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If you paid an independent contractor at or above the IRS reporting threshold in a year, you generally must send them a recipient copy of Form 1099-NEC by the January deadline and file the matching copy with the IRS. The recipient copy goes to the contractor; the agency copy goes to the IRS. Missing the deadline can mean penalties, so do not treat the mailing as optional paperwork.
This is general information, not tax advice.
Most freelancers and independent contractors get Form 1099-NEC, for nonemployee compensation. It replaced the old box 7 of Form 1099-MISC back in 2020, and the IRS brought it back as a standalone form partly because the old combined form kept confusing filers. If instead you paid rent, royalties, or other income to a person who is not your employee, that is usually 1099-MISC. Using the wrong form is a common small-business mistake: the IRS matches what you file against what the recipient reports, and a form in the wrong series can trigger a mismatch notice.
| Copy | Goes to | How it gets there |
|---|---|---|
| Copy B | The contractor (recipient) | Mailed or hand-delivered by you by the January 31 deadline |
| Copy A | The IRS | Filed electronically by you, also due January 31 for NEC forms |
| Copy C | Your records | Keep with your books; you may need it in an audit |
They are the same information on different paper, and the paper matters. Copy B is printed on plain paper and is what you mail to the contractor. Copy A is the scannable red form that goes to the IRS, and it cannot be a photocopy: the IRS scans these, and a home-printed Copy A gets rejected. If you are filing by mail with the IRS, you order official Copy A forms from the IRS. If you file electronically, the system handles the agency copy and you only print and mail Copy B to your contractors.
Use the last address they gave you, which is why collecting a Form W-9 before you pay anyone is worth the habit: it gives you their legal name, taxpayer ID, and address in writing. If a Copy B comes back undeliverable, keep the returned envelope unopened with your records. It proves you attempted the mailing, and it protects you if the contractor later claims they never received the form.
File and mail as soon as you realize, because penalties scale with how late the filing is. The IRS penalty structure increases the longer a correct form stays unfiled, and intentional disregard carries the steepest penalty, so a late filing is always better than a skipped one. If you catch an error on a form you already sent, file a corrected 1099: mark the corrected box, send a new Copy B to the contractor, and file the new Copy A with the IRS.
LetterAgent prints and mails single-sided 8.5x11 letters to US addresses with the price quoted up front, which fits the Copy B recipient mailing and a short cover note. Two limits to know: the forms must come from you, completed and correct, and LetterAgent files nothing with the IRS; the agency filing is always yours to handle electronically or by ordering official forms. The service mails to US and Canadian addresses and is currently in private testing.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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