Smashwords 1099?

[StephenEngland]

Okay, so after a few days of anxious waiting, I have my 1099 from Amazon in hand. Does Smashwords send one out? I didn't make much money over there, but I received a couple of deposits in Paypal. Any advice here would be much appreciated.

[Lisa Scott]

I was wondering about this, too. I haven't received one yet, but made enough via smashwords that I'd expect to see one.

[Sarah Woodbury]

I don't have mine yet either.  I keep careful records ... but I believe we should be getting them!  Anyone who got paid by SW in 2010 who can answer this?

[jillmyles]

I've emailed Smashwords about this but have received no response, and I'm pretty annoyed.

The IRS law is that 1099-MISC must be postmarked by January 31. Any royalties over $10 must be reported. Someone said on another messageboard that Smashwords was 'aiming for the 15th' but I cannot get anyone to confirm this or even respond at Smashwords.

Perhaps Mark will reply to this thread and we can get an answer.

[valeriec80]

I've never gotten a 1099 from Smashwords. I believe I read somewhere that they don't send you one unless you've made more that $600.

Of course, I get my Smashwords payments through Paypal, and apparently Paypal sends out 1099s if you've made over $600.

I guess I'll get to sort that out next year... This year, my Smashwords earnings are pretty small.

[Shayne Parkinson]

I got one from Smashwords last year. It was around this time of year, as far as I recall.

[StephenEngland]

So, what do we do? Just report the amount ourselves?

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

Last year, I just remember that Smashwords was the very last one I received, and was a few weeks behind. I'm honestly not expecting it to show up in my mailbox into just before March.

[jillmyles]

I've never gotten a 1099 from Smashwords. I believe I read somewhere that they don't send you one unless you've made more that $600.

Of course, I get my Smashwords payments through Paypal, and apparently Paypal sends out 1099s if you've made over $600.

I guess I'll get to sort that out next year... This year, my Smashwords earnings are pretty small.

The $600 threshold is for standard contract payments. For royalties, it's any amount over $10.

And yeah, there's not much to do but wait. You can file it as income in which you did not receive a 1099, or report them to the IRS for late filing, but you still have to report it.

[Suzanne Adair, Author]

I haven't received a 1099 from Smashwords or Amazon. I wonder if my mail carrier has been holding out on me.

I emailed Amazon last week when everyone here was receiving their 1099s and asked about mine. The only response I've gotten was automated, the equivalent of "We're experiencing unusually high call volumes right now."

[TexasGirl]

Make sure you report it! They may have filed an extension.

I got a 1099 from Amazon, but not Smashwords, iTunes, or Nook, all of which were WAY over $10.

I just turned everything into my acccountant this morning and asked him. He said as long as the 1099s that ARE eventually reported to the IRS are the same or less than what you report yourself, you'll be fine. In my case, I reported four times the income from what my lone Amazon 1099 said, since Amazon was only one of my outlets.

The accountant said that some companies pay more attention to the Feb. 28 deadline to get things to the IRS than the Jan. 31 deadline to get things to us. Technically, if you report them, there should be a $50 fine per form, but I'm not sure how much that is enforced.

[destill]

I have received 1099s from Amazon, B&N, and CreateSpace (On Demand Publishing), but nothing yet from Smashwords.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Okay, so after a few days of anxious waiting, I have my 1099 from Amazon in hand. Does Smashwords send one out? I didn't make much money over there, but I received a couple of deposits in Paypal. Any advice here would be much appreciated.

No. I didn't get one last year. I did the first year, but nothing after that and they confirmed that they didn;t send one last year.

Ed Patterson

[Terrence OBrien]

"I got a 1099 from Amazon, but not Smashwords, iTunes, or Nook, all of which were WAY over $10."

I received the B&N 1099 Feb1.

[NathanWrann]

Maybe they put the 1099's through the meat grinder? If so, expect it sometime around June. 

[Gretchen Galway]

Maybe they put the 1099's through the meat grinder? If so, expect it sometime around June. 

 

[Edward C. Patterson]

Maybe they put the 1099's through the meat grinder? If so, expect it sometime around June. 

No soup for you!

Ed Patterson
The Queen of Mean Nominee

[TexasGirl]

I wonder if the difference on Barnes and Noble is they recognize I'm a corporation, and Amazon just sends them no matter how you set up the account. I show about $1200 in BN sales last year, so plenty to generate a form, but you don't 1099 a business. I was surprised to get one from Amazon.

[jillmyles]

I wonder if the difference on Barnes and Noble is they recognize I'm a corporation, and Amazon just sends them no matter how you set up the account. I show about $1200 in BN sales last year, so plenty to generate a form, but you don't 1099 a business. I was surprised to get one from Amazon.

Are you sure about that? Because I work at a payroll company and have for 12 years, and we cut a lot of 1099s for businesses every year.

[Ruth Ann Nordin]

I think it was late Feb. - early March when I got one from Smashwords last year.  I've learned to keep a record of my earnings every month (and divide up where I earned what) during the year so in case something doesn't come in, I'm covered.

[jillmyles]

I emailed Smashwords a few days ago about this and received an email that they are still 'targeting' 2/15 to send the returns out.

As a tax professional, I am very unhappy about this.

[TexasGirl]

Are you sure about that? Because I work at a payroll company and have for 12 years, and we cut a lot of 1099s for businesses every year.

Yup. I'm a corporation. Now if a business is a sole proprietorship, you would still do a 1099.

There are some exceptions. Maybe your business deals in the exception category--medical, health, law.

http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099msc/ar02.html

Exceptions.   Some payments do not have to be reported on Form 1099-MISC, although they may be taxable to the recipient. Payments for which a Form 1099-MISC is not required include all of the following.

Generally, payments to a corporation. But see Reportable payments to corporations, later.

Reportable payments to corporations.   The following payments made to corporations generally must be reported on Form 1099-MISC.
Medical and health care payments reported in box 6.

Fish purchases for cash reported in box 7.

Attorneys' fees reported in box 7.

Gross proceeds paid to an attorney reported in box 14.

Substitute payments in lieu of dividends or tax-exempt interest reported in box 8.

Payments by a federal executive agency for services (vendors) reported in box 7.

[Edward C. Patterson]

I emailed Smashwords a few days ago about this and received an email that they are still 'targeting' 2/15 to send the returns out.

As a tax professional, I am very unhappy about this.

I forget the dollar threshold where they do not send one out at all. But they have one.

Ed Patterson

[jillmyles]

The IRS law is anything above $10 in royalties requires a 1099-MISC.

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

I just had my taxes done today and my preparer didn't seem to think there was any problem with not having the 1099 from SW. I had a printout of SW's deposits to PayPal.

I never got one from Create Space, either, but I have all of the remittance advices sent out by Amazon, Amazon UK and Create Space, so I don't think there will be a problem.