1099 Tax Forms for Dummies

Form 1099-MISC

The sometimes stupid, sometimes hilarious, and occasionally hilariously stupid website eHow.com is infamous for the moronic answers to inane question its contributors have provided over the years. We at the Antisocial Network are well aware that the Panda update to Google's algorithm was created precisely to reduce the page rank of content like that found at eHow.com. If you've ever wondered why, all you need to do is wander around the site for an hour or two. Today, for instance, we began with a search for the word "logarithm" and, in just four random jumps, ended up at a piece by Larry Parr entitled "How to Print a 1099 Tax Form off the Computer" (it now lives at Leaf niche Sapling.com).

Larry's piece is chock-full of words, all of which boil down to "go to the IRS website." Well, yeah, you could go to the IRS website and find blank copies of 1099-MISC (miscellaneous income), 1099-G (government payments), 1099-C (Cancellation of Debt) -- all in all, more than a dozen other flavors of 1099 forms. The problem with Larry's answer shows up in a question (unanswered after two years) posted to his article: "how can we print 2012 brokerage forms [and] details in our home computer?"

Larry made a typical eHow error there: people searching for this information aren't looking for blank forms to print! They want to know how to print a copy of the online 1099 detailing income from their brokerage, bank, state revenue department, even from Demand Media (the people who paid Larry good money for bad advice like this). Not that anyone actually needs to print one, since tax filers aren't required to send copies of their 1099s with their returns, but perhaps in the interests of quality record-keeping... What makes it worse is that if you follow one of eHow's vaunted "You May Also Like..." links embedded at the bottom of the page, you end up an article written by Rebecca Mecomber (yet another Dumbass of the Day) titled "How to Print a 1099 Miscellaneous Form." That content's instructions begin by instructing you to -- you guessed it -- "Open Form 1099-MISC at the Internal Revenue Service website." Sheesh: is there no one at  eHow smart enough to tie his (or her) shoes without help? No, 'cause not only are the contributors Dumbasses, so are their so-called content editors!

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DD - TAXES