Another Dummy with 1099-Misc Instructions - The Freelance Files MMCC

Version of the IRS 1099-MISC warning

Besides the high probability that freelancers writing for the once and future eHhow.com had no idea what they were talking about, there were other common shortcomings of the information (and we use the word loosely there) published on the site. Chief among those was that the contributors, as they were called, had to meet a minimum word count (MWC). In other words, unless the hacks pounded out a couple hundred words on the topic, they wouldn't get paid. The last tie we looked, "You can't do that" is only four words; hence, no stipend. Whether Jonathan Shaffer was dissembling just to get some cash with "How to Print Your Own 1099 Misc Forms" (at BizFluent.com) or he was merely ignorant, we'll never know. That he was wrong, however, is rather obvious.

We've already upbraided some other eHow contributors (e.g., Parr and Mecomber) for their slapdash approaches to this and similar queries, either for failure to understand the question or failure to follow directions. Shaffer followed blithely in their footprints. 

In the first place, the question is ambiguous: did the OQ want to know how to print a copy of a 1099-MISC that a provider emailed or to which they were provided a URL? That's impossible to know without seeing the resource. Answer number one, then, should have been, "It depends." The other possible interpretation was, "I need to provide a 1099-MISC to someone, how do I get the forms?" Shaffer, and Mecomber before him, both rattled off information about downloading the form from the IRS website. What the OQ was supposed to do with it, however, was left unspoken. An employer is supposed to supply a copy of the form to the IRS (and relevant state income services) and a copy to the recipient. The problem? The IRS website quite clearly states (and has so stated since at least 2003) that copy A of a 1099-MISC form downloaded from their website may not be submitted by the payer; instead the payer MUST obtain a legitimate form from the IRS or an authorized vendor. Jonathan's version of this?

"The form is available from the IRS and can be printed out at home to be filled out..."

Ummm, no it's not, Johnny! The sometime music reviewer's instructions follow: 

1. Go to the Internal Revenue Service website (IRS.gov). Click on "Forms and Publications." Click on the link for 1099-MISC form.
2. Right click on the form and select print.
3. Select your home printer from the list of printers that appears by clicking on it.
4. Click print at the bottom of the window to send the document to your printer.

Unfortunately, the current penalty for attempting to submit Copy A of the form downloaded from the IRS website is $50 per occurrence – way more than Jonathan even earned for his "labors."

If you're wondering why we named Shaffer our Dumbass of the Day, tax category, consider that the VERY FIRST PAGE of the 1099-MISC form at the IRS warns against using the downloadable form and references the penalty for doing so. Like Mecomber before him, Shaffer was apparently too interested in the cash to succinctly say, "You can't use that form." A pox on both their houses.

SE - TAXES