Filing a Form 1099 involves collecting payee information, filling out the correct form variant, delivering copies to recipients, and submitting the forms to the IRS by the January 31 deadline (or the next business day if that date falls on a weekend). The process is straightforward once you understand which form to use, what triggers the filing requirement, and how to submit everything electronically.
Which 1099 Form You Need
The two most common versions are Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-MISC, and they cover different types of payments.
Form 1099-NEC is for nonemployee compensation. If you paid a freelancer, independent contractor, or outside service provider $600 or more during the year, you file a 1099-NEC. Attorney fees of $600 or more also go on this form.
Form 1099-MISC covers other types of business payments: rent of $600 or more, prizes and awards of $600 or more, medical and health care payments of $600 or more, gross proceeds paid to an attorney of $600 or more, and royalties of at least $10. Crop insurance proceeds paid to farmers and fishing boat proceeds also fall under 1099-MISC when they hit the $600 threshold.
One important rule: you only file 1099s for payments made in the course of your trade or business. If you hired a contractor to build a deck on your personal residence, that’s a personal payment and doesn’t require a 1099. But if you paid that same contractor to renovate a rental property you own, that’s a business payment and it does.
Collect Payee Information With Form W-9
Before you can file a 1099, you need specific data from each person or business you paid. The standard way to collect it is by having them fill out a Form W-9 before or shortly after you make the first payment. Waiting until January to chase down W-9s is one of the most common headaches in this process, so request them upfront.
A completed W-9 gives you everything you need to fill out a 1099:
- Legal name as it appears on the payee’s tax return
- Business name if different from the legal name
- Federal tax classification (individual, C corporation, S corporation, partnership, LLC, or trust/estate)
- Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), which is either a Social Security Number or an Employer Identification Number
- Mailing address
The tax classification matters because payments to C corporations and S corporations are generally exempt from 1099 reporting. If a payee checks one of those boxes, you typically don’t need to file a 1099 for them. The main exceptions are payments for medical and health care services and gross proceeds paid to attorneys, which require a 1099 regardless of the recipient’s corporate status.
If a payee refuses to provide a W-9 or gives you an incorrect TIN, you may be required to withhold 24% of future payments as backup withholding. Any time you withhold federal income tax under backup withholding rules, you must file a 1099 regardless of the payment amount.
Fill Out the Form
Each 1099 form has boxes for specific types of income. On Form 1099-NEC, the main entry goes in Box 1 (nonemployee compensation). On Form 1099-MISC, rent goes in Box 1, royalties in Box 2, other income in Box 3, medical payments in Box 6, and so on. You’ll enter the total amount paid during the calendar year in the appropriate box, along with the payer and payee identification details pulled from the W-9.
You create a separate 1099 for each payee who meets the reporting threshold. If you paid five different contractors $600 or more, you file five separate 1099-NEC forms.
How to File With the IRS
You have two options: file electronically or file on paper. Electronic filing is mandatory if you’re filing 10 or more information returns of any type during the calendar year. That 10-return count is an aggregate across nearly all information return types, so if you file six 1099-NECs and four W-2s, you’ve hit 10 and must e-file.
Even if you fall under the threshold, electronic filing is faster and easier than paper.
The IRS IRIS Portal (Free)
The IRS offers a free electronic filing system called the Information Returns Intake System (IRIS). To use it, you first need to apply for an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (TCC), a five-digit identifier for your business. Once approved, you sign into the IRIS Taxpayer Portal and can enter form data manually or upload it via a CSV file. The portal lets you e-file up to 100 returns at a time, download copies to distribute to payees, and keep records of what you’ve filed.
Apply for your TCC well before the filing deadline. The approval process takes time, and you don’t want to be stuck waiting in late January.
Third-Party Software
Accounting software and dedicated 1099 filing services can also transmit forms to the IRS on your behalf. Many of these tools pull payment data directly from your bookkeeping records, auto-populate forms, and handle both IRS filing and recipient delivery. They charge per form or per batch, but the time savings can be worth it if you have more than a handful of payees.
Paper Filing
If you’re filing fewer than 10 information returns total and prefer paper, you must use the official red-ink IRS forms. Printed copies or PDFs downloaded from the IRS website cannot be scanned by IRS equipment and will be rejected. You can order scannable forms from the IRS or pick them up at certain libraries and post offices. Paper forms are mailed to the IRS along with Form 1096, which serves as a transmittal summary listing the total number of forms and total dollar amounts you’re reporting.
Key Deadlines
For tax year 2025, the standard January 31 deadline falls on a Saturday, which pushes everything to the next business day: February 2, 2026.
By February 2, 2026, you must both deliver copies to recipients and e-file (or postmark paper forms) with the IRS. This applies to Form 1099-NEC and most 1099-MISC filings.
There are a few exceptions. If you’re filing a 1099-MISC that only reports amounts in Box 8 (substitute payments in lieu of dividends) or Box 10 (crop insurance proceeds), the recipient delivery deadline extends to February 17, 2026.
Delivering Copies to Recipients
Every person or business reported on a 1099 must receive their own copy. You can mail a paper copy or, if the recipient consents to electronic delivery, provide it digitally. The IRIS portal includes a feature to download payee copies for distribution.
Recipients need their copy to file their own tax returns accurately. Late or missing copies can create confusion and increase the chance of IRS notices for mismatched income.
Penalties for Late or Incorrect Filing
The IRS imposes penalties for filing 1099s late, filing with incorrect information, or failing to file altogether. Penalty amounts increase the later you file. Filing within 30 days of the deadline carries a lower penalty per form than filing after August 1 or not filing at all. Intentional disregard of the filing requirement carries the steepest penalties with no cap.
Small businesses with average annual gross receipts of $5 million or less qualify for reduced penalty amounts, but the penalties still add up quickly if you have multiple forms. The simplest way to avoid them is to collect W-9s early, reconcile your payments in December, and file electronically before the deadline.