If your organization pays independent contractors, a landscaper, a guest speaker, an attorney, or rent to an individual, some of those payees need a Form 1099 in January. GoodBooks keeps the list and does the adding-up: flag the contacts you'll need to report on, and the 1099 Preparation report totals what you paid each of them for the calendar year, tells you who is over the reporting threshold, and exports the whole thing for your accountant or e-file service.
Availability: Foundation plan and up. Flagging needs contact editing permission; the report needs ledger read permission.
Step 1 — Flag the payees
Open the contact (Contacts, then the person or business) and find the Track payments for 1099 switch in the settings column. Turning it on reveals two fields:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| 1099 Form | Which form and box you expect to file: 1099-NEC — Nonemployee compensation (contractors, most services), 1099-MISC — Rents, or 1099-MISC — Other income (prizes, awards). Pick the one that fits the relationship; you can change it any time. |
| TaxBandits Recipient ID | Optional. If you e-file through TaxBandits, paste the Recipient ID it assigns this payee so the export lines up with their records. |
GoodBooks deliberately does not store Social Security or tax ID numbers. Keep the signed W-9 in The Shelf like any other document, and enter the taxpayer details in your e-file service when you file.
Who to flag is a judgment call, same as in any accounting system. Corporations are generally exempt, attorneys are reportable regardless of entity type, and volunteers only count for stipends or prizes, not accountable-plan reimbursements. When in doubt, flag the contact — the report only totals; it never files anything — and confirm with your tax professional.
Step 2 — Make sure payments link to the contact
The report adds up checks, ACH, and wire payments whose payee is a flagged contact. When you record a check in the register and pick the payee from the list, that link is made for you. A payment typed as a free-text payee without picking the contact won't be counted, so the habit that matters all year is: choose the payee from the list.
Card and point-of-sale payments are left out on purpose. The card processor reports those on Form 1099-K, and including them here would double-report.
Step 3 — Run the report
Reports → Tax Compliance → 1099 Preparation. Pick the tax year (1099s always follow the calendar year, January through December, whatever your fiscal year is) and run it.
Each flagged payee shows:
- Name and mailing address as it will appear on the form
- The 1099 form you chose
- TaxBandits Recipient ID, if entered
- Number of payments and total paid for the year (click the count to see the entries)
- A File 1099 or Below threshold badge
The badge uses the right threshold for the year: $600 through tax year 2025, and $2,000 beginning with tax year 2026 (raised by the 2025 tax law, indexed for inflation after that). Payees under the threshold still appear so you can see everyone you're tracking; nothing is filtered out. The footer line totals the payees and how many are at or over the line.
Download CSV gives you a spreadsheet with the same columns, shaped for a TaxBandits bulk upload or a hand-off to your CPA. Print works like every other report.
Good to know
- Voided payments and payments still awaiting two-person approval aren't counted; only posted entries are.
- Flagging is retroactive: turn the switch on in December and every check to that payee since January 1 is already in the total.
- GoodBooks prepares the numbers; it doesn't generate the 1099 forms or file them. Copy A is scannable red-ink stock, so filing goes through an e-file service (TaxBandits, your payroll provider, or your accountant).
- The report is a great September task. Flag the vendors now, while it's ten minutes of work, and January is just a download.
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