The 1099 threshold changed for 2026: what landlords owe contractors
If you pay a handyman, a cleaner or a lawn service, the dollar line that triggers a Form 1099-NEC moved. For payments made in 2026 it is $2,000 per contractor for the year. For payments made in 2025 and earlier it stays $600.
Last reviewed October 28, 2026 · Review by April 28, 2027
Cited facts, not advice. Every rule below links to the IRS page or statute it comes from, with the date it was checked. Whether a payment is reportable for you depends on your facts. Confirm with your CPA.
Source: 26 U.S.C. §6041(a) and (h), as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §70433, which applies to payments made after December 31, 2025 (law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6041, checked 2026-10-28). The IRS restates it in the Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (12/2026 revision, checked 2026-10-28): for tax years beginning after 2025 the minimum reporting amount is $2,000, and it may be adjusted for inflation beginning in calendar year 2027.
Does this apply to a landlord?
The IRS rule covers payments made in the course of your trade or business. Personal payments are not reportable. (Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, "Trade or business reporting only," checked 2026-10-28.)
Whether your rental activity counts as a trade or business depends on your facts, and that is the question to settle with your CPA before January. Schedule E asks it directly: line A of Part I asks whether you made any payments that would require you to file Forms 1099, and line B asks whether you did or will file them. (Schedule E (Form 1040), 2025, checked 2026-10-28.)
What counts toward the $2,000
The IRS lists four conditions for reporting a payment as nonemployee compensation. All four have to be true:
- You paid someone who is not your employee.
- You paid for services in the course of your trade or business.
- You paid an individual, a partnership or an estate, or in some cases a corporation.
- You paid that payee at least $2,000 during the year (for payments made in 2026).
Source: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, nonemployee compensation (checked 2026-10-28).
The line is the total you paid one payee over the calendar year, not each job. The statute's test is payments "of $2,000 or more in any calendar year." (26 U.S.C. §6041(a).) For a landlord, the payees this usually means are the handyman, the cleaner between tenants, the lawn or snow service, and a painter or plumber who is not incorporated.
What usually doesn't count
- Card and payment-app payments. Payments made by credit card or through a third-party payment network are reported by the payment settlement entity on Form 1099-K, not by you on Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC.
- Payments to a corporation, including an LLC taxed as a C or S corporation, are generally exempt. There are exceptions, including attorneys' fees, which are reportable even when the law firm is a corporation.
- Personal payments, such as work on your own home, are not reportable.
Source: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (checked 2026-10-28).
Get the W-9 before the first check
To get a payee's taxpayer identification number, the IRS suggests you ask them to complete Form W-9. If a payee doesn't give you a TIN, backup withholding at a 24% rate can apply to reportable payments until they do. (General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025), including Part N, checked 2026-10-28.)
The W-9 also tells you whether the payee is a corporation, which decides whether most of this applies at all. Asking for it before the first payment means you are not chasing it in January.
Due dates
- Form 1099-NEC: furnish the contractor's copy and file with the IRS by January 31. (Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC.)
- Weekends and holidays: when a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, filing on the next business day is on time. (General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025).) January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so for payments made in 2026 that rule points to Monday, February 1, 2027. Confirm the date in the 2026 General Instructions once the IRS posts them. The same rule is why the 2025 General Instructions list February 2, 2026 for forms covering 2025.
- E-filing: if you are required to file 10 or more information returns during the year, you must e-file. (General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025).)
Two examples (made-up amounts)
| Paid to one contractor in the year, by check or bank transfer | If paid in 2025 | If paid in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| A handyman, $1,500 in total | At or over the $600 line | Under the $2,000 line |
| A cleaner, $2,400 in total | At or over the $600 line | At or over the $2,000 line |
"At or over the line" means a Form 1099-NEC is due only if the other three conditions above are also true: your rental is a trade or business, the payee isn't your employee, and the payee isn't a corporation that's exempt.
Where DoorWorth fits
In the DoorWorth web app, the 1099 season card on your tax reports adds up what you paid each vendor by check, cash or bank transfer, from the receipts and work orders that name them, and compares it with the line for the year the payment was made: $600 for 2025 and $2,000 for 2026. Card and app payments are left out, because those are reported on a 1099-K. If a payment doesn't say how it was paid, the card asks you instead of guessing. Each vendor over the line shows "W-9 ✓" or "W-9 needed."
With DoorWorth Plus, the card also builds a 1099 packet for your records and the contractor's copy. The IRS copy still has to be e-filed or filed on official forms, and DoorWorth doesn't e-file it for you.
See which vendors cross the 2026 line
Add your receipts and work orders, and DoorWorth keeps the tally by year as you go.
Open the web app →Sources
- 26 U.S.C. §6041 (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §70433): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6041 (checked 2026-10-28)
- IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (12/2026): https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec (checked 2026-10-28)
- IRS, General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025): https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099gi (checked 2026-10-28)
- IRS, Schedule E (Form 1040), 2025: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040se.pdf (checked 2026-10-28)
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