[herkalees]

A quick question for other USA-based members who pay contractors...

I know that in the USA, anytime you give someone more than $600.00 USD in a year, you have to '1099' them (apparently, that's a verb).

I know that in some situations, you simply send those people a 1099 form shortly before tax season (where do you get those forms?)

In other situations, especially once or twice when I was the contractor, I was asked to fill out a form upon meeting the person who'd be paying me. I can't, for the life of me, remember what form that was. (Maybe a W9?)

My question is, are these options equal and interchangeable? Is any one option better/preferred than another?

Thanks all.

[herkalees]

I did some research and learned the following: If you are the payer and you're working with an independent contractor who is providing services to you, you need to send them a 1099-MISC form during tax-season. This, I knew.

What I didn't know is that there is also a W9 form that you send to the independent contractor as well. This happens before they provide services to you. From what I've read, the W9 is either optional, or simply not 'pushed' as much. It's purpose is to simply have the independent contractor provide their name, taxpayer ID (usually their social security number), address, etc. so it can be put aside and filed with the IRS later. Why this is asked in such an official manner, and not simply delayed until the 1099 is sent out, is beyond me.

I gleaned this information from this link, mostly, and a few others that can be found by branching off and scouring the same area of the site: Frequently Asked Questions - 12.2 Form 1099–MISC & Independent Contractors

[designneverdies]

sorry i can't help out but did you just answer your own question?

[herkalees]

Originally Posted by designneverdies

sorry i can't help out but did you just answer your own question?

It appears I did. I figured I'd toss the question out here, and if it didn't have any replies, I'd go study a bit. Couldn't hurt to post what I learned, here, for other peeps who might be in the same situation.