1099 Filing Requirement Checker
Do you need to issue a 1099?
Answer a few questions to find out whether a payment requires Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-MISC, or additional review.
Free to useNo signup required2025 and 2026 tax years
A screening of one payment relationship against the general federal rules — not a substitute for reviewing the facts, and not legal or tax advice. State 1099 requirements are not covered.
Step 1 of 3 · What you paid for
What did you pay for?
Pick the closest match. If one recipient was paid for more than one thing, run each type separately.
Was this paid in the course of your trade or business?
Personal payments — a contractor working on your home, for example — are generally outside 1099 reporting.
Nothing you enter leaves your browser. Three short steps — about a minute.
An example result: Form 1099-NEC, Box 1a, for $14,500 paid by ACH to a U.S. contractor in 2026. Answer the three steps to see what your payment needs.
Scope. Federal Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC for payments made in the course of a trade or business — services, legal fees and gross proceeds, rent, royalties, medical payments, prizes and other income — with a short pathway for foreign recipients (Forms 1042 / 1042-S). Outside this checker: card and payment-network transactions (Form 1099-K), payroll (W-2), substitute payments, fish purchases, federal agency payments, direct sales, crop insurance, section 409A amounts, the cash-tip and overtime boxes added for 2026, and state filing requirements (many states require their own copy).
Thresholds at a glance
Tested on the total paid to one recipient during the calendar year. The table follows the tax year selected in the checker.
| Payment type | 2026 threshold | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor / professional services | $600$2,000 | 1099-NEC · Box 1a |
| Legal services, including incorporated law firms | $600$2,000 | 1099-NEC · Box 1a |
| Gross proceeds paid to attorneys | $600 | 1099-MISC · Box 10 |
| Rent | $600$2,000 | 1099-MISC · Box 1 |
| Royalties | $10 | 1099-MISC · Box 2 |
| Medical and health care payments | $600$2,000 | 1099-MISC · Box 6 |
| Other reportable income | $600$2,000 | 1099-MISC · Box 3 |
For 2026 payments the general threshold rose from $600 to $2,000, and nonemployee compensation moves to Box 1a of Form 1099-NEC. Gross proceeds paid to attorneys stay at $600 and royalties at $10. Backup withholding makes a form due at any amount.
Corporations are exempt — mostly.
Payments to C and S corporations for services, rent, and royalties are generally not reported. Legal fees, gross proceeds paid to attorneys, and medical payments are reportable even when the payee is incorporated.
Card payments are the processor’s to report.
Credit card, debit card, and payment-network transactions are reported on Form 1099-K by the processor, not by you. Checks, ACH, wires, cash, and bank transfers such as Zelle are generally yours.
Backup withholding changes the test.
If you withheld 24% because a payee gave no TIN, the form is due at any amount — and the withholding is reported with it and deposited on Form 945.
1099s, answered
It depends on how the LLC is taxed, not on the letters “LLC.” A single-member LLC that is disregarded, or a multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership, is treated like an individual or partnership — reportable once you cross the threshold. An LLC that has elected to be taxed as an S or C corporation gets the corporate exemption for services and rent. The answer is on line 3 of the LLC’s Form W-9.
Yes. Attorney fees are the main exception to the corporate exemption — fees paid to a law firm go on Form 1099-NEC whether the firm is a partnership, a PC, or a corporation. A settlement or escrow payment made out to an attorney where the fee is not separately stated is reported as gross proceeds on Form 1099-MISC Box 10, which keeps its $600 threshold.
Generally not from you. Payments by credit card, debit card, or through a third-party payment network are reported by the card company or platform on Form 1099-K, and the rules tell payers not to duplicate them on a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. Two cautions: a friends-and-family or direct bank transfer made through a payment app is not a network transaction — it is treated like a check — and Zelle moves money directly between bank accounts and does not issue Forms 1099-K, so Zelle payments are generally yours to report.
If you pay the landlord directly and the landlord is not a corporation — yes, on Form 1099-MISC Box 1 once rent for the year reaches the threshold. If you pay a property manager or real estate agent, you generally do not report; the agent reports the rent to the owner. Coworking memberships are usually billed by a corporation and paid by card, which takes them out on both counts.
Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC are for U.S. persons. For a foreign contractor, collect a Form W-8BEN (individual) or W-8BEN-E (entity) and keep it on file. Whether anything further is due depends on the source of the income: services performed entirely outside the United States are generally foreign-source and not subject to withholding or Form 1042-S, while U.S.-source payments can be. The checker routes foreign payees to review rather than assuming either answer.
1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation — payments for services, including attorney fees — and is due to both the recipient and the IRS by January 31. 1099-MISC covers everything else that is reportable: rent, royalties, medical and health care payments, prizes and other income, and gross proceeds paid to attorneys. Its recipient copy is also due January 31 (February 15 for Box 10 gross proceeds), with IRS filing by February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically.
Often, yes. Many states require a copy of Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC for payees or payers in the state — some with lower thresholds, earlier due dates, or a requirement to file even when no state tax was withheld. Some states accept the forms through the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing Program; others require filing directly with the state. This checker covers the federal rules only; confirm your state’s requirement before the January deadlines.
IRS instructions
Thresholds and deadlines last reviewed 6 November 2026. This tool screens for common federal Form 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC requirements; it does not cover every exception (substitute payments, fish purchases, federal agency payments, direct sales, crop insurance, section 409A amounts, the 2026 cash-tip and overtime boxes), state requirements, Form 1099-K reporting, or the full foreign withholding analysis, and it cannot establish that an exemption applies. Not legal or tax advice.
Vendor reporting, handled at year-end.
W-9 collection, 1099 preparation and e-filing, and the cases a checker can’t settle — foreign contractors, settlements, mixed payments.