Transcript reference
Types of IRS transcripts.
What each record contains, when to order it, and a sample of exactly what arrives. Open any sample full size.
Transcript reference
Every transcript type, with a sample you can open.
There are several IRS transcript products and they answer different questions. Each entry below shows what the record contains, when to order it, and a sample document you can open full size to see exactly what arrives.
Individual records
1040 Return Transcript
What it shows. Most line items from the individual return as originally filed — adjusted gross income, filing status, exemptions and schedule data. It does not reflect later amendments.
Order it when. You need to confirm what the borrower actually filed, and compare filed AGI against stated income.
Does not show amendments. For those, order a Record of Account.
W-2 Wage Statement
What it shows. Wage and withholding data as reported by the employer: wages, federal withholding, Social Security and Medicare wages, and retirement plan indicators.
Order it when. You need wages verified independently of the W-2 copy the applicant supplied.
Delivered within the Wage & Income transcript rather than as a standalone product.
1099 Information Returns
What it shows. Contractor income (1099-NEC), interest (1099-INT), dividends (1099-DIV), distributions (1099-R), government payments (1099-G) and mortgage interest (1098) — each as reported by the payer.
Order it when. You need to find income and payers the loan application did not disclose.
The payer participates in the reporting, which is what makes it hard to fabricate.
Wage & Income Transcript
What it shows. The complete set of information returns filed under the taxpayer's Social Security Number for a tax year — every employer and every payer that reported.
Order it when. Nearly every file. It is the single record most likely to surface undisclosed income.
A second employer the application never listed still appears here.
Account history
Record of Account
What it shows. Return transcript data combined with account activity, so amendments, adjustments and post-filing changes are visible in one record.
Order it when. Any file where an amended return, an adjustment or a balance owed may be in play.
The most complete individual record available.
Account Transcript
What it shows. Filing status for a tax period, payments, penalties, balances owed and installment agreements. Confirms whether a return posted at all.
Order it when. Establishing whether a claimed return was ever filed, or what is currently owed.
A no-record result is itself a finding, and far better found before funding.
Business entity records
Form 1120 — Corporation
What it shows. Gross receipts, cost of goods sold, officer compensation, deductions and taxable income from the corporation's filed return.
Order it when. A borrower whose income runs through a C corporation.
Officer compensation shows whether the business can actually support the owner's stated salary.
Form 1120-S — S Corporation
What it shows. S-corporation return transcript data — the common structure for owner-operated businesses paying a salary plus distributions.
Order it when. Owner-operators who pay themselves a salary plus distributions.
Pair with the individual 1040 to see how income actually reached the borrower.
Form 1065 — Partnership
What it shows. Partnership receipts, guaranteed payments, deductions, ordinary business income and the number of K-1s issued.
Order it when. Borrowers holding a partnership interest or a multi-member LLC.
A K-1 is only meaningful when checked against the partnership's own filed results.
Identity
on completion
Form SSA-89 Verification
What it shows. Not an IRS transcript. Confirms Name, Date of Birth and Social Security Number against Social Security Administration records, with Death Master Index screening.
Order it when. Confirming the borrower's identity with the issuing agency before relying on income records.
Returned as a Match or No Match validation certificate, typically in about 15 minutes.
Included with every order
The summary report that comes with each transcript.
A transcript is a government record, and government records are not written for underwriters. Every order we deliver includes a plain-language summary alongside the transcript itself.
- Income totals pulled out and labelledadjusted gross income, wages, business income and information-return totals, gathered in one place instead of scattered across pages.
- Year-over-year comparisonwhere multiple years were ordered, so direction is visible as well as amount.
- Every payer and employer listedincluding the ones the loan application did not mention.
- Items worth a second lookflagged plainly — a missing year, an amended return, an unexpected payer, a figure that does not fit the file.
- The transcript itself, unalteredthe summary never replaces the source record; it sits alongside it.
An underwriter reading a raw transcript has to know where to look. The summary turns the record into something the whole file can be compared against in a minute, which is the difference between a transcript being filed and a transcript being used.
Choosing
Not sure which record fits?
Describe the borrower and the question you are trying to answer, and a specialist will tell you which record settles it — before you spend an authorization on the wrong one.
Order the right record the first time
Our specialists work these files every day and will point you to the right transcript.
Ready when you are
Do you have questions? We have answers.
Create your account today, and once activated a verification specialist will contact you to walk through your questions and provide the authorization forms used in the process.