I have a question that seems simple enough, but I have not found the answer. One of my clients issued qualified dividend checks and the vendors were set up as 1099 Dividend box 1b. After the 1099s were distributed, one of the individuals came back and asked why box 1a was not also populated. It is my understanding that 1a is for ordinary dividends and 1b is for qualified dividends, so should both boxes be populated?
If you read the IRS explanation it seems as though the full amount of ordinary dividends shoudl print in box a and only the qualified dividends should print in 1b. So what do I tell my client? should we reprint the 1099 Dividend statements?
Thanks in advance for your response.
Carolyn
