Understanding 1099 Boxes

The IRS Form 1099 records payments made to individuals who are not your employees. There are several types of 1099 forms, but the two most relevant are the 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC.

Both 1099 forms contain multiple boxes to report different types of payments to contractors or vendors:

1099-NEC - The most commonly used form for reporting payments of $600 or more made to non-employees. This includes fees, commissions, prizes, awards, and other forms of compensation for services performed by non-employees.
1099-MISC - Less commonly used, this form reports payments over $600 made to businesses, such as rents or royalties.

For more information on each box, refer to the categories for 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC.

Selecting 1099 Boxes

You will likely need to choose Box 1 - Nonemployee Compensation on the 1099-NEC, as this is the most common option for most businesses. If you have other types of payments, you may need to file both forms.

Following is the list of the boxes from each form:

1099-NEC

Nonemployee compensation (Box 1)
Payer Made Direct Sales Totaling $5,000 or More (Box 2)
Excess Golden Parachute Payments (Box 3)
Federal tax withheld (Box 4)
State Information (Boxes 5-7)

1099-MISC

Rents (Box 1)
Royalties (Box 2)
Other Income (Box 3)
Federal tax withheld (Box 4)
Fishing Boat Proceeds (Box 5)
Medical and Health Care Payments (Box 6)
Payer Made Direct Sales Totaling $5,000 or More (Box 7)
Substitute Payments in Lieu of Dividends or Interest (Box 8)
Crop Insurance Proceeds (Box 9)
Gross Proceeds Paid to an Attorney (Box 10)
Fish Purchased for Resale (Box 11)
Section 409A Deferrals (Box 12)
FATCA Filing Requirement Checkbox (Box 13)
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (Box 15)
State Information (Boxes 16-18)