Bank interest as income

[asummer60]

My husband has 4 IRAs with a local bank.  Each has earned different amounts of interest.  We were told by a bank employee that if the interest was less than $10 we did not have to report it.  I thought if the TOTAL paid by the bank was more than $10, we had to report it.  The total is around $40 but if we don't add them  up, we only have around $26.  What is correct?  We do not want to under-report, but I don't want to pay more in income.

[SteamTrain]

I suspect that

1)  you need to make absolutely sure those are really  IRAs or IRA CDs.   IF yes, then the following applies.

2) If the interest stays within that "IRA" account/CD, you have nothing to report, and the Bank person you talked to is either, misinformed, overworked, or they didn't realize they were inside IRA accounts. 

3  IF in an IRA CD that matures and goes into a taxable account ...then the total value will be reported on a 1099-R at the end of the year...whether the total becomes taxable will depend on whether you roll the $$ into a new IRA within 60 days.  IF instead, on Maturity, the CD gets rolled automatically into another IRA CD, or IRA cash account, then it may not need to be reported at all....a lot depends on whether they issue a 1099-R for that or not.....but it will not be a 1099-INT.

4)  (much more rarely) IF you somehow arranged that the interest from those IRAs to be actually distributed out of the IRA and into a taxable MM account, or other taxable account......then the $$ will not be reported as interest on a 1099-INT, but will actually end up being reported as a 1099-R form for whatever tax year the $$ actually come out, I suspect no matter how small the amount .  But that would happen only if the $$ were issued to an account outside of an IRA.

[SteamTrain]

Or perhaps another possibility...demonstrating again how important the exact details become that perhaps you did not explain.

5)  maybe an IRA CD matured, and it rolled into a new IRA CD, but just the principal amount was rolled into the new IRA-CD, and not the interest:

...say a $1000 IRA CD that matured with $26 interest in it. 

IF the $26 did not roll into a new IRA-CD, then they would issue you a 1099-R at the end of the year for either: a) just the  $26 in box 1 (but not a 1099-INT) ....or a 1099-R with $1026 box 1 gross distribution, that you would enter into the software, but indicate that only $1000 was rolled into a new IRA.  The mechanics of a) or b) depends on how they handled that rollover internally at the bank.

But in neither case is a 1099-INT issued, and it is all handled as a 1099-R.