Form 1099-INT reports the bank interest an account paid you during the calendar year, in box 1. Banks send it when interest reaches $10. To check it, add up the interest credits on that account's January to December statements. The sum should equal box 1, and you report all interest even without a form.
What does a 1099-INT bank interest form report?
For an ordinary savings, checking or CD account, the 1099-INT puts the year's interest in box 1. The IRS instructions for Form 1099-INT say box 1 holds taxable interest not included in box 3, and box 3 is reserved for US Savings Bonds and Treasury obligations.
One other box is worth a glance on a bank's form. Box 4, federal income tax withheld, is usually empty. It fills only when backup withholding applied, for example when the bank did not have your correct taxpayer identification number. If box 4 shows an amount, that tax was already paid on your behalf and belongs on your return.
The $10 figure is the bank's filing threshold, not a tax rule for you. The instructions require a 1099-INT for each person paid at least $10 in amounts reportable in boxes 1, 3 or 8. Banks differ in how they group accounts, so you may get one form covering several accounts or a separate form for each.
Finding interest rows on statements to match the 1099-INT
Interest appears on a bank statement as a credit row, usually once a month near the end of the statement period. Its description says something like INTEREST PAID, INTEREST CREDIT or INT PYMT. Add the twelve credits dated January 1 to December 31, and compare the total with box 1 of the form.
Some statements also print a "year to date interest" line in the summary box. On the December statement, that figure should equal the form. Not every bank prints it, so the row-by-row sum is the reliable method.
The worked example below uses an invented high-yield savings account. Every amount is made up.
| Statement month | Interest credit row | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| January | 01/31 INTEREST PAID | $38.12 |
| February | 02/28 INTEREST PAID | $34.90 |
| March | 03/31 INTEREST PAID | $39.05 |
| April | 04/30 INTEREST PAID | $37.44 |
| May | 05/31 INTEREST PAID | $38.76 |
| June | 06/30 INTEREST PAID | $36.81 |
| July | 07/31 INTEREST PAID | $37.20 |
| August | 08/31 INTEREST PAID | $36.95 |
| September | 09/30 INTEREST PAID | $34.48 |
| October | 10/31 INTEREST PAID | $35.02 |
| November | 11/30 INTEREST PAID | $33.10 |
| December | 12/31 INTEREST PAID | $33.67 |
| Sum of rows | $435.50 | |
| Box 1 on the example 1099-INT | $435.50 |
With the rows in a spreadsheet, one formula does the sum: =SUMIFS(C:C, B:B, "*INTEREST*", A:A, ">="&DATE(2026,1,1), A:A, "<="&DATE(2026,12,31)). The wildcard catches each variant of the description.
If you hold several forms from different banks, typing their boxes into one sheet makes the comparison easier. Collecting every 1099 PDF in one Excel sheet shows a layout for that.
Which year does interest credited near December 31 belong to?
Interest belongs to the year it was credited to your account. The 1099-INT instructions say interest is paid when it is credited or set apart for you so that you can draw on it. A credit dated December 31 counts for that year, even if it prints on a statement that runs into January.
This is where statement periods cause trouble. A statement covering December 15 to January 14 holds rows from two tax years. Sum the interest by row date, not by statement. If you take whole statements instead, one credit can land in the wrong year and your total will be off by a month's interest.
The same logic applies to CDs that pay interest only at maturity, or once a year. The interest counts when the bank credits it to an account you can draw on.
What if the 1099-INT bank interest total looks wrong?
Check your own side first, because most mismatches come from the sum, not the form. Confirm you added every account at that bank, used row dates inside the calendar year, and included any account you closed during the year. If the gap remains, ask the bank for a corrected form.
Work through these checks in order:
- Every account. A bank's form may combine savings, checking and a CD. Add their interest together.
- Closed accounts. An account closed in May still paid interest from January to May. Statements for closed accounts can be harder to download, so fetch them early.
- Joint accounts. The form goes to the taxpayer number the bank has on file. If you hold a joint account, ask your preparer how to report the share that belongs to the other owner.
- Bonus credits. A sign-up bonus shows up as its own credit row, not as INTEREST PAID. Ask the bank which form reports it before you add it to the interest sum.
- Typing errors. If the bank's form is still wrong after all that, ask the bank to correct it. Keep the statement rows as your evidence.
If you manage a parent's accounts, the same checks apply to their forms. Keeping their statements in one place makes this much quicker, and a caregiver expense log built from bank statements describes one way to organize that file.
Bank interest under $10 with no 1099-INT in the mail
Interest below $10 is still taxable, even though the bank does not have to send you a form. IRS Tax Topic 403 on interest received says you must report all taxable and tax-exempt interest on your return, even if you do not receive a Form 1099-INT. Your statements are the record.
Small interest is easy to miss. A checking account paying a few cents a month can add up to $6 for the year, and no form will remind you. Before you file, scan the December statement or the year's rows for every account you hold, including old savings accounts you rarely open. Add the small amounts to the total you report.
A statement row is good evidence for this kind of income because it comes from the bank itself. That is a contrast with expenses, where a statement shows that money left but not always what it bought; whether a bank statement is enough proof of an expense covers that other side.
If the statements are PDFs and you want the interest rows in a spreadsheet, CheapBankConvert is being built to convert a statement into CSV or Excel for a one-time price, with the first 2 pages previewed free. It has not launched yet; get started to hear when it does.