The whole 1099 process gets easier if you fix one thing at the front: get a W-9 from every vendor before you pay them. Make it a condition of working with you — a condition of getting paid — and people hand it over without a fight. A 1099 covers anyone you pay who isn't on payroll. Most big vendors — Zoom, Adobe, your payroll company — are C-corps you won't file a 1099 for, but get the W-9 on file anyway; it's usually right there on their website. And watch the in-between cases: if an employee does odd jobs outside their regular role — paints the office, cleans it now and then — that's income that belongs on a 1099, even though a supply run you reimburse isn't. The point is to make it a habit, not a scramble. You set the policy with your bookkeeper — no W-9, payment held — they do the legwork, and you check a vendor report every quarter so nothing slips. Do that, and the day the IRS ever asks for your records, you don't think twice.


Hosted by Julie Bonner. Bookkeeping and financial help for business owners — https://coeurbridge.com