Which 1099 Copies Go to the Recipient: Copy B and Copy 2

If you received income reported on Form 1099, two copies belong to you: Copy B, which you use for your federal tax return, and Copy 2, which you use for your state return when your state requires it. The payer sends both. Everything else printed on the form set goes somewhere else in the reporting chain.

Where Copies B and 2 Fit in the 1099 Set

Every 1099 is produced in multiple copies, each labeled for a specific party. Knowing the whole set makes it easier to see why only two of them are yours.

Copy A goes to the IRS. The payer submits it, often bundled with a Form 1096 transmittal. It’s printed in red scannable ink, and a version downloaded from IRS.gov is not valid for filing.
Copy 1 goes to your state’s tax department, sent by the payer.
Copy B goes to you for your federal return.
Copy 2 goes to you for your state return.
Copy C (or Copy D) stays with the payer.

Unlike Copy A, your Copy B and Copy 2 can be printed in black ink or downloaded from IRS.gov, and a payer can deliver them electronically with your consent. Either format is valid for your filing.

What to Do With Copy B

Copy B is the document you work from when you prepare your federal return. Where the income lands on your Form 1040 depends on which flavor of 1099 you received.

On a 1099-NEC, the Box 1 nonemployee compensation amount typically flows onto Schedule C if you’re a sole proprietor. That figure is your gross income from that client, the starting point for your profit or loss from self-employment. Self-employment tax also comes into play: 15.3% on your net earnings (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare), calculated on Schedule SE. That tax is owed on top of regular income tax, and no one withholds it for you.

On a 1099-INT or 1099-DIV, the interest or dividend income goes on your 1040 directly. If your total taxable interest or ordinary dividends exceeds $1,500, you also complete Schedule B to itemize the sources.¹

Other common variants include 1099-R for retirement distributions, 1099-MISC for rents, royalties, and other miscellaneous income, 1099-S for real estate sale proceeds, and 1099-K for payment card and third-party network transactions. Each has its own reporting line on your return, but the copy system is the same: Copy B is yours for federal purposes.

What to Do With Copy 2

Copy 2 is labeled “To be filed with recipient’s state income tax return, when required.”² If your state has an income tax, you use it to report the 1099 income on your state return and to claim credit for any state tax that was withheld from your payments.

Whether you actually attach Copy 2 to your state return depends on the state. Some require it, others just want you to report the income and keep the copy in your files. If any state withholding appears in Boxes 16–18 of your 1099, hold onto Copy 2 either way. You’ll need it to support the withholding credit on your state return.

The nine states without a broad individual income tax generally don’t require Copy 2, but keeping it still makes sense. Certain 1099 income, business income in particular, can carry other obligations even in those states.

When Your Copies Should Arrive

Most 1099 forms have to reach you by January 31 of the year after the payment was made. When that date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.³ For tax year 2025 forms, the general furnishing deadline is February 2, 2026, because January 31, 2026, is a Saturday.

A few forms get extra time:

1099-B (brokerage proceeds) and 1099-DA (digital assets) are due to recipients by February 15, which pushes to February 17, 2026, for the 2025 tax year.³
1099-S (real estate transactions) is also due by February 15, though the statement may be furnished at closing instead.
1099-MISC reporting only substitute payments (Box 8) or gross attorney proceeds (Box 10) has the same February 15 deadline.

Payers who need more time can request an extension by faxing Form 15397 to the IRS before the original due date. If approved, the extension typically adds 30 days.⁴ Even in the worst case, your copies should reach you well before the April filing deadline.

Getting Copy B and Copy 2 Electronically

A payer can deliver your Copy B and Copy 2 electronically instead of mailing paper, but only after you give affirmative consent. The payer must first offer you the choice of paper delivery, and before you consent they must explain how to withdraw that consent later. You can revoke consent at any time in writing, either electronically or on paper, and the payer must confirm the withdrawal in writing.³

One narrow exception is on the way for digital asset brokers. Proposed IRS regulations would let brokers furnish Form 1099-DA electronically without offering a paper option, starting with statements due on or after January 1, 2027. Brokers using this process would need to meet enhanced notification requirements and give you continuing online access to your statements.⁵

If a Copy Is Missing or Wrong

If mid-February arrives and you’re still waiting on a 1099 you expected, start with the payer. Confirm they have your correct mailing address and that the form actually went out. Most missing-form situations trace back to a bad address or a simple oversight the payer can fix.

If the payer is unresponsive or the form still hasn’t arrived by the end of February, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. The IRS will contact the payer directly and request that the form be issued.⁶

If the filing deadline is closing in and you still don’t have the copy, file your return on time using your own records to estimate the income. You can attach Form 4852 (Substitute for Form W-2 or 1099-R) to document the estimate. If the actual 1099 shows different numbers when it arrives, file an amended return on Form 1040-X.⁶

If a copy arrives with an error, wrong amount, wrong TIN, or wrong name, ask the payer for a corrected form. The corrected version will have a “CORRECTED” box checked at the top and replaces the original for filing purposes.

Backup Withholding on Your Copy B

Look at Box 4 of your Copy B. If a dollar amount is there, federal income tax was already withheld from your payments even though you aren’t an employee. That’s backup withholding, taken at a flat 24% rate.⁷

Backup withholding kicks in when you haven’t given the payer a correct Taxpayer Identification Number (usually by not returning a W-9), or when the IRS has notified the payer that you previously underreported interest or dividend income. You claim credit for it on your return the same way you’d claim regular withholding. It isn’t extra tax, just a prepayment of what you’d owe anyway. To stop it going forward, give the payer a correct, signed W-9.

How Long to Keep the Copies

The IRS recommends keeping tax records, your 1099 copies included, for at least three years from the date you filed the return that reported the income, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.⁸

Longer retention applies in specific situations. If you underreport income by more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return, the IRS has six years to assess additional tax, so you’d want six years of records. If you never file a return at all, there’s no statute of limitations, and those records should be kept indefinitely. Three years covers most people, and keeping the copies longer costs nothing beyond storage.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule B (Form 1040) (2025)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-MISC (Rev. April 2025)
3
Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025)
4
Internal Revenue Service. Extension of Time to Furnish Statements to Recipients
5
Internal Revenue Service. Treasury, IRS Issue Proposed Regulations to Make It Easier for Digital Asset Brokers to Provide 1099-DA Statements Electronically
6
Internal Revenue Service. What to Do When a W-2 or Form 1099 Is Missing or Incorrect
7
Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding
8
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records