Missing Ameriprise tax forms - 1099-DIV and 1099-INT not appearing on portal
We took on our parents' taxes this year and what a mess! We got their previous return to use as a template and logged into Ameriprise to download their 1099 forms. Huge problem - several important forms just weren't there that they've received in previous years. No 1099-DIV or 1099-INT for their investments, plus a missing 1099-R for one of their annuities. Had to contact Ameriprise support who seemed completely clueless about the issue but eventually uploaded the missing documents to the portal so we could access them. Is this normal? Because it seems super sketchy to me. I've been doing my own family's taxes for over 20 years and never encountered this with any other financial company. If we hadn't had last year's return as reference, we would have completely missed reporting that income! I'm honestly concerned about how many other Ameriprise clients might be filing incomplete taxes because they don't know documents are missing. Just a heads up if you use Ameriprise (sorry if you do!) - double-check that ALL your tax documents are actually there. I feel like this borders on illegal. Is there some regulatory body I should report this to? Should Ameriprise be audited for this kind of negligence? It seems like a pretty serious issue to me.
23 comments


Seraphina Delan
This is definitely not normal practice and you're right to be concerned. Financial institutions like Ameriprise have legal obligations to provide accurate and complete tax forms by specific deadlines. The IRS requires brokerage firms to issue 1099-DIV and 1099-INT forms by February 15th and 1099-R forms for retirement distributions by January 31st. When institutions fail to provide these documents, it can create serious filing issues for taxpayers. You have a few options for escalation. You can file a complaint with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) through their website. They regulate brokerage firms and can investigate these kinds of issues. You might also consider filing a complaint with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Documenting everything is important - save confirmation emails showing when forms were eventually provided, especially if it was after the required issuance dates.
0 coins
Jabari-Jo
•Thanks for this info! Would contacting the IRS directly be a good idea too? I thought they'd want to know if a financial institution isn't providing tax documents properly. Also, is there any way to find out if this is a widespread issue with Ameriprise? I'd be curious if others are experiencing the same problem.
0 coins
Seraphina Delan
•Contacting the IRS directly can be helpful, specifically through their Financial Institution Hotline. They track patterns of non-compliance from financial institutions, so your report could help identify if this is a systemic issue. To determine if others are experiencing this issue, you might check consumer complaint boards like the Better Business Bureau or financial forums. FINRA and SEC complaint databases are partially public, so you could potentially see if there's a pattern of similar complaints against Ameriprise.
0 coins
Kristin Frank
After dealing with similar 1099 form nightmares last year, I started using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it's been a game-changer for finding missing tax forms. The tool analyzes your financial accounts and tells you exactly which tax documents you should expect based on your activity. It helped me realize I was missing a 1099-INT from a high-yield savings account I'd forgotten about! For your Ameriprise situation, it would've flagged the missing documents immediately by comparing them to what you received last year. Saved me a ton of headaches with my parents' complicated investment portfolio.
0 coins
Micah Trail
•How exactly does it know what forms you should be getting? Does it connect to all your accounts or something? I've got accounts across like 5 different institutions and keeping track is a nightmare.
0 coins
Nia Watson
•Sounds interesting but I'm skeptical. Do you need to give it access to your financial accounts? I'm always wary about security with these kinds of services, especially when dealing with tax documents that have so much personal info.
0 coins
Kristin Frank
•It works by analyzing your previous year's tax return and financial transactions to create a personalized tax document checklist. You upload last year's return and it builds a profile of what forms to expect. For financial accounts, you can either connect them directly or just upload statements - your choice depending on comfort level. Regarding security, they use bank-level encryption and don't store your login credentials. They're pretty transparent about their security practices on their site. I felt comfortable using it after researching their safeguards, but I get being cautious with financial data.
0 coins
Nia Watson
I was skeptical about taxr.ai but decided to try it after dealing with missing 1099-MISC forms last year. It actually worked really well for me! The checklist feature flagged that I should be receiving a 1099-INT from a money market account I had completely forgotten about. The document tracker feature was super helpful - it knew I was missing a form from Vanguard before I realized it. Highly recommend it if you're dealing with multiple investment accounts or complicated tax situations like with aging parents. Definitely less stressful than discovering missing forms right before the filing deadline!
0 coins
Alberto Souchard
This happened to me with Ameriprise too! After weeks of calling their customer service and getting nowhere, I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to reach an actual human at the IRS. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The IRS agent explained that financial institutions can be penalized for failing to provide tax documents on time. They took my information and said they'd follow up with Ameriprise. Miraculously, my missing 1099-DIV and 1099-R showed up in my online account two days later! Not sure if it was coincidence or if they got contacted by the IRS, but it worked.
0 coins
Katherine Shultz
•Wait, I thought it was impossible to actually talk to someone at the IRS? Last time I tried I was on hold for 2+ hours and then got disconnected. How does this Claimyr thing even work?
0 coins
Marcus Marsh
•I'm sorry but this sounds like a scam. Nobody can get you through to the IRS faster. They have one phone system and everyone has to wait in the same queue. I'd be very careful about giving any service like this your information or money.
0 coins
Alberto Souchard
•Claimyr doesn't bypass the IRS queue - they use technology to wait on hold for you. When they reach an IRS agent, they call you and connect you to the agent. You don't have to sit listening to hold music for hours. The system calls the IRS and navigates the phone tree for you, then monitors the hold time. When an agent answers, you get a call to join the conversation. Totally saved my sanity during tax season. I was skeptical too until I tried it - the video demo shows exactly how it works.
0 coins
Marcus Marsh
I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After my dismissive comment, I was desperate to talk to the IRS about a tax notice I received, so I tried it anyway. It actually worked exactly as described! Their system called the IRS, waited on hold for almost 2 hours (which I didn't have to sit through), and then connected me once they reached an agent. The IRS representative was able to help me with my issue and also confirmed that financial institutions like Ameriprise can face penalties for not providing tax documents on time. If you're having issues with missing tax forms, definitely worth contacting the IRS directly, and Claimyr made that process so much less painful.
0 coins
Hailey O'Leary
Had this exact problem with Ameriprise last year. The trick is to log into their "Statements & Documents" section and check the filter settings. Sometimes they have weird default filters that hide certain tax documents. Also, check if your in-laws have "paperless" selected for some accounts but not others. We found that my father-in-law had somehow opted out of electronic delivery for just his annuity but not his other accounts, so some forms came by mail while others were online.
0 coins
Cedric Chung
•Did you ever report them to anyone? I had issues with Fidelity last year where they sent corrected 1099s THREE times, each after I had already filed. Super frustrating and caused me to have to amend my return multiple times.
0 coins
Hailey O'Leary
•I didn't formally report them, but I did speak with a manager and documented everything. The conversation got escalated pretty quickly when I mentioned FINRA regulations and compliance requirements. For corrected 1099s, that's unfortunately common with any brokerage firm. They often issue corrections when they receive updated information from underlying investments, especially with complex mutual funds. It's annoying but not necessarily negligent like completely missing forms.
0 coins
Talia Klein
This is a huge problem with several financial institutions, not just Ameriprise. I work at a tax firm and we see this ALL THE TIME. Here's what I recommend: 1. Always compare to last year's documents 2. Request a "tax document summary" from the institution 3. Ask specifically about consolidated 1099 forms that might include div/int 4. Check mail preferences for each account type And definitely file a complaint with FINRA. These institutions only change when enough people report problems.
0 coins
Niko Ramsey
•Thanks for the advice! I didn't know about requesting a "tax document summary" - is that something all financial institutions provide? And yes, I'm definitely going to file a complaint with FINRA. I'm worried about other people who might not realize they're missing documents and end up with IRS problems later.
0 coins
Amy Fleming
As someone who's dealt with similar issues across multiple brokerages, I'd also suggest checking if your parents have multiple account types at Ameriprise (like regular brokerage, IRA, and annuities). Sometimes they issue separate 1099s for different account categories, and the portal might not display them all in one place. Also worth noting - if any of the missing forms show zero or minimal amounts, some institutions have thresholds below which they don't automatically generate forms. But they're still required to provide them upon request if there was any taxable activity. The fact that support was able to "upload" the documents after you called suggests they existed but weren't properly linked to your parents' portal access. That's a serious system issue that definitely warrants reporting to regulators. Good catch on using last year's return as a reference - that's always my first step when preparing taxes for elderly family members.
0 coins
Gabriel Graham
•That's a really good point about the different account types! I never thought about how they might be categorized separately in their system. The threshold issue is interesting too - do you know what those thresholds typically are? I'm wondering if some of the missing forms might have been below whatever minimum they use. You're absolutely right that being able to just "upload" them after we called means this was a system problem, not that the forms didn't exist. That makes it even more concerning because it suggests their portal just isn't showing people all their available documents. How many people are filing incomplete returns because of this? Using last year's return as a template was definitely the key here. Without that reference point, we would have had no idea anything was missing. I'm definitely going to mention that in my FINRA complaint - that this could be affecting a lot of people who don't have that comparison available.
0 coins
Brianna Muhammad
This is really concerning and unfortunately highlights a broader issue with financial institutions' tax document delivery systems. As a CPA who handles tax prep for seniors, I see similar problems every year across different brokerages. A few additional steps you might consider: Document everything with timestamps - when you first accessed the portal, when you contacted support, and when documents finally appeared. This creates a paper trail if the IRS ever questions the timing of your filing. Also, request written confirmation from Ameriprise explaining why the documents weren't initially available and what steps they've taken to prevent this in the future. Sometimes getting them to acknowledge the issue in writing helps with regulatory complaints. You might also want to check if your parents have a financial advisor at Ameriprise who should have been monitoring this. Advisors have obligations to ensure clients receive proper tax documentation, and this failure could indicate broader service issues. The fact that this required escalation to get basic tax documents is absolutely worth reporting to FINRA. These kinds of systemic portal issues can affect thousands of clients who may not realize documents are missing.
0 coins
Anastasia Sokolov
•This is excellent advice! The documentation aspect is so important - I wish I had thought to screenshot the portal before calling support to show that the documents weren't there initially. That would have been solid proof of the system failure. Getting written confirmation is a great idea too. I'm definitely going to reach out to them again and request that. You're right that having them acknowledge the issue in writing would strengthen any regulatory complaint. My parents do have an advisor there, and honestly I hadn't considered that angle. Their advisor should absolutely have been on top of this - isn't ensuring clients get their tax documents part of basic account management? I'm going to bring this up with them too. Thanks for the perspective from someone who sees this regularly. It's reassuring to know this isn't just an isolated incident, but also concerning that it's apparently widespread enough that you encounter it every tax season. Definitely reinforces that this needs to be reported.
0 coins
Darcy Moore
This is really helpful for anyone dealing with aging parents' finances! I'm actually going through something similar right now with my mom's accounts at Edward Jones. Haven't hit tax season yet, but this post is making me realize I should probably log in now and check what's available versus what she received last year. The regulatory reporting angle is something I hadn't considered either. It makes sense that there should be oversight for this kind of thing - people trust these institutions to handle their financial documents properly, especially seniors who might not be as tech-savvy or assertive about following up on missing forms. One question - when you eventually got the missing documents, were they dated properly (showing they should have been available earlier) or did it look like they were actually generated after you called? That might be relevant for any complaint you file. Really glad you caught this and are speaking up about it. How many people just assume they don't have dividend income this year if the 1099-DIV doesn't show up?
0 coins