I have not done 1099's for a number of years, but as I remember they were required if the PTO paid more than $600 during the year to an individual or an unincorporated business. We did not issue them for non-profit organizations.
The 1099 form is machine readable and you cannot submit one downloaded from the internet. You need to get it from the IRS. Don't forget the summary form 1096 which is required even if you have only one 1099. The payee copy has to go out by 1/31 and the IRS copy and summary form by 2/28.
mum24kids gives good advice when she recommends getting the W-9 before issuing the check. Once the payee has the money it can be hard to get their SS#. The filetaxes site sounds worth checking out, or plan ahead and do it JHB's way. I found the whole process a real pain in the neck!
We never filed a 1099 when I was pres as we always took the easy way out. If we paid for speakers/programs, we had the school arrange and pay for the item and we granted the money to the school.
Maybe. Depends whether you paid the performer as an individual, or as a company. If you paid an individual, you do have to issue the 1099 (by the end of January) if the amount paid exceeds $600. What I've found works best is to send the person a W-9 form to fill out when the contract is signed, and tell him/her that we need the completed W-9 to write the check. (The W-9 is basically a request for someone's social security number.) You can find the directions for the W-9 and the 1099-MISC form on the IRS website. You generally do not issue 1099s to corporations.
Also, if you only have to issue one or a couple of 1099s, you might want to check out www.filetaxes.com. For a very small fee, you can fill out the 1099s on there, and they will mail them to the recipients and make the filings of the copies of the 1099s as well as the summary form 1096 with the IRS for you (all that is due to the IRS by the end of February). It's very easy and saves a ton of effort.
Thanks JHB. I am talking about the 1099s. I know I have to do the 990EZ - soon as a matter of fact. LOL!
To make sure I understand, if we pay a performer (which we did) $800 from the PTO, we will need to provide him with a 1099? However, we do not, for instance, need to provide a 1099 to a company that we do fundraising with? All money was paid to the PTO and then the PTO cut a check to the company. Thanks again!
JHB - I wondered about the 1099 when we paid an assembly performer directly using a PTO check. We haven't prepared 1099's before, but do you think that situation would warrant one? I haven't researched this myself---add it to the list!
