Late American Express 1099s

Time for me to let out so fire, because I am more than a bit annoyed by my latest email from American Express. It is an email I assume many of you received today. Well, at least if you had an Amex Business Checking account bonus last year. It is really no big deal though (sarcasm font), they just wanted to reach out an apologize for their late American Express 1099s for the new member bonus. This just days before tax filings are due, and after I have already filed mine!

What Did The Email Say?

Here are the details on the email from American Express about their late 1099s.

• Email subject: An important update on your account
• Email sender: americanexpress@blueprint.americanexpress.com

Here is what the email had to say:

We’re reaching out to let you know about an issue that impacted your American Express® Business Checking account. We’re committed to providing you with the best experience possible, which includes letting you know when something goes wrong and what we’ve done to resolve it.

What happened

Due to a technical issue, we were delayed in issuing a 1099-INT tax statement for 2023 related to the welcome bonus for your account. We realize you may have already filed your taxes for 2023, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. To make things right, we’ve issued your 1099-INT tax statement. We mailed it to the address on file on April 9, 2024.

We're here for you

If you have any questions, please contact us. Best regards, American Express

Why This Matters

This is incompetence on American Express' part, plain and simple. By law, 1099s are due to recipients by January 31st of each year. This is to ensure that everyone has ample time to get their tax filings in order. If you happen to have checked a calendar over the last two and a half months, then you know it is no longer January. It is in fact just four days shy of when tax filings are due. Even worse than that, many people have already filed their taxes (myself included).

The thing that really gets at me American Express knowing that they are dropping a bag of flaming crap on people's doorstep and offering nothing in return. Outside a look at us, we finally did what we are supposed to do. That line, to make things right…ugh it really irks me. You didn't make things right, you just did what you were supposed to do all along but in the most inconvenient way!

I get it, making an adjustment to your taxes isn't the biggest of deals, but it is a burden we should not have on our plate. If you are going to feed it to us anyway, then there should be some sort of compensation attached to the empty words of this email.

Late American Express 1099s: ToP Thoughts

If you earned an Amex Business Checking account bonus last year then be on the look out for this email and some late American Express 1099s. If you are like me, then you didn't even realize this wasn't a part of the 1099s they sent out on time. It is hard to know what they are for, since they don't attach any detail to the form. I assumed it including the bank account bonus, as well as, any credit card referral points.

Hopefully regulators get a hold of this and hit Amex with the proper fines. It won't help the people truly affected (us) unfortunately, but some pain needs to be shared here.

Off to email my accountant to let him know of the needed update to our taxes. Let me know if you now need to do the same in the ToP Facebook Group.