Does a limited partnership get a 1099? Yes, but not for its own business income. An LP’s operating income flows to partners through Schedule K-1, not a 1099. The partnership itself receives 1099s from outside sources: banks and brokerages reporting interest, dividends, and securities proceeds; other businesses reporting service payments the LP earned as a contractor; and payment processors reporting card and app transactions.
Why the LP’s Own Business Income Never Appears on a 1099
The IRS treats a limited partnership as a pass-through entity. The LP files Form 1065 each year to calculate total income, deductions, and credits, but owes no federal income tax itself.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income Each partner then receives a Schedule K-1 showing their individual share of income, losses, deductions, and credits, allocated under the partnership agreement. The partnership files copies of every K-1 with the IRS, and partners use the K-1 to complete their own returns.2Internal Revenue Service. Partners Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2025)
That is the entire mechanism for the partnership’s operating income. No 1099 changes hands between the LP and its partners, and no 1099 reports the LP’s core business earnings to the IRS. If you are a partner expecting a 1099 from your own LP for your share of profits, you will not receive one. You will receive a K-1.
Investment Income: 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, and 1099-MISC
Once you step outside the partnership’s operations, 1099s show up in the ordinary way. Banks and financial institutions issue Form 1099-INT to the LP for interest of $10 or more earned on partnership accounts or debt instruments.3Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-INT, Interest Income Brokerage firms issue Form 1099-DIV for dividends the LP receives on stock holdings, and Form 1099-B for proceeds when the LP sells stocks, bonds, or other securities. An LP that holds royalty interests or licenses intellectual property may also receive Form 1099-MISC reporting those royalty payments.
All of this income still runs through Form 1065 and out to the partners on their K-1s. The 1099 is simply the third party’s report to the IRS that the LP received the money; it doesn’t change how the income is taxed or who ultimately pays the tax.
The Corporate Exemption Does Not Apply to Partnerships
A detail that catches people off guard: corporations are generally exempt from receiving these investment-income 1099s.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-INT and 1099-OID (01/2024) – Section: Exempt Recipients That exemption does not extend to partnerships. An LP is classified as a partnership on Form W-9, and partnerships do not qualify as exempt recipients.5Internal Revenue Service. Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)
So an LP will receive 1099-INT and 1099-DIV forms that a C-corporation or S-corporation in the same position would not. If a bank or broker fails to send a 1099 because someone assumed a business entity is a business entity is exempt, the LP should follow up. The obligation to report the income exists regardless of whether the 1099 arrives.
Service Payments: When the LP Is a Contractor
If the LP performs services for another business as an independent contractor, that business must issue Form 1099-NEC reporting nonemployee compensation. The IRS instructions specifically require payers to issue 1099-NEC to partnerships, alongside individuals and estates.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025) – Section: Box 1 Nonemployee Compensation The corporate exemption that shields C-corporations and S-corporations from receiving 1099-NEC does not reach limited partnerships, because an LP is not a corporation.
For payments made in the 2026 tax year, the reporting threshold that triggers 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC filings is $2,000 to a single recipient, up from the $600 threshold that applied for years prior.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-K Frequently Asked Questions Below that figure, the payer is not required to issue the form, though the LP still has to report the income.
Card and App Transactions: Form 1099-K
An LP that accepts credit card payments or receives funds through a third-party payment app may receive Form 1099-K from the processor. The thresholds differ by source:
- For payment card transactions (credit, debit, or gift cards), there is no minimum. Any amount triggers reporting.
- For third-party settlement organizations such as payment apps and online marketplaces, the threshold is $20,000 in gross payments and more than 200 transactions during the year.8Internal Revenue Service. 9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025) That is a separate compliance track from the 1099s the LP receives, and mixing the two up is one of the more common bookkeeping errors partnerships make.
The Short Version
An LP does receive 1099s, just not for the income partners most often ask about. Operating profits reach partners on Schedule K-1. Interest, dividends, securities sales, royalties, contractor service income, and card and app transactions reach the partnership on the corresponding 1099 series, because partnerships sit outside the corporate exemption that keeps many of those forms from being issued to C-corps and S-corps. Anyone waiting on a 1099 from their own limited partnership for their share of the business is waiting for a form that will not come.