If you pay independent contractors, the IRS expects a 1099 for each one you paid enough in a year, and the 1099 needs their legal name, address and taxpayer ID. kBooks keeps all three on the contact and gets them from the contractor directly, on a W-9 they fill in online.
Mark a contractor for 1099s
Open the contact on Contacts and tick Track for 1099 (independent contractor). From then on, what you pay them counts toward their 1099.
Ask for their W-9
In the same contact, under the tax ID box, the W-9 panel sends them the form:
- Check the email address and press Request W-9.
- They get a private link. No account is needed, and the link works once, for 30 days.
- They fill in the IRS Form W-9 online: their legal name, their tax classification, their address and their Social Security Number or EIN. Then they tick the certification and type their name to sign it.
- The moment they sign, their tax ID and address are filled in on the contact, and you get an email saying so.
The panel shows where it stands: Sent, not opened yet, Opened, not signed yet, W-9 on file with who signed and when, Link expired, or Withdrawn. Send again mails a fresh link and stops the old one; Withdraw stops it without sending another.
If email for W-9 requests is not switched on for your account, kBooks still makes the link and shows it to you with a Copy link button, so you can send it yourself.
What happens to the number
The tax ID is encrypted the moment it is saved, whether the contractor signed a W-9 or you typed it in yourself. You only ever see the last four digits again, and it is left out of every export of your books. The signed W-9 is kept on file with the contractor's answers, the time and the address it was signed from.
Check who is ready for a 1099
On Reports, the 1099 summary lists every contractor you paid in the year with what is reportable, whether they reach the filing threshold, and a Tax ID column. Once your expense accounts are mapped to 1099 boxes, each form is checked against its own threshold and the row shows the split (for example "MISC $400.00 / NEC $300.00"), so two forms that each fall short are not flagged just because they add up past the line. A box with its own figure is checked against that figure: royalties are reported from $10.
- W-9 signed: they filled in and signed their W-9.
- Typed in: someone entered the number by hand.
- W-9 sent: you asked, and they have not signed yet.
- Missing: open the contact and press Request W-9.