1099-MISC Form: What It Is and What It's Used For

What Is Form 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income?

Form 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income (or Miscellaneous Information, as it’s now called) is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form used to report certain types of miscellaneous compensation, such as rents, prizes, and awards, healthcare payments, and payments to an attorney.

Before the 2020 tax year, Form 1099-MISC was also used to report nonemployee compensation for independent contractors, freelancers, sole proprietors, and self-employed individuals. Starting with 2020, this nonemployee pay is reported on Form 1099-NEC: Nonemployee Compensation. These forms generally report business payments—not personal ones.

A 1099-MISC form is one of many in the 1099 series and among those commonly used. Taxpayers receive 1099s, including Form 1099-MISC, shortly after the end of the tax year and use the information to report the income that they received. 

Who Files Form 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income?

Form 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income (aka Miscellaneous Information) is completed and sent out by someone who has paid at least $10 in royalties or broker payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest to another person. It’s also sent to each person to whom you paid at least $600 during the calendar year in the following categories:

• Rents (real estate agents and property managers report rent paid to property owners, for instance, or you report the office space rent that you paid)
• Prizes and awards
• Other income payments
• Medical and healthcare payments (made in the course of your trade or business)
• Crop insurance proceeds
• Cash payments for fish (or other aquatic life) purchased from anyone who makes a living catching fish
• Cash paid from a notional principal contract to an individual, partnership, or estate
• Payments to an attorney
• Any fishing boat proceeds

The form is also used to report direct sales of at least $5,000 of consumer products to a buyer for resale anywhere other than a permanent retail establishment.

The payer must send the form to the recipient by Feb. 1 and file it with the IRS by March 1 (March 31 if filing electronically). The recipient can attach the form to their tax return.

How to File Form 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income

A multipart fillable Form 1099-MISC is available on the IRS website.

Copy A of Form 1099-MISC appears in red. This copy of the form is not intended for printing; it is for IRS use only.

The black parts of the form can be completed, downloaded, and printed:

• Copy 1 goes to the recipient’s state tax department
• Copy B is sent to the recipient
• Copy 2 is sent to the recipient for their state tax return
• Copy C is retained by the payer for record keeping

The payer includes their name, address, and tax identification number, as well as the recipient’s name, address, and Social Security number.

The revised 1099-MISC form has different box numbers for reporting various types of payments—for instance, Rents in Box 1 and Royalties in Box 2. If applicable, you’ll also fill out Box 4: Federal Income Tax Withheld and Box 16: State Tax Withheld.

Other 1099 Forms

Here is a list of the specific 1099 forms and the purpose of each:

• 1099-A: Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property
• 1099-B: Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions
• 1099-C: Cancellation of Debt
• 1099-CAP: Changes in Corporate Control and Capital Structure
• 1099-DIV: Dividends and Distributions
• 1099-G: Certain Government Payments
• 1099-H: Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) Advance Payments
• 1099-INT: Interest Income
• 1099-K: Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions
• 1099-LS: Reportable Life Insurance Sale
• 1099-LTC: Long-Term Care and Accelerated Death Benefits
• 1099-NEC: Nonemployee Compensation
• 1099-OID: Original Issue Discount
• 1099-PATR: Taxable Distributions Received from Cooperatives
• 1099-Q: Payments from Qualified Education Programs (Under Sections 529 and 530)
• 1099-QA: Distributions from ABLE Accounts
• 1099-R: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc. 
• 1099-S: Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions
• 1099-SA: Distributions from an HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA
• 1099-SB: Seller’s Investment in Life Insurance Contract

The Bottom Line

Form 1099-MISC is used by business payers to report certain types of miscellaneous compensation, such as rents, prizes, and awards, healthcare payments, and payments to an attorney to the IRS and to the recipients of those payments. Recipients are required to report the payments as income on their tax returns.

In a change from previous years, beginning with the 2020 tax year, nonemployee compensation is reported on Form 1099-NEC, not Form 1099-MISC. The purpose of Form 1099-MISC is to track and account for listed payments as a business deduction for business payers and income for payees.