7 Financial Dates and Deadlines in February 2024

Life moves quickly. It’s easy to get distracted. But that can be costly.

Miss an important financial date or deadline, and you could be on the hook for a penalty or lose out on a limited-time opportunity to save money.

Enter our “Money Calendar” series.

In this edition, we’ve rounded up the noteworthy money dates in February 2024. Take a look and mark your calendar with any dates that apply to you. And if you enjoy this series, sign up for the Money Talks Newsletter so you don’t miss the next edition. Look for it on the last weekday of every month.

Deadline for certain income forms — Jan. 31

Generally, Jan. 31 is the deadline for employers and other types of payers to give workers several types of income forms for the prior year. These forms can include:

• Form 1099-MISC Miscellaneous Income
• Form 1099-NEC Nonemployee Compensation
• Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement

If you expect to receive any of these forms for last year but it has yet to arrive, keep an eye out for it in February. You don’t want to file your federal income tax return until you have such forms in hand.

Employers must send copies of these income forms to the IRS, which cross-checks the income numbers that you report on your return against the numbers on your income forms. If those numbers don’t match, the IRS could delay processing your return, and thus delay any tax refund you might be owed.

FOMC meeting — Jan. 30-31

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) generally meets eight times a year. On the second day of these two-day meetings, the committee votes on whether to change its target range for the federal funds rate. So Jan. 31 is the next time that they might change it.

Any change to the federal funds rate can affect everything from your savings account yield to your credit card interest. To learn more about what this means for you, check out “What Is ‘the Fed’ — and Why Should You Care?”

Medicare Advantage open enrollment period continues — all month

As if Medicare isn’t complicated enough, this federal health insurance program for folks age 65 and older and folks with certain disabilities or conditions has multiple annual enrollment periods.

The main open enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, while the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period runs from Jan. 1 to March 31.

Medicare Advantage plans, one of the two main types of Medicare, are offered by private insurance companies that are approved by the federal Medicare program. (The other type of Medicare, Original Medicare, is the traditional government-managed health care coverage.)

During the current enrollment period, folks with Medicare Advantage plans (with or without prescription drug coverage) have the option to do one of the following:

• Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage).
• Switch from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare (with or without also enrolling in a drug plan).

Social Security statements available online — Feb. 1

Each January, the Social Security Administration mails annual benefit statements, also known as Form SSA-1099 (or Form SSA-1042S, in the case of noncitizens who live abroad). Social Security recipients need these documents to file their taxes: They contain information — such as how much Social Security income someone received — that must be reported on tax returns.

If you receive Social Security benefits but have yet to receive your SSA-1099 — or if you want a digital version for your records — you can get a replacement copy via your online Social Security account starting in February.

Some ACA health insurance plans take effect — Feb. 1

If you enrolled in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plan between Dec. 16, 2023, and Jan. 16, 2024, it takes effect Feb. 1.

Make sure to put your new insurance card in your wallet.

Deadline for 1099-B forms — Feb. 15

Feb. 15 is the deadline for brokerages and barter exchanges to give a tax form called “Form 1099-B Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions” to their customers who made any of the following types of transactions through a brokerage or barter exchange last year:

• Sold assets such as stocks, options, commodities and debt instructions
• Received cash, stock or other property from a corporation that has had its stock acquired or had a substantial change in capital structure
• Exchanged property or services through a barter exchange

These transactions cover a wide variety of investors, and they may be taxable. If you expect to receive a 1099-B for last year, but it doesn’t arrive by Feb. 15, contact the applicable brokerage or exchange or check your online account, because you don’t want to file your taxes without that form.

Just as employers must send copies of their employees’ income forms like the W-2 to the IRS, brokerages and barter exchanges must send copies of their customers’ 1099-B forms to the IRS. So if you omit 1099-B income from your tax return, the IRS will know it.

State sales-tax holidays start — Feb. 18

Perhaps you’ve heard of the sales tax holidays that some states offer each summer to give parents and students a chance to buy school supplies without having to pay sales tax. These are not the only type of state sales tax holiday, though.

Some states offer annual sales tax holidays for energy-efficient appliances or emergency-preparedness supplies, for example. And the first two of these other sales tax holidays are in February this year, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators:

• Maryland: Shop Maryland Energy Weekend is Feb. 17-19.
• Alabama: The Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday is Feb. 23-25.

If you live in Maryland or Alabama, check the applicable link above to learn more about your sales tax holiday, including which products will be exempt from sales taxes. If you live in another state, take a look at the Federation of Tax Administrators’ list of sales tax holidays and mark your calendar for any that your state will offer.