions. U.S. Treasury interest appears in a separate box because it is taxable federally but exempt from state and local income taxes.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 403, Interest Received
Tax-exempt interest from municipal bonds gets reported too, even though you owe no federal tax on it. The IRS uses that figure for other calculations, including whether your Social Security benefits are taxable and whether you owe the Net Investment Income Tax. If you bought a bond between interest payment dates, the 1099-INT may overstate your taxable interest because it includes accrued interest you paid to the seller at purchase. You can subtract that accrued amount on your return.
Form 1099-R: Retirement Distributions
Fidelity issues a 1099-R for any distribution from a retirement account, whether it’s a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or annuity. The form shows the gross distribution, the taxable portion, and any federal or state taxes Fidelity withheld. The most important field is Box 7, which contains a distribution code telling the IRS how to treat the payment.
Code 1 means an early distribution (before age 59½) with no known exception, which typically triggers a 10% additional tax. Code 7 means a normal distribution from someone who has reached 59½. Code G indicates a direct rollover to another eligible retirement plan, which is not a taxable event.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 The code on your 1099-R drives the tax treatment, so check it carefully. If Fidelity assigns Code 1 but you qualify for a penalty exception (disability, substantially equal payments, medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of AGI, and others), you claim the exception on Form 5329.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics, Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
If Fidelity administers your employer’s 401(k) or 403(b), the 1099-R is the only form you receive, and only when you take a distribution. Contributions and in-plan growth are tracked by the plan, not reported to you on a 1099.
Form 1099-DA: Digital Asset Transactions
Starting with the 2025 tax year, Fidelity reports sales of digital assets like bitcoin and ethereum on the new Form 1099-DA. For 2025 transactions, Fidelity reports gross proceeds but is not required to report cost basis. Beginning January 1, 2026, brokers must also report cost basis for covered digital assets purchased on or after that date.9Internal Revenue Service. Final Regulations and Related IRS Guidance for Reporting by Brokers on Sales and Exchanges of Digital Assets The form does not calculate your gain or loss. You do that math and report it on Form 8949.
The wash sale rule does not explicitly apply to cryptocurrency as of 2026, because the IRS treats crypto as property rather than stock or securities. Congress has proposed extending wash sale treatment to digital assets, and the IRS could challenge aggressive loss-harvesting under broader economic substance principles.
Form 5498: IRA Contributions
Form 5498 is different from the 1099 series. It reports contributions you made to a Traditional, Roth, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA, and the account’s fair market value as of December 31. You don’t need the form to file your return since you already know what you contributed, but the IRS uses it to verify contribution amounts and to calculate future Required Minimum Distributions based on the year-end balance.10Fidelity. What Is Form 5498?
Because IRA contributions for a given tax year can be made through the following April filing deadline, Fidelity does not file Form 5498 until May. You may see the form arrive well after you have already filed your return.10Fidelity. What Is Form 5498?
HSA Forms: 1099-SA and 5498-SA
If you have a Fidelity HSA, Fidelity reports distributions on Form 1099-SA and contributions on Form 5498-SA. HSA contributions are tax-deductible, the balance grows tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 223, Health Savings Accounts Withdrawals used for anything other than qualified medical expenses are taxed as ordinary income and hit with a 20% penalty if you are under 65. After 65, the penalty disappears, but income tax still applies to non-medical withdrawals.
When Fidelity’s Tax Forms Arrive
Most 1099 forms must be sent to you by January 31, though some types can go out as late as February 15. In practice, Fidelity’s consolidated 1099 often arrives in late January or early February. If your account holds investments that are slow to finalize their tax data, such as certain mutual funds, REITs, or partnerships, your form may arrive up to 30 days after the February 15 deadline, pushing into mid-March.12Fidelity. 1099 Form Guide
Fidelity sometimes issues corrected 1099s after the original mailing if it receives updated information from fund companies or discovers errors. If you have already filed and the change affects your tax liability, you may need to file an amended return. It pays to wait until you are confident your forms are final, especially if your account holds complex investments. Form 5498 arrives separately in May.
Withholding Fidelity Reports Alongside Your Income
Several of the forms above include a box for federal tax Fidelity already withheld on your behalf. Withholding is a prepayment toward your eventual tax bill, not a separate tax, and any withheld amount gets credited to you when you file.
Mandatory 20% Withholding on Retirement Plan Distributions
If you take a distribution from a 401(k) or 403(b) that is eligible for rollover and have the check made payable to you rather than directly to another plan, Fidelity must withhold 20% for federal taxes. This is true even if you plan to roll the money over within 60 days.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3405, Special Rules for Pensions, Annuities, and Certain Other Deferred Income The only way to avoid the withholding is to choose a direct rollover, where Fidelity sends the funds straight to the receiving plan or IRA. If Fidelity withholds 20% and you want to roll over the full gross amount, you have to come up with that 20% from other funds and deposit the total within 60 days.
Backup Withholding at 24%
Backup withholding is a flat 24% withholding Fidelity applies to your investment income (dividends, interest, broker proceeds) when the IRS flags a problem with your account. The most common trigger is a mismatch between the name and Taxpayer Identification Number on your account.14Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding Fidelity can also be required to begin backup withholding if you fail to certify that you are not subject to it due to prior underreporting of income.
When this happens, the IRS sends Fidelity a notice (called a B-Notice), and Fidelity notifies you to provide a corrected Form W-9. Until the issue is resolved, Fidelity withholds 24% from all reportable payments. The withheld amount is credited on your tax return, so you are not losing the money permanently, but having a quarter of your investment income diverted can create real cash flow problems.15Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding B Program
Getting Prior-Year Forms
If you need prior-year tax forms for an audit or amended return, Fidelity makes consolidated 1099s and Form 5498 available online for roughly seven years.16Fidelity. Fidelity, Statements and Records For documents older than that, contact Fidelity’s customer service to request an archive search, which may take longer and could involve extra steps to verify your identity.