tax reporting of dividends less than $10

[RustyShackleford]

I guess payers are not required to send 1099 forms
if they've paid you less than $10 in a year. For example,
thanks to the low interest rates, I had two Vanguard money
market funds that paid less than $10 each, as did my home
town bank in interest.

Should I bother to report these on my tax return ? If so,
does one add them to Schedule B, or are they "other income" ?

I guess theoretically you're supposed to report these, but the
IRS would probably never know. I want to do the right thing,
but I don't want to create confusion (and possible hassles) by
reporting income for which nothing was reported to the IRS.
OTOH, I guess it looks good to do this, making it seem like
you're a conscientious taxpayer (which I pretty much am).

What do most of you do in this situation ? Thanks.

[EyeDee]

.
We report them on Schedule B.

[CABob]

I report them as though I received a 1099. I don't think the IRS will be confused especially about more income than they were aware of. I'm sure it happens all the time. OTOH I'm not sure the IRS doesn't know about it. The financial institution is not required to send you a 1099, but, they may still report it to the IRS.

[LadyGeek]

All income must be reported. Whether or not you get a 1099 statement is not the answer.

Vanguard tells you to use your year-end statement if you don't get a 1099. About your tax forms:

Note on IRS reporting of investment income on tax forms: Most tax forms are required to be provided only for amounts of $10 or more, or if taxes have been previously withheld. However, you must report any investment income or distributions you receive to the IRS. All investment income or distributions during the year are reported on your year-end mutual fund or brokerage account statement.

[Random Poster]

Hope this thread isn't too old to be brought back to life...

I earned around $7.50 this year in a Vanguard Tax Exempt Money Market Fund. Vanguard has not issued a 1099-DIV for this account, given the low (sub-$10) "dividend" payments made in 2010.

I have no problem reporting the $7.50 in the relevant and appropriate places.

However, my quandry is this: the MM fund is the type that invests in private activity bonds, the income from which must, as I understand it, be reported on the AMT form. In past years, I received the 1099-DIV that showed how much income came from private activity bonds, so this was never a problem. But now that there is no 1099-DIV, what shall I do?

Just report the $7.50 and forget about the AMT form (assuming I don't need to fill it out for any other reason)? Just to "back in" to the private activity bond interest number and report that on the AMT form? Something else altogether?

[livesoft]

Here's what I might do: I would look up on the Vanguard website where it reported the information you need. If I could not find it, I would call up Vanguard and ask, "Where on your web site is the information I need?"

I imagine that if someone has $2,000 of tax-exempt interest that the info is readily available, so it should also be available for someone with $7.50 of tax-exempt interest.

[SSSS]

Just report the $7.50 and forget about the AMT form (assuming I don't need to fill it out for any other reason)? Just to "back in" to the private activity bond interest number and report that on the AMT form? Something else altogether?

Since you're basically on the honor system, do whatever makes you feel honorable.

Or go for the time-saving approach and report it as standard taxable income. How much of your time is it worth just to save a dollar or two?

Personally I just input a flat $10 every year so I don't really have to think about it. I'm pretty sure I have less than $1 in interest this year that wasn't reported, but I don't really feel like actually checking.

[mudfud]

Hope this thread isn't too old to be brought back to life...

I earned around $7.50 this year in a Vanguard Tax Exempt Money Market Fund. Vanguard has not issued a 1099-DIV for this account, given the low (sub-$10) "dividend" payments made in 2010.

I had the same questions with less than $10 interest in the Vanguard Tax Exempt Money Market Fund. So I called Vanguard, and (after 30 minutes, and many false leads) they pointed me to this page (for financial advisors) that has the private activity bond information.

https://advisors.vanguard.com/VGApp/iip/site/advisor/investments/taxcenter/prioryeartaxdata?file=IWE_VGFundsAMT2010

Best,

Mud

[RustyShackleford]

As a proud flag-waving American, a firm believer in capitalism and the American way, I think I'll just do what I imagine that stalwart of industry, General Electric, would do in the same situation.