Yes, a Professional Corporation does get a 1099 if it provided medical or legal services of $600 or more during the year. Those are the two carve-outs the IRS built into the corporate exemption from information reporting, and they happen to cover the fields where P.C.s are most common. A P.C. doing anything else — accounting, engineering, architecture — generally keeps the corporate exemption and should not receive a 1099.
Why Corporations Usually Don’t Get a 1099
The baseline rule in the Treasury regulations exempts corporations from the $600 information-reporting requirement that applies to service payments.1GovInfo. 26 CFR 1.6041-3 – Payments for Which No Return of Information Is Required The reasoning is that corporations already report their own income to the IRS, so a third-party return would duplicate the work. A P.C. is taxed as either a C Corporation or an S Corporation, so the exemption applies to P.C.s on its face.
Two exceptions then cut most P.C.s back out of the exemption. If your P.C. payee falls into either, you file.
Medical and Healthcare P.C.s
Payments of $600 or more for medical and healthcare services are reportable regardless of the recipient’s entity type. The IRS instructions state directly that the corporate exemption “does not apply to payments for medical or health care services provided by corporations, including professional corporations.”2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (04/2025)
Use Form 1099-MISC, Box 6 — not Form 1099-NEC. People confuse the two because both can involve service payments.3Internal Revenue Service. Am I Required to File a Form 1099 or Other Information Return
The category is broad. Payments to physicians, dentists, therapists, and other suppliers of healthcare services all qualify. When a healthcare payment also covers injections, drugs, dentures, or similar items, the full amount is reportable. Pharmacies filling prescriptions are the one notable carve-out.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (04/2025) A business paying a medical P.C. for employee physicals, drug screenings, or occupational health services needs to issue the 1099-MISC. Health insurers paying under accident and sickness programs have the same obligation.
Law Firm P.C.s
Legal services are the other carve-out. Any business that pays $600 or more in attorney fees in a year must report those payments on Form 1099-NEC, Box 1, even when the law firm is a P.C., LLC, or any other entity. The IRS reads “attorney” broadly to include the firm itself and any other provider of legal services.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025)
There is a second layer for lawyers. If you pay an attorney gross proceeds connected to legal services but not for the attorney’s own fees — settlement funds routed through a lawyer’s trust account are the classic example — those amounts go on Form 1099-MISC, Box 10, when they total $600 or more. This also applies when the firm is a corporation.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. April 2025) One matter can generate two separate 1099s to the same firm: a 1099-NEC for the fee and a 1099-MISC for the proceeds.
Non-Medical, Non-Legal P.C.s
If the P.C. provides any other kind of service, the corporate exemption holds. An accounting firm organized as a P.C., an engineering firm, or an architectural practice does not receive a 1099 as long as it has certified its corporate status on Form W-9. What the P.C. does, not the “P.C.” label on its name, controls the answer.
So the test is two steps. First, what service did the P.C. perform? If medical or legal, issue the 1099. If something else, check the W-9: a P.C. that marked itself as a C Corporation or S Corporation is exempt, and no 1099 is required.
Getting the W-9 First
Collect a completed Form W-9 before you pay. The W-9 captures the entity’s legal name, Taxpayer Identification Number (typically an EIN), and its federal tax classification. A P.C. should check either C Corporation or S Corporation, because P.C.s are treated as one of those for federal tax purposes.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 (03/2024)
A properly completed W-9 is your documentation. If the P.C. checked the corporation box and the services were not medical or legal, you have a written basis for not filing. Keep W-9s on file; the IRS can ask for them in an exam.
If the P.C. refuses to return a W-9 or gives you a bad TIN, you must begin backup withholding at 24% on the payments until you have valid information.6Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding Skipping backup withholding and then having the IRS determine the payee never provided valid identification shifts the liability onto you.
What It Costs to Get This Wrong
The IRS charges per-form penalties for information returns filed late or not at all. For returns due in 2026, the amounts are:7Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Penalties
- $60 per form if filed within 30 days of the due date
- $130 per form if more than 30 days late but filed by August 1
- $340 per form if filed after August 1 or not filed at all
- $680 per form for intentional disregard, with no maximum cap
The same structure applies to the failure to furnish a correct statement to the payee, so a single missed 1099 can produce two penalties: one for the IRS copy, one for the recipient copy. Smaller businesses get lower annual caps than larger filers, but the per-form amounts are identical. Intentional disregard, which the IRS applies when it concludes you knowingly ignored the requirement, has no ceiling.
That penalty exposure is the practical reason to collect W-9s before you cut checks. With a W-9 showing corporate status and a service that is neither medical nor legal, you have a defensible record for not filing. Without it, you have nothing to show if the IRS asks why a 1099 never went out.
Quick Reference by P.C. Type
- Medical or healthcare P.C.: report payments of $600 or more on Form 1099-MISC, Box 6. The corporate exemption does not apply.
- Law firm P.C.: report attorney fees of $600 or more on Form 1099-NEC, Box 1, and gross proceeds of $600 or more on Form 1099-MISC, Box 10. The corporate exemption does not apply.
- Accounting, engineering, architectural, or other P.C.: if the P.C. certified corporate status on Form W-9, the corporate exemption applies and no 1099 is required.