Missing 1099 from company that won't respond - how do I report freelance income for my taxes?
I did about $5,800 in freelance work last year, but the company hasn't sent me a 1099 form. I emailed their CFO last week but still haven't heard anything back. I'm trying to file my taxes ASAP because I'm in the process of buying my first home and need the paperwork finished. Plus I'm hoping to use whatever refund I get to help with the down payment and closing costs. I have all my income tracked perfectly in QuickBooks, so I know exactly how much they paid me. My problem is I don't have their Federal Tax ID number. Should I report this as a 1099-MISC or just list it as "Other Income"? I want to make sure I do this right since it's a decent chunk of money. Any advice would be super helpful!
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Douglas Foster
You should report this on Schedule C as self-employment income regardless of whether you received a 1099 or not. The IRS requires you to report all income even if you don't receive the proper documentation. You don't actually need their Tax ID number to file your taxes - that's more for their reporting requirements than yours. Just make sure you have good records of the payments received (which you do in QuickBooks) and report the full amount. If you're filing with tax software, it will walk you through entering self-employment income. The income goes on Schedule C, and you'll calculate self-employment tax on Schedule SE. Don't use "Other Income" as that would avoid self-employment taxes which could cause problems later.
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Nina Chan
•Thanks for the info, but I'm confused about something. If I don't have a 1099 from them, won't that cause issues if I get audited? And is there any penalty for the company not providing me with the form when they should have?
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Douglas Foster
•No problem with audits as long as you report the income. The IRS is mainly concerned that you're accurately reporting what you earned - they don't actually require you to have a physical 1099 to file. Your QuickBooks records serve as excellent documentation of the income. Companies are supposed to issue 1099s when they pay someone $600+ in a year, and they can face penalties for not doing so. But that's their problem, not yours. Your responsibility is just to report what you earned regardless of whether they fulfilled their obligations.
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Ruby Knight
After dealing with a similar situation last year, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out exactly how to report income without a 1099. I was doing freelance design work and my client ghosted me when tax season came around. The site analyzed my situation and explained that I needed to file a Schedule C for self-employment income even without the 1099. It also helped me identify which deductions I could safely take for my home office and equipment. Honestly saved me so much stress trying to figure out if I was doing it right.
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Diego Castillo
•How does it work with calculating self-employment taxes? That's what's confusing me the most about freelance work.
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Logan Stewart
•Sounds interesting but is it actually legitimate? I've been burned before by tax advice websites that ended up giving questionable recommendations.
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Ruby Knight
•It walks you through the self-employment tax calculations step by step. You enter your income, then it helps you calculate the appropriate deductions before determining your net earnings. Then it calculates the 15.3% self-employment tax and shows you how to report it on Schedule SE. Really takes the guesswork out of it. I completely understand the skepticism. What made me trust it was that it references specific IRS publications and rules for each recommendation. It's not giving "clever tricks" or questionable advice - just clear explanations of what the actual tax code says about your situation. I verified several recommendations with the IRS website itself.
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Logan Stewart
Update: I decided to check out taxr.ai after posting my skeptical comment. I was pleasantly surprised how helpful it was for my similar situation! I had a client who paid me $7,200 last year but never sent a 1099 despite multiple requests. The tool confirmed what others said here - I needed to file Schedule C regardless of having the 1099, and I didn't need their EIN. But it also helped me understand how to properly document everything in case of an audit. It even generated a letter template I could send to the company as a final request for the form. I'm definitely feeling more confident about filing now. And yes, it's legitimate - everything checked out when I cross-referenced with the IRS publications.
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Mikayla Brown
If you need to reach the IRS to verify anything about reporting income without a 1099, good luck getting through on the phone! I spent 3 hours on hold last week trying to get clarification on a similar issue. Eventually I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that somehow got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent confirmed that I should report all my freelance income on Schedule C even without receiving a 1099, and said the burden is on the paying company to issue the form, not on me to get one.
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Sean Matthews
•Wait, how does this actually work? Does it just connect you faster somehow, or is it something else?
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Ali Anderson
•Yeah right. Nobody can get through to the IRS that quickly. I've been trying for weeks and always get the "call back later" message. Sounds like snake oil to me.
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Mikayla Brown
•It basically monitors the IRS phone lines and calls you back when it detects an opening. Instead of you sitting on hold for hours, their system does the waiting. When it finds an opening, it calls you, then connects you directly to the IRS. You just answer your phone and suddenly you're talking to an agent. I understand the skepticism - I felt the same way! But I was desperate after trying for days to get through. It's not magic - they just have technology that navigates the IRS phone system more efficiently than a human can. I was connected in 17 minutes when I had previously wasted hours trying on my own. Worth every penny for the time saved.
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Ali Anderson
I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After another frustrating morning trying to reach the IRS myself, I gave Claimyr a shot out of desperation. I couldn't believe it when my phone rang 20 minutes later and there was an actual IRS agent on the line! The agent confirmed exactly what everyone here is saying - report the income on Schedule C regardless of having a 1099, and keep good records of payments received. She also mentioned that if the company never sends one, you can file Form 4852 as a substitute, though it's not required if you know the correct amount to report. So yeah, I was wrong about Claimyr. Sometimes things that sound too good to be true actually work.
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Zadie Patel
Just a quick tip from someone who's been freelancing for years - make sure you're also setting aside money for quarterly estimated tax payments going forward. The IRS expects you to pay taxes throughout the year when you're self-employed, not just at tax time. I learned this the hard way my first year when I got hit with an underpayment penalty even though I paid everything I owed by April. For 2025, you'll need to make payments in April, June, September, and January of the following year.
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Haley Bennett
•Thank you! How much should I be setting aside for those quarterly payments? Is it just a percentage of what I make each quarter?
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Zadie Patel
•A good rule of thumb is to set aside about 30% of your profit for taxes. This should cover both income tax and self-employment tax for most people. But it does depend on your tax bracket and what other income you have. The payments are supposed to be based on your projected annual income, not just what you made that quarter. The IRS wants relatively even payments, not payments that fluctuate wildly from quarter to quarter. You can use Form 1040-ES to calculate the recommended amount, or many tax software programs can help you estimate this after you file this year's return.
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A Man D Mortal
Has anyone else had issues getting mortgage lenders to understand self-employment income without 1099s? When I bought my house last year, my lender kept asking for 1099s, and I had to explain multiple times that not all clients provide them but I still reported everything on my Schedule C.
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Declan Ramirez
•Yeah, I went through this last summer! What finally worked was providing bank statements showing the deposits that matched my income records, plus a letter explaining the situation. I also showed them two years of tax returns with consistent self-employment income. Eventually they accepted it, but it was definitely more paperwork than my W-2 friends had to deal with.
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Haley Bennett
•This is super helpful info - I didn't even think about the mortgage aspect. I'm going to start gathering those bank statements now to show the deposits. Did you have to get anything special from your clients or was the paper trail enough?
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Declan Ramirez
•The paper trail was enough in my case - bank statements showing the deposits plus my QuickBooks reports that matched those deposits. For the larger clients, I also had copies of the contracts showing the agreed payment amounts. No need to get anything special from the clients themselves. The lender just wanted to verify that the income was legitimate and consistent.
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