Form 1099-MISC is a tax form used in the United States to report certain non-wage income paid to an individual or business during the tax year. This includes payments that fall outside standard employment, such as rent, royalties, prizes, or awards.
Form 1099-MISC is used to report the total amount of these qualifying payments made during the tax year. For tax year 2025, it must be provided to the recipient by February 2, 2026, and filed with the IRS by March 2, 2026 (paper) or March 31, 2026 (electronic).
Form 1099-MISC is used to report a variety of payment types, including:
Rent: Income received from leasing real estate or personal property
Royalties: Payments exceeding $10, reported in Box 2
Prizes and awards: Cash or property received as a prize or award
Medical and health care payments: Payments made to healthcare providers for services rendered
Crop insurance proceeds: Insurance payouts covering agricultural losses
Gross proceeds paid to attorneys: Payments connected to legal matters such as settlement agreements
Form 1099-MISC is not used to report wages or salaries earned as an employee, those are reported on Form W-2. It is also no longer used to report payments to independent contractors for services, which are now reported separately on Form 1099-NEC.
Beginning with the 2026 tax year, the minimum reporting threshold increases from $600 to $2,000 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Businesses filing 10 or more information returns are now required to file electronically.
Check our blogs
Finances
7 Costs of a Startup's First International Hire
Seven payroll costs of a startup's first international hire: misclassification, host social, entity vs EOR, PE risk, remittance friction, mandatory benefits, and waiting for the data room.
Finances
Recognition Without Borders: Building Stronger Global Teams of Contractors and Employees
Physical recognition (pins, coins, medals, patches, lanyards) can build belonging across a multi-country contractor and employee roster when the payment rail is the only regular touchpoint.
Finances
7 Mistakes SaaS Companies Make Paying Global Support and Engineering Contractors
Seven payroll mistakes SaaS companies make with global support and engineering contractors: forever-contractor core seats, USDC-as-classification, ignored PE, underpriced host social, no 90-day convert, personal wallets, waiting for the audit.
