We’ve reached it- the last part of our tax document series. There’s still more tax stuff to talk about (there’s always more tax stuff to talk about!) but this is the last of the relevant documents. Today we’re talking about the 1099. This is the form that you’ll fill out if you paid someone to do something for you (like video editing) and the form that someone will pay if you did contract work for them. Don’t worry, this is a short one! Luckily, if you keep very good records the form itself also only takes a short time to complete.
The 1099
If you paid someone over $600 as a contractor not an employee, and let’s be honest here unless you’re really, really big it’s a contractor, you need to fill out the 1099. You have to fill in information about you, what you paid them (likely “other income”), and if you withheld anything for taxes for them. Then you put in their info and send one copy to the IRS and one copy to the contractor.
Similarly, if you’re a contractor and you received a payment from someone else you’ll get a 1099. Unless you specifically asked them to withhold taxes you’ll be on the hook for all of the taxes coming your way so you want to keep a really good sense of what you owe. It would be really terrible to take on some extra work for some extra income and have it bring you more hassle than it’s worth.
And that’s it! Use the comments or the contact form to let us know if you have any questions. While it’s annoying to have another form to fill out it’s better to know about it and do it right than it is to forget it and have the IRS audit you.
