1099-NEC: When You Should & Shouldn’t Be Filing

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This is a prequel to an article about receiving Form 1099-NEC when you aren’t supposed to and how it can cause headaches when the IRS comes looking for money you never really earned but was misreported on your behalf. This is the flip-side for those of you who are the ones on the sending side.

Every year business owners face an issue.

It happens each January, without fail.

They have to decide if sending 1099-NEC forms is necessary.

In some cases it is.

In others, it definitely isn’t.

But there’s a catch these days.

What it basically comes down to is being charged for a service that isn’t necessary.

And by not necessary, I don’t mean “not something you have to do but helpful”.

No, I mean they may be charging you for something you shouldn’t be doing at all.

Something you shouldn’t be doing under any circumstances.

On top of that, they may be doing damage to your reputation.

Or at the very least making people not want to work with you.

As an accountant myself, I’ve heard plenty of stories about it happening.

And the problem which stems from the issue of whether or not to file these forms is:

Being charged to file 1099-NEC forms that shouldn’t be filed AT ALL.

IRS Form 1099-NEC
There are a lot of questions surrounding when you should & shouldn’t file Form 1099-NEC…it starts with knowing that there’s no such thing as “file one just in case”!

Rules For Filing A 1099-NEC

Some of you may know the rules about working with independent contractors and freelancers.

Some of you might not.

In short, when you work with people who are not employees, you need to report any yearly amounts paid in excess of $600.

This is only for business expenses, mind you–not when you pay for personal things from your business (which you shouldn’t be doing anyway).

That’s the basic rule.

You are required to file a 1099-NEC with the IRS and issue a copy to the contractor.

You’re required to send this information to the individuals and the IRS by January 31st (or the next business day if it falls on a weekend).

There are others–like you don’t issue a 1099-NEC to corporations for regular services.

But those really don’t have any bearing on this particular discussion.

Then there are the penalties if you mess up.

If you don’t file, fail to send the individuals their statements, or misrepresent the information you can face penalties based on the number of forms and how late they are filed.

Things have changed, however, when it comes to who you need to report payments to…

Why Your Accountant Shouldn’t Be Doing This Work

Many people find change difficult to accept.

It’s even worse when you’ve been doing something one way for what seems like forever only to be told that you have to change your ways going forward.

In this case, the change is in how to report payments to independent contractors.

It used to be that a small business (or any business for that matter) would have to file a 1099-NEC for anyone regardless of the payment type.

Of course, for most of that time, there wasn’t PayPal and only the largest of businesses could afford to accept payments via credit cards directly.

Back in 2011, the IRS changed the way that credit card and third-party payment processor transactions would be reported.

No longer will these types of payments be reported by the individual businesses on form 1099-NEC.

Instead, the processors will be issuing their own tax reporting form, called the 1099-K.

1099 MISC 1099 K rule
Text passage copied directly from page 2 of the 1099-NEC Instructions under the heading “Exemptions” (it still refers to the MISC but applies to the NEC as well)

Why is this important?

(This is the aforementioned catch from the opening section!)

Because this change meant big savings for small businesses which stopped using cash (or checks) to pay their contractors.

They would no longer have to pay for the preparation and filing of 1099-NEC forms because it was no longer their responsibility.

But again, change is hard, and many accountants either couldn’t adapt to comply with the new rule or they outright ignored it.

This is where you’re paying for unnecessary work.

If you are paying all of your bills strictly by credit card or, say PayPal, you should UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES be issuing a 1099-NEC to any of the freelancers you hire.

Unfortunately, there are many reports of companies still doing exactly that.

They may simply not have told you what the rules were, to begin with, preying on your trust.

Some may even be using scare tactics–using the fines previously discussed–to scare you into paying them for a service they don’t belong doing.

Others still may simply (wrongly) believe that they are still doing things the “right way” since it’s what has always been done.

There are people even using a rationale similar to this:

We’re filing the 1099-NEC just in case because we can’t be sure the contractor will get a 1099-K”.

Regardless of the manner or reason, you shouldn’t be paying for this service if you paid someone via credit card, PayPal, or any other 3rd party processor that collects tax info for the purpose of issuing a 1099-K.

PERIOD!

You aren’t responsible for what your contractors do…you are only responsible to make sure your company does what is required of it.

Remember…you aren’t the tax police!

Corporations (Almost) Never Get A 1099-NEC

In the”Rules” section above I mentioned corporations.

This is because under most circumstances, corporations, whether C or S, are exempt from being issued a 1099-NEC.

This is regardless of payment method, meaning even if you pay cash to a corporation you don’t send them a 1099-NEC.

It also applies to other business structures electing to be taxed as a corporation (ie: the Single-Member LLC that files for S Corporation tax treatment).

Don’t believe me?

Is your accountant telling you otherwise?

Have a look for yourself (from page 3 of the 1099-NEC/MISC instructions):

1099 MISC S Corporation Rule
(The latest instructions still refer to the MISC but apply to the NEC as well because the instructions cover both forms)

Plain as day, right?

Oh yeah, those exceptions that are mentioned are pretty rare, although there is one very common one which we will get to in the very next section.

Trust me, I’ve had bosses who insisted on sending 1099s to everyone on behalf of clients–even corporations–and I would have to practically yell and shove the instructions in their face to make them relent.

Why?

Because it was wrong to both do the work that wasn’t required and especially to charge the clients for it!

Sending Attorneys A 1099-NEC

Attorneys.

Lawyers.

Whatever term you use, they serve the same purpose for the 1099-NEC.

Payments to attorneys are always reported on a 1099-NEC regardless of business structure.

1099 NEC Attorney Corporations
From the IRS 1099-NEC instructions for ending a 1099-NEC to attorneys even if they are a corporation

You send an attorney a 1099-NEC unless you paid them with a credit/debit card or PayPal-type service.

Business payments that is.

If you are paying for your attorney’s guidance and expertise on personal matters, then you don’t send a 1099-NEC.

What if you happened to pay for those personal services through your business?

Change your accounting for it from “Legal Fees” or “Legal & Professional” or whatever you named the category to “Distributions” or “Draw”.

You shouldn’t be paying for personal expenses with business money anyway.

Instead, you should pay yourself, then spend the money.

Yes, it’s confusing.

All you have to remember is:

  • Attorney always = 1099-NEC when paying cash/check–the business structure means nothing in this situation.
  • Attorney never = 1099-NEC when paying with debit/credit/PayPal/similar

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART BECAUSE IT IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN OTHER TYPES OF PAYMENTS YOU REPORT ON THIS FORM.

In case you are wondering if you send the 1099-NEC or the old 1099-MISC for attorneys, here is the answer:

1099 NEC Payments To Attorneys
Instructions in form 1099-NEC to file this form for attorney services provided to you in the course of business.

Cash Transfers: You Send A 1099-NEC

With the rise in the number of cash-transfer services, it’s important to take note that none of these systems count as “3rd party processors”.

That means all transactions done using these platforms require a 1099-to be filed.

These are simply “money transfer services” and not actual merchant services account.

Services like:

  • Zelle
  • Venmo
  • Plastiq
  • even bank Bill Pay

There is a huge difference in that money transfer services are supposed to be for personal use, whereas merchant services are for business payments.

If you aren’t giving your tax info to a system, then it is not going to send your partners a 1099-K, which in turn means you must complete a 1099-NEC for all payments made to those who qualify!

Don’t be fooled by services that allow you to fund your account with a credit card, however.

You are still going to be required to file a 1099-NEC for anyone you pay using that method because the transfer service still isn’t a 1099-K provider.

They send the money from their own account and recoup it plus a fee by charging your card so you really aren’t paying those people via credit card.

HOWEVER…

ACH transactions sent using actual 3rd party payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe, or other merchant services systems are exempt from reporting on a 1099-NEC!

Why?

Because even though those payments are being sent from your bank account to your contractor’s bank account, it is being done so via the same clearinghouse system that the credit and debit card transactions are done with.

This means all of the transactions are reported on the 1099-K that the processor files on your partners’ behalf (if they qualify).

Special Word On Transfer Apps & 1099-NECs

Venmo recently added the ability to use a credit card as a funding source.

Don’t let this confuse you…it doesn’t exempt you from filing a form 1099-MISCs for contractors to whom you send Venmo payments funded from a credit card.

Venmo itself is not a service that provides 1099-NEC or the 1099-K on anyone’s behalf on individual accounts.

Clarification: Venmo does have merchant accounts that qualify for the 1099-K but it’s specifically for businesses that submitted tax info.

Most people are using Venmo with their personal accounts to conduct business so you need to check with those people you pay with Venmo, but the overwhelming majority I’ve worked with use personal Venmo accounts and therefore require a 1099-NEC to be sent.

Neither is Cash App.

Even if you use a credit card to transfer money, all you are doing is funding your own account with cash from the card.

Then the cash is transferred to the recipient’s account.

This means that as long as you use these apps to send money, regardless of the source of the funds, you are still responsible to send the 1099-NEC to anyone you pay in excess of $600 in a calendar year who is not using a “business” account!

The same holds true for any of the other services which let you fund an account with a credit card but send the cash to the other person’s bank account.

It’s a very confusing issue because none of these companies make giving clear guidelines a priority on their sites.

Some, like Square’s Cash App, don’t even have a way for someone like me–a non-user accountant seeking clarification–to access support (you have to have an account or do an end-around and contact square first!)

The problem arising from this is that businesses are allowed to operate on these systems so…

You will need to ask anyone you send money to if they have a business or personal account!

Then based on that info, you will know whether or not to send a 1099-NEC.

Frustrating, I know, but that’s what we have to deal with these days?

PayPal Friends & Family

Very quickly:

You should not be sending contractor payments via PayPal’s Friends & Family option.

That is specifically designed to send–you guessed it!–friends and family money.

Money to reimburse them for your half of dinner.

Or a gift you both went in on together.

PayPal doesn’t recognize these payments as reportable on the 1099-K so if you pay a contractor with this option, you will have to send them a 1099-NEC.

And the contractor may even have their account closed for misusing the system or at the very least be told they have to convert it to a business account.

This Is Also Pissing Off Your Partners

Remember how I said that the credit card or payment processor is responsible for reporting the 1099-K these days?

If you are still filing a 1099-NEC on your partner contractors’ behalves, then you reporting duplicate income.

When you report duplicate income, the IRS looks at their income tax returns and sees only part of that being reported.

Then, the IRS goes to your partners looking for the rest of the income that was reported under their tax ID, even though there isn’t any.

What that does is create headaches for your partners because they now have to spend time putting together reports showing that the money you reported is the same as what was reported by the processor and that their tax returns weren’t filed incorrectly.

This leads to lots of wasted time that could’ve been spent making money.

Or, if they have to pay their accountant to do the work, then you are costing them unnecessary spending.

And that my friends, pisses people off!

Do you really want to make life harder for people you have to work closely with and whom you rely on to do so many tasks for your business?

Get Your Accounting Straight

Look, I know that you may not have a clue about payroll tax rules or even what the hell a 1099-of-any-kind is.

But isn’t that why you pay a tax accountant or the people you run payroll with in the first place.

If you want to get all of this cleared up, the steps are simple:

  1. Ask your accountant why they prepared and charged you for preparing these forms
  2. If they can’t come up with a clearly defined and reasonable answer, fire them and hire an accountant that knows WTF they’re doing.

See, 2 steps are all it takes.

Oh, and please send your apologies to your contractors and let them know that you were not behind it and that you’re sorry they had to go through it.

You may also want to look into a malpractice suit against your old/current accountant since the instructions are crystal clear on this mess.

Update

I’ve received 2 emails already who have received 1099-NEC forms when they shouldn’t have and one of the people tried contacting the business which sent it. This is the response:

You use the Bluehost 1099-misc on your tax return and the paypal 1099-k is just for reference. You do not put the 1099-k on your tax return. https://www.irs.gov/uac/general-faqs-on-new-payment-card-reporting-requirements

You know what’s funny (or sad? or stupid?) about this response?

The link they provided is a F.A.Q. about reporting requirements for payment processors and it says the same thing that the 1099-NEC instructions state:

Section from IRS 1099-K instructions telling you how to report money that can be reported on 1099-MISC

So, no matter what you reference, the answer is simple:

ANYTHING REPORTED ON A 1099-K DOES NOT GET REPORTED ON A 1099-MISC!!

Your Turn

If you happen to have fallen into this trap, leave a comment and let everyone know if you questioned your accountant/payroll processor about it and what their response was! And if you are on the receiving end of this debacle of a situation, tell us all too!

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137 Comments

  1. I have been freelancing for a few years and paid by Paypal. I’ve always received a 1099-Misc from the person or company, and the IRS has never given me any problems about it or asked for any reports, so I’m a little confused by this. I pay someone to do my taxes, and she’s never said there is a problem with getting a 1099-Misc.

    1. Hey Emmy!

      To be honest, you should should consider yourself lucky 🙂

      The IRS is usually very slow with checking tax returns, and in fact I received a message yesterday from someone who just received a notice regarding 2014. Yes, 2014.

      The question is did you qualify to receive a 1099-K from PayPal? If not, then there is not going to be an issue since it didn’t report anything on your behalf. BUT if you did, AND the companies you did work for also submit a 1099-MISC for you, then the IRS totals those figures to compare to what you report on your tax return. And that is where the problem lies because you didn’t earn both of those reported amounts, only one which was reported twice.

      Not that I want to freak you out or anything, but there are several other freelancers I am friends/work with who have also had that happen to them, and it’s not a fun thing. It’s especially annoying for me, as an accountant, because the instructions state clearly that it is not something that should be done.

    2. Great article! I tried to read carefully but am still stuck on one point. As a vendor, how can you know whether your contractor met both qualifications from PayPal of receiving BOTH $20K+ AND 200+ transactions in the business year and will therefor be issued a 1099-k, therefor not needing a 1099-NEC from us?
      I am in a similar boat as Emmy from 4 years ago. My company (wordpress development) have a PayPal business but have never met both the qualifications to receive a 1099-K.
      We have some clients who send us 1099s and some who don’t (but maybe should as we are an LLC partnership?)
      I am not worried about this for 2020 as again we did not meet both the income and transaction # thresholds. HOWEVER, we do have a couple contractors who are paid through paypal. 
      So, how do you know if you need to send a 1099-NEC to a contractor who you pay via Paypal (or similar, like Venmo)? Do you have to ask them if they meet those qualifications to receive a 1099K from paypal? THANK YOU!!!

    3. Hi Shayna.

      I state in the article that it doesn’t matter if your partners qualify for the 1099-K or not. What matters is the way you pay them. Simply put, if you pay using the PayPal products and services method then you never send a 1099-NEC period. Those types of payments are strictly to be reported on the 1099-K.

      With Venmo, you only need to ask if they have a business or personal account. 99% of people I’ve encountered are using Venmo personal plans (meaning they didn’t submit tax info) so you will always have to send a 1099-NEC as long as you pay more than $600.

  2. HI Eric,

    I found this article very interesting and helpful. I do have a question. I pay most of the contractors who work for me via PayPal and Venmo. How do I know if they will be receiving a 1099-K from these entities?

    Thanks!
    Wendy

    1. Hello Wendy!

      According to what I’ve read from PayPal, the company has representatives who inspect payment histories of individuals. If they find that the account is actually accepting payments and not just “sharing expenses” they will tell the person to set up a business account. Taking that into account, I trust that all people who do contract work are businesses and don’t leave the reporting up to PayPal.

      Venmo and other bank-bank services on the other hand are not “merchant accounts” or 3rd party payment processors”. Rather, they are peer-to-peer money sharing applications which do not collect tax info for the purpose of tax tracking & reporting. For those people, you do indeed need to file a 1099-MISC.

      Thanks for reading and submitting your question…hoe I was able to clarify it for you!

    2. What if you are using Venmo to send gifts to friends or just helping them out because then need gas money. Do I have to send 1099-misc for that? I am not paying for a service or contractor.

    3. Hello Gavin.

      If you aren’t paying for goods or services then you have nothing to worry about.

      A 1099-MISC is only needed if you are paying people “in the course of doing business” with them.

  3. This is a great article and I plan to share the 1099K information with my bookkeeping clients. I am careful not to send 1099-Misc to Corporations and anyone paid via a Credit Card or PayPal. I find that a W9 request will sort out anyone I might be unclear about. Can you confirm that electronic payments bank-to-bank or via a Debit Card still need to have 1099-Misc’s issued? The bank and credit unions are not issue 1099-K. Do I have that right?

    1. Hey Karla!

      Regarding the Corporations,make sure not lump lawyers in there…they get 1099s regardless of business structure.

      As for the bank/debit card payments, it’s pretty simple. Anything that goes through a 3rd party processor doesn’t get a 1099-MISC. So, even if it’s a debit card payment, it’s still falls under that exception. Anything that is direct, such as bank-to-bank (or CU as the case may be) or Venmo or PayPal friends/family gets a 1099-MISC because none of those services track and file with the IRS.

      Hope this help clear things up!

    2. This is great information. My wife paid an independent contractor using Venmo; BUT the payment method used for Venmo was the Visa debit card. Given that Venmo is sitting between Visa and the contractor, I assume this means that Visa will not be able to send a 1099 to the contractor — meaning my wife should send the contractor a 1099-MISC. Thoughts?

      Thanks!

      Chris

    3. Hey Chris, thanks for the question!

      Venmo isn’t a merchant processor, it’s simply a transfer service for sending money to friends and family. That means your wife needs to file a 1099-MISC for the contractor if she paid them $600 or more.

      For future reference, it isn’t the credit card company (Visa. MC, Discover, Amex) that files the 1099-K, it’s the processor (Stripe, Square, QuickBooks Payments, etc). In this case, it just so happens that Venmo is the intermediary, but the purpose is personal and not merchant in nature, so it’s up the to individuals making the payments to file the proper forms.

    4. Thanks for the information. Just to make sure I am understanding what you are telling Chris… If I have a business and I use the debit card linked to my business bank account to pay a non-corporation independent contractor $1,000 through Venmo, I would issue that contractor a 1099-Misc. But if I use the same debit card to pay the contractor through PayPal or Square, then I would not issue the 1099-Misc because PayPal and Square are credit card processors. Do I have this right? Also, is it safe to assume that most people that accept debit cards associated with a bank account are using a credit card processor and you would therefore not be required to send a 1099-Misc?

    5. That’s correct Matt.

      Venmo (and Zelle) are transfer services and not 3rd party payment processors. Even though you may be using a card to move the money, it still gets a 1099-MISC because of the fact that the intermediary systems do not issue a 1099-K. I know it can be a bit confusing, but that is why I wrote this guide 🙂

      You shouldn’t be assuming anything when it comes to payments (or anything in life, really). In most cases, you will be able to tell from the invoice or the payment landing page what service is being used. You can then find out how those should be treated. Remember, if someone said “I just assumed…” you’d probably shake your head at them so don’t do the same.

  4. One thing to note from what I understand, there are many consultants/vendors/subcontractors that are paid Paypal for example but if they don’t meet the 1099k min threshold reporting requirements to receive the 1099k, which is a different threshold amount from the 1099misc req($600), they may not actually receive a 1099k.

    1099k min threshold reporting:
    Form 1099-K is sent out to payees by a payment settlement entity if there are more than 200 such transactions and the gross payments exceed $20,000

    This leaves many consultants/vendors/sole proprietors who do not keep accurate records (Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!) of their business activities & have normally relied on 1099 forms as a way to track their previous year income for tax return prep. Then they come crying to the payee for a record of payments they received the prior year & most usually at the 12th hour in a panic since they never kept records of their inv’s. As a courtesy we end up providing the pymnt report, but it is pretty annoying to partially do someone else’s bookkeeping for free. Very common. Not everybody, but it does happen quite a bit. 🙂 🙂

    1. Thanks for the comment KL!

      You are absolutely correct on the interpretation and result of the “threshold” for receiving a 1099-K.

      Trust me, I’ve been through it myself lol. Sometimes I joke with my clients that I should charge them, and then they can in turn charge the contractor for reimbursement of my fee if they aren’t keeping their own records straight.

      I honestly doubt we’ll ever see a time where everyone has common sense and does all of these things for themselves.

  5. I have a question how do I file my daughter’s 1099 Miscellaneous Income? She worked for an assisted living facility and they didn’t take out taxes. She received a 1099 Miscellaneous income form. On the tax site in using it keeps telling me I have to claim it as my business, but she don’t own a business it’s how they did it. So I’m lost on how to file this can you please help?

    1. Hi Tabby, thanks for the question.

      If the income is reported under your daughter’s social, then she has to file a tax return and report the money on Schedule C. Technically she is a sole proprietor because she’s an independent contractor so that means any expenses she incurred in conjunction with that job can be expensed. That includes any kind of training, licensing, uniforms if they are branded /embroidered with the name of the facility (but only that–anything suitable for everyday use isn’t a business expense).

      If you aren’t comfortable doing it yourself, I would suggest speaking with a qualified professional, especially if you are in a state with its own income tax return required as well. It’s always better to make the investment to ensure that it’s done the right way.

  6. Pay Pal owns Venmo and yet one is not reported under 1099-misc and the other (venmo) does. On your return is Venmo income considered ‘cash’ or ‘checks’ or ‘venmo’ or ‘digital transfer income’ when you’re listing types of income and amounts?

    1. Hey Matt!

      It doesn’t have to do with ownership, but rather the manner in which the payments occur. Venmo isn’t a merchant service, 3rd party processor, or payment settlement entity (PSE) like most PayPal services are. It’s an ACH or cash-transfer system whereby it simply sends money from one account to the other. That’s why payments made via Venmo require a 1099-MISC.

      As for the way you report it on the tax return, I have a simple answer–you don’t break it out. The tax return is simply a summary of all of the transaction within your business for a given year, so you report everything in total: all of your sales as one number regardless of method of payment. Even on the books I never get so micro as to keep payment types as separately tracked categories, only types of income–for me, it’s “taxes”, “accounting”, ‘affiliate”. If you get too micro, you end up having a mess of things which takes forever to get through!

  7. What about when I pay someone through Venmo and I elect for Venmo to charge my credit card? Versus debiting money directly from my bank account? The credit card charge comes through as “Venmo” and no contractor’s name is listed on the transaction. Is no 1099-MISC required in this case?

  8. Hey Michel!

    Venmo is never going to send out a 1099-MISC so you are still going to be responsible regardless of what funding source you use. It’s unlike PayPal, as Venmo doesn’t consider itself a Payment Settlement Entity (PSE). PayPal does, which is why no matter how you use it, you never send a 1099-MISC.

    It’s confusing and a pain in the ass to deal with these types of situations, and I wish Venmo itself would make this clear *someplace* on its website since I’m sure there are a lot of people who may be confused by the type of processing it provides.

    1. So I don’t understand, if you read the regulation 1.6041-1(a)(1)(iv) and 1.6050-1(c) and the statute 6050W , it seems that Venmo and Zelle meet the defintions of a 6050W entity under the statute.

      Zelle requires you to sign up with a debit card and only accepts members with debit cards and seems to. Venmo actually funds an account, charges your credit card etc.

      It seems the test of whether these payments qualify for the exception should be whether the entities meet the definitions under the statute and regulations and not whether or not they actually send out a 1099.

      I’m curious why these organizations (Zelle and Venmo) feel they fail the tests and rules set forth in the code and regulations, and how as a practitioner you can figure out what qualifies as a 6050W organization and what does not. It’s not like Zelle and Venmo tell you on their websites.

    2. Thanks for the insight Cliff!

      I don’t know where you got the info on Zelle, but on the website it specifically states that it’s a direct account-to-account transfer system and all you need is a bank account at a participation institution (bank or credit union). I see nothing about requiring a debit card. In fact, when I had to sign up for it, all I needed to do was make sure they had the email address that was on file with my account.

      As far as Venmo, the company stated as much to a blogger a few years ago on Twitter that it would not issue 1099s on any accounts. I can only assume that the way it transfers the money to the receiver’s bank account is via ACH which eliminates it as a PSE and therefore puts the onus on the sender to file the 1099-MISC.

      I’ll be honest, it frustrates the heck out of me when sites like these don’t have the specific language, because as we all know there are a lot of people who do their own taxes and therefore would benefit from knowing exactly what their responsibility is…not to mention the accountants who want definitive proof!

    3. Apparently Zelle requires a debit card for enrollment only if you wish to send or receive money and your bank isn’t a member of their network.

      Anyways, thanks to your comment on ACH I located an example.

      In regulation 1.6050W-1 Example 3, “There are no contractual agreements between A and the sellers for the purpose of permitting the sellers to use the ACH network. ” and then it reasons therefore this is not a third party payment network.

      My conclusion is that for whatever reason, Paypal has contractual agreements permitting sellers to use their network, but Venmo and Zelle do not?

      Example 4 describes a company that processes checks through ACH, but I think that is obviously different, because they are a check processor.

  9. What makes PayPal complicated for me is that they are many things to many people. Depending on how you use PayPal, it can be a payment processor, and they issue Form 1099-Ks for individuals/businesses meeting the applicable thresholds. However, PayPal also was originally and still is used as a transfer service.

    PayPal does not figure in so-called “personal payments” (i.e. transfers) when determining whether they will issue a Form 1099-K. Therefore, payments made through PayPal in the form of a personal payment are really synonymous with payments through Venmo or Zelle and a 1099-MISC should be filed for such payments…

    Unless: we distinguish PayPal on the grounds that they are wearing both hats and monitor personal payments to identify ones that should instead be business payments and therefore eligible for 1099-K reporting. In that case, we really can say that all payments through PayPal, regardless of the type, are exempt from 1099-MISC reporting.

  10. I have a question about contractors paid via credit card or Paypal with less than 200 transactions and less than $20,000 in payments. If third party processors only report payments on a 1099-K that are over $20,000 for the year, am I responsible for filing a 1099-Misc to all my subcontractors who received more than $600 but less than $20,000 even when all the payments were made via credit card?

    1. Hello Lisa!

      I like to tell people “you aren’t the tax police”. That means all you have to concern yourself with is your reporting requirements.

      If you pay the contractor via a PSE (payment settlement entity) such as PayPal or merchant account, then you have absolutely zero obligation for filing any tax forms. It really doesn’t matter if they do/don’t qualify for the 1099-K, that’s a separate issue not having anything to do with you.

      Remember what the 1099-MISC instructions I referenced in the article state–payments that must be reported on the 1099-K should not be reported on the 1099-MISC as well.

      Hope this helps 🙂

    2. Hi Eric, this is a great article yet you contradict yourself numerous times with regard to PayPal. In the above you state -“If you pay the contractor via a PSE (payment settlement entity) such as PayPal or merchant account, then you have absolutely zero obligation for filing any tax forms.” However, in other comments you’ve stated that the PayPal “Friend/Family” payments would require a 1099-misc form be issued. If someone was to pay an independent contractor through PayPal using the “Friend/Family” payment option does PayPal still count that money towards the $20,000 threshold and potentially issue the 1009-k? I’ve read conflicting reports on this. I’m sure their algorithms can differentiate between payments for Friends/Family vs. Goods & Services but no one can direct me to this policy in PayPal’s TOS. Whilst I know sending payments to independent contractors for services using the Friend/Family function is against PayPal’s guidelines many people do it to avoid fees.

    3. Hello Naomi.

      The statement you speak of is actually quite correct. PayPal merchant service is a Payment Settlement Entity (PSE) while the friends/family transfer is in the same class as Zelle & Venmo in terms of simply transferring money between accounts.

      As for the other question–no, only sales coming into an account are listed on the 1099-K. There is a page on the PayPal site here: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/irs6050w. This specifies in all instances that payments for “goods and services” are what get reported on the 1099-K. I have actually read about instances where people were told they had to convert their accounts to merchant accounts because the activity was flagged for what that’s worth.

  11. I’m a freelance accountant trying to finish up 1099 processing for several clients. The issue I’m having is determining how payments were made (now, after the fact). Most of my clients use QBO for their bookkeeping and every bank has a different way of listing payment info in the memo section of transactions. Sometimes the word “DEBIT” will be spelled out, but often it’s really vague and I can’t tell if the payment was done via ACH or through a 3rd party like QB invoicing. Anyone have any feedback on this?

    1. Hello Suzanne.

      Almost all banks use the merchant description to populate the description…so if payment was made via PayPal, “PayPal” would be in the description, QB Payments would show IN*, Stripe and Square would say those names followed by the merchant name.

      At the same time, transfer systems like Venmo and Zelle will also show those names in the description.

      Those are your clues…pretty much anything that isn’t PP, QB Payments, Stripe or Square will be a non-PSE transaction so the 1099-MISC will most likely be necessary on those.

  12. Ok, I’ve read the whole article, and comments. Very helpful. Now I’m going to really make your brain hurt. What about the scenario where I use STRIPE (a card processor), but I’m using their ACH payments feature, not credit card. Does that change reporting requirements? I know the 1099-K threshold is $20,000/200 payments per year. Fair to say that the method used to make the payment is irrelevant since STRIPE is a TSPO?

    1. Hey Bryan!

      If I’m understanding your question correctly, you are correct in thinking that as long as you use Stripe, the form you get is the K and not the MISC. Even though you are using the ACH option of Stripe, it is still being processed the same way.

      The reason Zelle and Venmo are exceptions are because they simply connect the banks and don’t actually process transactions. Plus, neither of those require tax info,which is another key indicator.

    2. Hi Eric, I know you’ve specifically mentioned Zelle and Venmo in regards to requiring a 1099-MISC. What about those of us using Cash app to make payments? I’m assuming it will also require a 1099-MISC, but it does process payments from my credit/debit card.

      Thanks

    3. Hey Joe!

      I checked out the help section for the Cash App (https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/5640-tax-reporting-cash-app) regarding tax reporting and contacted support.

      Basically you have to ask the people you pay for business purposes if they have a personal or business account. If they are a personal account, they don’t get tax reporting since that’s not the purpose of the individual account. Plus, it looks like you are simply funding your account with your credit card and then sending the cash to their bank account when using the individual plan, so it’s not like using a merchant service which reports on the 1099-K.

      I update the section in the article to include this information as well as changed the heading to read “Payment Apps” so it covers Venmo, Cash App and any other similar program.

    4. Hi Eric, thanks for the link and info. I did some research prior to asking you but the confusion was with me using a credit card to fund. Also, the accounts are personal and not business, so your explanation makes perfect sense.

      I’m sure the info within this thread will come to use for many in the future. Especially now that you’ve updated it with the keywords applying to “payment apps.”

      Thanks again

  13. If a NGB pays expenses on behalf of others, my understanding is that the 1099 Misc is issued to the payees, not the people they are paying the expenses for. Is this correct?

    1. Hello Lynn!

      I’m not sure what yo are referring to by “NGB”, but only the people doing the actual work are to receive a 1099-MISC. The middle person doesn’t get a 1099-MISC unless they are actually an independent contractor themselves charging for the service, in which case they would get a 1099-MISC for just their fee.

    2. I was referring to a non-govt body (sports related) that is a 501(c)(3). They grant funds to athletes to help pay for training. The funds never go directly to the athletes, but are instead paid directly to coaches, etc on behalf of the athlete. (The athlete submits the bill to them and the club pays it directly to the vendor).

    3. Ok, that can be different since it’s a 501(c)(3) as they tend to have more stringent rules due to the nature of the business. That category isn’t in my area of expertise so I’d suggest seeking out someone with specific knowledge of charities.

  14. Hi Eric,

    What about if you pay contractors on Venmo via Credit Card — not a linked bank account or Venmo cash balance.

    I thought I had to send 1099-misc to 2 contractors, but when filing on QuickBooks, this alert came up:
    “Excluded payments: If you made any payments to contractors by credit card, debit card, gift card, or a third-party network like PayPal, the IRS requires you to exclude those amounts from your 1099-MISC forms. Instead, they require the payment settlement companies to report those amounts.”

    I appreciate the help.

    Thanks,

    Nick

    1. Hey Nick!

      Check out the sections on “Transfer Apps” above.

      Venmo only uses your credit card to fund your account on that system and then sends the money from there to the bank of the recipient. It isn’t an actual PSE (Payment Settlement Entity) like PP or credit card processors. Unless the person you sent money to has a business account with Venmo then the get a 1099-MISC.

  15. Finally, I did pay one contractor 500 dollars via Venmo.

    Then I paid 300 dollars to a completely different contractor via Venmo.

    For each contractor I did not pass 600 dollars. As a result, I don’t have to send 1099-misc?

    Is this correct?

    1. I’m going to answer both of your questions here Gavin.

      For the first one, the limit is $600 per contractor not in total spending across all people you work with.

      For the second question, you are supposed to collect a Form W-9 for each independent contractor you hire. That form will contain all of the necessary information to complete a 1099-MISC should you be required to file one. You can get the form here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

    2. Thank you for your quick reply! You have been very informative.

      However, I also use Venmo to help out my family. Sometimes my cousin might need gas money or food etc.

      So if through out the calendar year my cost of helping him out is 600 dollars. Do I have to 1099 him?

      Note, I am not hiring for a service just helping a family member.

    3. Yeah, I answered that on your very first comment ?

      If you aren’t engaged in business with a person (purchasing goods or services) then you don’t have to worry.

    4. This might be a silly question, but if you’ve had friends pay you for freelance work, and they pay through PayPal or Zelle, will the IRS even know if you don’t report?

    5. If your friends pay you and do what they are supposed to do and issue you a 1099-MISC–assuming you qualify for one–then yes, the IRS will know if you don’t report that income.

      On the other hand, if there is no 1099-MISC reported on your behalf, no one will know. However, if you get chosen for an audit, it will likely get found out and you will have to sleep at night knowing that your not paying taxes makes everyone else have to pick up the slack–including those friends and your family.

    6. Got it! Thanks! One last question: if you loan your friends money, and they pay you back with interest, is that claimed as MISC income or interest on taxes?

      Thanks!!

    1. Eric I’m a practicing CPA in Florida, and your article is very interesting to say the least.

      Have you thought about how the taxpayer might substantiate payments made to independent contractors if say for example their schedule C was examined.? I’ve seen multiple examinations where payments to subcontractors were disallowed as expenses as the taxpayer did not issue a 1099 miscellaneous for amounts paid to contractors for personal services.

      I cannot imagine that an examining agent would accept your reasoning for not filing a 1099-MISC, if he asked the taxpayer to substantiate amounts paid to individuals for personal services. I’m not saying you are wrong in your interpretation of these very twisted rules, I happen to agree with you. I just don’t see agents on examinations accepting that as an answer.

    2. Hello Sean.

      I’ve honestly never heard of anyone losing out on a deduction because they didn’t send a 1099-MISC. Penalties for not filing the forms if they were found to be needed, sure, but at least not in the last 6-8 years since this new policy was enacted.

      Substantiating is as simple as keeping accurate records in a program such as QuickBooks where the name, date, amount of the transactions. That, and the statements showing the method of payment (credit/debit card) would be more than enough to show cause for not filings the forms.

      Additionally, I’ve spoken to many accountants/CPA’s when they ask why I don’t want their clients to send out 1099-MISCs and 99% of them agree with this specifically because it’s not just an “acceptable practice” but an actual rule spelled out in black & white in the instructions.

  16. The gray area that we can’t seem to find concrete answers on is electronic debits to pay vendors from bank accounts. In Quickbooks, if you mark it “debit,” it doesn’t tend to fill the 1099..If you leave it blank (as in no check #), it adds it to the 1099. Is there a direct answer as to whether ACH transfers go on a 1099? Thanks

    1. Hi Carla!

      I actually do mention ACH in the article.

      If you are sending money electronically via a processor like QuickBooks Payments or PayPal directly from your bank to a contractor’s then it gets processed through the 1099-K. If you do it from a plain-old ACH system like Venmo then you need to issue a 1099-MISC.

      Also, check with the system–some of them will clearly tell you that they do not issue tax forms and that will let you know what you need to do. Also, in the case of Zelle, Venmo, etc they don’t require you to fill out a W-9 which is another indicator that those transactions will require a 1099-MISC.

    2. Thanks. These are direct transfers from our clients’ bank to the vendor, so reading that again, it would seem, that they do need to be issued by our client. Thanks for your help.

    3. Yes, absolutely.

      If they were to be sent using the ACH/e-check option of, say, QB Payments then it would be processed by the merchant and only subject to the 1099-K filing. Anything bank-to-bank is reportable on the 1099-MISC…assuming, of course that none of the contractors are S Corps.

    4. Hello Christy.

      Wire transfers to contractors do require a Form 1099-MISC to be filed, assuming all of the other requirements are met for filing.

  17. HI Eric,

    Very helpful article. I have 2 questions:

    -are the rules the same for Form 1099-NEC ? (seems like starting from this year Form 1099-NEC should be used for individual contractors instead of 1099-MISC)

    -if i paid individual contractor $1000 through paypal (which is higher than $600) i should not issue him anything, right ? (even though theoretically it’s possible that this individual contractor will not meet yearly paypal threshold which will result in him not getting 1099-K from paypal)

    1. Hey Adam.

      First, don’t worry about the 1099-NEC too much right now because it’s still not an official form and won’t have any real info until sometime later this year for the returns filed in 2021. But, the rules appear to be exactly the same regarding credit/debit card and Payment Settlement Entities (PSEs) such as PayPal.

      To answer the second question–you aren’t the tax police. It doesn’t matter if the recipient qualifies for a 1099-K or not, you are not supposed to send a 1099-MISC if the transaction would be reported on the “K” form.

  18. Hi Eric, thank you for the article. I just want to confirm that 1099-Misc shouldn’t be issued to attorneys if payments were made with a credit card. Thank you!

    1. Hi Ann.

      You always have to send an attorney a 1099-MISC, even if they are corporation but not if you pay with a credit card.

      I admit that I didn’t give the issue enough attention or clarity so I just created a section just for the topic of attorneys & 1099-MISCs which I hope helps make things more clear 🙂

    2. Eric, this is a great article and really helpful. Do you have a link with more guidance on the requirement to send the 1099-MISC to an attorney even if they were paid with a credit card. In my searches all the information I find states that if payments were made by credit card you don’t need to also send a 1099-MISC but nothing mentions attorneys specifically. My company pays attorneys with both checks and credit cards so I would like to have links to support reporting the credit card payments to them on the 1099-MISC. Thank you!

    3. Hey Kelly!

      That should have said “unless you pay them with a credit/debit or PayPal-type”, don’t know why I put “even if”. That was my mistype.

      I edited the end of that section to try to make it clearer…hopefully it clears up any confusion 🙂

  19. Your article has been very helpful in providing the clarity about the 1099-MISC requirements. Can you tell me what happens if a business owner uses his personal credit card to pay the contractor for a business service? Do those payments get reported on 1099-MISC or will the contractor get a 1099-K for that?I know he shouldn’t be doing it, but they do what they do. Thanks.

    1. Hi Suchi!

      The payments should not be reported on a 1099-MISC for that contractor, but the money should be put on the books of the business. Either the business should make a transfer or write a check to the owner and classify it as contractor expenses, or just be done as a journal entry to the Draw account if it’s not a corporation.

  20. I have a client who sometimes pays vendors with cash/check and sometimes uses a credit card or PayPal. They are not consistent with one type of payment per vendor. My question is, what if they paid a vendor $500 by check and $500 through PayPal? Neither us reportable by itself but the total is. Did this vendor just make tax-free money?

    1. Hi Marcy!

      The vendor did not make tax-free money. Nothing is tax-free as it is the responsibility of that person to report all income on their tax return whether or not they received a 1099-MISC or a 1099-K.

  21. Loved reading this article, found it looking for info on whether I needed to file a 1099-Misc on behalf of my client for payments they made to a sub-contractor through Zelle. I import the bank transactions into QB desktop and Zelle is not in the description. I had to actually look at the bank statement to see how the payment was made. Your article answered my question, so I will send the 1099-Misc.

    But, reading the entire article reminded me of a couple of instances last year where I disagreed with the CPA of one of my clients who insisted that I send a 1099-Misc to all sub-contractors regardless of how they were paid. I ended up sending her a link to the requirements and did not send the 1099-Misc to sub-contractors paid by credit cards. I was somewhat surprised that she didn’t know this rule.

    The other issue was another client who had a sub-contractor wanting to know why she didn’t get a 1099-Misc because she had received more than $600 from my client. The sub-contractor was paid through PayPal and it was explained to her that she would not receive anything because she was below the $20,000 threshold. The sub-contractor did not understand, she didn’t know how she could file her taxes without a 1099 (I know, strange huh?), and was just relentless in harassing my client. I ended up typing up something stating what my client had paid her just to get her to stop harassing my client.

    Wonder what I will run up against this year? Happy tax season!

    1. Hello Jo Ellen!

      Unfortunately, a lot of accountants prefer to use the “do it just in case” excuse which pisses me off since it’s literally costing their clients money they could be using for other things.

      As for the contractors you come across who use the 1099-MISC as their own way of tracking income, you can always offer to to do their books so they know exactly where they are at all year round! Or, do what I do and run vendor transaction history for them…any real accounting program should be able to do that in seconds and save you the hassle of the back-and-forth.

    2. Hi Nagendra.

      You don’t send a 1099-MISC to everyone you do business with, just send them to independent contractors and attorneys who you pay with cash & equivalent.