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What To Do If You Lose a 1099 Form

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What is a 1099 form?

Being self-employed is never easy with everything you have to do to keep your business running smoothly. On top of that, you have tax concerns that employees of companies don't. Since you work as an entrepreneur, freelancer or gig worker, you have clients, and for tax purposes, they send you the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Form 1099. Key highlights:

Every company that pays a self-employed individual has to send the IRS a 1099
The 1099 form reports the amount of a payment to a self-employed individual
There can be IRS penalties associated with 1099 forms

This form shows all the payment-related information that your clients need to provide to the IRS when they pay you for your work. This information helps you to file your estimated taxes correctly. In a perfect world, you’ll get all your 1099 forms on time and be ready for tax season when it comes. But what if one of the 1099 forms you received from a client got lost in a pile of papers in your office or happens to be laying between the seats of your car without you knowing. The IRS won’t penalize you if you don't get a 1099 form, it’s the responsibility of the individual or company sending the form.

Table of contents

What is the 1099 form used for?...Read more

What should I do if I lose my 1099 form?...Read more

Is there a penalty for losing a 1099 form?...Read more

Where do I find my 1099 income?...Read more

What is the 1099 form used for?

The IRS Form 1099 is an information-sharing form designed to report income to the IRS and is referred to as "information returns" by the agency. It’s used by companies or individuals to declare all the payments they made to independent contractors, freelancers, 1099 employees, online sellers or self-employed individuals. In other words, this form is sent to the IRS if a payment is made to a person that’s not a typical company employee. These companies or individuals are also required to send a copy of the form to the self-employed individual or sole proprietorship that did the work. For example, if Company A paid a third-party independent contractor for a product or service, this company has to send a 1099 form to the IRS reporting this payment.

Image displaying different types of 1099 forms including 1099-NEC for non-employee compensation, 1099-K for third-party app payments, and 1099-INT for interest income. Relevant for self-employed, freelancers, and taxes.

1099-NEC: This form reports non-employee compensation of a company or individual. When a company hires a freelancer for a short-term project basis and makes a payment for the work, the payment is reported using a 1099-NEC. 1099-K: This form reports third-party app payments. If you received a payment through apps like Venmo or Paypal, the apps are going to send a 1099-K to the IRS. 1099–INT: When a person or company pays you interest, they are liable to report that interest payment on a 1099-INT.

What should I do if I lose my 1099 form?

If you get paid for your work as a freelancer, self-employed individual or independent contractor by a company, you should receive a copy of the 1099 form they are required to send to the IRS, sometime in February or earlier. The last due date for a company or individual to send this form is January 3. With most 1099 forms, the paying party is only required to send it to the IRS, but in some cases, you’ll also receive a copy of the same 1099 form. You should expect to receive a 1099 form if you earned more than $600 annually in self-employment income.

Image with text "When to Expect a 1099 Form" and instructions for those earning over $600 in non-employee income. Relevant for self-employed, freelancers, and tax purposes.

If you have a hobby as a painter and sold one of your pieces on eBay for $750 to a company for the lobby at its headquarters, eBay sent you a 1099-K. If you somehow misplaced this 1099 form or lost it, you can simply write to eBay for another copy. And if they don't send one, can you still file your tax return without a 1099? You absolutely can! You don’t actually need to attach any of your 1099 forms with your annual tax return. But, it’s good for your information, and it speeds up your tax filing process. When you have a 1099 form you can easily match the payments from your bank statements and also check if your clients are reporting the payments accurately.

Quick tip

To help make sure you don't lose any important tax documents, keep all your 1099 forms and tax-related documents in one place at your home or office.

Is there a penalty for losing a 1099 form?

For a self-employed person, freelancer or independent contractor, there is no IRS penalty if you lose a 1099 form because these are just for your records. Since you don’t need a 1099 form to file your tax return, there’s no penalty for you. But there’s a tax penalty for the company or individual that paid you if they fail to send a 1099 form to the IRS to report the amount that they paid you.

Fly Fin's penalty chart for failing to send 1099 forms on time. Late fees range from $50-$270 per form after Aug. 1, 2023. Relevant for self-employed, freelancers, and taxes.

If you are a company or individual making a payment to a non-employee, you are required by law to send the relevant 1099 form to the IRS. Though there are no direct penalties for losing a 1099 form that a client sends you, there could be some indirect ones. For example, if you lost a 1099 form and are waiting for a new copy to arrive, and you accidentally miss the annual tax filing deadline, this can lead to late filing penalties. But that's about it! And if you want a copy of the form, you can first file for a tax filing extension and then wait for a copy. This will buy you more time, and you can comfortably avoid late filing penalties. The best way to avoid a tax penalty is to stay updated on all the IRS deadlines and you can use a tax tool like FlyFin. FlyFin helps you keep track of all your 1099 incomes using A.I. and also reminds you of all tax deadlines. With FlyFin, you also get 24/7 support from expert tax CPAs for any tax question, and they'll file 100% accurate state and federal taxes for you.

Where do I find my 1099 income?

So you've lost your 1099, and now you need to resort to other ways to find your exact 1099 income for filing taxes. You can start by aligning your bank statements and matching the payments with your product or service receipts. This is time-consuming, and you'll need to create large spreadsheets to accurately find the payments, your business deductions and your profit or loss statements. You can use next-generation tax tools to take the fast lane for tax filing. A.I.-enabled tools like FlyFin take the bulk of the tax filing process off your shoulders.

1099 and Taxes: A Guide for Self-Employed Individuals with 1099 Income

Taking care of your taxes as a self-employed person can be a difficult undertaking. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines a self-employed person as someone earning income from an independent economic activity and is responsible for collecting self-employment taxes. Knowing how to manage self-employment tax and 1099 income is one of the most important things. We will explore the complexities of self-employment tax, its computation techniques, and ways to reduce your tax liability in this post.