Two different people search this question, and they need opposite halves of the same answer. One of them paid a contractor whose invoice says LLC and has to decide whether to issue a Form 1099-NEC in January. The other one runs the LLC, did or did not receive a form, and wants to know whether that was correct.
Quick answer: does an LLC get a 1099?
It depends on how the LLC is taxed, not on the letters in its name. An LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship (the single-member default) or as a partnership does get a Form 1099-NEC when a business pays it $2,000 or more for services in the year. An LLC that elected S-corp or C-corp taxation generally does not, because payments to corporations are exempt — with narrow exceptions for attorney fees and medical payments. The Form W-9 tells you which one you are dealing with. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
The short answer
The IRS does not have a rule about LLCs. It has a rule about corporations, and an LLC is whatever it elected to be for federal tax purposes. That single fact resolves almost every version of this question.
A limited liability company is a state-law entity. Federal tax law looks straight through the label to the classification underneath: a single-member LLC is a disregarded entity by default, a multi-member LLC is a partnership by default, and either one can elect to be taxed as an S corporation or a C corporation instead. The Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC exempt payments to a corporation, and they say explicitly that this includes an LLC treated as a C or S corporation. Everything else about an LLC — the name, the state it registered in, whether it has employees — is irrelevant to the reporting decision.
How to tell which kind of LLC you are paying — read the W-9
You cannot answer this question from an invoice. The invoice says LLC; it does not say which classification the LLC elected. The Form W-9 does, and collecting one before you pay a new vendor is the entire fix.
Read the W-9 in ten seconds
Go to the federal tax classification box on the front of the form and look at which line is checked:
- Individual/sole proprietor or single-member LLC — treat it like an individual. Reportable.
- Limited liability company, with P entered — taxed as a partnership. Reportable.
- Limited liability company, with S or C entered — taxed as a corporation. Generally not reportable.
If you have no W-9 on file, that is the first thing to fix, and it is easier to fix in March than in January. Request one when you onboard a vendor, keep it with the payment records for that vendor, and re-request it if the vendor tells you their election changed. A vendor that elects S-corp status mid-relationship changes your answer going forward.
If you are choosing an entity rather than paying one, our guide to LLC versus sole proprietorship record-keeping covers what changes about your books when you form one.
The rule, by tax classification
Four classifications, two forms. This table is the whole decision for ordinary service and rent payments.
| How the LLC is taxed | 1099-NEC for services? | 1099-MISC for rent? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-member LLC (disregarded entity) | Yes | Yes | The default for a one-owner LLC that filed no election. Reported under the owner's name and TIN as shown on the W-9. |
| Multi-member LLC (partnership) | Yes | Yes | A partnership is not a corporation, so no exemption applies. |
| LLC taxed as an S corporation | Generally no | Generally no | Corporate exemption applies. Attorney fees and medical payments are still reportable. |
| LLC taxed as a C corporation | Generally no | Generally no | Same exemption, same exceptions. |
Figures and rules as of tax year 2026, from the IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC. Verify against the current-year instructions before you file.
The exceptions that survive the corporate exemption
Three categories are reportable regardless of whether the payee is a corporation, and they are the ones people miss:
- Attorney fees — payments for legal services go in box 1 of Form 1099-NEC even if the firm is a corporation.
- Gross proceeds paid to attorneys — settlement funds passing through an attorney go in box 10 of Form 1099-MISC, and that box keeps a $600 threshold rather than the $2,000 one.
- Medical and health care payments — box 6 of Form 1099-MISC, reportable to incorporated providers.
If your only corporate-payee vendors are a law firm and a clinic, you still have 1099s to issue.
I'm an LLC and I didn't get a 1099. Is my income still taxable?
Yes. This is the single most common misunderstanding on the payee side, and the answer has no nuance in it. A 1099 is an information return that a payer files with the IRS to report what it paid you. It is a copy of someone else's paperwork. Your obligation to report what you earned exists independently of whether that paperwork was filed, filed correctly, or filed at all.
Practically, this means your own records are the thing you file from, and the 1099s that arrive are a cross-check against them rather than the source. If a form does arrive and the number on it does not match what you were actually paid, that is a specific problem with a specific remedy — we cover it in what to do when a 1099 doesn't match your income. And if you want the tracking side rather than the rules side, the 1099 income and expense tracker page covers how the records get built in the first place.
One disambiguation before you go looking for the wrong form: everything on this page is about Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-MISC, which a business issues to a vendor it paid directly. The 1099-K is a different form issued by a payment platform, under different thresholds.
Thresholds and deadlines
The reporting threshold changed recently, and the change is the thing most likely to be wrong in an article you read a year ago.
- $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025. Section 70433 of Public Law 119-21 raised the Form 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC threshold from $600 to $2,000, effective for payments made after that date. The amount is indexed for inflation in later years using 2025 as the base.
- $600 applied to 2025 payments — the forms filed in January 2026. If you are reconciling an older year, use the threshold that applied to that year.
- January 31 — Form 1099-NEC is due both to the recipient and to the IRS by January 31. Form 1099-MISC is due to recipients by January 31, with a later IRS filing date.
The threshold governs whether the payer has to file a form. It has never governed whether the payee owes tax. A contractor paid $900 in 2026 receives no 1099 and still reports $900 of income.
Source: IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, and the IRS General Instructions for Certain Information Returns. Thresholds and dates verified September 6, 2026 against the current-year instructions. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
What a payer actually has to keep
January 1099 prep is a records problem before it is a forms problem. For each vendor you need three things: the W-9 that tells you the classification, the payment records that establish the amounts and dates, and the yearly total per vendor that tells you whether the threshold was crossed. Firms that dread January are almost always missing the middle one — the invoices are scattered across an inbox, a card statement and a folder, so the vendor total has to be reconstructed by hand.
ExpenseBot's role here is narrow and worth stating precisely: contractor invoices and receipts captured from Gmail or uploaded directly land in your expense sheet with the vendor, date and amount on the row, so the year-end total for a given vendor is a filter rather than a reconstruction. The sheet lives in your own Google Drive. ExpenseBot does not generate, prepare or file 1099 forms — it keeps the vendor payment records that whoever does prepare them will ask you for. If you are the bookkeeper doing this across several clients, the accountant workflow covers the multi-client side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a single-member LLC get a 1099?
Yes, generally. A single-member LLC that has not elected corporate taxation is a disregarded entity, so a business that pays it $2,000 or more for services during the year should issue a Form 1099-NEC. The $2,000 figure applies to payments made after December 31, 2025; the old $600 threshold applied to 2025 payments reported in January 2026. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
Does an LLC taxed as an S-corp get a 1099?
Usually not. The IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC state that payments to a corporation, including an LLC treated as a C or S corporation, are generally not reportable. Attorney fees, gross proceeds paid to attorneys, and medical and health care payments are exceptions that remain reportable even when the payee is a corporation. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
Does an LLC partnership get a 1099?
Yes. A multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership is not a corporation, so the corporate exemption does not apply to it. Service payments of $2,000 or more in the year are reportable on Form 1099-NEC. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
How do I know how an LLC is taxed?
Ask for a Form W-9. Line 3a shows the federal tax classification. A single-member LLC that is a disregarded entity checks the individual/sole proprietor box; a multi-member or corporate LLC checks the limited liability company box and enters C, S, or P for its classification. Decide based on that box, not on the letters LLC in the vendor's name.
I have an LLC and never received a 1099. Do I still report the income?
Yes. A 1099 is an information return the payer files with the IRS; it does not create or remove your own obligation. Income you earned is reportable whether or not a form arrives. Keep your own record of what you invoiced and what you were paid, because that record is what you file from.
Do I send a 1099 to an LLC for rent?
Rent paid in the course of your business is reported in box 1 of Form 1099-MISC, using the same $2,000 threshold for payments made after December 31, 2025. The corporate exemption works the same way, so check the W-9 classification before deciding. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
Is this the same as the 1099-K I get from Stripe or PayPal?
No. This page is about Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-MISC, which a business issues to a vendor it paid directly. A 1099-K comes from a payment platform or marketplace reporting the transactions it settled for you, and it follows a separate set of rules.
Estimates — confirm with your tax professional. This page explains general federal reporting rules and is not tax advice for your situation.