Yes, you can issue a 1099 to someone with an ITIN. Federal law requires any payer who sends $600 or more in nonemployee compensation during a calendar year to report those payments on Form 1099-NEC, and the recipient’s Individual Taxpayer Identification Number goes in the same box that would otherwise hold a Social Security Number.1Internal Revenue Service. Am I Required to File a Form 1099 or Other Information Return? The IRS processes an ITIN the same way it processes an SSN for information-return purposes. The harder question is whether the 1099-NEC is the right form at all, and that turns on the contractor’s residency status, not on which kind of taxpayer number they hold.
Check Residency Before You Choose the Form
An ITIN tells you the contractor is not eligible for an SSN.2Internal Revenue Service. Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) It does not tell you whether they are a resident alien or a nonresident alien for tax purposes, and that distinction changes the form, the withholding, and the paperwork you collect up front.
Resident Aliens: W-9 and 1099-NEC
A contractor who is a resident alien, meaning they hold a green card or meet the substantial presence test, gives you a Form W-9 and receives a 1099-NEC just like a U.S. citizen contractor.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-8BEN You report the total in Box 1 (Nonemployee Compensation) once payments for the year reach $600.1Internal Revenue Service. Am I Required to File a Form 1099 or Other Information Return? No special withholding applies simply because the number is an ITIN.
Nonresident Aliens: W-8BEN and 1042-S
If the contractor is a nonresident alien, you do not issue a 1099-NEC. You report U.S.-source nonemployee compensation on Form 1042-S and withhold federal income tax at a default rate of 30 percent, or a lower rate if a tax treaty applies.4Internal Revenue Service. Federal Income Tax Withholding and Reporting on Other Kinds of U.S. Source Income Paid to Nonresident Aliens The withholding requirement comes from 26 U.S.C. § 1441.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1441 – Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens Instead of a W-9, the contractor gives you a Form W-8BEN.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-8BEN
Filing the wrong form is expensive. Issuing a 1099-NEC to a nonresident alien can leave you facing penalties for the incorrect information return and for failing to withhold. The document the contractor hands you (W-9 or W-8BEN) is what tells you which path applies.
Getting the ITIN Onto the 1099
Collect a Form W-9 from every resident alien contractor before the first payment, not at year-end.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification The contractor should write their full legal name exactly as it appears on their ITIN assignment letter from the IRS. If the name-and-number combination does not match IRS records, you can end up with a notice and a backup-withholding obligation on future payments.
An ITIN is a nine-digit number that always begins with 9 and follows the SSN format (9XX-XX-XXXX). If the number a contractor gives you does not fit that pattern, ask for the original ITIN assignment letter. When you complete the form, enter the ITIN in the Recipient’s TIN box using the XXX-XX-XXXX format with hyphens, and put the total gross payments for the year in Box 1.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC Every field should match what appears on the W-9.
Verify the Number Before You File
The IRS offers a free TIN Matching service that checks a name-and-TIN combination before you submit the return.8Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Matching Your business has to enroll first; once approved, catching a mismatch here saves you the correction procedure and the penalties that come with a mismatched filing.
Expired ITINs Are Still Usable on a 1099
ITINs expire when they have not been used on a federal tax return for three consecutive years, and the IRS periodically deactivates older ranges. An expired ITIN can still be used on information returns like Form 1099. The contractor only needs to renew if they are filing their own federal income tax return.9Internal Revenue Service. How to Renew an ITIN Do not delay your filing waiting for a renewal.
Filing Deadlines and Methods
Form 1099-NEC has one deadline: January 31 following the tax year. The copy to the contractor and the copy to the IRS are both due that day, whether you file on paper or electronically.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025) If the date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, it rolls to the next business day.
If your business files 10 or more information returns of any type during the year, electronic filing is mandatory.11Internal Revenue Service. E-File Information Returns With IRIS The IRS Information Returns Intake System (IRIS) is a free web portal for electronic submission.12Internal Revenue Service. E-File Information Returns Below that threshold, paper filing is still allowed.
When You Have to Withhold Anyway
Backup withholding kicks in when a contractor’s identity cannot be verified. You must withhold 24 percent of each payment if the contractor never provides a TIN, or if the IRS notifies you that the name-and-TIN combination on a filed return does not match its records.13Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding
Those IRS notices come as CP2100 or CP2100A (a “B-Notice”) and tell you to start backup withholding on future payments until the contractor gives you a corrected TIN.14Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding “B” Program If a contractor refuses to provide a number at all, start withholding right away without waiting for a notice. The withheld amount then gets reported on the 1099-NEC and deposited with the IRS.
Fixing a Wrong ITIN After Filing
If you filed with the wrong ITIN or a misspelled name, the correction procedure has two steps.15Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns First, prepare a new 1099-NEC with the “CORRECTED” box checked, repeating the payer, recipient, and account information exactly as it appeared on the wrong return, but with zero in every dollar field. Second, prepare another new 1099-NEC as if it were an original, without checking the “CORRECTED” box, showing the right name, right TIN, and the actual payment amounts.
Do not check the “VOID” box. VOID tells IRS scanners to skip the form, so the correction never gets recorded.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025) If you filed the original electronically, file the correction the same way. Send the contractor an updated copy too.
One Boundary: Make Sure It’s Really a Contractor Relationship
Issuing a 1099-NEC to anyone, ITIN holder or not, means you are treating that person as an independent contractor. If the IRS later decides the worker should have been an employee, your business can owe unpaid employment taxes, the employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare, and penalties and interest.16Internal Revenue Service. Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee? Classification depends on how much control you have over how and when the work is done, not on the worker’s immigration status or the type of tax ID they use. Someone whose schedule you set, whose tools you provide, and whose tasks you direct is probably an employee and belongs on a W-2.