When Do 1099s Need to Be Issued: Deadlines, Penalties, and W-9s

1099 forms need to be issued to recipients by January 31 of the year after payment, and filed with the IRS on a schedule that depends on the form type and whether you file on paper or electronically. For tax year 2025 payments, January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the recipient deadline shifts to February 2, 2026. The IRS filing deadline for Form 1099-NEC shares that same February 2, 2026 date; Form 1099-MISC and most other 1099 variants are due to the IRS by February 28 on paper (March 2, 2026 this cycle) or March 31 electronically.

Who Needs a 1099 in the First Place

The general rule: if your business pays $600 or more to a non-employee during the calendar year for services, rents, or certain other categories, you owe them a 1099. A few payment types have lower thresholds. Royalties and broker payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest reported on Form 1099-MISC trigger reporting at just $10.¹

The two forms most small businesses deal with are the 1099-NEC and the 1099-MISC. Form 1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation of $600 or more paid to individuals or unincorporated businesses for services in your trade or business, including fees, commissions, and payments to independent contractors, freelancers, and consultants.² Form 1099-MISC handles other categories at the same $600 threshold: rents, prizes and awards, medical and healthcare payments, crop insurance proceeds, and gross proceeds paid to an attorney.¹

Corporations Are Usually Exempt, With Two Exceptions

Payments to a corporation, including an S corporation, generally do not require a 1099. Two categories break that rule: payments for medical and healthcare services, and payments to attorneys. Both require a 1099 even when the recipient is incorporated.³ Legal fees catch first-time filers most often. If you paid a law firm $600 or more, that payment gets reported regardless of the firm’s corporate structure.

Payments Made by Card or Third-Party Network Don’t Belong on a 1099-NEC

If you paid a contractor by credit card, debit card, or through a third-party payment network such as PayPal or Venmo, do not report that payment on a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. Those transactions are reported by the payment settlement entity on Form 1099-K. Duplicating the payment on your own 1099 creates matching problems for the recipient.²

Deadlines for Getting Copies to Recipients

You must furnish Copy B of the 1099 to each recipient by January 31 of the year following payment. This applies to Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-MISC (for most boxes), Form 1099-INT, and Form 1099-DIV, among others. Because January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, the recipient deadline for tax year 2025 forms lands on February 2, 2026.⁴

A later recipient deadline of February 15 applies to Form 1099-MISC when you are only reporting amounts in Box 8 (substitute payments in lieu of dividends or interest) or Box 10 (gross proceeds paid to an attorney). For tax year 2025 forms, February 15, 2026 is a Sunday, so this deadline shifts to February 17, 2026.⁴

Recipient copies can be delivered electronically instead of by mail, but only after the recipient gives affirmative electronic consent that proves they can access the form in the format you plan to use.⁴

Deadlines for Filing With the IRS

Filing Copy A with the IRS is a separate deadline from getting copies to recipients. Any due date that falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday shifts to the next business day.²

Form 1099-NEC

For tax year 2025 returns, the 1099-NEC is due to the IRS by January 31, 2026, which becomes February 2, 2026 because of the weekend. Paper and electronic filers share the same date.⁵ Since the form was reintroduced, the 1099-NEC has had the unusual feature of a single date for both recipient copies and IRS filing.

This changes for tax year 2026 returns. Starting then, the IRS filing deadline for Form 1099-NEC moves to February 28 for paper filers and March 31 for electronic filers, matching the 1099-MISC schedule. The January 31 recipient deadline stays put.³

Form 1099-MISC and Most Other 1099 Variants

Form 1099-MISC is due to the IRS by February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically. February 28, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the paper deadline for tax year 2025 becomes March 2, 2026.⁵ Form 1099-INT, Form 1099-DIV, and most other 1099 variants follow the same February 28 paper and March 31 electronic pattern.⁴

The 10-Return Electronic Filing Threshold

If you file 10 or more information returns of any kind during the calendar year, you must file electronically. The 10-return count aggregates across all form types, including W-2s and every 1099 variety, so even a small business with a few contractors and a few employees usually hits it.⁶ Electronic filing runs through the IRS FIRE system or the newer IRIS portal.⁵

If You Need More Time

Form 8809 requests additional time to file Copy A with the IRS. It does not extend the recipient copy deadline.⁷

For most 1099 forms, including the 1099-MISC, filing Form 8809 before the original due date gives you an automatic 30-day extension with no explanation required. A second 30-day extension can be requested on paper, but requires a written justification and is not automatic.⁷

Form 1099-NEC is treated differently under current rules. It does not qualify for the automatic extension. Any 8809 request for the NEC must be filed on paper with a signed hardship justification, and only one 30-day extension is available. Because the 1099-NEC IRS filing deadline shifts to February 28 starting with tax year 2026 returns, these extension rules may be revisited; check the current Form 8809 instructions before relying on them.⁷

Extending the recipient copy deadline is a separate and much harder request. Form 8809 does not cover it. You have to write a letter to the IRS showing good cause before the original recipient deadline, and approval is rare.⁷

What Missing the Deadlines Costs

The IRS charges separate penalties for two failures: not filing correct returns with the IRS on time, and not furnishing correct statements to recipients on time. The per-return amount depends on how late you are. For information returns due in 2026:⁸

Up to 30 days late: $60 per return
31 days late through August 1: $130 per return
After August 1 or never filed: $340 per return
Intentional disregard: $680 per return, with no annual cap

The same per-return amounts apply to failures to furnish correct payee statements on time, so a single late 1099 can be penalized twice.⁸ A business that misses the deadline on 50 returns and doesn’t correct them by August 1 can face up to $17,000 in filing penalties alone.

Annual caps limit total penalties for businesses that are not acting with intentional disregard, with lower caps for businesses with gross receipts of $5 million or less and higher caps for larger businesses. The amounts adjust for inflation each year.⁹

If you can show reasonable cause — you acted responsibly before and after the failure, tried to prevent foreseeable problems, and corrected errors quickly once discovered — the IRS may waive the penalty.¹⁰

Collect W-9s Before You Pay, Not at Year-End

You cannot fill out a correct 1099 without the recipient’s legal name and taxpayer identification number, and Form W-9 is how you get both. Request the W-9 before you send the first payment.¹¹ If a payee refuses or fails to provide a TIN, you are required to withhold 24% of every payment and remit it to the IRS as backup withholding.¹²

Backup withholding covers a wide range of payments, including nonemployee compensation, rents, royalties, commissions, interest, and dividends. The 24% rate was permanently extended and remains in effect for 2026. Chasing a W-9 in late January, after the money is already out the door, is one of the most common compliance headaches small businesses face, and it is entirely avoidable by building W-9 collection into vendor onboarding.

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (04/2025)
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1099 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (For Use in Preparing 2026 Returns)
4
Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Reporting
6
Internal Revenue Service. Am I Required to File a Form 1099 or Other Information Return?
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8809 (Rev. December 2025) Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Penalties
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6721 – Failure to File Correct Information Returns
10
Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide