W-9, W-8BEN and the 1099-NEC: the tax forms for paying affiliates

The threshold is now $2,000

The law raised the 1099-NEC threshold from $600 to $2,000 for payments made after 31 December 2025¹. The IRS form says it plainly: report nonemployee compensation of $2,000 or more, and it names commissions among the payments that count². From 2027, the figure rises with inflation each year, rounded to the nearest $100¹.

Payments made in	Report on Form 1099-NEC once the year's total reaches
2025	$6003, 4
2026	$2,0001, 2
2027 onward	$2,000, adjusted for inflation each year and rounded to the nearest $1001, 4

Which form each affiliate gives you

Who the affiliate is	Form	What it does
A US person: a citizen, a resident alien, or a US company or partnership	W-9	Gives you their taxpayer identification number (TIN) for the 10995
A foreign individual	W-8BEN	Documents that they are not a US person7
A foreign company	W-8BEN-E	The same, for an entity8

Ask for the form before the first payout. For a US affiliate the IRS suggests a W-9, and for a foreign one the appropriate W-8⁴. You may use your own version of the W-9, as long as it is substantially similar to the IRS's⁶.

Foreign affiliates

A foreign person who gives you a valid Form W-8 is exempt from Form 1099 reporting and from backup withholding⁹. Payments of US-source income to foreign persons have their own reporting, on Form 1042-S⁴. Whether a commission counts as US-source depends on where the work was done⁹, so ask a tax adviser about an affiliate who promotes you from abroad.

When a US affiliate gives you no TIN

Commissions and nonemployee compensation can be subject to backup withholding at 24% when the payee does not give you their TIN^{4, 6}. You withhold until they do, and the 60-day grace period some payments get does not cover nonemployee compensation⁴. A payer who should have withheld and did not can become liable for the amount⁶.

Deadlines: 31 January, for both copies

Form 1099-NEC is due to the affiliate and to the IRS by 31 January, on paper or electronically. When that date falls on a weekend or a legal holiday, the due date is the next business day². 31 January 2027 is a Sunday, so by that rule the forms for 2026 payments are due on Monday 1 February 2027.

Ten returns or more: file electronically

If you file 10 or more information returns in a year, counting every kind together, you must file them electronically^{2, 4}. The IRS's IRIS portal is free¹⁰, and from tax year 2026 it is the only system the IRS takes information returns through⁴.

Payments through card or payment networks

Payments made by card, or through a third-party network, are reported on Form 1099-K by the payment settlement entity, not on your 1099-NEC². Whether a given payout service counts as one for your payments is a question for your tax adviser.

This article describes US federal forms as the IRS describes them. It is not tax advice, and it does not cover state rules.