Who must file Form 1099-MISC
File Form 1099-MISC for each person to whom you paid, in the course of your trade or business: at least $10 in royalties or broker payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest; at least $600 in gross proceeds to an attorney or for fish purchased for resale; any fishing-boat proceeds; and at least $2,000 in rents, prizes and awards, other income, medical and health care payments, crop insurance proceeds, section 409A deferrals or nonqualified deferred compensation. Also file for anyone from whom you backup withheld, regardless of amount.
Three categories are reportable even when the payee is a corporation: medical and health care payments (box 6), gross proceeds paid to an attorney (box 10), and cash purchases of fish for resale (box 11), plus substitute payments (box 8). Everything else follows the corporate exception.
Threshold: $2,000, rents, prizes and other income, medical payments, crop insurance (after 2025); royalties and substitute payments $10; attorney gross proceeds and fish purchases $600; fishing-boat proceeds and 409A all amounts.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rents | Real estate rent paid to the owner, machine rent, pasture rent. Rent paid to a real estate agent is not reportable by you; the agent reports it to the owner. |
| 2 | Royalties | $10 threshold. Oil, gas and mineral royalties; intangible property. Timber pay-as-cut royalties go on 1099-S. |
| 3 | Other income | $2,000. Prizes and awards not for services, taxable damages, deceased employee's wages paid to an estate, Indian gaming profits, punitive damages. |
| 4 | Federal income tax withheld | Backup withholding; ties to Form 945. |
| 5 | Fishing boat proceeds | All amounts. |
| 6 | Medical and health care payments | $2,000, corporations included. Issued mainly by insurers and medical assistance programs. |
| 7 | Direct sales of $5,000 or more | Checkbox; alternative to 1099-NEC box 2. |
| 8 | Substitute payments in lieu of dividends or interest | $10, brokers. |
| 9 | Crop insurance proceeds | $2,000. |
| 10 | Gross proceeds paid to an attorney | $600, corporations included; settlement checks payable to a law firm even when the fee is not the attorney's. Recipient statement due February 15. |
| 11 | Fish purchased for resale | $600, cash purchases. |
| 12 | Section 409A deferrals | Optional reporting of current-year deferrals. |
| 13a to 13b | Cash tips and Treasury Tipped Occupation Code | New for 2026, for tips included in box 3. |
| 14 | Overtime compensation | New for 2026; qualified overtime included in box 3. |
| 15 | Nonqualified deferred compensation | Amounts includible under section 409A. |
| 16 to 18 | State information | Convenience boxes for state copies. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1099-MISC
- Payments to corporations other than boxes 6, 8, 10 and 11.
- Compensation for services by non-employees: that is the 1099-NEC.
- Card and third-party-network payments (1099-K by the processor); merchandise, freight, storage; wages and employee expense reimbursements (W-2).
- Rent paid to a property manager or real estate agent (the agent files to the owner); payments to tax-exempt organizations and governments.
- Excess golden parachute payments, which moved to the 1099-NEC (box 3) for 2026.
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | February 28 | Monday, March 1, 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday) |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 31 | Wednesday, March 31, 2027 |
| To the recipient | January 31 | Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday) |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Backup withholding and TIN matching
Rents, royalties, prizes, medical payments and attorney gross proceeds are all reportable payments under sections 6041, 6045(f) and 6050N, so 24% backup withholding applies for a missing TIN or after a CP2100. The one nuance on this form is the threshold: backup withholding on rent starts once payments to that payee reach the reporting threshold ($2,000 for 2026 under IRC 3406(b)(6) as amended), while an attorney's gross proceeds are withheld on from $600. Report withholding in box 4 and on Form 945.
Form 1099-MISC payers are eligible for the IRS TIN Matching program.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. A mismatch produces a CP2100 line the following autumn and, unless the solicitation record is in order, a 972CG penalty the year after: $340 per return for 2026 forms filed in 2027 that are late or wrong, $690 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $4,191,500 ($1,397,000 for small filers) under Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The errors that recur on Form 1099-MISC:
- Property owners paid rent. Individual landlords give a business name, a spouse's SSN, or a trust name with a personal SSN. The pair on line 1 and the TIN box must be what the SSA or IRS holds; see the property management page.
- Settlement payments. Box 10 goes to the law firm under the firm's EIN; the claimant's box 3 return goes under the claimant's SSN. Putting the claimant's name on the attorney's return is a Type 2 correction later.
- Medical providers. Group practices bill under a group EIN and individual NPIs; the 1099 name must be the legal name on the group's CP 575 or Letter 147C, not the practice's trade name.
- Estates. Post-death payments go to the estate's EIN with the estate's name, or to the beneficiary's SSN, never the decedent's SSN.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1099-MISC need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1099-MISC is a Combined Federal/State Filing program form: e-file it with the CF/SF election and the IRS forwards it to participating states. Whether that satisfies a given state, or the state wants a direct filing with its own transmittal, is on each state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1099-MISC
Royalties are still $10?
Yes. P.L. 119-21 raised the section 6041 amounts to $2,000 but left the section 6050N royalty threshold at $10, and attorney gross proceeds under 6045(f) at $600.
Which recipient statements are due February 15 instead of January 31?
Statements that report amounts in box 8 (substitute payments) or box 10 (attorney gross proceeds), including consolidated statements containing them.
Do we report rent we pay to a property management company?
No. You report nothing; the manager reports the rent it passes to the owner on its own 1099-MISC.
Is there an automatic extension?
Yes, 30 days on Form 8809, filed by the due date, on paper or through IRIS.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-Q · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. December 2026); Pub 1099 (2026); IRC 6041, 6045(f), 6050N, 3406(b)(6). Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.