WHO SHOULD FILE 1099 FORMS

A 1099 tax form is an informational reporting form which is required to be filed with the IRS if any payment of $600 and above has been made by businesses or individuals to independent contractors in year 2012. The type of payments that are legible to be filed on form1099 are: Rent, health care payments, services offered by freelancers, attorneys, royalties, Payments to crew members by owners or operators of fishing boats and etc.

In the case of agricultural sector, a farmer would have to file tax form 1099 for year 2012 if they want to write off the cost of the custom hay baling they had done this year. Services that require a farmer to file a 1099 form include: painting the barn, hoof trimmers or certified crop consultants.

Services that exempt you from filing 1099 forms include hauling freight which means livestock hauling or grain hauling is not required to be reported on 1099 form. Moreover, 1099 filing is not required to be reported for the purchase of equipment parts, seeds or fertilizers. Also a farmer is not supposed to file a 1099 form is he spends less than $600.

It is very necessary that farmers maintain their books on the payments they have made for year 2012-2013 because if they fail to file 1099 forms with the correct information then it can cost them huge Penalties and losses.

Failure to file a 1099 form, could cost a farmer fine of $100 per form. If the internal revenue finds out that it was a willful neglect on the part of the farmer to file the 1099 form, then it can result in greater costs for the farmer in the form of $250 per filing. Sadly, small farmers who are unaware of such information fail to file the 1099 forms and thus have to face great adversities.

If business is not incorporated, then a 1099 form is required for all service providers. If the farmers are not incorporated, then they need to ask the business doing the service for their social security number (SSN)

Moreover, if a farm owner acquired above $600 as rent, then it is mandatory to file 1099 form. Farmers have to talk to their landlords in order to get their 1099 forms.

1099 forms were started by the IRS as a step to fill the tax gap. Most of the income earned by non-employees/freelancers was being unreported and hence resulting in huge tax gap for the government. In order to narrow the gap, Congress came up with the 1099 forms.

For year 2012-2013, a 1099 form has to be sent to the recipient no later than January 31st 2013.

 There are 3 copies of the 1099 form.

·        One is kept by the payer,

·        One is sent to the recipient and

·        The other copy is filed with internal revenue service. 

Businesses are supposed to file the 1099 form with the IRS no later than February 28th 2013. However if you efile 1099 form which obviously is a better choice, then the due date would be April 1st 2013

Electronically filing a 1099 form is a very easy and effortless method as compared to the paper filing method. Nowadays IRS has made it compulsory for businesses who have to file 250 1099 forms to electronically file them. If you fail to do so, then penalties are imposed on you. Also if you are filing less than 250 1099 forms, still you are encouraged to e-file as it is cost effective, quick, and secure and provide IRS confirmation in less time than anticipated.  You can either e-file through the IRS website or make use of an IRS approved e-file provider such as 1099online.com to e-file your 2012 form 1099 efficiently

IRS FORM 1099 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires businesses (including not-for-profit organizations) to issue a Form 1099 to any individual or unincorporated business paid in excess of $600 per calendar year for services rendered. This is required whether these payments are spread out over the course of the year or are paid in one lump sum payment. This form is generally not required to be issued to incorporated businesses. The only exception is when payments are made to incorporated law firms. A 1099 must be issued. whenever payments in excess of $600 per calendar year are made to law firms.

The penalty for failure to file Form 1099 can be as much as 50% of the amount paid for services. The responsibility for filing the Form 1099 is on the organization paying for the services (each state component). It is the responsibility of the individual/business receiving the Form 1099 to handle it properly on their tax return.

  Every year businesses have to prepare a vast number of 1099 forms and provide a copy of each 1099 form to their payees/recipients, so that they can use it for their income tax purposes. Moreover, besides providing a copy to payees, businesses also have to file one copy with the internal revenue services for their record. Considering that businesses have to prepare a huge number of 1099 forms every year, thus IRS has made it compulsory that businesses who have to file 250 and above 1099 forms will have to mandatorily use electronic filing system to file 1099 misc forms. Efiling 1099 forms is actually a quick, easy and secure method to file tax form 1099 misc. Filing deadline for 1099 electronic filing payers is April 1st 2013. Although you can efile 1099 forms on your own, but it would require you to download the software and then efile. However, one such company that has come up with advanced efiling software for 1099 filing is 1099online.com. You can learn more about their efiling offerings and services at 1099online.com.

Detailed information on different types of 1099 forms

Receiving 1099 form and reporting it to IRS is not an uncommon thing. 1099 form is used to report various incomes other than wages, salaries and tips for which form W2 is used.  1099 forms are given to individual contractors for services rendered by them to small businesses. Businesses provide a 1099 form only if the individual contractor has earned an income of $600 and above. If not, then no 1099 form is required. However there are various 1099 forms for different purposes. Below is the description provided for 4 types of 1099 forms:

Form 1099 Misc - The Form 1099-MISC is used to report miscellaneous income for individuals and companies who have been paid $600 or more in non-employee service payments during a calendar year. In other words, Form 1099 Misc is usually given to independent contractors such as attorneys, freelancers, health care service, performers, rent and etc who have provided their services to the company and in return have received compensation of $600 and above. 1099 forms are issued by the government to ensure that no income is gone unnoticed and hence is reported to the IRS for income tax purposes. Form 1099 Misc has to be given by the business to the payee by January 31 2013 and it also has to be reported to the IRS by April 1st 2013, if you are filing electronically.

Form 1099 K – FORM 1099-K which is used to report payment card and third party network transactions. The form is required for reporting payment transactions.  Payment transaction is when a payment card (credit card) is used to make a payment or any settlement through a third party payment network such as e-bay, pay pal and etc. Thus, people who have a pay pal account, credit card account or any such similar account will receive 1099 K at the end of the year. Businesses would have to report 1099-K form only if they have gross receipts of $20,000 and above or 200 and above transactions. 1099online.com is the first company to go live with the e filing software for 1099 K forms.

Form 1099 Div – Form 1099 DIV ‘dividends and distributions’ is the official form which is used to report all taxable capital gains and dividends paid to an investor, including those that have been re-invested in a given taxation year. The amounts stated on the 1099 DIV form represent the amounts that fund companies are attributing to each investor's investment return for the year and reporting to the IRS. Investors use Form 1099-DIV to help report income received from investments on their tax return each year.  Get more information on 1099- Div at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099div.pdf

Form 1099 INT – The official 1099 INT form is issued by payers of interest income to investors at the end of the year. Payers have to issue the form to those they paid at least $10 of interest during the year. The payers in this case include banks and savings institutions. Interest income reported on Form 1099-INT includes interest paid on savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, and US Savings bonds. This Form is also used to report other tax items related to your interest income, such as early withdrawal penalties and federal tax withheld. The form has to be filed with IRS by April 1st 2013.

 The filing season for 1099forms starts January 1^st 2013. Businesses have to ensure that they provide the correct and required 1099 forms to the contractors/payee by January 31^st 2013. Businesses also have to efile 1099 forms with the IRS compulsorily. The filiing deadline for paper filers is Feb 28^th 2013 and for electronic filers is April 1st 2013.







This is a copyrighted© article written by ‘Diva A’ who is associates with www.1099online.com. No permission is granted for commercial use. You may reproduce this article with written consent from the TRS Holdings, Inc, parent company of 1099online.com by emailing to wecare@1099online.com or by calling at 800-578-2290

1099 form filing due date 2011-2012 –You have less than 2 weeks to file 1099 forms with IRS.

Due date to mail 1099 forms to recipients has already passed. It was January 31st 2012. However, businesses and individuals still have time to file 1099 forms with IRS.

1099 forms are used to report various types of incomes other than wages, salaries and tips. Such incomes are reported for employees and form W2 is used for that purpose. 1099 forms are typically issued for those individuals who are not hired by the company as employees but are freelancers/independent contractors’ hired by companies on contractual basis. As an independent contractor if an individual earns $600 and above, then he must receive 1099 form from the business than contracted with him.

There are various types of IRS 1099 forms. The letter that appears after the 1099 denotes the type of 1099 form. Following are the various 1099 forms:

• 1099-A: acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property
• 1099-B: Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions
• 1099-C: Cancellation of Debt
• 1099-CAP: Changes in Corporate Control and Capital Structure
• 1099-DIV: Dividends and Distributions
• 1099-G: Government Payments
• 1099-H: Health Insurance Advance Payments
• 1099-INT: Interest Income
• 1099-K: Merchant Card and Third Party Network Payments
• 1099-LTC: Long Term Care Benefits
• 1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income
• 1099-OID: Original Issue Discount
• 1099-PATR: Taxable Distributions Received From Cooperatives
• 1099-Q: Payment from Qualified Education Programs
• 1099-R: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement Plans, IRAs, or Insurance Contracts
• 1099-S: Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions
• 1099-SA: Distributions From an HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA
• 1042-S: Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income
• SSA-1099: Social Security Benefit Statement
• SSA-1042S: Social Security Benefit Statement to Nonresident Aliens
• RRB-1099: Payments by the Railroad Retirement Board
• RRB-1099R: Pension and Annuity Income by the Railroad Retirement Board
• RRB-1042S: Payments by the Railroad Retirement Board to Nonresident Aliens
• W-2G: Certain Gambling Winnings

Business owners not only mail 1099 forms to recipients but also file a copy of the form with IRS. They also retain a copy of it with themselves. Hence as a recipient or independent contractor, if you think that you can escape from filing your 1099 income, then you are wrong. IRS will already have a copy of it and to safeguard against penalties, it is best you file your 1099 income as tax return using form 1040.

Every independent contractor receiving 1099 form must file for taxes in order to prevent penalties.

Now, there are 2 ways to file 1099 forms. One is to follow the old paper filing method and the other is to use the advanced and more secure method of efiling.

Due date to file 1099 form with IRS if you are paper filing is 28 Feb 2012. But if you are electronically filing 1099 form, then you get 1 month extra time which makes your due date for 1099 form filing 2nd April 2012.

Efiling is much easier and convenient and not to forget more secure and cost effective. Nowadays there are many IRS approved and authorized efile service providers such as 1099online.com offering 1099 form efile services.

So now it’s your choice weather you want to rush to file 1099 forms with IRS using the paper filing method or to file 1099 forms with IRS in just few minutes using the 1099 online form filing method.

Last date to send 1099 form to recipient is tomorrow

It is time for businesses who hired services of contractors and freelancers to send 1099 forms to them. 31st January 2012 is the last date for businesses to send 1099 forms to the recipients. Last date to file 1099 form with IRS for paper filers is Feb 28th 2012 and for electronic filers is April 2nd 2012.

If you still have not send form 1099 to your contractor then make sure you do it as soon as possible to avoid possible penalties.

Form 1099 tax deduction list for 2011-2012

Internal revenue service department says that Income tax filing season is underway and the last date to file your returns is April 17th 2012. Although the filing deadline is 3 months away, still taxpayers should gear themselves up for an early start to make the tax filing season easier for them.

"The first thing you'll want to do is to gather your records and round up any documents you'll need when filing your taxes," said Clay Sanford, an IRS spokesman in Dallas. "Get into the habit of keeping good records every year — saving receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support income or deductions you're claiming on your return."

He said Form W-2s and/or Form 1099s will be needed to file a tax return. He said those who do not receive their Form W-2 or 1099 by Jan. 31, or whose information is incorrect, should contact their employer or payer.

1099 misc forms are filed by businesses or individuals who hired the services of independent contractors for year 2011-2012. In other words, 1099 misc forms are used to report the income ($600 and above) earned by freelancers, independent contractors and any self employed person hired on contract basis. Last date to send 1099 misc forms to recipients is January 30th 2012.

1099 Misc form is necessary for independent contractors as the form is required for the income tax filing purpose. Independent contractors will have to report to IRS any income they earn as freelancers through 1099 misc form. There is no way you can try to escape from reporting the income because your payer will also provide a copy of your 1099 misc form to the IRS. However, independent contractors can get certain tax relief from 1099 tax deductions:

Here is a list of 1099 tax deductions for independent contractors:

• Inventory
• eBay fees
• PayPal fees or shopping cart fees
• Shipping fees and supplies
• Postage
• Office supplies
• Advertising
• Mileage - use your car for business purposes
• Phone - cell phone or second line
• Bank charges - business checking account
• Accounting and legal fees
• Computer and software
• Internet, website and faxing services
• Contract labor - VA, coaches, web designer
• Furniture and office equipment
• Membership fees and dues
• Continuing education
• Home office expenses

Few names have been provided above. To find out the complete list or 1099 tax deductions which you are eligible for; kindly contact your tax professional or IRS.

Moreover, if you hired the services of a contractor and paid him income via PayPal, cash card or any third party payment network, then you do not need to issue him/her a 1099 misc form. The third party payment network will issue him/her form 1099-K (form for credit card and third party payment processors)

All about form 1099-K

From tax year 2011 onwards, credit card merchants and third party payment networks such as e-bay, PayPal, Amazon and etc will have to start sending 1099 K forms to sellers who meet their criteria. If you earn money online by selling products, freelance writers and etc then be ready to receive 1099-K for year 2011-2012.

Although the form has been in the making since a long time, however it will be implemented from tax year 2011 -2012 onwards. The original bill proposed that credit card processors be required to file 1099s for each seller that had at least $10,000 in gross sales and 200 transactions. However, the original proposal has been a little modified where you must have at least $20,000 gross sales and 200 transactions before you are required to receive 1099-K form from third party network companies. Hence, less people are now affected by the 1099-K form filing.

How to file 1099 forms?

There are 2 methods to file 1099 forms. One is paper filing method and other is efile method. Electronic filing method is the most preferred method among tax filers because of its easy and efficiency. You can either file 1099 forms through IRS website or avail expertise support of an IRS authorized efile service provider. Although there are many service providers who claim to be leaders and provide the best services, however one such service provider who has never let down its clients is 1099online.com. You can efile 1099 forms on their website easily, swiftly and efficiently for as low as $0.55 per filing. They offer the lowest pricing in industry with top class and secure services.

Due date to issue a 2011 form 1099 misc to independent contractor is fast approaching.

It’s been 2 weeks since the start of year 2012. Since the beginning of New Year, we have been advising businesses and individuals to start preparing documents for reporting their informational returns. You have 2 more weeks left to issue a 1099 misc form to your contract workers.

1099 misc form generally titled as ‘miscellaneous Income’ is the official form which businesses have to issue to their contract workers (non employees of the firm) for services provided by them and in return the contract workers were paid $600 and more.

1099 misc forms are issued to contract workers or non employees of the firm, because they would need the 1099 misc during their income tax filing. The information provided on Form 1099-MISC includes non-employee compensation, federal and state income taxes withheld, and medical and health care payments.

January 31^st 2012 is the last date to issue a 1099 misc form to your contractor. You must also file a 1099 misc form with the IRS. If you are paper filing a 1099 form, then the due date is Feb 28^th 2012 and if you are efiling 1099 misc form, then the due date is April 2^nd 2012.

E filing is the most appropriate option when you are filing for 1099 forms. This is because of many reasons:

• Efiling is quick and easy process
• Efiling is safe and secure
• Efiling saves paper
• Efiling provides IRS confirmation much earlier than paper filing
• Efiling is cost effective.

There are many service providers offering efiling service for 1099 forms, but personally, I prefer 1099online.com. Their services are wonderful and offer an easy navigation for 1099 misc efile. If you want to get your 1099 forms filed in a quick and easy manner along with protecting your wallet, then definitely opt for 1099online.com

FORM 1099 MISC COMPLETE GUIDE – 1099 misc forms, form 1099 misc filing requirements, 1099 misc form due dates and penalties.

Now and then, we see someone asking a query on yahoo answers, ask.com and other websites about 1099 misc form. When a person received 1099 misc form, they are surprised and immediately post ‘Why did I receive a 1099 misc form’? Not only that but the search engines and filled with questions regarding 1099 misc forms, 1099 filing requirements, best way to file a 1099 misc form, due dates and penalties for 1099 filing and more. The list of questions is endless.

So here I am today, ready to answer all your doubts and questions about 1099 misc forms.

WHAT IS FORM 1099 MISC?

1099 misc form is used to report certain types of payments made in the course of a trade or business. If you're a small business owner who has hired the services of an independent contractor or freelancer, you may need to file and submit the 1099 misc form to both the Internal Revenue Service and the person or business that you paid. Normally, a 1099 misc form has to be reported if at least $600 has been paid to the recipient.

Personal payments are not reportable. You are engaged in a trade or business if you operate for gain or profit. However, nonprofit organizations are considered to be engaged in a trade or business and are subject to these reporting requirements. Other organizations subject to these reporting requirements include trusts of qualified pension or profit-sharing plans of employers, certain organizations exempt from tax under section 501(c) or (d), farmers' cooperatives that are exempt from tax under section 521, and widely held fixed investment trusts. Payments by federal, state, or local government agencies are also reportable.

IS FORM 1099 MISC VALID FOR EMPLOYEES OF A FIRM?
No, if you are employed by a firm or a registered corporation, then you are not suppose to file form 1099 misc. If you are providing services to a company as an employee and receive 1099 misc form, then it is a mistake on the part of your employer and you must correct it. As an employer, you are supposed to receive form W2 for your income tax purpose.

WHAT DO I DO WITH 1099 MISC FORM AFTER RECEIVING IT?
Because you are an independent business person, working for yourself and are not registered as acorporation, partnership or multi-owner limited liability company and you were professionally hired by a company on a contract basis; you are legible to receive form 1099 misc by January 31st2012. You would need that 1099 misc form to report your income to the IRS for your tax filing purposes.

Now when you get a 1099 misc form, take a look at Box 7, “Nonemployee compensation.” This is where your annual income from the company that hired you will be reported. And this is the income that you must be sure to include on your Schedule C, because not only did the company send you a 1099 misc form but also filed it with IRS. Hence, the 1099-MISC serves the same function for the self-employed as a W-2 does for the employee. It tells you and the IRS how much income you made from one company.

WHAT DO I DO IF THE AMOUNT ON THE 1099 MISC FORM IS INCORRECT?

In such case, you should contact the business who issued the 1099 to resolve the discrepancy. If they made a mistake, they must issue a corrected 1099 to both you and the IRS. To be safe, you should wait until you receive the corrected 1099 before filing your tax return. You need to be sure that the 1099 income amount agrees with your Schedule C income amount. If there is a difference between the total income on your 1099 misc form and the amount of income on your Schedule C, the IRS will eventually catch it and send you a letter demanding an explanation

I FILED MY TAX RETURN BUT AM YET TO RECEIVE MY 1099 MISC FORM?
There is no problem if you filed your tax return and received 1099 misc form after that as long as you reported your income on schedule C. But in, case you did not report your 1099 income, make sure you file an amended tax return. This will surely increase the amount of tax due and probably late payment penalties if you fail to pay your tax dues on time.

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR 1099 MISC FORM FILING?
The amount of the penalty is based on when you file the correct information return. The penalty is:

1) $30 per information return if you correctly file within 30 days (by March 30 if the due date is February 28); maximum penalty $250,000 per year ($75,000 for small businesses, defined below).

2) $60 per information return if you correctly file more than 30 days after the due date but by August 1; maximum penalty $500,000 per year ($200,000 for small businesses).

3) $100 per information return if you file after August 1 or you do not file required information returns; maximum penalty $1,500,000 per year ($500,000 for small businesses).

BY WHEN AM I SUPPOSED TO FILE AND REPORT 1099 MISC WITH THE IRS?
31st January 2012 – send misc 1099 form to the recipient
28th February 2012 – file form 1099 misc with IRS on paper
2nd April 2012 – File form 1099 misc with IRS electronically

IF I WANT TO EFILE MY 1099 MISC FORM, HOW DO I SELECT THE SERVICE PROVIDER?

There are many service providers wanting to attract customers to file 1099s on their websites but there are certain requisites to look out for when filing form 1099 misc or any other 1099 forms. Below is the list provided:

1. Efile service provider should be IRS authorized and certified -look for IRS logo on the site
2. They should be safe and secure - look for security certificate on their website
3. offer user friendly navigation process to simplify your 1099 filing
4. offer reasonable and cost effective pricing. 
5. have customer support service - phone, email, etc. 

Now, we would recommend 1099online.com, as an efile service provider whom you should opt for to file your 1099 forms online. Not because we are 1099online.com, but because 1099online.com fulfills all the above and many more requisites that you should look out for when opting a 1099 filing service provider. Visit 1099online.com and find out yourself. 1099online.com supports efile for 12 different 1099s

This is a copyrighted© article written by ‘tax master’ who is associates with www.1099online.com. No permission is granted for commercial use. You may reproduce this article with written consent from the TRS Holdings, Inc, parent company of 1099online.com by emailing to wecare@1099online.com or by calling at 800-578-2290

2011 form 1099-K report credit transaction

Starting 2012, any income that is received through credit and debit card transactions will have to be reported to the IRS by filing form 1099-K (Merchant Card and Third-Party Network Payments).

Financial institutions and merchant card service providers will have to report the annual gross payments which have been processed either through debit or credit card using form 1099-K to IRS and to the merchants. The 1099-K form format is unlikely to be similar to the 1099misc form which is used to report miscellaneous incomes earned by non employees/independent contractors/freelancers.

As the new development has already taken off considering that January 2012 has begun, it would be advisable that payment processors and business owners get ready, prepare the information they need and file form 1099-K and send a copy to the IRS and the recipients as early as possible.
Details of Credit Card and Merchant Payment Reporting

Banks and other payment settlement services will need to report gross annual receipts for each merchant. The income reporting will apply to "any transaction in which a payment card is accepted as payment". Thus, banks and other financial service providers will be reporting the total, gross amount of credit card and debit card payments for the year for each merchant.
Exception for De Minimis Payments

Reporting 1099-K form is not required if

• A merchant's total payment transactions for the year does not exceed $20,000, and 
• The total number of transactions does not exceed 200. 
• A withdrawal of funds at an automated teller machine (ATM) via payment card, or a cash advance or loan against the cardholder's account 
• A check issued in connection with a payment card that is accepted by a merchant or other payee. 
• Any transaction in which a payment card is accepted as payment by a merchant or other payee who is related to the issuer of the payment card.
  

How to prepare for credit card and third party payment reporting (FORM 1099-K)

Small businesses will want to review their bookkeeping and accounting practices. Once card payment reporting begins, business owners will need to reconcile the information reports submitted by the banks to their own books. Any discrepancies in reporting will need to be addressed so that accurate tax returns can be filed with the IRS.

One bookkeeping issue is clear; the new law requires banks to report gross receipts. However, merchants often have chargeback, issue refunds, or have debit card transactions where the customer receives cash back. Under the proposed regulations, banks and other payment transaction services will be reporting only gross monthly and annual payments. Fees, chargeback, refunds and other items will not be netted against these gross amounts for IRS reporting purposes. Accordingly, businesses should have thorough accounting procedures to keep track of these items separately. In other words, if you are accustomed to recording only a net deposit from a merchant account, it would be advisable to separate those net amounts into gross receipts and the associated fees and refunds. That way your internal financial reports can be more easily reconciled to the new Form 1099-K. 

Form 1099-K requires merchants to provide their full information

Since financial institutions will need to report credit and debit card receipts to the IRS, merchants will need to provide their payment processor with the full legal name of the business, their address, and taxpayer identification number. For most businesses, this will be their Employer Identification Number (EIN). As such, payment processors will likely request businesses to provide them with a Form W-9 to obtain this information. 

Possible Backup Withholding Issues

Merchants who fail to provide their taxpayer identification number could become subject to backup withholding at a rate of 28% on their payments. To prevent backup withholding, merchants should provide their card payment services provider with the name, address, and EIN for the business.

Another concern is that credit card transactions could become subject to backup withholding if a business commits fraud on their tax payments. Under the proposed regulations, the IRS made it clear that backup withholding would occur on gross card payments. This could leave a business in severe financial difficulties. Business owners who are struggling with tax debts should work with their tax professional to develop a repayment strategy that prevents any withholding on their card payments.

Tax form 1099 reporting requirements for year 2011-2012 have been repealed.

Earlier it was said that from 2011 onwards there would be huge changes in the reporting requirements for form 1099. However, fortunately two of those 1099 filing rules which would have created disturbance and chaos among business owners, brokers, agents and other intermediaries have been revoked by the congress.

On a brief background check, a 1099 form is an informational reporting form required to be filed with the IRS by business owners or any individual who hires the services of an independent contractor/freelancer and pays him at least $600 in remuneration for his services. The reason why Congress started informational return reporting was to reduce the tax gap that had risen out of no reporting of income earned by freelancers.

When the new legislation was passes for the new 1099 reporting requirement for year 2012, it was a great deal of concern for the business owners as the new 1099 requirements would have resulted in huge filing and administrative costs. The new 1099 filing regulation would have surely lead to thousands of additional and unnecessary 1099 form filing.

The new 1099 filing rule required that 1099 forms should be issued to all business owners both under service and property for $600 and above. Moreover, even corporations were no longer exempt from filing form 1099. Hence, business had to issue large number of 1099s and they had to obtain a TIN from the vendor in order to avoid the required backup withholding of federal income tax.

Another rule under the new legislation was to include rental property owners, which means that if you are a house owner and you rented your house and paid an individual around $1000 to paint your house, you would then have to issue form 1099. Property owners would have been required to file 1099s as early as 2011 and would have been required to comply with the all the other troublesome 2012 form 1099 changes

However, businesses need not worry about the new 1099 reporting regulations and the new rules have been repealed by the government. 1099 reporting remains the same as it was earlier. Businesses can continue filing 1099 forms without any hindrance and troubles.

Pointers on current 1099 rules

• Businesses should issue a Form 1099-MISC to appropriate vendors (non-corporate) to whom they paid more than $600 for services during a calendar year. The Form should be provided to the vendor by January 31st and should be mailed to the IRS (along with Form 1096) by February 28th 2012. If you are electronically filing form 1099, then last date to submit form to IRS is April 2nd 2012
  
• A non-corporate entity includes individual sole proprietorship, partnership or limited liability company (LLC). Additionally a Form 1099-MISC is required for services paid to attorneys regardless of their entity type.
  
• Examples of payments that might require a 1099-MISC would be rents, attorney fees, contract labor, director fees, commissions, royalties (when payments exceed $10) and any compensation not included on W-2.

A business should use form 1099-misc to report any payments they have made in the course of their business. A 1099 misc form is issued by businesses to individuals/ independent contractors to whom they have paid $600 and more. If you are unsure weather you are legible to file form 1099 misc or which 1099 form should you file, contact 1099online.com an IRS certified efile provider to efile your 1099 forms and answer your queries on 1099 form filing.

2011 NEW COST BASIS COMPLIANCE LEGISLATION FOR FORM 1099-B

New federal requirements for cost basis tax reporting enacted in October 2008 require intermediaries to submit accurate and timely cost basis information to investors and the IRS. The change is the result of a government effort to end under and over reporting of capital gains and losses, while raising revenue to support The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

As a result of the new legislation, financial intermediaries will be required to report cost basis information to investors and the Internal Revenue Service for:

• Equity securities transactions on or after January 1, 2011.
• Mutual funds and dividend reinvestment plans on or after January 1, 2012.
• Debt securities, options and other specified securities on or after January 1, 2013.

The new regulations present an enormous challenge to brokers, banks, issuers, transfer agents, mutual funds and other intermediaries who must now prepare to provide cost basis information to millions of individual investors as well as the IRS. They must choose whether to build an in-house solution, buy a service from an industry vendor, or partner with a cost basis service provider. Firms need to focus on this now if they are to meet the deadlines set by Congress.

The new compliance requirement

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, enacted mainly to establish the

$700 billion bailout package contains new and stringent requirements on financial intermediaries such as issuers, transfer agents, brokers, banks, and mutual funds. In essence, the new legislation is an expansion of longstanding requirements that brokerages and mutual fund companies report gross proceeds. It has the practical effect of augmenting standing 1099-B income-reporting forms that brokerages are already required to submit simultaneously to investors and the IRS.

Schedule for implementation

The legislation establishes three stages of implementation for cost basis reporting:

• All equity stock acquired on or after January 1, 2010.
• All mutual funds and dividend reinvestment plans (DRiP) shares acquired on or after January 1, 2012.
• Other specified securities types, such as debt issues, options, private placements acquired on or after January 1, 2013.

BROKERS AND BANKS:

Compliance

Brokers, custodians and banks (herein referred to as brokers) have three years to implement systems upgrades to track and capture the adjusted cost basis information for securities transactions that occur for securities acquired on or after January 1, 2011, for form 1099-B reporting.

The form 1099-B will change to include the new information for adjusted cost basis. Brokers reporting directly to the IRS and the shareholder will need to retool the form printing process. Also, brokers must determine if they will buy, build or partner to handle the complexities of implementing an adjusted cost basis accounting system.

TRANSFER AGENTS

Compliance

Like issuers, commercial transfer agents will be required to report adjusted cost basis to the shareholder and the IRS through the updated form 1099-B. Transfer agents who are required to track and report adjusted cost basis include:

1. Transfer agents who administer dividend reinvestment plans, employee stock option plans (ESOP) and other such plans
2. Transfer agents who report gross proceeds of a sale of a security to a shareholder, and,
3. Generally, those transfer agents who now distribute form 1099-B.
   

For equity issues, transfer agents must begin to report adjusted cost basis on or after

January 1, 2011. For shares accumulated in dividend reinvestment plans, and possibly other plans such as ESOPs, transfer agents have until January 1, 2012 to begin reporting adjusted cost basis. Transfer agents that administer issuer-sponsored or “bank”-sponsored plans, (reinvestment plans, ESOPs and the like), will be required to report adjusted cost basis on the new 1099-B forms.

The form 1099-B will change to include the new information for adjusted cost basis.

Transfer agents reporting directly to the IRS and the shareholder will need to retool the form printing process.

EQUITY ISSUERS:

Compliance

The legislation obligates “brokers” to report adjusted cost basis to shareholders and the IRS for equity securities that have been acquired on or after January 1, 2011. The term broker is used generically in the legislation and can be misleading. The term refers to all financial intermediaries who report 1099-B financial information to shareholders. These intermediaries will be required to report adjusted cost basis. As the legislation is currently understood, those intermediaries include, but are not limited to, issuers, transfer agents, mutual funds, brokers, banks, and other custodians.

Issuers who will shoulder the additional burden of tracking and reporting adjusted cost

basis include:

1. Issuers acting as their own transfer agent
2. Issuers who administer their own dividend reinvestment plan, employee stock option plans (ESOP) and other such plans
3. Issuers who report gross proceeds of a sale of a security to a shareholder, and
4. Generally, those issuers that now report form 1099-B

For equity securities, issuers must begin reporting adjusted cost basis on or after January 1, 2011. For shares accumulated in dividend reinvestment plans, and possibly other plans, such as ESOPs, issuers have until January 1, 2012 to beginning reporting adjusted cost basis.

PENALTIES FOR INNACURATE REPORTING

The penalties can be very high, especially for those intermediaries that report inaccurate cost basis for a high number of investor/shareholder accounts. The penalty is $100 for each incorrect form 1099-B; $50 for the incorrect form sent to the investor/shareholder, and $50 for the incorrect form sent to the IRS. The maximum penalty is $350,000 a year.

About 1099online.com

1099online.com offers you quick and simple efiling of 1099-B forms through our advanced and secure efiling software. No need to download the software and no need to register yourself with the IRS FIRE system. It takes 3 simple steps to efile 1099-B form on 1099online.com and too for a cost as low as $0.55 per recipient. 1099online.com is an IRS certified efile provider to file 12 different 1099 forms which include 1099 misc form, 1099 K, 1099 INT, 1099 DIV, 1099 A, 1099 B, 1099 C, 1099 S, 1098, 1099-patr, form W2G and etc.

New form 1099 filing due dates and penalties for year 2011-2012

In less than a week, businesses would have to gear up to file their 1099 forms. 1099 forms were basically started by the government as an effort to curb the tax gaps that are taken place. The reason why tax gap had occurred was because of the income earned by non employees/freelancers and thus was gone unreported to the government. Hence 1099 forms were designed so that any payments of $600 and above made to independent contractors was reported on 1099 forms and thus filed with the IRS for the income tax purposes.

It is very necessary that 1099 forms are filed correctly and on time. If both these conditions are not met, then one can face huge penalties. The new penalties for 2011 form 1099 for year 2012 are as under:

If you fail to file a correct 1099 form by the due date, and cannot show reasonable cause, you may be subject to a penalty that broadly falls under categories listed below:

• —        Failing to file by the due date and you don’t furnish reasonable cause to justify the delay
• —       Failing to file paper forms that are machine readable
• — Failing to include all required information
• —       Failing to meet electronic filing requirements
• —       Failing to include information that is correct
• —       Or failing to report TIN or reporting an incorrect TIN

The amount of the penalty is based on when the correct 1099 is filed:

—    $30 per return if you correctly file within 30 days of the due date (by March 30 if the due date is February 28). The maximum penalty is $250,000 per year ($75,000 for small businesses).

—    $60 per form if you correctly file more than 30 days after the due date but by August 1; maximum penalty $500,000 per year ($200,000 for small businesses).

—    $100 per information return if you file after August 1 or you do not file required information returns. In this case the maximum penalty is $1,500,000 per year ($500,000 for small businesses).

If you do not file corrections and you do not meet any of the exceptions to the penalty described above, the penalty is $100 per information return.

DUE DATES TO FILE 1099 FORM:

1. —        January 30^th 2012- Due date to provide 1099 form to recipient
2. —        February 28^th 2012 – due date to paper file 1099 form
3. —        April 2^nd 2012- Due date to electronically file 1099 form

2011-2012 brings new 1099 filing tax laws for Farmers.

A 1099 tax form is an informational reporting form which is required to be filed with the IRS if any payment of $600 and above has been made by businesses or individuals to independent contractors in year 2011. The type of payments that are legible to be filed on form 1099 are: Rent, health care payments, services offered by freelancers, attorneys, royalties, Payments to crew members by owners or operators of fishing boats and etc.

In the case of agricultural sector, a farmer would have to file tax form 1099 for year 2011 if they want to write off the cost of the custom hay baling they had done this year. Services that require a farmer to file a 1099 form include: painting the barn, hoof trimmers or certified crop consultants.

Services that exempt you from filing 1099 forms include hauling freight which means livestock hauling or grain hauling is not required to be reported on 1099 form. Moreover, 1099 filing is not required to be reported for the purchase of equipment parts, seeds or fertilizers. Also a farmer is not supposed to file a 1099 form is he spends less than $600.

It is very necessary that farmers maintain their books on the payments they have made for year 2011-2012 because if they fail they file 1099 forms with the correct information then it can cost them huge penalties and losses.

Failure to file a 1099 form, could cost a farmer fine of $100 per form. If the internal revenue finds out that it was a willful neglect on the part of the farmer to file the 1099 form, then it can result in greater costs for the farmer in the form of $250 per filing. Sadly, small farmers who are unaware of such information fail to file the 1099 forms and thus have to face great adversities.

If business is not incorporated, then a 1099 form is required for all service providers. If the farmers are not incorporated, then they need to ask the business doing the service for their social security number (SSN)

Moreover, if a farm owner acquired above $600 as rent, then it is mandatory to file a 1099 form. Farmers have to talk to their landlords in order to get their 1099 forms.

1099 forms were started by the IRS as a step to fill the tax gap. Most of the income earned by non employees/freelancers was being unreported and hence resulting in huge tax gap for thee government. In order to narrow the gap, Congress came up with the 1099 forms.

For year 2011-2012, a 1099 form has to be sent to the recipient no later than January 30th 2012. There are 3 copies of the 1099 form. One is kept by the payer, one is sent to the recipient and the other copy is filed with internal revenue service.  Businesses are supposed to file the 1099 form with the IRS no later than February 28th 2012. However if you efile 1099 form which obviously is a better choice, then the due date would be April 2nd 2012

Electronically filing a 1099 form is a very easy and effortless method as compared to the paper filing method. Nowadays IRS has made it compulsory for businesses who have to file 250 1099 forms to electronically file them. If you fail to do so, then penalties are imposed on you. Also if you are filing less than 250 1099 forms, still you are encouraged to efile as it is cost effective, quick, and secure and provide IRS confirmation in less time than anticipated.  You can either efile through the IRS website or make use of an IRS certified efile provider such as 1099online.com to efile your 2011 form 1099 efficiently.

 

 

 

How to get your 2011 form 1099 misc electronically filed in minutes

Every year businesses have to file 1099 misc forms with the IRS to report Incomes they have paid to independent contractors/individuals for services rendered by them. 1099 Misc forms are basically filed for those individuals who are not part of the company, yet have provided their services and thus have received $600 and above from the company in form of compensation.

Traditionally, form 1099 misc was filed by businesses using the paper filing method where you would have to manually enter all the data and submit it to the IRS along with form 1096. Paper filing method can turn out to be quite cumbersome and painful if there are hundreds of 1099 misc forms to be filed. Moreover, paper filing method can also turn out to be very costly as you would have to spend on postal stamps and mailing services. Not only that, but have you ever realized how much paper is wasted to file 1099 forms on paper. Millions of paper is wasted each year to file 1099 forms be it a new form or corrected form. Do you know what it means to waste so much paper? Wasting paper means we are wasting our environment. Thousands and thousands of trees are sacrificed just to produce few tons of paper. We eliminate trees, we eliminate our environment.

Hence in order to eradicate the complexities arising out of paper filing method for 1099 forms, IRS came up with the best solution ever; EFILE method of paper filing. Electronic method of paper filing is by far the most suitable solution to file 1099 forms. Efile method has not only helped to solve the problem of filing 1099 forms quickly but it’s one of the safest and easiest solutions for 1099 filing. On top of that, no paper usage means nil environmental damage. Moreover, if you efile 1099 misc form, it takes minutes to fill your form and submit it to the IRS. IRS receives your submission within the same day and sends you IRS acceptance confirmation within 24 hours.

Now, there are 2 methods to efile 1099 misc forms.  First method would be to efile 1099 misc form directly with the IRS FIRE system and the second step would be to efile 1099 misc form through an IRS authorized efile service provider.

STEPS TO EFILE 1099 MISC WITH THE FIRE SYSTEM:

1. Purchase and install a software program that will create and transmit 1099 forms in the proper electronic format.
   
   
2. Request a transmitter control code (TCC) by filling out IRS Form 4419, "Application for Filing Information Returns Electronically." You will need to provide basic information such as your business name and address. You also must include your Employer Identification Number (EIN). If you do not have an EIN, you must obtain one before submitting Form 4419.
   
   
3. Mail or fax the form to the IRS at least 30 days before the deadline for filing 1099s. The IRS will send your 5-character transmitter control code by mail once the application is approved.
   
4. Create an account on the FIRE system. You will enter your company name, company address, company phone number, contact name and email address. You can create the account before you get your transmitter control code.

5. Prepare your 1099 information for transmittal using the features of your software program.

6. Transmit your 1099 forms to the FIRE system once you have received your transmitter control code and entered it into your software program.
   

STEPS TO EFILE 1099 MISC WITH AN EFILE SERVICE PROVIDER

1. Select your preferred IRS certified efile provider for 1099 misc form filing

2. Register with the service provider

3. Select the 1099 misc form from the list of 1099 forms service offered by the service provider

4. Fill in your 1099 misc information.

5. Click on the Submit to IRS button and your returns are transmitted to the IRS. A confirmation email will be sent to you about the status of your submission

And that’s it……

Now, which one do you think is the easiest step of all? Second one, isn’t it? You don’t have to purchase any software; you don’t have to fill any 4419 form; you don’t have to go through any cumbersome steps. Using an efile service provider is so simple because you just have to fill out your information and they do the rest. They transmit your information to the IRS through the FIRE system and send you IRS acceptance e-mail. There are some providers such as 1099online.com who even print and mail 1099 misc forms to the recipients. However, before selecting on a service provider make sure they are IRS approved and have an IRS authorized logo on their website.

1099 filing season starts January 2012

2 weeks more and that’s it…2011 ends after 15 days and we welcome 2012 in our lives with new beginnings, new activities, new promises and resolutions and not to forget a new filing season. January 2012 is not only a time for celebrations but also a time to gather your papers and yourself to begin your income tax filing. But before that, if you are self employed or provide your services on freelance basis, then your hiring company would definitely provide you form 1099 Misc. Wondering what is form 1099 misc and why should I receive it? Ok, so here’s the answer to that. 1099 Forms are basically designed for freelancers or self employed who render their services to companies and in return receive remuneration of $600 and above. If you fall into that category then a 1099 misc form is sure to come your way.

Once you receive 1099 misc form, then at the time of filing your income taxes with IRS, you have to show the 1099 misc form as well. This will allow you and the IRS to figure out your taxable income. 

As I said earlier, tax 1099 forms are designed for freelancers and independent contractors. A person falls under the category of an independent contractor/freelancer if he sets his own schedules, works at his own timings, location and is free to work for other individuals or businesses that suit his needs. If issues arise in any of the conditions or the person is being directed with any of the conditions then he is deemed as a employee of the company and is not liable to receive 1099 misc form but rather will receive a form W2 (for employees)

IRS Requirements for 1099 online filing

Every year businesses have to prepare a vast number of 1099 forms and provide a copy of each 1099 form to their payees/recipients, so that they can use it for their income tax purposes. Moreover, besides providing a copy to payees, businesses also have to file one copy with the internal revenue services for their record. Considering that businesses have to prepare a huge number of 1099 forms every year, thus IRS has made it compulsory that businesses who have to file 250 and above 1099 forms will have to mandatorily use electronic filing system to file 1099 misc forms. Efiling 1099 forms is actually a quick, easy and secure method to file tax form 1099 misc. Filing deadline for 1099 electronic filing payers is April 2nd 2012. Although you can efile 1099 forms on your own, but it would require you to download the software and then efile. However, one such company that has come up with advanced efiling software for 1099 filing is 1099online.com. You can learn more about their efiling offerings and services at 1099online.com.

Detailed information on different types of 1099 forms

Receiving 1099 form and reporting it to IRS is not an uncommon thing. 1099 form is used to report various incomes other than wages, salaries and tips for which form W2 is used.  1099 forms are given to individual contractors for services rendered by them to small businesses. Businesses provide a 1099 form only if the individual contractor has earned an income of $600 and above. If not, then no 1099 form is required. However there are various 1099 forms for different purposes. Below is the description provided for 4 types of 1099 forms:

Form 1099 Misc - The Form 1099-MISC is used to report miscellaneous income for individuals and companies who have been paid $600 or more in non-employee service payments during a calendar year. In other words, Form 1099 Misc is usually given to independent contractors such as attorneys, freelancers, health care service, performers, rent and etc who have provided their services to the company and in return have received compensation of $600 and above. 1099 forms are issued by the government to ensure that no income is gone unnoticed and hence is reported to the IRS for income tax purposes. Form 1099 Misc has to be given by the business to the payee by January 31 2012 and it also has to be reported to the IRS by April 2^nd 2012, if you are filing electronically.

Form 1099 K – A New 1099 form which is debuting from 2012 onwards is FORM 1099-K which is used to report merchant card and third party network payments. The form is required for reporting payment transactions.  Payment transaction is when a payment card (credit card) is used to make a payment or any settlement through a third party payment network such as e-bay, pay pal and etc. Thus, people who have a pay pal account, credit card account or any such similar account will receive 1099 K at the end of the year. Businesses would have to report 1099-K form only if they have gross receipts of $20,000 and above or 200 and above transactions. 1099online.com is the first company to go live with the e filing software for 1099 K forms.

Form 1099 Div – Form 1099 DIV ‘dividends and distributions’ is the official form which is used to report all taxable capital gains and dividends paid to an investor, including those that have been re-invested in a given taxation year. The amounts stated on the 1099 DIV form represent the amounts that fund companies are attributing to each investor's investment return for the year and reporting to the IRS. Investors use Form 1099-DIV to help report income received from investments on their tax return each year.  Get more information on 1099- Div at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099div.pdf

Form 1099 INT – The official 1099 INT form is issued by payers of interest income to investors at the end of the year. Payers have to issue the form to those they paid at least $10 of interest during the year. The payers in this case include banks and savings institutions. Interest income reported on Form 1099-INT includes interest paid on savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, and US Savings bonds. This Form is also used to report other tax items related to your interest income, such as early withdrawal penalties and federal tax withheld. The form has to be filed with IRS by April 2^nd 2012.

 The next filing season for 1099forms starts January 1^st 2012. Businesses have to ensure that they provide the correct and required 1099 forms to the contractors/payee by January 31^st 2012. Businesses also have to efile 1099 forms with the IRS compulsorily. The filing deadline for paper filers is Feb 28^th 2012 and for electronic filers is April 2^nd 2012. 

This is a copyrighted© article written by ‘Diva A’ who is associates with www.1099online.com. No permission is granted for commercial use. You may reproduce this article with written consent from the TRS Holdings, Inc, parent company of 1099online.com by emailing to wecare@1099online.com or by calling at 800-578-2290