Received 1099-NEC instead of 1099-MISC for farm field rental

[Brent R]

We have a small farm field we rent to a neighbor for a fixed annual amount. Previously, he's always provided a 1099-MISC with the field rental amount. This year, he gave us a 1099-NEC instead. This doesn't seem right; we didn't do any work and simply let him use the land.

What are the implications if we report it as-is rather than asking him to send a MISC instead? What if he won't provide the correct form? We're still waiting for a W-2 and various other forms, so I haven't been able to enter everything into TurboTax yet and see the final numbers, but I put it in both ways to see the difference, and at the moment it seems like it'll cost us nearly 2x as much in tax.

[RBBrittain · Accepted solution]

Was he using Box 7 (Nonemployee compensation) on 2019 & earlier 1099-MISCs? If so, he should have switched to the 1099-NEC last year.

If he was using a pre-2020 1099-MISC box other than 7, he should still be using the 1099-MISC.

[Brent R]

No, it's always been reported in box 1 (Rents). I guess I'd better contact him. Maybe it was an error rather than intentional.

[RBBrittain]

Yes, I would contact him. Rents are still 1099-MISC Box 1.