Fillable Form 1096 IRS

What is Form 1096?

Officially Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns, Form 1096 is a transmittal form that reports the summary of the returns that a business is filing and mailing to the Internal Service Revenue (IRS), the U.S. federal tax agency. It serves as a cover sheet when mailing the reports.

According to the IRS, if you have 250 or more of any type of information return, you must file electronically.

Businesses — and professionals — that paid more than $600 non-employee compensation to independent contractors and used Form 1099 should fill out and use Form 1096 when submitting the reports to the IRS. Legal forms that need Form 1096 as a cover page are 1097, 1098, 3921, 3922, 5498, 8935, and W-2G. Take note that every type of form you submit to the IRS must have its own Form 1096 cover sheet. In addition, the federal agency treats every version of forms as a separate type of form. This means that you should use one Form 1096 for different versions of forms.

The due date for Form 1096 varies and depends on the information returns that you are mailing. Submit it together with the returns it summarizes by February 28 each year for forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, or W-2G and by June 1 for Form 5498. Take note that late filing results in penalties. For submission within 30 days of the due date, the penalty is $50 per form. After 30 days, the penalty increases to $100. Failure to file on or before August 1 results in a $260 penalty. Deliberately failing to file results in a $530 penalty.

Form 1096 with all information results should be submitted to the following:

If your principal business, office or agency, or legal residence in the case of an individual, is in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia:

Internal Revenue Service
Austin Submission Processing Center
P.O. Box 149213
Austin, TX 78741

If your principal business, office or agency, or legal residence in the case of an individual, is in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming:

Internal Revenue Service Center
P.O. Box 219256
Kansas City, MO 64121-9256

If your principal business, office or agency, or legal residence in the case of an individual, is in California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia:

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service Center
Ogden, UT 84201

How to Fill Out Form 1096?

The one-page transmittal Form 1096 is short and easy to complete. It requires personal, tax-related information, and details related to the forms you are submitting. Follow the guide below to complete the form accurately.

Provide the name of the filer and address of the business, the name of the person to contact, telephone number, email address, and fax number.

Box 1 asks for the Employer Identification Number (EIN).
Box 2 asks for the Social Security Number (SSN).
Box 3 asks for the total number of forms being submitted with Form 1096.
Box 4 asks for the total federal income tax withheld on all the forms being submitted. Enter “0” if no amount was withheld.
Box 5 asks for the total amount of reported payments on all the forms being submitted.
Box 6 has checkboxes that should be marked. Enter an “X” in one of the boxes to indicate the type of form being filed.

After providing the required information, sign the form, provide the filer’s title, and add a date.