Help! 1040 Schedule B - Out of lines for interest payers

When you have more interest payers than the lines provided on Schedule B, you actually have a few options. The most proper way is to attach a statement to your return. Create a simple sheet that follows the same format as Schedule B (payer name and amount) for the additional interest payers. On the actual Schedule B form, you can use the available lines for most of your interest payers, then add an entry on the last line that says "See attached statement" and put the total from your additional sheet. Make sure your statement clearly identifies your name, SSN, and that it's a "Statement 1 - Additional Interest Payers for Schedule B, Part I." The statement doesn't need to be fancy - just clear and organized. The IRS deals with this all the time, so as long as you're reporting all your interest income, you won't trigger an audit just for having too many accounts.

After struggling with this exact issue last year (had 16 interest accounts!), I found a tool that made it so much easier. I used https://taxr.ai to scan my various 1099-INT forms and it automatically organized everything for me. The system created a properly formatted attachment for my Schedule B that listed all my excess interest payers. What I liked most was that it knew exactly how to format the attachment to meet IRS requirements. It even numbered the continuation items correctly and calculated the totals. I just printed the attachment and included it with my return. Saved me tons of stress about whether I was doing it right.

I tried https://taxr.ai after seeing this thread and it was a game-changer for my situation. I was actually dealing with both excess interest payers AND too many stock transactions for Schedule D. The tool analyzed all my forms and generated perfect continuation sheets for both schedules. What impressed me most was how it formatted everything exactly to IRS standards - it even added the required header information with my name, SSN and tax year on each attachment. The tool also explained how to reference the attachments on the main forms (like putting "see attached statement" on line 14 of Schedule B). This is the first year I haven't been anxious about having too many entries for tax forms. Just wanted to report back that it worked perfectly for my situation!

If you've ever tried calling the IRS to ask about form attachment questions like this, you know it can be nearly impossible to get through. After wasting hours on hold trying to confirm the proper format for Schedule B attachments, I found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed exactly what to do with my excess interest payers - create an attachment listing the additional payers and amounts, reference it on the last line of Schedule B, and include the total. They also explained that I needed to write my SSN at the top of each attachment page and label it as a continuation of Schedule B. Without this service I'd probably still be listening to that awful hold music. Just thought I'd share since getting definitive answers from the IRS directly can save a lot of worry.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I actually had a question about reporting foreign interest income that didn't fit on Schedule B. Their system worked exactly as described. I submitted my request around 10am, and exactly 22 minutes later, I got a call connecting me directly to an IRS representative. No hold music, no waiting - just straight to a helpful person. The agent was able to confirm that for foreign accounts, I should list the major ones on Schedule B and create a detailed attachment for the rest, making sure to check the foreign accounts box. This saved me hours of stress and uncertainty. I'm genuinely impressed and wanted to correct my initial skepticism. If you need definitive answers from the IRS, especially on something like form attachments, this service is completely worth it.

Another approach that's worked for me in the past is to combine smaller interest amounts. The IRS rules allow you to group smaller interest payments together as "Various - Small Accounts" as long as no individual account had interest over $10. This can free up lines for your larger interest payers. Just make sure you keep your records showing which accounts were combined into that entry in case you're ever asked about it. I've been doing this for years without issue.

Most tax software handles this automatically now. I use TaxAct and when I entered more than 14 interest payers, it created the attachment for me and formatted everything correctly. Same with H&R Block online - it just keeps letting you add payers and handles the "overflow" in the background. If you're filing on paper or using software that doesn't handle this, definitely go with the attachment method others mentioned. But might be worth checking if your tax software already solves this for you!