@Maurenkg , assuming that (a) you are a self-employed / sole-prop. business / single member LLC filing Schedule-C or similar ; (b)this is your first year; (c) you pay for "Upwork" (& its support facility ) in furtherance of your business, I would look upon this as a service ( to find talent ) and not under "legal & professional" . You can also show this and the amounts you pay to a developer ( in India? ) under "Other expenses" category wherein you can details the recipients details and the amounts paid. Bottom line is because you are either dealing with an entity ( local or foreign) or a person ( foreign) , you do not need to issue 1099s. If the "developer " was a US person, then obviously you have to issue 1099 ( need tax id and generally work is done on US soil ).
Does this make sense? Is there more I can do for you ?
