What goes on 1099-DIV 1a subentry?

[mtiede]

Under the Total Ordinary Dividends 1a is a breakdown of "U.S. government interest, if any, included in box 1a."

What goes there?  My broker report doesn't list that item.  However, in the details of the report, there is both a Qualified and Non-Qualified "Interest reported as dividends".  Is the total of those what is required in that 1a "sub box"?

[Critter-3]

If there was US GOV Interest included in box 1A the broker would have listed it ... so skip that data entry section... leave it blank since a zero is not an acceptable entry. 

[mtiede]

I see.  I guess I will add up all the pieces/parts and see if it was included or not.  What you say sounds right. Thanks.

[mtiede]

Well, after doing some number shoving in Excel, it appears that there IS a "Qualified U.S. government interest Reported as Dividends" included in box 1a.  That was not shown on the broker's 1099-DIV summary listing.  But there was an entry in the myriad details pages.  Nowhere did they SAY it was included, but the numbers work out to match when I use Excel to sum things up.

So unless you can suggest anything else to look at, it seems I should be putting that box 1a subentry in there.

I'm asking the broker to verify my conclusion, but I suspect he will just come back with "I can't give tax advice".

[mtiede · Accepted solution]

My broker reinforced that my interpretation using Excel was correct.  Even though their summary 1099-DIV didn't show the U.S. Government Interest as Dividend entry, by digging through the detail reports the number I found was correct.  I SHOULD fill in that box 1a "subentry" with the number in the reports because it WAS included.