Click to expand transcript
What’s a W9, 1099, and invoice? Let’s break down three docs you’ve probably dealt with or avoided at some point: the W9, the 1099, and the invoice. These are the basics of getting paid and paying others as an independent contractor.
A W-9 is your payment info form. If someone’s getting paid by your org and they’re not on payroll or a W2 employee, they’re being paid as an independent contractor. That means they need to send you a W-9 before you pay them. It gives you and the IRS their legal name, address, and tax ID like your social security number.
An invoice is the “please pay me” doc. A contractor sends it to you after the gig, like a, “Hey, you owe me $500 for performing on May 12th.” It should include their name, what the work was, the amount due, and when they expect to be paid.
The 1099 is the tax report. If you paid an independent contractor $2,000 or more over the course of the year, you are legally required to send them a 1099 by January 31st. It tells them and the IRS how much they made from you that year.
So W-9 equals info. Invoice equals request. 1099 equals report.
Why does this matter? Because it makes sure you actually get paid and that you don’t run into trouble at tax time.
If you don’t send a W-9, payment can be delayed. If you don’t send an invoice, there’s no record of what you’re owed.
And yes, you’ve gotta keep all of this. Save your W9s, invoices, and 1099s, both sent and received. Create folders by year and project and label them clearly. It will make your life so much easier.
What is a W-9, 1099, and invoice?
W-9
A W-9’s full name is “IRS Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification”. Every business, non-profit, and individual person who is required to file a U.S. income tax return can fill out this form. Funnily enough, though, it doesn’t go to the IRS. If you’re paying a person or business, it’s a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED best practice to collect a W-9 from them before you pay them.
The W-9 includes all the information you’ll need in case you need to file a 1099 for the person you’re paying. On the flip side — if someone is paying you for a gig and they ask for a W-9, don’t sweat! That’s normal and healthy. Remember, collecting a W9 doesn’t mean you will necessarily issue a 1099 for them —only that you have all the info you need if you do need to issue one.
1099
An IRS Form 1099 is a form used for reporting all types of non-wage income to the IRS. The kind of 1099 we’re talking about here is a 1099-NEC, “Non-employee compensation”. This is the form you send that totals up all the payments in a year to a specific individual or business. If you’re a freelancer, you likely receive a handful of these every year. If you’re paying freelancers like individual artists, a/v techs, or grant writers, you’ll likely need to send these every year.
Starting in 2026, the threshold for needing to file a 1099-NEC is $2,000 (up from $600 in previous years). This means that if you receive $2,000 or more from one payer in 2026, they have to send you and the IRS a 1099. If you pay someone $2,000 or more in 2026, you have to send them and the IRS a 1099. But if it’s $1,999 or less in the year, there’s no 1099 required. The deadline to send the 1099-NEC to the person/business and the IRS is January 31 for money paid in the previous year.
Invoice
An invoice (also called a bill) is a document that tells the person receiving it to pay the person sending the invoice the amount of money listed on it.
Where do I get a W-9, 1099, and invoice?
W-9
If someone who’s supposed to pay you asks for your W-9, you can download and fill one out directly from the IRS website. There is no cost to get or fill out a W-9 (anyone who says otherwise is trying to scam you).
If you’re supposed to pay someone, ask them to send you their W-9. It’s a common practice to send them a blank one that they can send back to you in case they don’t have one handy.
Some online payment systems may include W-9 collection as part of their onboarding process, in which case you may not need a separate PDF copy of the W-9.
1099
If someone has paid you $2,000 or more in a year, they are legally required to send you and the IRS a 1099-NEC by January 31 of the following year. They may send it electronically as a PDF or in hard copy in the mail. There is no cost to you as a receiver of a 1099.
If you’ve paid someone $2,000 or more in 2026 and need to send them a 1099-NEC, there are many options for how to do that. If you have 10 or more 1099’s to file, you have to do it electronically. The IRS has a free online system called IRIS that you can use to file up to 250 forms at a time. If you use an online payment system to pay people, they may also have a built-in way to file 1099s, usually for a small fee. Or, you can use a third-party system that costs a few dollars per form.
Invoice
If you need to pay someone, they should send you an invoice!
If you need to get paid, you can adapt the invoice template below to fit your needs. Just make sure to update all the information so it matches your situation.
What goes into a W-9, 1099, and invoice?
W-9
The key information on a W-9 includes:
- The person’s name or the business name
- The type of business structure
- Pro tip! For freelancers, check the box that says “individual/sole proprietor”. For nonprofits, either check “c corp” or check “other” and write in “nonprofit corporation”
- Mailing address
- Tax ID number. For individuals, this is the Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN, for immigrants). For businesses and organizations, this is the Employer Identification Number (EIN).
- Signature & date
1099
The standard information on a 1099-NEC is:
- The payer’s name, mailing address, and phone number
- Payer’s tax ID number (e.g., SSN)
- Recipient’s tax ID number (e.g., SSN)
- Recipient’s mailing address
- The total amount paid to the recipient in the year
There are a few other fields that are optional and it’s pretty rare in an arts context to see anything in those other fields. Do your due diligence and check if you need to enter anything into them, though.
Invoice
The key things an invoice should include are:
- The word INVOICE real big at the top
- Your name and address (or your organization’s name and address)
- Pro tip: make sure the name on your invoice is the name you can receive payments under! If you want to use a stage name, make sure to clearly note somewhere on the invoice what name should be for payment.
- An invoice DATE and number (the invoice number you use is up to you)
- A due date
- The name and address of the person/business you’re billing
- A list of everything you’re billing for, with prices listed individually for each thing (e.g., labor, supplies)
- A total amount
- Information about how you’re able to receive payment (e.g., check, venmo, electronic funds transfer)
- A short thank you sentence
A note on file management
Remember: if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. Keep all the W9’s and Invoices you receive in a dedicated folder, one for each year. Keep all invoices you send in a separate dedicated folder, one for each year. If you’re audited by the IRS, they can go back up to 7 years. Imagine how much less stressful it will be if you have everything ready to go in one folder, versus trying to dig through emails from 7 years ago!
If you stay up to date with your bookkeeping, you can quickly run a report to see who you’ve paid $2,000 or more in a year to know who you need to send a 1099-NEC and how much you paid them in that year. Do your future self a favor and make your life easier with a little dedicated filing throughout the year.
Sample Download
Keywords
Click a keyword to see related resources.
