.png)
The IRS 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC filing requirements changed more in the last year than in the previous five. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised the reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025, but the forms you file in early 2026 still cover 2025 payments under the old $600 rule. Most of this season's mistakes will come from that split.
If you only want the blank form, our page on where to get blank 1099 forms and how to file them links to the official IRS PDFs.
Form 1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation: fees, commissions and other payments for services to people who aren't your employees. Think freelance designers, independent bookkeepers, consultants and attorneys you pay for legal services. To be reportable, the payment has to be made in the course of your trade or business. Paying a plumber to fix your own house doesn't count.
Form 1099-MISC covers almost everything else in the 1099 family that isn't interest, dividends or card payments: rent, royalties, prizes and awards that aren't for services, medical and health care payments, crop insurance proceeds, fishing boat proceeds and gross proceeds paid to attorneys (for example, a settlement check you pay to a claimant's lawyer).
Quick test: if the payee did work for you, it's usually a 1099-NEC. If you paid for the use of property, or for something other than services, it's usually a 1099-MISC. For a deeper walk-through of the MISC boxes and who gets one, see our guide to Form 1099-MISC deadlines and recipients.
The IRS instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC state that for payments made after 2025 the general threshold is $2,000, with inflation adjustments possible starting in calendar year 2027. Not every box moved. Royalties, attorney gross proceeds, cash fish purchases and direct sales kept their old amounts.
| Payment type | Form and box | Tax year 2025 (filed early 2026) | Tax year 2026 (filed early 2027) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonemployee compensation | 1099-NEC, box 1 (box 1a from 2026) | $600 | $2,000 |
| Attorney fees for legal services | 1099-NEC, box 1 / 1a | $600 | $2,000 |
| Rents | 1099-MISC, box 1 | $600 | $2,000 |
| Royalties | 1099-MISC, box 2 | $10 | $10 |
| Other income (prizes, awards) | 1099-MISC, box 3 | $600 | $2,000 |
| Medical and health care payments | 1099-MISC, box 6 | $600 | $2,000 |
| Crop insurance proceeds | 1099-MISC, box 9 | $600 | $2,000 |
| Gross proceeds paid to attorneys | 1099-MISC, box 10 | $600 | $600 |
| Fish purchased for resale (cash) | 1099-MISC, box 11 | $600 | $600 |
| Direct sales of consumer goods for resale | 1099-NEC box 2 or 1099-MISC box 7 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Fishing boat proceeds | 1099-MISC, box 5 | Any amount | Any amount |
| Any payment with backup withholding | Relevant box plus box 4 | Any amount | Any amount |
Thresholds apply per payee for the calendar year, so a contractor paid $180 a month in 2026 ($2,160 total) gets a 1099-NEC, while the same contractor at $150 a month ($1,800) doesn't. The threshold also drives backup withholding: payments below the reportable amount carry no backup withholding obligation. Our explainer on how backup withholding works covers the 24% rate and B-notices.
We've written a separate deep dive on the 2026 1099 reporting threshold under the new law, including how the inflation adjustment is expected to work.
The 2026 revisions go beyond the threshold. Form 1099-NEC gains boxes 1b, 1c and 1d, and Form 1099-MISC gains boxes 13a, 13b and 14, to report cash tips, Treasury Tipped Occupation Codes and overtime for the new tips and overtime deductions. Excess golden parachute payments also move from 1099-MISC to 1099-NEC box 3. If your accounting software still maps vendors to the 2025 layout, test it before January.
When a statutory date lands on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day, which shifts several dates in both seasons.
| Requirement | Statutory date | For tax year 2025 | For tax year 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1099-NEC to recipient and IRS (paper or e-file) | January 31 | February 2, 2026 | February 1, 2027 |
| 1099-MISC to recipient | January 31 | February 2, 2026 | February 1, 2027 |
| 1099-MISC to recipient, only box 8 or 10 | February 15 | February 17, 2026 | February 16, 2027 |
| 1099-MISC to IRS on paper | February 28 | March 2, 2026 | March 1, 2027 |
| 1099-MISC to IRS electronically | March 31 | March 31, 2026 | March 31, 2027 |
There's no automatic extension for 1099-NEC. You can request a 30-day extension on Form 8809, but only for the reasons listed in the instructions, such as a disaster or death. For 1099-MISC, filing Form 8809 by the due date gets you an automatic 30-day extension to file with the IRS. Neither extension pushes back the date you owe the recipient their copy. To place these dates against your other year-end filings, use our small business tax compliance calendar.
These exceptions hold up on examination, provided paperwork backs them, usually a Form W-9 or W-8.
Payments to corporations. Payments to C corporations and S corporations are generally exempt. The exemption doesn't cover attorney fees or gross proceeds paid to attorneys, medical and health care payments, cash fish purchases or substitute payments. An LLC is only treated as a corporation if its W-9 says it elected corporate taxation; a single-member LLC owned by an individual is reported under the owner's name and TIN.
Card and third-party network payments. If you paid by credit card, debit card or through a payment app that acts as a third-party settlement organization, the processor reports it on Form 1099-K, so you leave it off the 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. The 1099-K threshold itself changed again under the new law; see our guide to the Form 1099-K reporting threshold.
Goods and incidental costs. Payments for merchandise, inventory, telephone, freight and storage are generally not reportable. If an invoice mixes parts and labor, report the full amount unless the services portion is separately stated.
Tax-exempt organizations and governments. Payments to 501(c)(3) organizations, governments and similar exempt payees aren't reported.
Foreign contractors. A foreign individual or entity who certifies status on Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E doesn't get a 1099. If the services were performed entirely outside the United States, the payment is generally foreign-source and there's usually no US withholding or reporting. If the services were performed in the US, the payment is US-source and is reported on Form 1042-S, not a 1099.
Employees. Wages go on Form W-2, never a 1099. If you're unsure which a worker is, the IRS common-law control test decides, and our article on classifying 1099 contractors and W-2 employees walks through the factors.
Since January 1, 2024, any filer with 10 or more information returns in a calendar year must e-file. The count is aggregated across return types, so 4 Forms 1099-NEC, 3 Forms 1099-MISC and 3 Forms W-2 add up to 10 and every one of them must go electronically. Businesses file free through the IRS Information Returns Intake System (IRIS). The older FIRE system closes to filings on November 19, 2026, so IRIS is the only e-file route for the 2027 season, and FIRE transmitter codes don't carry over. Filers below 10 can still choose paper, which requires the official red-ink Copy A plus Form 1096. The IRS General Instructions for Certain Information Returns explain the aggregation rule and the waiver process.
Penalties apply separately to the IRS copy (section 6721) and the payee copy (section 6722), so one late form can be charged twice. These are the per-return amounts for returns due in 2026, as published on the IRS information return penalties page.
| When corrected or filed | Per return | Annual cap, larger filers | Annual cap, small businesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 30 days of the due date | $60 | $683,000 | $239,000 |
| 31 days late through August 1 | $130 | $2,049,000 | $683,000 |
| After August 1 or never filed | $340 | $4,098,500 | $1,366,000 |
| Intentional disregard | $680 minimum | No cap | No cap |
A small business here means average annual gross receipts of $5 million or less over the three most recent tax years. The amounts are inflation-adjusted each year, so check the IRS figures for returns due in 2027 before quoting a client. Missing or wrong TINs are the most common source of these penalties, which is why IRS TIN Matching before filing is worth the time. If a penalty notice arrives anyway, a reasonable-cause request through Form 843 for penalty abatement is often the next step.
Many income-tax states also want your 1099s. Some take them automatically through the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing Program, while others require direct filing on their own portals, sometimes with earlier deadlines or their own withholding reconciliation forms. States also aren't bound by the federal $2,000 change, so confirm each state's threshold for the 2026 tax year before assuming a $1,500 payment can be skipped at the state level.
CPA firms that run this process for dozens of clients often hand the data cleanup and form preparation to an offshore team. Here's how our 1099 preparation outsourcing for CPA firms works, and our guide to 1099 workers for employers and contractors covers the payee side.
Both, depending on when you paid. Payments made in 2025 use $600, and you report them on the forms due in early 2026. Payments made on or after January 1, 2026 use $2,000, and those are reported on the forms due in early 2027.
Use the tax year 2025 versions of Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, filed in early 2026. The 2026 revisions with the new tips and overtime boxes apply to payments made in 2026.
It depends on how the LLC is taxed. A single-member LLC or an LLC taxed as a partnership gets a 1099 if it crosses the threshold. An LLC that elected to be taxed as a C or S corporation generally doesn't, except for attorney and medical payments.
Only if you have fewer than 10 information returns of all types combined for the year. Once you reach 10, everything must be e-filed through IRIS (FIRE is retired after November 19, 2026) unless the IRS grants a waiver.
Not if they went through the app's goods-and-services or business payment flow, because the platform reports them on Form 1099-K. Personal "friends and family" transfers aren't processed that way, so payments sent that way to a contractor can still require a 1099-NEC from you.
If you're a CPA firm heading into the first season with two thresholds in play, start the vendor review now while there's time to collect missing W-9s. Talk to our team about 1099 preparation support for your clients.
Section 4960's 21% excise tax now reaches far more nonprofit employees. See who is a covered employee in 2026 and what changed.
The Section 45S paid family leave credit is permanent for 2026 with new options. See who qualifies, the amounts, and how to claim it.
Opportunity zones become permanent in 2027 under the One Big Beautiful Bill. See the new deferral, rural bonus, and the 2026 handoff.
