Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Box 10 of Form RRB-1099 shows federal income tax withheld from your tier 1 SSEB payments, and Publication 915 says to include it on your return as tax withheld. Box 11 is the total of Medicare premiums deducted from your railroad retirement payments and is for information only. Form RRB-1099-R, which covers the other railroad benefits, is a different form.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form RRB-1099-R boxes 7 to 12.
What box 10 reports
The publication describes the box: “The figure shown in this box is the total amount of U.S. federal income tax withheld on your 2025 tier 1 SSEB or special guaranty benefit payments.” “This total is based on the amount of SSEB tax withholding requested on IRS Form W-4V.” Withholding is optional: “You can choose to have federal income tax withheld from your social security benefits and/or the SSEB portion of your tier 1 railroad retirement benefits.” “If you choose to do this, you must complete a Form W-4V.”
This page covers boxes 10 and 11. The gross figure that tax was withheld from is on the box 3 page, and the whole form is in the SSA-1099 and RRB-1099 boxes guide.
Where box 10 goes on your return
The instruction is short: “Include this amount on your income tax return as tax withheld.” Box 10 is the tax already paid on your behalf; the gross benefit in box 3 is explained on the box 3 page.
Form 1040 is the return the amount lands on, covered on Form 1040.
If no tax is withheld
Publication 915 anticipates that some people choose no withholding: “If you don’t choose to have income tax withheld, you may have to request additional withholding from other income or pay estimated tax during the year.” “For details, see Pub. 505 or the Instructions for Form 1040-ES.” The estimated tax form is covered on the Form 1040-ES page.
What box 11 reports
Box 11 is different in purpose. “This is only for informational purposes and the RRB does not report this amount to the IRS.” “This is the total amount of Part B, Part C, and/or Part D Medicare premiums deducted from your railroad retirement annuity payments in 2025.”
Where the total appears depends on which form you are issued: “The Medicare total is normally shown on Form RRB-1099.” “However, if Form RRB-1099 is not required for your 2025 taxes, then this total will be shown on Form RRB-1099-R.” The Medicare premiums themselves are a deduction taken before payment, which the box 3 list names as “Medicare premiums”. The interaction of Medicare costs with income is discussed on the Medicare and IRMAA guide.
A worked example from the publication
The second box 3 example in the publication includes box 11. “Beginning in July 2025, you became entitled to Medicare, and $185.00 a month was deducted from your benefit checks for Medicare premiums.” “Box 11 of your Form RRB-1099 will show your Medicare premiums” “deducted from July through December 2025”. The publication prints a dollar total for those six months. This page leaves that total out because $185.00 a month for 6 months is $1,110.00, which is not the figure the publication prints.
The same example also shows the premiums on the other form: “The Medicare Premium Total box shown on your Form RRB-1099-R will be blank because the Medicare total will be shown in box 11 of your Form RRB-1099.” The first box 3 example and the rest of that arithmetic are on the box 3 page.
Form RRB-1099-R is a different form
The two forms cover different parts of a railroad pension. “If you received, repaid, or had tax withheld from any NSSEB portion of tier 1 benefits, tier 2 benefits, vested dual benefits, or supplemental annuity benefits during 2025, you will receive Form RRB-1099-R, Annuities or Pensions by the Railroad Retirement Board.” “For more information concerning Form RRB-1099-R, see Pub. 575.”
Publication 915 itself says it does not reach those benefits: “For information on these taxable pension benefits, see Pub. 575, Pension and Annuity Income.” The tiers are discussed on the railroad retirement tier 1 and tier 2 taxation page. The publication also notes that you may hold more than one form: “If you receive benefits on more than one railroad retirement record, you may get more than one Form RRB-1099.”
Edition and box numbers
The primary read for this page is Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits, the version written for 2025 returns, and its Appendix section on Form RRB-1099 that prints the 2025 form. The publication states its scope this way: “This section explains the items shown on Form RRB-1099.” irs.gov was serving that version at its current publication address on 2026-10-17. No other edition of the publication was compared for this page, so nothing here is a statement about a later tax year. Boxes 10 and 11 keep those numbers on the 2025 form in the publication, and box 10 and 11 amounts refer to the year printed on the form. The publication also advises: “You should, however, compare the form you received with the one shown in this publication to note any differences.” Check the tax year printed on the form you received before relying on the box numbers and years described here.
Common mistakes
- Leaving box 10 off the return. The publication says to “Include this amount on your income tax return as tax withheld.”
- Treating box 11 as something the IRS already has. The publication says “the RRB does not report this amount to the IRS”.
- Mixing up the forms. The NSSEB portion and tier 2 benefits appear on “Form RRB-1099-R”, which is a different form from RRB-1099.
Related: Form 1040, Form 1040-ES, and the Medicare and IRMAA guide.
Sources
- Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits (for 2025 returns): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf
- IRS web edition of Publication 915 (2025): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p915
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.