Form 1040

25b — 1099 Federal Tax Withholding Updated for tax year 2025

What this line means

Federal income tax withheld and reported on 1099 forms — including 1099-R (retirement distributions), 1099-INT (interest), 1099-DIV (dividends), 1099-G (government payments like unemployment), and SSA-1099 (Social Security benefits). These are tax payments already sent to the IRS on your behalf from non-wage sources.

Does this apply to you?

  • You had federal tax withheld from retirement plan distributions (1099-R Box 4)
  • You opted into voluntary withholding from Social Security benefits (SSA-1099 Box 6)
  • You had backup withholding on interest or dividends (1099-INT or 1099-DIV Box 4)
  • You had federal tax withheld from unemployment compensation (1099-G Box 4)
  • You had withholding from gambling winnings (W-2G Box 2)

Easy to overlook

Social Security voluntary withholding If you asked the Social Security Administration to withhold federal tax from your monthly benefits, that withholding appears on your SSA-1099 Box 6. Many retirees forget to include this amount on line 25b, which means they do not get credit for taxes they already paid. This often turns a modest refund into a balance due. 1 [SOURCE: IRS Form 1040 instructions — Line 25b]

Backup withholding at 24% If a payer could not verify your Social Security number or you failed to certify your TIN, they were required to backup withhold 24% from payments to you. This amount shows up on your 1099 and must be claimed on line 25b. The 24% rate is often more than your actual tax rate, so claiming the withholding gets you a refund of the excess. 2 [SOURCE: General filing pattern — unclaimed 1099 withholding]

Watch out for this

Forgetting to claim withholding from 1099-R distributions. When you take a distribution from a 401(k) or IRA and have taxes withheld, that withholding is your payment to the IRS. If you report the distribution on line 4a or 5a but do not claim the withholding on line 25b, you are effectively paying the tax twice — once through withholding and once again through your balance due.

  • Line 25a — Form 1040 — W-2 withholding; employment-based withholding goes there
  • Line 25d — Form 1040 — Total federal income tax withheld; the sum of all withholding sources
  • Line 6a — Form 1040 — Social Security benefits; SSA-1099 withholding on the benefits goes on 25b

Footnotes

  1. IRS Form 1040 Instructions, Line 25b. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040 ↩

  2. IRS Form 1040 Instructions. See also IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩

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