If you have a business or rental property, you might have to prepare 1099s to send to anyone you paid at least $600 for services in 2014.  You should have sent these 1099 forms by January 31.  You will then need to file a copy of the forms with the IRS by February 28.  You generally do not have to send 1099s to corporations.

This requirement has been around for a while but the reason this is more critical than in the past is that there are questions on tax forms now specifically asking whether any payments you made require you to prepare these 1099s and, if so, whether you have or will file the required forms.

When you are ready to file your 2014 tax return and are faced with these questions you will be faced with the following if you have not filed the forms:

Truthfully answer the questions that you do not have to file the forms or that you have properly filed them;

  1. Falsely answer the questions that you don’t have to file them;
  2. Leave the forms blank.

In the case of alternative 2, you will be perjuring yourself which is NEVER a good idea and, is in fact, illegal.

In the case of alternative 3, you will be inviting the IRS to audit your return to see if you are in compliance.  This is also NOT a good idea.

If you have not filed the required 1099s, you still can do so even though they are now late since they should have been sent already.

If you have any questions or if we can be of assistance, please call us.

NOW THAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT THE 1099 FILING REQUIREMENT, THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO GIVE SOME THOUGHT TO HOW TO ACCUMULATE SUCH INFORMATION FOR 2015 SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FILE ON TIME.  Since you might not know whether you will exceed the $600 filing requirement threshold until the end of the year, it would be best to put in place a system to track this information now through the end of the year.

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