Photographs of missing children. The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Photographs of
missing children
selected by the Center may appear in this publication on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children
home by looking at the
photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843- 5678) if you recognize a child.
This publication provides federal income tax information for individual shareholders of mutual funds, including money market
funds. It explains how
to report distributions paid to you by a mutual fund and any expenses connected with your investment. In addition, it explains
how to report
undistributed long-term capital gains. It also explains how to figure and report your gain or loss when you sell, exchange,
or redeem your mutual fund
shares. A comprehensive example, with filled-in forms, appears at the end of the publication.
Mutual fund.
A mutual fund is a regulated investment company generally created by “
pooling” funds of investors to allow them to take advantage of a
diversity of investments and professional management.
Money market fund.
A money market fund is a mutual fund that tries to increase current income available to shareholders by buying short-term
market investments.
Money market funds pay dividends and should not be confused with bank money market accounts that pay interest.
Qualified retirement plans and IRAs.
The rules in this publication do not apply to mutual fund shares held in individual retirement arrangements (IRAs),
section 401(k) plans, and other
qualified retirement plans. The value of the mutual fund shares and earnings allocated to you are included in your retirement
plan assets and stay tax
free generally until the plan distributes them to you. The tax rules that apply to retirement plan distributions are explained
in the following
publications.
-
Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans).
-
Publication 571, Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans (403(b) Plans).
-
Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income.
-
Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).
-
Publication 721, Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits.
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Individual Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6406
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in
your correspondence.
You can email us at
*[email protected]. (The asterisk must be included in the
address.) Please put “
Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, visit
www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions at either
of the addresses listed above.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit
www.irs.gov/formspubs to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to the National Distribution Center at the
address shown under
How To Get Tax Help in the back of this publication.
