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Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, is the IRS information return that brokers and barter exchanges use to report the proceeds from a customer’s securities sales and other reportable transactions, including regulated futures and Section 1256 option contracts handled through a broker. Investors who sold stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, or other securities through a brokerage account, or who traded property or services through a formal barter exchange, receive a 1099-B reporting the proceeds used to calculate capital gains and losses for the year.
This guide covers who has to file Form 1099-B, what’s reported in each box, how covered and noncovered securities are treated differently, and how the form’s figures are reported on a tax return.
Who Has to File Form 1099-B
A broker or barter exchange must file a 1099-B for each customer who:
- Sold or exchanged stocks, bonds, commodities, options, securities futures contracts, or forward contracts through the broker
- Received cash, stock, or other property as part of a corporate merger, acquisition, or other change in capital structure
- Exchanged property or services through a barter exchange
- Disposed of an interest in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF)
Unlike forms such as 1099-NEC or 1099-INT, there’s generally no minimum dollar threshold — covered securities transactions must be reported regardless of size, with a small number of listed exceptions (for example, fractional-share sales under $20 in gross proceeds).
Digital asset sales — cryptocurrency and similar property — are reported on Form 1099-DA rather than Form 1099-B, starting with tax year 2025 transactions.
Who Receives It
Individuals and entities that sold investments in a taxable (non-retirement) brokerage account during the year receive a 1099-B from each broker or platform where a sale occurred. Accounts with no sales during the year — only purchases held — don’t generate a 1099-B. Many brokerages bundle 1099-B into a consolidated tax statement along with 1099-DIV, 1099-INT, and 1099-MISC, so it may not be issued as a standalone form.
What’s Reported on Form 1099-B
The form’s main reporting section (Box 1) breaks each transaction down into several fields:
- Box 1a – Description of property: What was sold (e.g., number of shares and ticker symbol, bond face amount, or fund name)
- Box 1b – Date acquired: The date the asset was originally acquired
- Box 1c – Date sold or disposed: The trade date of the sale
- Box 1d – Proceeds: Gross proceeds from the sale, before subtracting the original cost
- Box 1e – Cost or other basis: The original cost of the asset, if the broker is required to report it
- Box 1f / 1g – Accrued market discount and wash sale loss disallowed: Adjustments that affect certain debt instruments and disallowed losses on repurchased securities
- Box 2: Indicates whether the gain or loss is short-term, long-term, or ordinary
- Box 4: Federal income tax withheld, if backup withholding applied
- Box 5: Checked if the security is noncovered (see below)
- Box 13: Used by barter exchanges to report cash received and the fair market value of goods, services, or trade credits received
Brokers dealing in regulated futures, foreign currency contracts, or Section 1256 option contracts use a separate set of boxes (8–11) to report realized and unrealized gains on those contracts, and the form includes state withholding fields (boxes 14–16) for filers in the Combined Federal/State Filing Program.
Covered vs. Noncovered Securities
This distinction affects how much cost-basis information the broker reports. Covered securities are generally stock acquired for cash after 2010, mutual fund and dividend-reinvestment-plan shares acquired after 2011, and certain debt instruments and options acquired after 2013 (with some pushed to 2015) — and they require the broker to track and report cost basis directly to the IRS in Box 1e. Noncovered securities are typically older holdings or assets the broker doesn’t have full basis history for; in that case, Box 5 is checked, the basis boxes may be left blank, and the taxpayer is responsible for determining and reporting cost basis from their own records.
If a security transferred between brokers should have been treated as covered but wasn’t, the receiving broker must request a transfer statement from the prior broker and issue a corrected 1099-B within 30 days of getting accurate basis information.
How 1099-B Amounts Are Reported on a Tax Return
The amounts on a 1099-B aren’t entered as income directly. They are used to calculate capital gains and losses:
- Each transaction is listed on Form 8949, separated into short-term and long-term, and further split by whether the security was covered or noncovered.
- The totals from Form 8949 carry over to Schedule D, which nets gains and losses for the year.
- Net capital gains are taxed at preferential rates; up to $3,000 of net capital losses can offset ordinary income annually, with any excess carried forward.
Because the IRS receives a copy of every 1099-B directly from the broker, it automatically matches what’s reported against what’s filed on the return. A mismatch — for example, a sale that isn’t reported on the return at all — commonly triggers an IRS CP2000 notice proposing additional tax.
Filing Deadlines and Penalties
Form 1099-B follows a different timeline than most other 1099s, because brokers need extra time to finalize cost basis figures:
| Requirement | Typical Deadline |
|---|---|
| Furnish recipient copies | Mid-February (commonly February 15, shifted for weekends/holidays) |
| File with the IRS (paper) | End of February |
| File with the IRS (electronic) | March 31 |
Brokers filing 10 or more aggregate information returns of any type must file electronically — see our guide to the FIRE-to-IRIS e-filing transition. Late or incorrect filings carry per-form penalties that scale with how late the correction is made, from roughly $60 for filings corrected shortly after the deadline up to several hundred dollars per form for filings made well after the deadline or not made at all; intentional disregard penalties have no maximum.
Digital Assets
Brokers, exchanges, and platforms that facilitate sales of cryptocurrency or other digital assets report those transactions on Form 1099-DA rather than Form 1099-B, with gross proceeds reporting required starting with tax year 2025 and cost basis reporting on covered digital asset securities phasing in for tax year 2026. Businesses handling both traditional securities and digital assets need to confirm with their filing software or provider that each transaction type is reported on the correct form. Investors who traded both stocks and crypto receive a separate form for each: a 1099-B for traditional securities and a 1099-DA for digital assets.
Why Brokers Outsource 1099-B Processing
1099-B filing creates administrative work for brokers and exchanges. Every covered transaction must be reported, basis tracking has to be accurate, and corrections carry their own 30-day deadline. Filing volume increases quickly for brokers and other fintech and banking filers with high transaction counts. TAB1099, Tab Service Company’s 1099 processing platform, handles data validation, cost basis tracking, IRS e-filing, recipient printing and mailing, and unlimited post-filing corrections for 1099-B and other 1099 forms.
Related reading:
- IRS 1099 Form Changes for 2026
- IRS FIRE System Retirement: Understanding the Transition to IRIS
- TAB1099 FAQs & Resources
Contact us to discuss 1099-B or broader 1099 filing needs, or call 312-527-4306.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. For current IRS guidance, visit IRS.gov.
