Do I Legally Have to Claim Interest Income?

Question

Is it legally required to report interest income on Form 1040 for amounts too small to have had a 1099-INT generated?

I have several savings accounts, and some of the interest received by me is only a couple of dollars, so there is no 1099-INT.

In the past, doing my taxes longhand, I always listed ALL my interest income on Schedule B, no matter how small the amounts.

This year, I am using taxactonline.com, but I cannot find a place to enter the interest amounts for which I received no 1099-INT.

Please don't reply with, "The IRS doesn't know about the interest if a 1099-INT wasn't generated, so don't bother to report it." I want to know if the IRS requires ALL interest to be reported.

If all interest must be reported, is Schedule B the right place to list it (I have always done that in the past)?

Finally, if the interest must be reported, does anyone know where on taxactonline.com the amounts should be input?

Thanks for any and all help!

thanks to everyone confirming this requirement for me.

wcfever, i was going to add the info on taxactonline as if i had received a 1099-INT, but it asks for the payers' ID number. I suppose I'll have to do a little more research for the taxactonline aspect...

I am glad he made them add that turkey!

I ended up clicking a button to "Add New 1099-INT", and put in the bank's name, but left the Payer ID # field blank.

Thanks for the help, all!

Answer 1

There is no "de minimus" amount for reporting interest income. Assuming it is interest income from a bank account, use Schedule B. Don't know how to make it work in your tax program other than entering the information as if you received a 1099.

Answer 2

Yes you are suppose to report all interest income. You would report on the same line as you report interest that you have a 1099 form.

Interesting question. I have a cousin who was an independant seller of seed corn. He had recieved a trip as a bonus for his sales. The IRS audited him and made him claim the the trip as income. As he was about to leave the IRS he stoppd at the door... and said "oh, yes. I also recieved a Turkey at Thanksgiving we better add that to my return." The agent said no that wasn't worth the effort. But my cousin insisted... and made the IRS agent add the turkey to his return...

Answer 3

Legally, yes you do, along with any 1099-INT's you received.

Answer 4

All incomes need to be reported under "Other Income".