The difference between a 1099-INT and a 1099-DIV is the kind of payment: a 1099-INT reports interest, such as bank deposit and bond interest, while a 1099-DIV reports dividends and other distributions from stock and funds. Their amounts land on different lines of Form 1040, and both can feed Schedule B once either total passes $1,500 (tax year 2025).
What a 1099-INT reports and what a 1099-DIV reports
A 1099-INT reports interest paid to the recipient, and a 1099-DIV reports dividends and distributions. The current instructions for both are the January 2024 revisions: the Instructions for Forms 1099-INT and 1099-OID (01/2024) and the Instructions for Form 1099-DIV (01/2024). Both set a general filing threshold of $10.
On the 1099-INT, box 1 holds taxable interest not reported in box 3, including interest on bank deposits. Box 3 is kept for U.S. savings bond and Treasury interest, and box 8 for tax-exempt interest. On the 1099-DIV, box 1a is total ordinary dividends, box 1b is the qualified part of 1a, and box 2a is total capital gain distributions.
The main boxes on each form, side by side
| 1099-INT (01/2024 revision) | 1099-DIV (01/2024 revision) |
|---|---|
| Box 1: interest income | Box 1a: total ordinary dividends |
| Box 2: early withdrawal penalty | Box 1b: qualified dividends |
| Box 3: interest on U.S. savings bonds and Treasury obligations | Box 2a: total capital gain distributions |
| Box 4: federal income tax withheld | Box 3: nondividend distributions |
| Box 6: foreign tax paid | Box 4: federal income tax withheld |
| Box 8: tax-exempt interest | Box 5: section 199A dividends |
| Box 9: specified private activity bond interest | Box 7: foreign tax paid |
| Boxes 11 to 13: bond premium | Box 12: exempt-interest dividends |
Matching box numbers do not mean matching contents. Box 3 is Treasury interest on one form and nondividend distributions on the other. Box 4 is the only number that means the same thing on both: federal income tax withheld.
Interest also shows up on a third form, in the other direction. A Form 1098 mortgage interest statement reports mortgage interest the lender received, which the IRS page about Form 1098 describes as mortgage interest "of $600 or more received by you during the year." Keep it apart from the interest a client earned.
Is a money market payment on a 1099-INT or a 1099-DIV?
A money market payment can land on either form, depending on what the client owns. Money market funds pay dividends, so their payments go on a 1099-DIV. A bank money market account is a deposit account, so its payments are interest on a 1099-INT. The account name alone does not tell you which form to expect.
The IRS instructions say this from both sides. The 1099-INT instructions exclude from box 1 "dividends from money market funds (which are reportable on Form 1099-DIV)." The 1099-DIV instructions include in box 1a "dividends, including dividends from money market funds." The 1099-INT instructions also include "interest on bank deposits" in box 1.
A second edge case points the other way. The 1099-DIV instructions say "dividends" on deposit or share accounts at credit unions, cooperative banks and savings institutions are reported on Form 1099-INT. So a credit union statement that says "dividends paid" still produces a 1099-INT.
For a firm's checklist, this means asking which kind of account a client holds, not only where. A client with a brokerage cash sweep into a money market fund should expect a 1099-DIV for it. A client with a credit union savings account should expect a 1099-INT, whatever the statement calls the payment. The full list of forms to request by client type is in what documents do I need from tax clients.
Where do 1099-INT and 1099-DIV amounts land on the return?
1099-INT and 1099-DIV amounts land on separate lines of Form 1040, and on Schedule B when either total is over $1,500 for tax year 2025. The 2025 Instructions for Form 1040 put taxable interest on line 2b, qualified dividends on line 3a and ordinary dividends on line 3b.
Line by line, for tax year 2025:
- Line 2a, tax-exempt interest. The 1040 instructions also include "any exempt-interest dividends from a mutual fund or other regulated investment company," which is 1099-DIV box 12.
- Line 2b, taxable interest. The instructions say "You must fill in and attach Schedule B if the total is over $1,500."
- Line 3a, qualified dividends. "Generally, these dividends are shown in box 1b of Form(s) 1099-DIV." They are also included in line 3b.
- Line 3b, ordinary dividends. "This amount should be shown in box 1a of Form(s) 1099-DIV." The same $1,500 Schedule B rule applies.
- Line 7a, capital gain distributions. When capital gain distributions in 1099-DIV box 2a are a client's only capital gains and no form shows amounts in boxes 2b, 2c or 2d, the instructions allow entering them on line 7a and checking the box on line 7b instead of filing Schedule D.
Schedule B itself has two parts. The 2025 Instructions for Schedule B say taxable interest for Part I "generally should be shown on your Forms 1099-INT, Forms 1099-OID, or substitute statements," listed by payer. Part II lists ordinary dividends, which "should be shown in box 1a of your Forms 1099-DIV or substitute statements."
These lines describe where the forms point. How a particular client's amounts are treated is the preparer's call, made on the full facts.
Why 1099-INT and 1099-DIV mix-ups happen on composite statements
1099-INT and 1099-DIV mix-ups happen on composite statements because one broker document holds both forms, one after the other, and the block headings are easy to miss. A reader who starts on the wrong page can copy dividend amounts into interest fields, or the reverse, without noticing that the form changed.
IRS Publication 1179 (Rev. 07-2026) gives the example directly: if a payer reports interest and dividends together, "the Form 1099-INT information must be presented separately from the Form 1099-DIV information," with the form number and name at the start of each block. The heading is the only reliable signal.
Common slips on a composite statement:
- Reading the summary page as a form. The summary totals each section; it is not a 1099 itself.
- Taking box 1 from the wrong block. Box 1 on the INT block is interest; the DIV block has no box 1, only 1a and 1b.
- Missing a second account. One statement may cover two accounts, each with its own INT and DIV blocks.
How composite statements are laid out, and how to read each block, is covered in consolidated 1099 data extraction from brokerage statements. Schema CPA sorts every page of a client's upload by document type, issuer and period before anything is exported to Excel or CSV; the workflow section of the homepage walks through it. Payments that are neither interest nor dividends, such as rents or contractor fees, belong to other forms; 1099-NEC vs 1099-MISC sorts those out.