I received a 1099-misc form from Mass General Hospital. We have never heard of this hospital. I called them, spoke to 2 different people and they don't even know what a tax form is. What do i do?

[DoninGA]

Is your Social Security number, Name and Address correct on the Form?

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

First, the hospital clearly knows what a 1099-MISC is, you are calling the wrong department.

Second, it is likely that the payment was for something like participating in a clinical trial, research, or some type of donation.  Did you get paid for donating anything (blood, eggs, other bodily fluids), even if it was not obviously sponsored by Mass Gen?

Third, if you never did anything like that, it is possible that you are a victim of identity theft -- someone else used your name and SSN for something at Mass Gen.  Mass Gen should be able to give you some basic information if you can get to the right office.  There are a number of other steps you may want to take to protect your identity, SSN, bank and credit information, and so on.

https://www.identitytheft.gov/

Then lastly, if you are 100% sure that this does not represent a payment you received, there are two ways to handle it.

1. Enter on your tax return, then enter an item of "other income" in the same amount with a minus sign to offset the income and give a brief explanation like "1099 issued by mistake due to identity theft". 

2. File by mail instead of e-filing.  Leave the 1099 off your return, but attach a copy and a written explanation to the tax return.