What a 1099-B Form Reports About Your Investment Sales

A 1099-B reports the sale price and cost basis of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities you sold during the year

Your brokerage sends you a Form 1099-B when you sell investments. The form shows what you sold, when you sold it, how much you received, and what you originally paid for it. The IRS gets a copy too, so the numbers on your 1099-B need to match what you report on your tax return.

You receive a 1099-B for each brokerage account where you sold securities. If you have accounts at two different brokerages and sold investments at both, you will get two separate forms. The form arrives by January 31 of the year after the sale.

The 1099-B is not a tax bill and does not tell you how much tax you owe. It is raw data about your transactions. You use it to calculate your capital gain or loss — the difference between what you sold the investment for and what you paid for it.

Key Takeaways

• A 1099-B lists every security you sold, the sale price, and the original cost basis your brokerage has on file.
• You receive one 1099-B per brokerage account where you sold investments, arriving by January 31.
• The form shows proceeds and cost basis separately, and you calculate your capital gain or loss by subtracting one from the other.
• If your brokerage does not have your original cost basis on file, the form may show a blank or zero, and you will need to find your purchase records.

What appears on Box 1d and Box 1e of the 1099-B

Box 1d shows the proceeds — the total amount you received when you sold the security. Box 1e shows the cost basis, which is what your brokerage has recorded as your original purchase price, adjusted for splits and reinvested dividends if applicable.

These two numbers are the foundation of your capital gain or loss calculation. If Box 1e shows $5,000 and Box 1d shows $7,000, your gain is $2,000 before any fees or commissions. If the numbers are reversed, you have a loss.

The brokerage fills in these boxes based on records in their system. If you bought the security at that brokerage, they usually have the cost basis. If you transferred the security from another brokerage or inherited it, the cost basis may be blank or incorrect, and you will need to provide the correct information to the IRS when you file.

When cost basis appears blank or incorrect on your 1099-B

A blank or zero cost basis in Box 1e means your brokerage either does not have a record of what you paid or was not required to track it. This happens most often with securities transferred from another brokerage, inherited securities, or very old purchases made before brokerages were required to report cost basis.

You are still responsible for reporting the correct cost basis to the IRS. Gather your original purchase confirmations, account statements, or transfer documents. If you cannot locate the original cost, you may be able to use historical price data for the date you acquired the security, though this requires documentation.

When you file your tax return, you will report the proceeds from Box 1d and your actual cost basis separately on Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses). The IRS will see that your 1099-B shows a different number, but your return will explain the discrepancy.

How wash sales affect the cost basis on your 1099-B

A wash sale occurs when you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale. The IRS disallows the loss and adds it to the cost basis of the replacement security instead.

Your brokerage may adjust the cost basis on your 1099-B to reflect a wash sale, or it may not — this depends on whether the brokerage tracks wash sales across your accounts and whether the replacement purchase happened at the same brokerage. If you sold at one brokerage and bought at another, the first brokerage may not know about the replacement purchase.

You are responsible for identifying wash sales and adjusting your tax return accordingly, even if your 1099-B does not reflect the adjustment. Keep records of all sales and purchases of the same security within 30-day windows so you can report the correct loss (or no loss) to the IRS.

The difference between 1099-B and 1099-DIV or 1099-INT

A 1099-B reports sales of securities. A 1099-DIV reports dividends paid to you by companies or funds. A 1099-INT reports interest paid to you by bonds or savings accounts. You may receive all three forms from the same brokerage in the same year.

The 1099-B is the only one that triggers a capital gain or loss calculation. Dividends and interest are reported as income on your tax return, not as gains or losses. If you reinvested dividends back into the same fund, your brokerage may have adjusted your cost basis on the 1099-B to reflect those reinvested amounts.

When you file your tax return, you will use the 1099-B on Schedule D, the 1099-DIV on Schedule B or directly on Form 1040, and the 1099-INT on Schedule B or directly on Form 1040, depending on the amounts and your filing status.

What to do if you receive a 1099-B with errors

Review your 1099-B against your own records as soon as you receive it. Check that the security description, sale date, proceeds, and cost basis match your account statements and confirmations. If you spot an error, contact your brokerage in writing and ask for a corrected form.

Brokerages must issue corrected 1099-B forms (marked as "Corrected" on the document) if they discover errors before they send the forms to the IRS. If the error is discovered after the forms go to the IRS, the brokerage will send you a corrected form and file a corrected copy with the IRS as well.

Do not file your tax return until you have received all your 1099-B forms and verified the information. If you file and later discover an error on a 1099-B that the IRS also received, you may need to file an amended return.

How to report your 1099-B on your tax return

You report the information from your 1099-B on Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses), which is part of Form 1040. For each security sold, you enter the sale date, the proceeds from Box 1d, the cost basis from Box 1e (or the correct basis if it was blank), and whether the gain or loss is short-term (held one year or less) or long-term (held more than one year).

Schedule D totals your gains and losses separately by holding period. Short-term gains and losses are taxed as ordinary income. Long-term gains are taxed at preferential rates that vary by your income level. If your total losses exceed your total gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 of the net loss against other income in that year, and carry forward any remaining loss to future years.

If you have many transactions, you may attach a separate statement listing each one instead of filling in Schedule D line by line. Your tax software will usually handle this automatically when you enter your 1099-B information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to report a 1099-B if I did not make a profit?

Yes. Even if you sold at a loss, you must report the transaction on Schedule D. Capital losses can offset capital gains, and if your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 against other income. Losses that exceed that limit carry forward to future years, so reporting them now preserves your ability to use them later.

What if my brokerage sent me a 1099-B but I never received it?

Contact your brokerage and ask them to resend it or confirm your mailing address and email on file. You can also log into your brokerage account online — most brokerages make 1099-B forms available in your account documents section. The IRS also received a copy, so if you file without it and the IRS matches their records to your return, they may send you a notice.

Can I use my 1099-B cost basis even if I think it is wrong?

You should use the correct cost basis, not the one on the form if you know it is wrong. If your brokerage has the wrong number, ask them to send a corrected form. If you know the correct basis and the brokerage cannot provide it, report the correct number on your tax return and keep documentation of your original purchase to support it if the IRS asks.

Does a 1099-B show fees or commissions I paid when I sold?

No. The proceeds in Box 1d are the gross amount you received before any fees. If your brokerage charged a commission or trading fee, you reduce the proceeds by that amount when you calculate your gain or loss. Keep your trade confirmations so you have the exact fee amounts.