What Is the 1099 Threshold? $600 Became $2,000 for 2026

There is no single 1099 threshold, which is why the question is harder to answer than it sounds. There are roughly twenty forms in the 1099 family and they carry different minimums, set by different sections of the tax code, some of which just changed and some of which have not moved in decades. The one almost everyone is actually asking about is the Form 1099-NEC, the form a client sends when it pays you for contract work, and that one went from $600 to $2,000.

The short answer: $2,000 for contract work

A business that pays you for services must file a Form 1099-NEC once it has paid you at least $2,000 during the calendar year. That figure applies to payments made after December 31, 2025, and it may be adjusted for inflation starting in calendar year 2027. It replaced a $600 threshold that had been in the code since 1954, which is why so much of what is written about 1099s still says $600.

Make sure you are asking about the right tax year

This is where most of the confusion comes from, and it is worth being slow about. The threshold follows the year the payment was made, not the year the form shows up in your mailbox. Payments you received during 2025 were governed by the $600 rule, so the 1099-NEC that arrived in January 2026 used $600. Payments you are receiving right now during 2026 are governed by the $2,000 rule, so the form that arrives in January 2027 will use $2,000. If you are reconciling a form you already have, you almost certainly want the old number. If you are working out whether a client will send you anything for the work you are doing today, you want the new one.

The 1099-K is a different rule with two prongs

Payment apps and online marketplaces do not use the $2,000 figure at all. A third party settlement organization files a Form 1099-K only when your gross payments for goods and services exceed $20,000 and your transaction count exceeds 200, and both conditions have to be met in the same year. Two hundred small sales will not trigger it, and one large one will not either.

If you followed this in the news, you saw thresholds of $600, then $5,000, then $2,500 discussed for various years. None of those ended up applying. The $20,000 and 200 standard that existed before 2021 was restored retroactively, including for calendar year 2025, so the lower figures that were scheduled to phase in never took effect. For the seller-side detail, see our guide to Form 1099-K for online sellers.

The thresholds that did not move

The $600 figure is not gone from the tax code, it just stopped applying to ordinary contract work, and several other minimums never changed at all. Royalties are still reportable at $10, a threshold two hundred times lower than the one for services, which is why a creator with a royalty stream and a service stream can receive a form for one and not the other on very different amounts. Gross proceeds paid to an attorney are still reportable at $600, because they sit in a different section of the code than ordinary business payments and were not part of the change. Direct sales of consumer products for resale stay at $5,000, interest on a Form 1099-INT stays at $10, and dividends on a Form 1099-DIV stay at $10.

A threshold is the payer's duty, not your tax bill

This is the part that costs people money, so it is worth stating plainly: a reporting threshold decides whether the business paying you has to file a form. It has nothing to do with whether the money is taxable to you. The IRS says so directly, noting that reporting and withholding thresholds do not affect whether income is taxable. If you earned $900 from a client in 2026, no 1099-NEC is required and $900 of self-employment income still belongs on your return.

In practice the new $2,000 threshold means fewer forms, not less income. For the 2024 tax year alone, around 3.3 million payers filed 18.8 million Forms 1099-NEC reporting amounts between $600 and $2,000. Most of that money is still taxable, it just will not be accompanied by a form any more, which puts more weight on your own records than it used to. If you are working out what you owe on it, start with self-employment tax and then quarterly estimated taxes.

Why a help page might tell you something different

If a platform's support article says $600, it is often describing an earlier tax year rather than getting the law wrong. A page written for the 2025 tax year was accurate when it was written and stays accurate for that year. The problem is that these pages rarely say which year they mean. Whenever you see a threshold quoted anywhere, including here, check that the tax year attached to it is the one you are asking about before you rely on the number.

Which form you get also depends on which platform pays you and how. Several of them send two different forms for two different kinds of income, at two different thresholds. We have worked through the specifics for Uber, DoorDash, and YouTube. If you are trying to work out which form applies to a payment rather than which amount, start with 1099-NEC vs 1099-MISC.

This article is general information, not tax advice. Tax rules change and every situation is different. Confirm the details against current IRS guidance or talk to a qualified tax professional before you file.