1099s- Get free forms from the IRS

IRS Form 1099 is required to be sent to independent contractors of your business or organization if they were paid more than $600 for the year. For details on who is and who is not considered an independent contractor, check out my book,  Church Accounting-The How-To Guide to Small & Growing Churches or go to www.IRS.gov.

If you only have a few to send out and don't want to pay for a package of 50 at the office supply store, go to www.irs.gov/businesses/online-ordering-for-information-returns-and-employer-returns to order the forms for free directly from the IRS.  You will have to fill them out manually, so if you have more than a dozen, you may prefer the printable type.

A couple of things to note:

1. Order immediately so they can get to you before the 1/31/17 deadline.
2. Order the 2016 version for this year and go ahead and order the 2017 version for next year, so you'll have them.
3. Don't forget the Transmittal- Form 1096, Order two copies of each year, just in case you make a mistake.
4. The filing deadline for the Transmittal Form 1096 has changed.  It must be filed by January 31.

If possible, mail them to the independent contractors as soon as possible, so if you need to make any changes, you can do so before the transmittal must be submitted on January 31.

Here's a link to another blog post on Independent Contractors.

Don't forget to have your contractors fill out a W-9 Request For Taxpayers Identification

Here's a link to the IRS pdf to download.