Cancellation of Debt
File 1099-C Online
E-file 1099-C to report $600 or more canceled debt during the 2026 tax year. TaxFormHero offers bulk import from Excel, secure IRS transmission, and a filing deadline of March 31, 2027. E-filing starts from $1.99 a form with no signup fee or ongoing subscription requirements.
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1099-C thresholds and deadlines by tax year
| Payments made in | General Form 1099-C threshold | E-file deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $600 or more | March 31, 2027 Principal residence and student loan exclusions no longer available |
| 2025 | $600 or more | March 31, 2026 Last year for both exclusions |
| 2024 and earlier | $600 or more | Check the deadline for that tax year Filing late or amending an older year |
The $600 threshold has not moved and is not indexed for inflation. What changed between the 2025 and 2026 rows is not the filing rule but the debtor's treatment of the amount reported.
Source: IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C (Rev. 04/2025)
What's New for Tax Year 2026: two exclusions have expired
Form 1099-C did not change for 2026. The law behind it did. The IRS instructions state that the exclusion from income of discharged mortgage debt for qualified principal residence indebtedness, and of qualified student loan debt under section 108(f)(5), expired on December 31, 2025.
A debt discharged during 2026 therefore does not qualify for either exclusion. Your obligation as the filer is unchanged — same $600 threshold, same seven boxes, same deadlines — but the amount in box 2 now reaches the debtor without the relief that applied to an identical discharge a year earlier.
Other exclusions and exceptions were not affected. Insolvency, bankruptcy, and certain farm and business debt still work on their own terms. For how this sits beside the rest of the catalogue, see our tax year 2026 changes page.
What is Form 1099-C?
Form 1099-C reports canceled or forgiven debt of $600 or more. The amount is generally treated as taxable income to the debtor unless an exception or an exclusion applies.
It shows the amount of debt canceled, the date of the identifiable event that triggered the reporting, and whether the debtor was personally liable — the three facts a debtor needs to work out how much, if any, must be included in income.
Who needs to file Form 1099-C?
- Applicable financial entities: banks, credit unions, credit card issuers, and certain government agencies that cancel or forgive $600 or more of a debt.
- The filing is triggered by an identifiable event — a discharge in bankruptcy, a foreclosure or repossession, the expiry of the statute of limitations, or an agreement to settle for less than the full amount owed.
- Where a foreclosure or abandonment and a discharge happen in the same calendar year, a single Form 1099-C can satisfy both the Form 1099-A and the Form 1099-C reporting.
- A balance that arose from identity theft is not canceled debt. Reporting it sends a tax bill to the victim.
Tax year 2026 changes
The big change for 2026 is not on the form
- Two exclusions expired. The IRS states it plainly: the exclusion from income of discharged mortgage debt for qualified principal residence indebtedness, and of qualified student loan debt under section 108(f)(5), expired on December 31, 2025. A debt discharged in 2026 does not get either one.
- Your filing obligation is unchanged. Same $600 threshold, same seven boxes, same deadlines. Form 1099‑C itself did not move.
- The other exclusions still apply. Insolvency, bankruptcy and certain farm and business debt were not affected, and each still works on its own terms.
This is the change a creditor is most likely to get wrong by doing nothing: file the form correctly, then repeat last season's explanation to the borrower, and you have told them something that stopped being true on New Year's Eve. The rule is in the IRS instructions for Forms 1099‑A and 1099‑C.
Box 6: the identifiable event code
Box 6 is where most 1099-C corrections start. It is a required single letter, and it has to match the event that actually triggered the filing — which also fixes the date you put in box 1.
| Code | The event |
|---|---|
| A | Discharge in bankruptcy |
| B | Discharge in a receivership, foreclosure or similar federal or state court proceeding |
| C | Discharge on expiration of the statute of limitations for collection |
| D | Discharge on the creditor electing foreclosure remedies that end collection rights |
| E | Discharge because the debt is unenforceable in a probate or similar proceeding |
| F | Discharge by agreement between creditor and debtor for less than full consideration |
| G | Discharge under a creditor's decision, or a defined policy, to stop collection |
| H | Other actual discharge before an identifiable event |
Codes A, B, C, E and F come from an event with a date on a document. Codes D, G and H come from a decision the creditor made, which is why they are the ones that get the date wrong.
Form 1099-C box by box
| Box | What it holds |
|---|---|
| 1 | Date of the identifiable event |
| 2 | Amount of debt discharged |
| 3 | Interest, if any, included in box 2 |
| 4 | Debt description |
| 5 | Check if the debtor was personally liable for repayment |
| 6 | Identifiable event code, from the table above |
| 7 | Fair market value of property, where there is property |
Box 3 is a subset of box 2, not an addition to it. Entering the interest twice overstates the discharge, which is the error a debtor notices first.
Three things worth knowing before you file
- Do not report a debt that was never the debtor's. A balance that arose from identity theft is not cancelled debt, and a 1099-C for it sends a tax bill to the victim.
- One form can sometimes do the work of two. Where a foreclosure or abandonment and a discharge happen in the same calendar year, the instructions let a single Form 1099-C satisfy both the 1099-A and the 1099-C reporting. Two forms for one event is the more common mistake.
- A later payment does not undo the filing. If a debtor pays on a balance you already reported as discharged, the instructions tell you how to handle it — and it is not by quietly voiding the original.
These instructions are a continuous-use revision: Rev. 04/2025 applies to tax year 2025 and later years until the IRS supersedes it. There is no separate 2026 edition to wait for.
1099-C Pricing
Volume pricing — each band charged at its own rate
| Volume band | Charged at | Price per form |
|---|---|---|
| First 150 | forms 1–150 | $1.99 |
| Next 350 | forms 151–500 | $0.99 |
| Next 500 | forms 501–1,000 | $0.60 |
| Beyond 1,000 | every form after | $0.45 |
What 1,500 1099-C forms actually costs
Optional add-ons
State Filing $0.99 / form
Direct filing for 41+ states. CFSF states are always free.
Print & Mail $1.69 / form
USPS first-class recipient copies from a SOC 2 audited facility.
E-Delivery $0.19 / form
Encrypted PDF copies emailed to your recipients.
TIN Matching $0.49 / check
Validate name/TIN pairs before filing to avoid penalties.
Included at no extra cost
- Direct IRS e-filing — no Form 1096 needed, it is a paper transmittal
- Free recipient PDF copies to download and share
- Bulk Excel/CSV import and built-in error validation
- CFSF state filing for participating states
- Secure storage of your filing data for 4 years
1099, 1098, W-2G, 5498 forms share this tier table. Volume tiers are counted per form type within a filing, so a large batch of 1099-C reaches the cheapest band on its own.
Estimate Your Filing CostFrequently Asked Questions: Filing 1099-C Online
Common questions about e-filing Form 1099-C with TaxFormHero. Still stuck? Contact our support team or browse the full FAQ page.
Deadline for Filing Form 1099-C (Tax Year 2026)
Filing 10 or more information returns in aggregate means e-filing is required, so the e-file date is the one that applies to most filers.
Reviewed by Nazrul Huda, MSA, IRS PTIN Holder · last reviewed
Sources: IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C (Rev. 04/2025) · IRS, General Instructions for Certain Information Returns