Hawaii Form N-196 is the one-page transmittal sheet you place on top of the state copies of your paper 1099 forms when you mail them to the Hawaii Department of Taxation. It is Hawaii’s equivalent of federal Form 1096. The form and the attached 1099s are due by February 28 of the year after the payments were made, and they go by first-class mail to the Department of Taxation in Honolulu.
Who Has to File
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 235-96, any individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity that operates a trade or business in Hawaii, or that has a place of business or paying office in the state, must file information returns with the Department when it makes reportable payments. In practice, if you issued a federal 1099 for a payment connected to Hawaii, the state wants a copy too, and N-196 is the cover sheet.
This sweeps in sole proprietors, employers, landlords receiving rent through agents, financial institutions paying interest or dividends, and anyone else filing 1099s with the IRS for Hawaii-sourced payments. The state obligation tracks the federal one.
Which 1099s It Covers, and Why You May Need Several N-196s
N-196 transmits state copies of nine federal 1099 forms: 1099-DIV, 1099-G, 1099-INT, 1099-K, 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, 1099-OID, 1099-PATR, and 1099-R. Hawaii doesn’t print its own versions, so you use the federal forms and send the state copy over.
One structural rule trips people up: each type of 1099 needs its own separate N-196. You cannot stack 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC behind a single transmittal. If you issued three different types of 1099s, you prepare three N-196s.
Filling Out the Form
The whole form sits on one page. Work through it in this order:
- Enter the last two digits of the calendar year in the box at the upper right. N-196 always follows the calendar year, even if your business uses a fiscal year for income tax.
- Enter your business name and mailing address in the filer area.
- Fill in Box 1 with your federal EIN if you are a business, including a sole proprietor with an EIN. Use Box 2 for your Social Security number only if you are not in a trade or business, or if you are a sole proprietor without an EIN. Fill one, not both.
- In Box 3, enter the total number of 1099s you are submitting with this N-196. Count only correctly completed forms, not blanks or voids.
- In Box 4, enter the total dollar amount reported on those 1099s (see the next section for which boxes to add).
- Check the box that identifies which type of 1099 is behind this transmittal.
- If this is the final time you will ever file 1099s because you are closing the business or stopping payments, check the final filing box below Box 4.
- Provide a contact name and phone number so the Department can reach someone with questions.
- Someone with authority to sign for the filer signs and dates it.
Calculating the Box 4 Total
Box 4 pulls from specific boxes on the attached 1099s. The source boxes depend on the form type:
- 1099-DIV: add Boxes 1a, 2a, 3, 8, and 9
- 1099-G: no entry needed
- 1099-INT: add Boxes 1, 3, and 8
- 1099-K: Box 1
- 1099-MISC: add Boxes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, and 14
- 1099-NEC: Box 1
- 1099-OID: add Boxes 1, 2, and 8
- 1099-PATR: add Boxes 1, 2, 3, and 5
- 1099-R: Box 1
1099-MISC is the one most people get wrong, because it draws from ten different boxes. Check the math before signing.
Deadline
N-196 and the attached state 1099 copies are due on or before February 28 of the year following the calendar year of the payments. If February 28 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.
Hawaii also requires you to furnish statements to the income recipients themselves by February 28 of the following year. The federal deadline for recipient copies is earlier (January 31), so if you meet the federal deadline you have already covered the state requirement.
Where to Send It
Mail the completed N-196 and all attached 1099 copies by first-class mail to the Hawaii Department of Taxation at either address below:
- Mailing: P.O. Box 3559, Honolulu, HI 96811-3559
- Physical delivery: 830 Punchbowl St., Room 126, Honolulu, HI 96813-5094
If you have a large number of 1099s, you can split them into conveniently sized packages. Write your name and identification number on each package, number them consecutively, place the N-196 in package number one, and note the total package count at the top of the form.
Can You File N-196 Electronically?
Not directly. The Department does not accept N-196 or its 1099 attachments through Hawaii Tax Online or by email. There is one indirect electronic route: Hawaii participates in the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing Program. If the IRS approves you for that program and you include Hawaii data in your electronic federal filing, the IRS forwards the state information and you don’t send paper to Honolulu. That program is the only way to skip the paper submission.
Fixing Mistakes After You File
If you find errors in 1099s you already submitted, prepare corrected versions and send them with a new N-196. Mark the CORRECTED checkbox at the top of the N-196 and on each corrected 1099. Fill out every field on the corrected forms completely, because the new submission replaces the original entirely. Do not mix corrected and original (non-corrected) 1099s in the same package.
Penalties for Filing Late or Not at All
The signed declaration on N-196 carries the penalties in Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 231-36. Separately, late filing of information returns can trigger a penalty of 5 percent of unpaid tax per month, up to 25 percent. These penalties apply per violation, so a batch of missing 1099s adds up quickly.
N-196 Is Not a HARPTA Form
If you landed here looking for the form to recover Hawaii real estate withholding, N-196 is not it. HARPTA withholding on nonresident real property sales under HRS Section 235-68 uses the N-288 series: N-288, N-288A, N-288B, and N-288C. A nonresident seller trying to get back excess withholding files N-288C, not N-196.