1099 for the Self Employed

If you are a self employed taxpayer, you usually receive a 1099 MISC from any payer that has paid you over a certain amount of dollars. A self employed individuals will not receive a W-2 form but will receive a 1099-MISC form instead to report income to the IRS.

If you are a self employed person such as a home based business owner, you might not have a separate EIN or tax ID for your business. Self employed people usually use their social security numbers for their businesses.

Will I receive a 1099 MISC form?

Most companies will send you a 1099 MISC form at the end of January to let you know what they have reported to the IRS of how much you made with them or how much they paid you. However, there are companies that do not comply with the IRS rules for 1099 forms and will not send you the form.

If you have not received a 1099 MISC form from the payee, then you should first make sure that you made enough money for them to send out a 1099 MISC form. If you have, then you should contact them to request one. You may have to even send a self addressed envelope to formally request one. If you are not successful at getting a 1099 form from them, you may be in trouble later so you should make every effort to obtain a 1099 form.