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FORM 1099-MISC:

Everything Freelancers Need To Know

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The form for income that doesn't fit anywhere else

Filing taxes is far from what is thought of as a fun activity. When you're a freelancer, gig worker or self-employed person, the tax forms seem endless, and it’s downright confusing to keep track of them all. You’ve probably heard at some point of the 1099 forms. These forms report different types of income, and each one has its requirements. What about income that doesn’t fit into any specific 1099 forms, you might be asking? That’s where the 1099-MISC comes in. This little form is used by people who make certain miscellaneous payments to self-employed people and freelancers, to report them to the IRS. Since MISC 1099 is the most common of the 1099 forms, and a copy of every form gets sent to the self-employed payee, there’s a good chance you will receive this tax form in the mail. Since the 1099-MISC is the most common of the 1099 forms, there’s a good chance you will receive this tax form in the mail. Let’s take a quick look at what the 2024 1099-MISC looks like:

Image of Form 1099-MISC with instructions for reporting various types of income, taxes withheld, and recipient and payer information. Useful for freelancers and self-employed individuals.

Table of contents

What is a 1099 Miscellaneous form and what is it used for?...Read more

Who receives Form 1099-MISC?...Read more

Differences between Form 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC...Read more

Latest updates to the 1099-MISC form...Read more

Filing Form 1099-MISC...Read more

Form 1099-MISC due dates 2024...Read more

What else is on Form 1099-MISC?...Read more

What is a 1099 Miscellaneous form and what is it used for?

Let’s be honest. The IRS doesn’t make it easy when it comes to tax filing. There are endless tax forms to keep track of, each with its deadline and instructions. So here’s everything you need to know about the form dedicated to filing miscellaneous income. Form 1099-MISC (MISC meaning Miscellaneous Income, aka your 1099-MISC income) is a tax form issued by the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, to report certain types of miscellaneous income. You will use this form to report certain types of income, including healthcare payments, payments to attorneys, rent and prize and award payments.

Image explaining Form 1099-MISC which reports miscellaneous income like healthcare payments, attorney payments, awards, prizes, and rent for taxes.

But what about the payment you receive for your work, otherwise known as non-employee compensation? Good question! Before the 2020 tax year, all non-employee compensation, or all the payments you received of any sort as a self-employed person, was reported on the 1099-MISC. That means as a sole proprietor, freelancer, gig worker or self-employed person, you would have reported all your income, of any kind, on the MISC Form. When it comes to taxes and the IRS, things are always changing, and you can never be sure what will happen for the next tax year. For example, one of the newest changes took place in the 2020 tax year. Now, all non-employee compensation is reported on the Form 1099-NEC.

Who receives Form 1099-MISC?

If a business paid you more than $600 in legal settlements, rent payments or prizes and awards, it will need to file form MISC 1099, because these are all payments that are not subject to self-employment taxes.

Differences between Form 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC

Before the 2020 tax year, you would report miscellaneous income, including non-employee compensation, on the IRS 1099-MISC forms. But beginning in 2020, the IRS decided to bring back the 1099-NEC: Non-Employee Compensation form to report non-employee compensation apart from certain other payments. Those other payments are now reported on the 1099-MISC forms. With a better understanding of the purpose of these two forms, let’s now talk about the due dates for each of them. Of course, it would make life easier if the forms had the same due dates, but unfortunately that's not the reality. The due date for IRS form 1099-MISC is March 1, if you file by mail, and March 31 if you file electronically. Form 1099-NEC is due on January 31 of the following tax year. Keep in mind that you might need to make estimated tax payments

Latest updates to the 1099-MISC form

You should receive a Form 1099-MISC from the business hiring you for your services in two cases: if they paid you at least $10 in royalties or broker payments in place of dividends or tax-exempt interest during the tax year, or if you sold $5,000 worth of consumer products not in a permanent retail location. Let’s say your gig is related to fishing. You might receive the 1099-MISC forms if you make any cash purchases of fish or other aquatic life involved in the trade of fishing. 1099-MISC forms might also be sent to you if the business that hired you does not disclose its federal income tax under IRS tax withholding protocols.

Image of a document titled 'FORM 1099-MISC' with latest updates. It lists payments over $600 for rent, prizes, fishing boats, crop insurance, attorney expenses, and medical payments. Relevant for taxes, self-employed, freelancers, and 1099.

If a business directly sells a consumer product for $5,000 or more to you, for you to resell it to any establishment except a permanent retail store, the business will need to report this on the MISC 1099 form.

Filing Form 1099-MISC

Let’s take a look at the different copies of the 1099-MISC:

Copy 1 gets submitted to your state tax department by your hiring business or firm.
Copy B gets sent to you (yay)! You should receive this from your hiring entity.
Copy 2 is sent to you for your state tax return.
Keep Copy C for your records to help you keep track of the income being reported.

With the new revisions to the MISC 1099 form, there are some changes for reporting income. Here's a sample form that's been filled out.

Image of a corrected Form 1099-MISC with payer and recipient information, income types, tax withholdings, and state tax department details. Relevant for self-employed, freelancers, and taxes.

Form 1099-MISC due dates 2024

The cut-off date for sending a complete 1099-MISC, with payments from the previous tax year, to recipients is January 31 of the current tax year. As a self-employed person or freelancer, you should receive this form from the business or entity that hires you for your services by that date. The deadline for those businesses or entities to file the form’s paper copies is March 1. For electronic filing, the date is March 31. If the date falls on a weekend or holiday, the form can still be sent the following business day.

Important deadlines for filing FORM 1099-MISC for businesses. March 1 for paper and March 31 for electronic filing. Relevant for taxes, self-employed, freelancers.

What else is on Form 1099-MISC?

Apart from reporting the miscellaneous payments a business has made to you, Form 1099-MISC contains personal information such as name, address and Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. Most notably, this form will categorize each type of payment into different boxes based solely on the payment being reported. After you have received your 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms, a 1099 tax calculator can help with deductions and finding the amount of tax you owe to the state and the federal government. All you have to do is answer basic questions about yourself and your work to arrive at your tax figure.

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.