(a) Reporting requirement—(1) In general. Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, any applicable entity (as defined in section 6050P(c)(1)) that discharges an indebtedness of any person (within the meaning of section 7701(a)(1)) of at least $600 during a calendar year must file an information return on Form 1099-C with the Internal Revenue Service. Solely for purposes of the reporting requirements of section 6050P and this section, a discharge of indebtedness is deemed to have occurred, except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, if and only if there has occurred an identifiable event described in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, whether or not an actual discharge of indebtedness has occurred on or before the date on which the identifiable event has occurred. The return must include the following information—

(i) The name, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN), as defined in section 7701(a)(41), of each person for which there was an identifiable event during the calendar year;

(ii) The date on which the identifiable event occurred, as described in paragraph (b) of this section;

(iii) The amount of indebtedness discharged, as described in paragraph (c) of this section;

(iv) An indication whether the identifiable event was a discharge of indebtedness in a bankruptcy, if known; and

(v) Any other information required by Form 1099-C or its instructions, or current revenue procedures.

(2) No aggregation. For purposes of reporting under this section, multiple discharges of indebtedness of less than $600 are not required to be aggregated unless such separate discharges are pursuant to a plan to evade the reporting requirements of this section.

(3) Amounts not includible in income. Except as otherwise provided in this section, discharged indebtedness must be reported regardless of whether the debtor is subject to tax on the discharged debt under sections 61 and 108 or otherwise by applicable law.

(4) Time and place for reporting—

(i) In general. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(4)(ii) of this section, returns required by this section must be filed with the Internal Revenue Service office designated in the instructions for Form 1099-C on or before February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) of the year following the calendar year in which the identifiable event occurs.

(ii) Indebtedness discharged in bankruptcy. Indebtedness discharged in bankruptcy that is required to be reported under this section must be reported for the later of the calendar year in which the amount of discharged indebtedness first becomes ascertainable, or the calendar year in which the identifiable event occurs.

(b) Date of discharge—(1) In general. Solely for purposes of this section, except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, indebtedness is discharged on the date of the occurrence of an identifiable event specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.

(2) Identifiable events—(i) In general. An identifiable event is—

(A) A discharge of indebtedness under title 11 of the United States Code (bankruptcy);

(B) A cancellation or extinguishment of an indebtedness that renders a debt unenforceable in a receivership, foreclosure, or similar proceeding in a federal or State court, as described in section 368(a)(3)(A)(ii) (other than a discharge described in paragraph (b)(2)(i)(A) of this section);

(C) A cancellation or extinguishment of an indebtedness upon the expiration of the statute of limitations for collection of an indebtedness, subject to the limitations described in paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of this section, or upon the expiration of a statutory period for filing a claim or commencing a deficiency judgment proceeding;

(D) A cancellation or extinguishment of an indebtedness pursuant to an election of foreclosure remedies by a creditor that statutorily extinguishes or bars the creditor's right to pursue collection of the indebtedness;

(E) A cancellation or extinguishment of an indebtedness that renders a debt unenforceable pursuant to a probate or similar proceeding;

(F) A discharge of indebtedness pursuant to an agreement between an applicable entity and a debtor to discharge indebtedness at less than full consideration; or

(G) A discharge of indebtedness pursuant to a decision by the creditor, or the application of a defined policy of the creditor, to discontinue collection activity and discharge debt. or

(ii) Statute of limitations. In the case of an expiration of the statute of limitations for collection of an indebtedness, an identifiable event occurs under paragraph (b)(2)(i)(C) of this section only if, and at such time as, a debtor's affirmative statute of limitations defense is upheld in a final judgment or decision of a judicial proceeding, and the period for appealing the judgment or decision has expired.

(iii) Decision to discontinue collection activity; creditor's defined policy. For purposes of the identifiable event described in paragraph (b)(2)(i)(G) of this section, a creditor's defined policy includes both a written policy of the creditor and the creditor's established business practice. Thus, for example, a creditor's established practice to discontinue collection activity and abandon debts upon expiration of a particular non-payment period is considered a defined policy for purposes of paragraph (b)(2)(i)(G) of this section.

(3) Permitted reporting. If a discharge of indebtedness occurs before the date on which an identifiable event occurs, the discharge may, at the creditor's discretion, be reported under this section.

(c) Indebtedness. For purposes of this section and §1.6050P-2, indebtedness means any amount owed to an applicable entity, including stated principal, fees, stated interest, penalties, administrative costs and fines. The amount of indebtedness discharged may represent all, or only a part, of the total amount owed to the applicable entity.

(d) Exceptions from reporting requirement—(1) Certain bankruptcy discharges—(i) In general. Reporting is required under this section in the case of a discharge of indebtedness in bankruptcy only if the creditor knows from information included in the reporting entity's books and records pertaining to the indebtedness that the debt was incurred for business or investment purposes as defined in paragraph (d)(1)(ii) of this section.

(ii) Business or investment debt. Indebtedness is considered incurred for business purposes if it is incurred in connection with the conduct of any trade or business other than the trade or business of performing services as an employee. Indebtedness is considered incurred for investment purposes if it is incurred to purchase property held for investment, as defined in section 163(d)(5).

(2) Interest. The discharge of an amount of indebtedness that is interest is not required to be reported under this section.

(3) Non-principal amounts in lending transactions. In the case of a lending transaction, the discharge of an amount other than stated principal is not required to be reported under this section. For this purpose, a lending transaction is any transaction in which a lender loans money to, or makes advances on behalf of, a borrower (including revolving credits and lines of credit).

(4) Indebtedness of foreign debtors held by foreign branches of U.S. financial institutions—(i) Reporting requirements. [Reserved]

(ii) Definition. An indebtedness held by a foreign branch of a U.S. financial institution is described in this paragraph (d)(4) only if—

(A) The financial institution is engaged through a branch or office in the active conduct of a banking or similar business outside the United States;

(B) The branch or office is a permanent place of business that is regularly maintained, occupied, and used to carry on a banking or similar financial business;

(C) The business is conducted by at least one employee of the branch or office who is regularly in attendance at such place of business during normal working hours;

(D) The indebtedness is extended outside of the United States by the branch or office in connection with that trade or business; and

(E) The financial institution does not know or have reason to know that the debtor is a United States person.

(5) Acquisition of indebtedness by related party. No reporting is required under this section in the case of a deemed discharge of indebtedness under section 108(e)(4) (relating to the acquisition of an indebtedness by a person related to the debtor), unless the disposition of the indebtedness by the creditor was made with a view to avoiding the reporting requirements of this section.

(6) Releases. The release of a co-obligor is not required to be reported under this section if the remaining debtors remain liable for the full amount of any unpaid indebtedness.

(7) Guarantors and sureties. Solely for purposes of the reporting requirements of this section, a guarantor is not a debtor. Thus, in the case of guaranteed indebtedness, reporting under this section is not required with respect to a guarantor, whether or not there has been a default and demand for payment made upon the guarantor.

(e) Additional rules—(1) Multiple debtors—(i) In general. In the case of indebtedness of $10,000 or more incurred on or after January 1, 1995, that involves more than one debtor, a reporting entity is subject to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section for each debtor discharged from such indebtedness. In the case of indebtedness incurred prior to January 1, 1995, and indebtedness of less than $10,000 incurred on or after January 1, 1995, involving multiple debtors, reporting under this section is required only with respect to the primary (or first-named) debtor. Additionally, only one return of information is required under this section if the reporting entity knows, or has reason to know, that co-obligors were husband and wife living at the same address when an indebtedness was incurred, and does not know or have reason to know that such circumstances have changed at the date of a discharge of the indebtedness. This paragraph (e)(1) applies to discharges of indebtedness after December 31, 1994.

(ii) Amount to be reported. In the case of multiple debtors jointly and severally liable on an indebtedness, the amount of discharged indebtedness required to be reported under this section with respect to each debtor is the total amount of indebtedness discharged. For this purpose, multiple debtors are presumed to be jointly and severally liable on an indebtedness in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.

(2) Multiple creditors—(i) In general. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (e)(2), if indebtedness is owned (or treated as owned for federal income tax purposes) by more than one creditor, each creditor that is an applicable entity must comply with the reporting requirements of this section with respect to any discharge of indebtedness of $600 or more allocable to such creditor. A creditor will be considered to have complied with the requirements of this section if a lead bank, fund administrator, or other designee of the creditor complies on its behalf in any reasonable manner, such as by filing a single return reporting the aggregate amount of indebtedness discharged, or by filing a return with respect to the portion of the discharged indebtedness allocable to the creditor. For purposes of this paragraph (e)(2)(i), any reasonable method may be used to determine the portion of discharged indebtedness allocable to each creditor.

(ii) Partnerships. For purposes of paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section, indebtedness owned by a partnership is treated as owned by the partners.

(iii) Pass-through securitized indebtedness arrangement—(A) Reporting requirements. [Reserved]

(B) Definition. For purposes of this paragraph (e)(2)(iii), a pass-through securitized indebtedness arrangement is any arrangement whereby one or more debt obligations are pooled and held for twenty or more persons whose interests in the debt obligations are undivided co-ownership interests that are freely transferrable. Co-ownership interests that are actively traded personal property (as defined in §1.1092(d)-1) are presumed to be freely transferrable and held by twenty or more persons.

(iv) REMICs. [Reserved]

(v) No double reporting. If multiple creditors are considered to hold interests in an indebtedness for purposes of this paragraph (e)(2) by virtue of holding ownership interests in an entity, and the entity is required to report a discharge of that indebtedness under paragraph (e)(5) of this section, then the multiple creditors are not required to report the discharge of indebtedness.

(3) Coordination with reporting under section 6050J. If, in the same calendar year, a discharge of indebtedness reportable under section 6050P occurs in connection with a transaction also reportable under section 6050J (relating to foreclosures and abandonments of secured property), an applicable entity need not file both a Form 1099-A and a Form 1099-C with respect to the same debtor. The filing requirements of section 6050J will be satisfied with respect to a borrower if, in lieu of filing Form 1099-A, a Form 1099-C is filed in accordance with the instructions for the filing of that form. This paragraph (e)(3) applies to discharges of indebtedness after December 31, 1994.

(4) Direct or indirect subsidiary. For purposes of section 6050P(c)(2)(C), the term direct or indirect subsidiary means a corporation in a chain of corporations beginning with an entity described in section 6050P(c)(2)(A), if at least 50 percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote, or at least 50 percent of the total value of all classes of stock, of such corporation is directly owned by the entity described in section 6050P(c)(2)(A), or by one or more other corporations in the chain.

(5) Entity formed or availed of to hold indebtedness. Notwithstanding §1.6050P-2(b)(3), if an entity (the transferee entity) is formed or availed of by an applicable entity (within the meaning of section 6050P(c)(1)) for the principal purpose of holding indebtedness acquired (including originated) by the applicable entity, then, for purposes of section 6050P(c)(2)(D), the transferee entity has a significant trade or business of lending money.

(6) Use of magnetic media. Any return required under this section must be filed on magnetic media to the extent required by section 6011(e) and the regulations thereunder. A failure to file on magnetic media when required constitutes a failure to file an information return under section 6721. Any person not required by section 6011(e) to file returns on magnetic media may request permission to do so under applicable regulations and revenue procedures.

(7) TIN solicitation requirement—(i) In general. For purposes of reporting under this section, a reasonable effort must be made to obtain the correct name/taxpayer identification number (TIN) combination of a person whose indebtedness is discharged. A TIN obtained at the time an indebtedness is incurred satisfies the requirement of this section, unless the entity required to file knows that such TIN is incorrect. If the TIN is not obtained prior to the occurrence of an identifiable event, it must be requested of the debtor for purposes of satisfying the requirement of this paragraph (e)(7).

(ii) Manner of soliciting TIN. Solicitations made in the manner described in §301.6724-1(e)(1)(i) and (2) of this chapter will be deemed to have satisfied the reasonable effort requirement set forth in paragraph (e)(7)(i) of this section. A TIN solicitation made after the occurrence of an identifiable event must clearly notify the debtor that the Internal Revenue Service requires the debtor to furnish its TIN, and that failure to furnish such TIN may subject the debtor to a $50 penalty imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. A TIN provided under this section is not required to be certified under penalties of perjury.

(8) Recordkeeping requirements. Any applicable entity required to file a return with the Internal Revenue Service under this section must also retain a copy of the return, or have the ability to reconstruct the data required to be included on the return under paragraph (a)(1) of this section, for at least four years from the date such return is required to be filed under paragraph (a)(4) of this section.

(9) No multiple reporting. If discharged indebtedness is reported under this section, no further reporting under this section is required for the amount so reported, notwithstanding that a subsequent identifiable event occurs with respect to the same amount. Further, no additional reporting or Form 1099-C correction is required if a creditor receives a payment of all or a portion of a discharged indebtedness reported under this section for a prior calendar year.

(f) Requirement to furnish statement—(1) In general. Any applicable entity required to file a return under this section must furnish to each person whose name is shown on such return a written statement that includes the following information—

(i) The information required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section. An IRS truncated taxpayer identifying number (TTIN) may be used as the TIN of the person for whom there was an identifiable event in lieu of the identifying number appearing on the information return filed with the Internal Revenue Service. For provisions relating to the use of TTINs, see §301.6109-4 of this chapter (Procedure and Administration Regulations);

(ii) The name, address, and TIN of the applicable entity required to file a return under paragraph (a) of this section;

(iii) A legend identifying the statement as important tax information that is being furnished to the Internal Revenue Service; and

(iv) Any other information required by Form 1099-C or its instructions, or current revenue procedures.

(2) Furnishing copy of Form 1099-C. The requirement to provide a statement to the debtor will be satisfied if the applicable entity furnishes copy B of the Form 1099-C or a substitute statement that complies with the requirements of the current revenue procedure for substitute Forms 1099.

(3) Time and place for furnishing statement. The statement required by this paragraph (f) must be furnished to the debtor on or before January 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the identifiable event occurs. The statement will be considered furnished to the debtor if it is mailed to the debtor's last known address.

(g) Penalties. For penalties for failure to comply with the requirements of this section, see sections 6721 through 6724.

(h) Applicability dates. This section applies to information returns required to be filed, and payee statements required to be furnished, after December 31, 2016. Section 1.6050P-1 (as contained in 26 CFR part 1, revised April 2016) applies to information returns required to be filed, and payee statements required to be furnished, on or before December 31, 2016.

[T.D. 8654, 61 FR 268, Jan. 4, 1996, as amended by T.D. 8895, 65 FR 50408, Aug. 18, 2000; T.D. 9160, 69 FR 62186, Oct. 25, 2004; T.D. 9430, 73 FR 66540, Nov. 10, 2008; T.D. 9461, 74 FR 47728, Sept. 17, 2009; T.D. 9675, 79 FR 41131, July 15, 2014; T.D. 9793, 81 FR 78911, Nov. 10, 2016]