The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is reminding railroad workers who received Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) benefits in the last calendar year that they can access their W-2 and/or 1099-G forms online. (Individuals who were paid retirement and/or survivor benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act will only receive mailed copies of their tax forms and will not be able to access them online.)
In addition, they can opt to be notified by email when their future RUIA tax forms become available online in the new year. This paperless option allows RUIA claimants to access their W-2 and/or 1099-G forms by signing in to myRRB at RRB.gov/myRRB instead of being mailed a hard copy.
In January of each year, RUIA claimants may receive either or both forms from the RRB. Form 1099-G reflects the total amount of unemployment benefits paid during the previous year, while Form W-2 shows the total amount of sickness/injury benefits paid. Both forms may include federal tax withholdings and are used for filing federal taxes.
RUIA claimants can sign in to myRRB using login.gov and click on the button labeled ACCESS MY TAX Documents. From there, they can elect to stop the RRB from mailing their tax forms to them by selecting “Turn OFF my hard copy” for the respective tax form(s), entering a valid email address, and following prompts to validate the email address with the agency’s electronic notification system. This will result in the claimant no longer being mailed a hard copy. The RRB will use the email address provided to notify claimants when forms for the most recent tax year are ready to view and download. Tax documents for the previous year will remain available online until December 15.
Using the current calendar year as an example, 2024 tax forms will be available from approximately January 31, 2025, to December 15, 2025. Those who elect to receive the email notification can access their annual W-2 and 1099-G forms earlier than they would otherwise receive the paper copies sent through the mail. The RRB will start mailing paper copies no later than January 31, 2025.
Because a login.gov account is required to access this myRRB service, railroad employees who have been using a Pin Password (PPW) account to sign in are encouraged to transition to login.gov today. For questions and help creating a login.gov account, visit login.gov/contact/.
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