With the IRS’s 1099 deadline behind us, here is what you should be doing to ensure filling goes smoothly next year.
As many designers learned in the closing of 2018, it is challenging to track down contractors from previous work and request a W9. Our advice is to keep up throughout the year! In fact, hold your contractors’ final paycheck hostage until they submit their W9. I know this sounds tedious but you will thank us when fourth quarter rolls around and you can enjoy the holidays with your family instead of worrying about spending your break hunting down all your contractors for the year. Even better, work with your bookkeeper to have them store and enter your contractor’s information along with the W9 in Quickbooks throughout the year, so the work is complete ahead of time versus scrambling at the last minute to gather everything.
Many designers ask us, “What will happen if I don’t file those 1099s for contractor work paid this year?” Don’t mess with the IRS! Our formal advice, since we are accountants and we ALWAYS advise to follow all requirements from the IRS is to avoid penalties and collect those W9s sooner than later focusing 4th quarter on wrapping up your projects before the year’s end! Your bookkeeper or accountant will thank you.
1099 filings not included in your monthly package?
