Introduction The Form RRB-1099-R tax statement enclosed is issued by the U.S. Railroad
Retirement Board (RRB) and represents payments made to you in the tax year
indicated on the statement. You will need to determine if any of the railroad
retirement payments made to you are taxable. Explanations of items on Form
RRB-1099-R are on the back of this explanation sheet.
The mailing address shown on Form RRB-1099-R is the address we currently have on
our records. Please review the mailing address shown. If the mailing address
shown is incorrect or incomplete, please provide the RRB with your correct
mailing address.
Form RRB-1099-R
Form RRB-1099-R reports the total gross payments, repayments and the related
U.S. Federal income tax withheld from the Non- Social Security Equivalent
Benefit (NSSEB) portion of tier 1, tier 2, vested dual benefit (VDB), and
supplemental annuity payments. Form RRB-1099-R is used for both U.S. citizen and
nonresident alien beneficiaries. These payments are treated as private pensions
for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. For more information about these payments
and Form RRB-1099-R, refer to IRS Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income.
Payments and repayments resulting from railroad retirement annuity adjustments
are shown on your tax statement, and may be fully or partially subject to
taxation. This is true whether adjustments result in net amounts due or net
overpayments which you are asked to repay, and whether any overpayments are
recovered or waived. A repayment is a returned payment, a cash refund, or an
amount withheld from your annuity to recover an overpayment. Certain payments
and repayments are not taxable and are not shown on your tax statements. These
certain payments and repayments include tier 1, tier 2,VDB benefits paid for a
period before December 1983; tier 2 and VDB benefits repaid for a period
before
December 1983; separation allowance lump sum amounts; residual lump sum amounts;
lump sum death payments; and Railroad Retirement Act tax refunds. Railroad
retirement payments are not taxable for U.S. state income tax purposes.
Corrected/Duplicate
There are two boxes located at the top left hand
side of Form RRB-1099-R indicated as
Corrected or
Duplicate.
Neither box is checked if this is an
original Form RRB-1099-R. One of these boxes is checked when either a corrected
or duplicate Form RRB-1099-R is prepared. Both boxes are checked if the Form
RRB-1099-R is a duplicate of a previously corrected Form RRB-1099-R. You may
receive more than one original Form RRB-1099-R for the tax year indicated. Each
original Form RRB-1099-R is valid and should be included when you file your
income tax return for the tax year indicated.
A "duplicate" Form RRB-1099-R is
the same as a previously released original or corrected Form RRB-1099-R. The RRB
may issue a "corrected" Form RRB-1099-R if there is an error in the "original"
Form RRB-1099-R. A "corrected Form RRB-1099-R replaces the corresponding
"original" Form RRB-1099-R. Therefore, you must use the latest corrected or
duplicate Form RRB-1099-R you received AND any original Form RRB-1099-R that the
RRB has not corrected when you file and/or amend your income tax return for that
same tax year. If you are required to file an income tax return, a negligence
penalty or other sanction may be imposed on you if the income is taxable and the
United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines that it has not been
reported.
RRB-1099/1042S If you are a U.S.
citizen, you may also receive Form RRB-1099,
or if
you are a nonresident alien of the United States you may receive Form RRB-1042S in
addition, to Form RRB-1099-R. Both Forms RRB-1099 and RRB-1042S report the
Social Security Equivalent Benefit (SSEB) portion of tier 1.
If you are a
nonresident alien AND your country of legal residence and/or tax withholding
rate changed during a given tax year, you may receive more than one set of Forms
RRB-1042S and/or RRB-1099-R. If you are affected by the General Rule provisions,
you must compute the taxable and nontaxable amounts of your annuity payments
shown on your Form RRB-1099-R using the employee contributions amount also shown
on Form RRB-1099-R. For more detailed information refer to
IRS Pub. 575,
Pensions and Annuity Income. If you are using the Simplified General Rule, refer
to the Simplified General Rule worksheet in the
Instructions for Form 1040
and/or 1040A Booklet(s) to determine your taxable amount. If you are not using
the Simplified General Rule, refer to IRS Publication 939, General Rule for
Pensions and Annuities, to determine your taxable amount. For widow(er)s who
were paid as a spouse for part of the tax year, use only the annuity payments
you received as a widow(er) to figure your nontaxable amount. The totals reported on your Form RRB-1099-R may
not equal the total amount of NSSEB, tier 2, VDB and supplemental annuity benefit payments actually received
during the tax year indicated. For beneficiaries receiving Medicare, the
difference may be the total amount of Medicare premiums paid during the tax year
indicated since amounts shown on tax statements are
before any deduction for
Medicare. Effective for tax years 1997 and later, the RRB only shows the total
Part B Medicare premiums that were deducted from railroad retirement annuity
payments for the tax year indicated on Form RRB-1099-R.
The RRB does not show
the Medicare premiums deducted from social security benefits on any tax
statement issued by the RRB. In addition, Medicare premium refunds are not
included in your Medicare premium total.
Questions
If you have any questions about how to figure your taxable payments and/or what
amounts to show on your income tax returns and/or how to amend income tax
returns, contact your own tax preparer or the IRS. However, contact the RRB if
you have questions about your Form RRB-1099-R and railroad retirement benefit
payments, or if you need to request a duplicate Form RRB-1099-R for any tax
year. When contacting the RRB, always give the claim number and payee code shown
in Box 1 of your Form RRB-1099-R. The recipient's identification number in Box 2
of Form RRB-1099-R is either the United States social security number OR
individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) OR employer identification
number (EIN) for the person or Estate listed as the recipient.
You should
contact your nearest RRB field office (if you reside within the United States)
OR U.S. consulate/embassy (if you reside outside the United States) for local
assistance with your inquiries. If you reside
within the United States, you may
call the RRB at 1-800-808-0772 and select option "5" to obtain the address and
telephone number of your nearest RRB field office. In addition, you may visit us
on the Internet at http.//www.rrb.gov. You may want to photocopy and retain this Form RRB-1099-R for income
verification and record keeping purposes. Please be sure the RRB
always has your current mailing address.
Explanation of
Items on Form RRB-1099-R Box 3 - Employee Contributions - This is the amount of railroad retirement
payroll taxes paid by the employee that exceeds the amount that would have been
paid in social security payroll taxes if the employee's railroad service had
been covered under the Social Security Act. The IRS refers to this amount as an
employee's investment in the contract (cost).
It is not a payment or income that
you received in the tax year indicated on the Form RRB-1099-R. The amount shown
is the latest amount reported, which may have increased or decreased from a
previous Form RRB-1099-R. A change in the employee contribution may affect the
nontaxable portion of your NSSEB/tier 2 payments. You may need to recompute that
nontaxable amount as explained in IRS Publication 575, Pension and Annuity
Income and/or IRS Publication 939, General Rule for Pensions and Annuities. If
the employee contributions amount reported on the enclosed Form RRB-1099-R for
the tax year indicated is different from the employee contributions amount
reported on a previously issued Form RRB-1099-R, you may need to file an
original or an amended income tax return(s) using the employee contributions
amount reported on the enclosed Form RRB-1099-R. The total contributions shown
have not been reduced by any amounts that the RRB previously calculated as
recovered. If you had a previous annuity entitlement that terminated
and you are
calculating a nontaxable pension amount under the General Rule for your
current
annuity entitlement, you should contact the RRB for confirmation of your correct
employee contributions amount. If this box is blank, it means that your NSSEB/tier2
payment is fully taxable. Box 4 - Contributory Amount Paid - An amount in this box is the gross amount of
any NSSEB and tier 2 benefits paid in the tax year indicated on the Form
RRB-1099-R, less any NSSEB and tier 2 repayments made in that tax year and are
attributed to that tax year. If the year for which any NSSEB and tier 2
repayments were made is for an earlier year or for an unknown year, those NSSEB
and tier 2 repayment amounts are shown in Box 8. The amount in Box 4 is the
total contributory pension paid for the tax year indicated and can be used by
employees and survivors of deceased employees covered under General Rule
provisions to compute their taxable NSSEB and taxable tier 2 amounts. See
IRS
Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income and/or
IRS Publication 939, General
Rule for Pensions and Annuities. Box 5 - Vested Dual Benefit - This is the gross amount of vested dual benefit (VDB)
payments paid in the tax year indicated on the Form RRB-1099-R
less any VDB
repayments made in that tax year and are attributed to that tax year. This
amount is fully taxable for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. If the year for
which the VDB repayments were made is for an earlier year or for an unknown
year, those repayment amounts are shown in Box 8.
Box 6 - Supplemental Annuity - This is the gross amount of supplemental payments
paid in the tax year indicated on the Form RRB-1099-R
less any supplemental
annuity repayments made in that tax year and are attributed to that tax year.
This amount is fully taxable for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. If the year
for which the supplemental annuity repayments were made is for an earlier year
or for an unknown year, those repayment amounts are shown in Box 8.
Box 7 - Total Gross Paid - This is the sum of the amounts shown in Boxes 4, 5,
and 6. The amount represents the total pension paid in the tax year indicated on
the Form RRB-1099-R. Box 8 - Repayments - This amount represents any NSSEB, tier 2, VDB, and
supplemental annuity repayments made to the RRB in the tax year indicated on the
Form RRB-1099-R for earlier (prior) years or for unknown years. You may have
repaid a benefit by returning a payment, by making a cash refund, or by having
an amount withheld from your annuity for overpayment recovery.
This amount has
not been deducted from the paid amounts in Boxes 4, 5, or 6. Refer to IRS Pub.
575, Pension and Annuity Income, for instructions on how to handle prior year
repayments for income tax purposes. Box 9 - Federal Income Tax
Withheld - This is the total amount of U.S. Federal
income tax withheld from your NSSEB, tier 2, VDB and supplemental annuity
payments. Include this on your income tax return as taxes withheld. Caution:
This box includes tax withholding up to the amount of NSSEB, tier 2, VDB and
supplemental annuity payments you received. Prior to tax year 1997, if you
requested a tax withholding amount greater than your total monthly NSSEB, tier
2, VDB, and supplemental annuity amount, the additional tax withholding will be
shown in Box 10, Federal Income Tax Withheld, of Form RRB-1099.
Box 10 - Rate of Tax - If you are a U.S. citizen, this item does not apply to
you. If you are being taxed as a nonresident alien of the United States, this is
the rate at which U.S. Federal income tax was withheld from the NSSEB, tier 2,
VDB, and supplemental annuity payments shown on the Form RRB-1099-R.
Box 11 - Country - If you are a U.S. citizen, this item does not apply to you.
If you are being taxed as a nonresident alien of the United States, this item
indicates the country of which you were a legal resident for U.S. Federal income
tax purposes for the payments shown on the Form RRB-1099-R.
Box 12 - Medicare Premium Total -
This is the total amount of Part B Medicare premiums deducted from your railroad
retirement annuity payments during the tax year indicated on Form RRB-1099-R.
This amount is for informational purposes and only applies to tax years 1997 and
later. If your Form RRB-1099-R is for a tax year prior to tax year 1997, this
box is blank even though you may have had Medicare premiums deducted from your
railroad retirement annuity payments. Medicare premium refunds are not included
in the Medicare total. The Medicare total is normally shown on Form RRB-1099
(for U.S. citizens) or Form RRB-1042S (for nonresident aliens).
However, if Form
RRB-1099 or Form RRB-1042S are not required for the tax year indicated, then the
Medicare total will be shown on Form RRB-1099-R. If your Medicare premiums were
deducted from your social security benefits; paid by a third party; and/or you
paid the premiums by direct billing, your Medicare total will not be shown in
this box item.
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