Glossary / Form 1099-NEC

Form 1099-NEC

The IRS form a business sends when it pays you $2,000 or more in 2026 for work as a nonemployee, such as contract or gig work.

Also called: 1099, 1099 NEC, nonemployee compensation

Form 1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation: money a business paid you for services, in the course of its trade or business, when you were not its employee. The payer gives you a copy and files one with the IRS. Personal payments are not reportable on it.

For 2026, a business has to send the form only if it paid you at least $2,000 during the year. That threshold was raised for payments made after 2025 and may be adjusted for inflation starting in 2027. The form is due January 31, moved to the next business day on a weekend, so 2026 forms are due by February 1, 2027.

The 2026 form is the first with tip boxes. Box 1b shows cash tips included in box 1a, and box 1c shows your Treasury Tipped Occupation Code. Tips separately reported on a form like this are what count toward the No Tax on Tips deduction for self-employed workers. If 000 is the only code in box 1c, the tips are not qualified.

If you work for yourself, you report the income on Schedule C, subtract business expenses there, and the profit goes on to Schedule SE for self-employment tax.

Common mistake: treating income under $2,000 as tax free because no form came. You report all business income from all sources, form or not. And if you think you were really an employee, read what to do with an unexpected 1099-NEC before you file.

Example: You bartended private events for one catering company and it paid you $3,500 in 2026, so it owes you a 1099-NEC. A second client paid you $1,200, which is under $2,000, so no form is required, but that $1,200 still goes on your Schedule C.

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Checked against these sources on October 16, 2026.

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Form 1099-NEC

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