Your Parent’s Tax Documents: What Arrives in January

Updated 2026-11

An older woman and a younger woman sitting side by side at a table, reading papers together

What to expect in January

Most older parents receive a Form SSA-1099 from Social Security, a Form 1099-R from each pension, IRA or annuity, an RMD statement from each IRA custodian, and the usual 1099s from banks. Add year-end statements for medical and care costs, and W-2 paperwork if a caregiver is on payroll. Most are due by January 31.

The rest of this guide takes each form in turn: who sends it, what it shows, and what to do when it does not come.

Start with last year's return

The most useful document for this year's tax season is last year's return. Every 1099 attached to it, or listed in the preparer's summary, names a payer who will probably send another one this January. Make a list from it before the mail starts: the Social Security Administration, each pension, each IRA custodian, each bank and brokerage. That list is your checklist, and it is specific to your parent in a way no generic list can be.

If you cannot find last year's return, ask the preparer who filed it. Preparers generally keep copies for several years. If your parent did their own return in software, the file is often still on their computer or in the software account.

Social Security: the SSA-1099

Anyone who received Social Security benefits during the year gets a Form SSA-1099, the Social Security Benefit Statement, mailed in January. It shows the total benefits paid for the year. It also lists amounts withheld from the benefit, including Medicare premiums, which matters for the medical section below.

A parent who receives only Supplemental Security Income (SSI) does not get one. If SSI is their only payment from Social Security, a missing SSA-1099 is not a problem to chase.

Replacing a lost SSA-1099 takes a few minutes online

Your parent, or you signed in as them with their permission, can download a replacement from their my Social Security account using the "Replace Your Tax Form SSA-1099" option. The account offers the past six years. The current year's replacement is not available until after January 31, so a form that has not arrived by mid-January cannot be replaced yet. Without online access, the replacement can be requested through Social Security's national phone line, listed on ssa.gov, or at a local office.

Pensions, IRAs and annuities: the 1099-R

A Form 1099-R reports money paid out of a pension, IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or annuity. Your parent gets a separate one from each payer, so a parent with a teacher's pension, an old employer 401(k) rolled into an IRA and a small annuity will receive three. Payers must send them by January 31, or the next business day when that date falls on a weekend.

The payer is the company that sends the money, which is not always the employer

Pensions are often run by an outside administrator whose name your parent does not recognise. Look at last year's 1099-R or the bank statement deposit description to find the right name.

Required minimum distributions: a records check

Once your parent reaches the age when required minimum distributions (RMDs) apply, each IRA custodian must send a statement by January 31 for the coming year. It either states the RMD amount and the deadline, or says an RMD is required and offers to calculate it. This is a separate letter from the 1099-R, and it is easy to file away unread.

Treat the RMD as a records question, not a tax question. Your job in January is to confirm two things on paper.

Last year's RMD was taken

Find last January's RMD statement for each IRA and compare it with the distributions shown on this year's 1099-R from the same custodian. If the 1099-R total is at least the RMD amount, there is a record that it was taken. If it is short, or there is no 1099-R at all from an account that had an RMD, tell the preparer and the custodian now. Do not try to fix it yourself.

This year's RMD is on someone's calendar

Note the amount and the deadline from the new statement, and find out whether the distribution is automatic or has to be requested. Some parents set up automatic monthly or December withdrawals years ago and forgot. Others request it by phone each autumn and will need reminding.

Form 5498, which reports the IRA's year-end value and contributions, arrives later, by May 31. Keep it with the year's tax papers.

Medical and care costs: totals the preparer will ask for

Whether medical and care costs affect your parent's return is the preparer's call. What you can do is hand over complete totals so that call can be made properly. Older adults' medical spending is spread across many payers, and the preparer cannot ask for records you did not know existed.

Medicare premiums

Premiums withheld from the Social Security benefit, usually Part B, show on the SSA-1099. Premiums for Medigap, Medicare Advantage or Part D plans paid directly to the insurer appear in bank statements, not on any tax form, so total them from the year's statements.

Assisted living, memory care and home care invoices

Ask the facility or agency for a year-end statement of everything billed and paid. Some will itemise care services separately from rent and meals if asked, and the preparer may want that split.

Long-term care insurance

Keep a record of premiums paid. If a long-term care policy paid benefits during the year, the insurer generally sends a Form 1099-LTC.

Out-of-pocket costs

Pharmacy printouts, hearing aids, dental work, mileage to appointments and equipment purchases. Pharmacies can usually print an annual history on request.

If a caregiver is on payroll

If your parent employs a caregiver directly, rather than through an agency, they are a household employer, and January brings deadlines that fall on your parent, not the caregiver. The rules on when a caregiver counts as an employee are in our guide to paying a private caregiver legally. This section covers the paperwork that follows.

Form W-2 to the caregiver and Forms W-2 and W-3 to the Social Security Administration

The deadline is normally January 31. For wages paid in 2026, it is February 1, 2027, because January 31 falls on a Sunday. The W-2 goes to the caregiver. Copy A of each W-2 goes to the Social Security Administration with a Form W-3, or is filed online through the agency's W-2 Online service, which produces the W-3 automatically.

Schedule H figures for the preparer

Household employment taxes are reported on Schedule H, filed with your parent's own Form 1040. The preparer will need the total cash wages paid, the Social Security and Medicare tax withheld, any federal income tax withheld, and any estimated tax payments made during the year to cover it. If your parent pays state unemployment tax, bring those filings too.

The rest of the pile

Older adults receive the same everyday forms as anyone else, often more of them because savings are spread across several banks.

Bank and brokerage forms

A 1099-INT for interest and a 1099-DIV for dividends from each bank or fund company. Brokerage firms often send a single combined 1099, and these generally arrive later than the others, sometimes with a corrected version in March.

Property tax and mortgage

The county's property tax receipt and, if your parent still has a mortgage, Form 1098 from the lender.

When a form has not arrived

By mid-February, check your list against what has come in. For each gap, work through it in this order.

Check whether the account has gone paperless. Many custodians switch parents to electronic delivery during a website login, and the form is sitting in an online account no one checks. Our page on online accounts and passwords covers getting access to those.

Check the mailing address. A parent who moved to assisted living, or who has mail forwarded, may have forms going to the old house.

Then call the payer, with your parent on the line or with your power of attorney on file, and ask for a duplicate. If a form still does not come, tell the preparer which payer is missing. They can tell you how to proceed.

Getting the stack to the preparer

The preparer needs one folder or scanned file with a section per payer, plus the medical totals and caregiver payroll figures.

If you cannot be there for the mail, or the January list keeps growing, a daily money manager can watch for each form, chase the missing ones and assemble the folder for your parent's preparer. Their job is getting the records complete so the person who prepares the return can work from them.

Where to go next

Common questions

When should all of my parent's tax forms have arrived?

Most forms, including the SSA-1099, 1099-R and RMD statements, are due to your parent by the end of January. Brokerage 1099s often come later, and Form 5498 is not due until May 31. If the January forms are missing by mid-February, start chasing them.

Can I download my parent's SSA-1099 for them?

Yes, through your parent's my Social Security account, once the current year's form is available after January 31. You need their sign-in or their help to log in. If that is not possible, Social Security's national phone line, listed on ssa.gov, can mail a replacement.

How do I know if my parent took their required minimum distribution?

Compare last January's RMD statement from each IRA custodian with the 1099-R from the same custodian. If distributions on the 1099-R meet or exceed the RMD amount, it was taken. If not, contact the custodian and the tax preparer promptly.

Does my parent need to give their caregiver a W-2?

If the caregiver is your parent's household employee and earned enough to cross the federal threshold, yes. For 2026 wages the W-2 is due by February 1, 2027. The rules for who counts as an employee are covered in our guide to paying a private caregiver legally.

Which medical costs should I collect for the preparer?

Collect all of them and let the preparer decide what counts. That includes Medicare and supplemental insurance premiums, assisted living and home care statements, long-term care insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs such as prescriptions and equipment.