What IRS form should we complete if we closed an IRA account but still owe the customer unpaid interest? We would like to mail the customer the unpaid interest.

We believe you may need to file a corrected Form 1099-R that includes the unpaid interest. The IRS requires a Form 1099-R filing when making a distribution of $10 or more from any individual retirement arrangement. The form contains a box to indicate whether a distribution was a total distribution that closed out an account. If your customer closed their IRA, and you filed a Form 1099-R intending to reflect a total distribution closing out the account, you likely will need to file a corrected Form 1099-R that includes the unpaid interest. According to the IRS’s instructions, the corrected form must be filed “as soon as possible.” For more information on correcting an electronic filing, see IRS Publication 1220, linked in the resources below.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • IRS, About Form 1099-R (“File Form 1099-R for each person to whom you have made a designated distribution or are treated as having made a distribution of $10 or more from: . . . Any individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).”)
  • IRS, Form 1099-R, page 7 (“If the second box is checked, the distribution was a total distribution that closed out your account.”)
  • IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 – Corrected Form 1099-R (“If you filed a Form 1099-R with the IRS and later discover that there is an error on it, you must correct it as soon as possible.”)
  • IRS, Publication 1220: Specifications for Electronic Filing of Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, and W-2G – Corrected Returns, page 16