QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

1099s

In QuickBooks, paying independent contractors is no different than paying other vendors: You enter bills from your contractors and then you pay those bills. No messy payroll transactions; no fuss with benefits or other regulatory requirements. But at the end of the year, you have to generate 1099s for your independent workers.

If you set up QuickBooks to track 1099 payments (Tax: 1099) and your contractors as 1099 vendors (Additional Info), generating 1099s is a piece of cake. But before you push a stack of 1099 forms through your printer, it’s a good idea to make sure your records are up-to-date and accurate.

Note

If you use one of QuickBooks’ payroll services, you can print W-2s for your employees, as described on Preparing Payroll Tax Forms. Choose Employees→Payroll Tax Forms & W-2s→Process Payroll Forms.

Generating 1099 Reports

To review the amounts you’ve paid to 1099 vendors, choose Reports→Vendors & Payables, and then select either of the following reports:

• 1099 Summary. This report includes each vendor you’ve set up as a 1099 vendor and the total amount you’ve paid each vendor. If any amount looks questionable, just double-click it to display the transactions for that vendor. Although the report lists only the vendors you set up as eligible for 1099 status, as shown in Figure 18-7, you can modify it to make sure you haven’t left any 1099 vendors out. In the first 1099 Options drop-down list, choose “All vendors”.

  If the 1099 Summary report is empty, your 1099 account mappings ...