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I'm using Credit Karma for my tax return. I have not received an expected 1099-INT from a bank for an interest amount of $150 so I do not know this banks's federal tax ID number. I am fairly certain that the tax ID number is optional, but Credit Karma claims that it is a required field and will not allow me to continue without it. I have already contacted CK and am waiting to hear back about this issue.

In the meantime, are there any workarounds? Can I report this income elsewhere on my return? Can I just put in a bogus tax ID number (ie 11-1111111)? Or is my best bet to contact the bank and ask them to issue another 1099?

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    I encourage you to search on the bank's website. For mine (Navy Federal), they list their federal tax number (EIN) on their "Tax Center" webpage. It should be pretty easy to find.
    – JBC
    Feb 13 '17 at 21:36
  • You should call this bank. They are legally required to provide you with all relevant tax documents.
    – Marshall Tigerus
    Feb 13 '17 at 21:55
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    Keep in mind that Credit Karma is offering the free tax return service in exchange for access to all of your income and tax return information. Make sure you read their privacy policy so you can decide if you are comfortable with it, and remember that when it comes to online services, if you aren't paying for it, then you are not the customer; you are the product.
    – Ben Miller - Remember Monica
    Feb 14 '17 at 0:56
  • When you do hear back from CK support, please come back here and post your own answer to this question.
    – Ben Miller - Remember Monica
    Feb 14 '17 at 1:02
  • For what it's worth, TurboTax asks for the EIN on the 1099-INT form but allows the response that the bank did not provide one, and continues from there without any hiccups. I have used this option for many years to report interest earned by bank accounts in foreign banks (which don't issue 1099-INTs at all).
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Feb 19 '17 at 15:32
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Don't put in a bogus tax id. You can often look up the form through online banking, but if not, you can certainly ask the bank to send you a copy of the form, or you could simply ask a service rep at the bank what the tax id is.

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    The bank's tax ID number doesn't show up on the Schedule B or anywhere else on the tax return. What's wrong with putting in a bogus tax ID number?
    – Ben Miller - Remember Monica
    Feb 14 '17 at 1:00
  • Knowingly putting fraudulent information on a legal document seems like a pretty bad idea...
    – JBC
    Feb 14 '17 at 19:12
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    @JBC That's my point. The fake ID number (not fraudulent) is not going on a legal form; it is simply a workaround to get the software to act correctly. I've had to do similar things in TurboTax in the past to get it to do what I want.
    – Ben Miller - Remember Monica
    Feb 14 '17 at 22:12
  • Unless I'm mistaken, those forms are still submitted to the IRS on your behalf. It probably won't end up being a huge deal, but it still seems unwise to purposefully put in fake data when you should be able to obtain the real value relatively easily (e.g. calling them, looking on their website).
    – JBC
    Feb 14 '17 at 22:37
  • @JBC You don't need to send copies of 1099 forms to the IRS along with a paper return the way you do for W-2 forms (Copy B is stapled to the front of Form 1040) or maybe used to need to in the good old days. I haven't filed a paper 1040 in over 20 years.
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Feb 19 '17 at 15:36
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You don't need a tax ID number from a 1099-INT to file on paper or via Free File Fillable Forms, so I'm a bit surprised that there's tax software that requires it somehow. It sounds like your issue is really more one of using the Credit Karma tax software, and their support is going to be more helpful with that than anything anybody here can do.

In general, you should have received a 1099-INT, so it's probably a good plan to contact the bank and see if they've sent it and confirm they have an accurate address on file. While talking with them, they can probably tell you their Tax ID number. Sometimes you can even download the current 1099-INT from their web site (my local bank just started offering this in the past year or two).

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Upon calling the bank, I found out that the 1099 had been sent to the wrong address, but since I no longer have an account they claimed to be unable to update my address unless I visited a branch (states away). They also outright refused to disclose their EIN to me.

CK support has not responded in several weeks.

I ended up putting a fake EIN into the software. Combing over the generated forms at the end, I verified that the fake EIN did not show up on the Schedule B or on any other form to be sent to the IRS (thanks @BenMiller) and I was able to submit my return.

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