W-9 and 1099 · Tax year 2026
1099 season starts in January. Yours started at onboarding.
Cleo Pay collects the W-9 when a vendor signs up and tracks every payment against the $2,000 threshold as it happens. By the time January arrives the filing is already built. We e-file with the IRS and send recipient copies.
- AI compiles your vendor list from one upload, duplicate spellings merged
- Secure links collect W-9s from anyone who is missing one
- Federal e-file to the IRS with recipient copies included
- Import the vendors you already pay from QuickBooks or a CSV
The reporting threshold for tax year 2026
$2,000
Up from $600 · 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC · payments made after December 31, 2025
From a messy export to an accepted filing
The hard part of 1099s was never the form. It is working out who you actually paid, how much in total, whether their tax ID checks out, and which of them you are still missing a W-9 for. Press play to watch that happen, then open any vendor, fix the one the IRS flagged, and file.
Watch a 412-row export become a filingAbout 20 seconds · sample data
Sample data, shown to illustrate the workflow. Business names are invented and every tax ID is masked. In the product the payment history is already in Cleo Pay, so the upload step only exists for vendors you paid somewhere else.
Four ways to get your vendors in
If you have been paying people through Cleo Pay all year, your vendors are already in. If you are arriving in January with a spreadsheet, there is a path in for that too.
Bulk upload
Drop in a CSV or an export from your accounting system in whatever shape it arrived. Cleo Pay maps the columns, so you are not reformatting a spreadsheet to match somebody else's template.
AI compiles your vendors
A year of payments names the same business four different ways. Cleo Pay groups those entries into one vendor, totals them correctly, and matches them to the vendors you already have.
Secure vendor links
Send a link to anyone missing a W-9. They enter their own legal name, tax ID, and signature, so tax details never sit in an email thread. You can see who is still outstanding and resend in a click.
Import what you already have
Sync from QuickBooks or bring across the vendors already set up in Cleo Pay. Existing W-9s, bank details, and payment history carry over instead of being rekeyed.
What your 1099 filing looks like
Move the sliders to see how many forms you owe under the 2026 threshold, what a per-form service would charge to file them, and what missing the deadline costs.
1099-NEC forms you owe for tax year 2026
27
- Cost to file at a per-form service
- $62.10
- Their rate at this volume
- $2.30 per form
- Late-filing penalty, at the rates published for returns due in 2026
- If you file up to 30 days late
- $1,620
- If you file by August 1
- $3,510
- If you file after August 1
- $9,180
Per-form pricing uses Avalara’s published federal e-file tiers and excludes state filing, tax ID (TIN) matching, and postal mail. Penalties use the IRS tiers for information returns due in 2026 ($60 within 30 days, $130 through August 1, $340 after that), are assessed per form, and are subject to annual caps that depend on your gross receipts. Tax year 2026 amounts are inflation-adjusted and not yet published. This is an estimate, not tax advice.
What changed for tax year 2026
The threshold moved to $2,000
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, raised the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025. It is inflation-adjusted from 2027 onward.
1099-K went back up
The 1099-K threshold reverted to more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions, applied retroactively to 2022, undoing the much lower figure that had been scheduled.
The income is still taxable
A higher reporting threshold does not make anything tax free. If you pay a contractor $1,500 you may not owe them a 1099, but they still owe tax on it, and you still want the payment recorded properly.
How this compares to a dedicated filing service
Filing services are good at filing. They just do not know who you paid, so every January starts with an export, an import, and a reconciliation. Cleo Pay already holds the payments, which is the part that takes the time.
| Cleo Pay | Track1099 by Avalara | Tax1099 | Melio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Already holds your payment data | Yes, Cleo pays the vendors | No, you import it | No, you import it | Yes |
| W-9 collected at onboarding | Every vendor, at signup | Requested separately | Requested separately | Requested separately |
| AI compiles and merges your vendor list | Yes | No | No | No |
| Secure links to collect W-9s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Federal e-file to the IRS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Hands off to Tax1099 |
| State e-file | Not yet | Yes, $1.49 per form | Yes | Through Tax1099 |
| Per-form filing fee | None | $0.63 to $3.10 per form | Per form | Per form, via Tax1099 |
Competitor details from each provider’s public product and pricing pages, checked September 2026. Pricing and features change, so confirm current terms with them directly.
Send us your vendor list
Tell us roughly how many people you paid this year and where you operate. We will come back with what your 2026 filing looks like, who you are still missing a W-9 for, and a straight answer on whether we cover you.
- Federal e-file
- Transmitted to the IRS with recipient copies delivered. Nothing is sent until you approve it.
- State filing
- Not included yet. Your data exports for any state return you owe, and we will tell you up front if that applies to you.
- Existing vendors
- Bring a CSV or connect QuickBooks. W-9s already on file carry over.
Questions people actually ask
What is the 1099 threshold for 2026?
For tax year 2026, you report payments to a non-employee on Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC once they total $2,000 or more in the calendar year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised it from $600 for payments made after December 31, 2025. The figure is inflation-adjusted starting in 2027. Separately, the 1099-K threshold reverted to more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions.
Do I still need a W-9 if I paid someone less than $2,000?
Collecting one is still the safe answer. You often do not know in January whether a vendor will cross $2,000 by December, and chasing a W-9 after the fact is far harder than collecting it at onboarding. Cleo Pay collects it from every vendor when they sign up, so the question never comes up.
Does Cleo Pay file my 1099s with the IRS?
Yes. Cleo Pay e-files 1099-NEC forms with the IRS and delivers recipient copies. Nothing is transmitted until you review the list and approve it.
Does Cleo Pay handle state 1099 filing?
Not yet. Cleo Pay files federally and provides recipient copies. State requirements vary. Several states kept their own lower reporting threshold instead of following the federal move to $2,000, and while some take part in the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing program, which forwards your federal filing to them, others require a direct submission. Export your data from Cleo Pay for any state filing you owe, and check your state's current rule.
What if a vendor never sends back their W-9?
Cleo Pay sends the vendor a link where they enter their own tax details, so the information never travels through email. The vendor list shows exactly who is still outstanding, and you can resend from the same screen. On some platforms a vendor with an incomplete W-9 is left out of the 1099 calculation entirely, which is the failure people discover in January.
Can I import vendors I already pay somewhere else?
Yes. Upload a CSV or an export from your accounting system in whatever column layout it came in, or sync from QuickBooks. Cleo Pay maps the fields, merges duplicate spellings of the same payee, and matches rows against vendors you already have.
How does the AI vendor compilation work?
Payment records rarely name a vendor the same way twice. Cleo Pay reads your payment history, groups the entries that refer to the same business, totals them, and matches the result against the vendors already in your account. You get one row per vendor with a correct annual total instead of a spreadsheet you have to deduplicate by hand.
Never chase a W-9 again
Send us your vendor list and we will show you exactly what your 2026 filing looks like, including who you are missing tax details for.
Get 1099 ready