If you received interest or dividend income, sold a stock or worked as an independent contractor, you'll get some version of the Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 to help you complete your tax return.

In this tax tip: • Get a duplicate   • Tracking down the data   • Common 1099 forms

As with W-2 wage statements, 1099 forms are to be distributed to recipients by the end of January. If you don't receive an expected Form 1099 by a few days into February, contact the issuer. Perhaps the payer has an incorrect or incomplete address for you. Alert the issuer of the changes and ask for a reissued statement.

Get a duplicate
Even if they tell you it's in the mail, ask for a duplicate.

If mid-February comes and goes without arrival of either the original or duplicate statement, call the IRS at (800) 829-1040 for help in getting this information.

But you don't necessarily have to wait for the statements to file your return. You generally don't have to send in the actual 1099 forms with your return. They are just issued so you'll know how much to report, with copies going to the IRS so they can double-check your tax return entries. As long as you have the correct information, you can put it on your tax form without having the statement in hand.

Tracking down the data
The easiest way to get this missing data is to call the employer, bank or investment company and ask for your income information over the phone. In some cases, the amounts that would be on a 1099 are readily available from documents you already have.

For example, your bank may put a summary of the interest paid during the year on your account's December or January statement. Many financial companies make the interest figure available through customer service phone lines or Web sites. And most investment firms include the year's Form 1099 cumulative amounts as part of quarterly dividend statements.

If your missing 1099 does finally show up, don't discard it because you got the information elsewhere and already filed your return. Check the form to ensure that the amount there is the same as you reported. If there is any discrepancy, call the issuer to reconcile the differences.

When the late-arriving data is correct and what you filed is not, you'll need to file an amended return. If you don't, expect a call from the IRS, because the agency will use the final 1099 as its basis for reviewing your return for accuracy.

Common 1099 forms
Below is a table of various 1099 forms. Don't be concerned if the interest statements from separate financial institutions don't look alike. The IRS doesn't care what format the issuer uses. It just wants the income and tax information.

Freelance writer Kay Bell writes Bankrate's tax stories from her home in Austin, Texas, and blogs each day on tax topics at Don't Mess with Taxes.