What happens when a company sends a 1099-NEC past the deadline?
I just received a 1099-NEC from a company I did some freelance design work for last year, but it's already mid-March! I thought these were supposed to be sent out by January 31st? The company is claiming they had "system issues" but this seems like a lame excuse to me. I'm halfway through doing my taxes already and now I have to figure out how to include this income. The amount is around $5,800 which isn't huge but definitely not something I can ignore. I had actually been keeping track of this income in my records anyway, but I'm annoyed they sent it so late. Does the IRS penalize companies for sending these forms late? And more importantly, does this affect how I should report this on my taxes? I was planning to file next week but now I'm wondering if I should wait longer in case more surprise forms show up.
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CaptainAwesome
You're right that 1099-NEC forms are supposed to be sent to both recipients and the IRS by January 31st. The company is definitely late, and yes, they can face penalties from the IRS for this tardiness - penalties range from $50 to $280 per form depending on how late they are and whether it was intentional. The good news is that this doesn't change your tax filing obligations. Since you were already tracking this income (smart move!), you can simply include it on your Schedule C as you normally would. The 1099-NEC is just documentation - you're required to report all income regardless of whether you receive the form or not. I wouldn't delay filing your taxes just because they were late. If you've been keeping good records, proceed with your filing as planned. Just make sure the amount on your Schedule C matches what's on the 1099-NEC they finally sent you.
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Yuki Tanaka
•If the company filed the 1099-NEC late with the IRS too, could that cause any issues with the tax return being processed? Like would the IRS computer system flag something if they get the 1099 after OP already filed?
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CaptainAwesome
•That's a good question. If the company also filed late with the IRS, there's typically no impact on the processing of your return. The IRS matching system will eventually connect your reported income with the 1099-NEC they receive, but this happens well after the filing season. As long as you correctly report the exact amount shown on the 1099-NEC, there won't be any discrepancy to trigger a notice, even if the form arrives at the IRS after you've filed. The important thing is accurate reporting on your end.
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Esmeralda Gómez
I had a similar situation last year with late 1099s and it was super frustrating. What helped me was using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which has this cool feature where you upload all your tax documents and it extracts all the info automatically. It caught some stuff I nearly missed because of late forms. The tool flagged the late 1099-NEC and gave me specific guidance on how to report it correctly. What I really liked was that it cross-referenced my bank deposits against reported income to make sure everything matched up - gave me peace of mind that I wasn't missing anything even with the late paperwork.
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Klaus Schmidt
•Does it work with all tax forms or just 1099s? I get a bunch of different forms each year and manually entering everything is such a pain.
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Aisha Patel
•How secure is it though? I'm always nervous about uploading financial docs to websites I'm not familiar with. Do they store your docs or delete them after processing?
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Esmeralda Gómez
•It works with pretty much all tax forms - W-2s, all types of 1099s, 1098s for mortgage interest, even investment statements. It's designed to extract data from any tax document format so you don't have to enter anything manually. They use bank-level encryption for all uploads and you can choose whether to keep documents stored in your account or have them automatically deleted after processing. I opted to keep mine stored because it's convenient to have everything in one place, but they make it clear that security is a priority either way.
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Aisha Patel
Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after asking about it here and I'm genuinely impressed. I was skeptical about the security thing but they explain their encryption process right on the site and I felt comfortable enough to give it a shot. I had two late 1099-NECs (seems to be a common problem this year) and the system flagged both of them and even showed me exactly where to report them on my Schedule C. The document scan feature saved me at least an hour of manual entry. Just wanted to share since it actually helped with this exact issue we were discussing!
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LilMama23
If you're having trouble getting tax forms from companies or need to follow up about incorrect information, I've found that Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) is a lifesaver for actually getting through to someone who can help. I spent HOURS on hold with the IRS trying to figure out what to do about missing forms before discovering this service. They basically hold your place in the phone queue and call you when an actual human picks up. There's a video that shows how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. Saved me from the hold music hell when I needed to straighten out some 1099 issues last month.
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Dmitri Volkov
•Wait, so you pay someone else to wait on hold for you? That's actually brilliant but how does it work exactly? Do they patch you through when someone answers?
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Gabrielle Dubois
•Sounds like a scam honestly. Why would the IRS allow some third party service to hold places in their phone queue? And how would they transfer you quickly enough before the IRS rep hangs up?
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LilMama23
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Gabrielle Dubois
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Tyrone Johnson
Just FYI - if the amount on the late 1099-NEC doesn't match what you have in your records, you should try to resolve this with the company before filing. If that doesn't work, file with what you believe is correct and be prepared to explain the discrepancy if questioned. I've been freelancing for years and unfortunately, late 1099s are super common. I now have a policy of not waiting for them - I file based on my own income records, then deal with any discrepancies later if needed. In 8 years, I've only had to address this once with the IRS.
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Ingrid Larsson
•Do you need to attach any kind of explanation to your return if you're reporting an amount different from the 1099? Or just be ready to explain if they ask later?
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Tyrone Johnson
•You don't need to attach an explanation to your electronic filing. Just be ready to explain if they ask later. The best approach is to keep detailed records of all your income - bank deposits, invoices, payment confirmations - so if there is a discrepancy, you can easily show why your reported amount is correct. For significant discrepancies (I'd say anything over $500), you might want to reach out to the company first to see if they'll issue a corrected 1099-NEC. But if they won't or you can't reach them, filing with your accurate records is the right move.
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Carlos Mendoza
Is anybody else noticing more delays with tax forms this year? I got a 1099-NEC in February that had the wrong amount, then a corrected one in March, and now I just got a THIRD one with yet another "correction." At this point I don't even know which one to use.
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Zainab Mahmoud
•Use the most recent one they sent, but double-check it against your own records. Companies can issue corrected 1099s (they should be marked as "CORRECTED" on the form), but multiple corrections is definitely unusual and annoying.
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