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How do I fill out a 1099-MISC for payments to a contractor if I don't have the contractors tax ID # (EIN)?

I have not been provided the EIN by the contractor, and I don't know if they want to send me one.

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2 Replies

How do I fill out a 1099-MISC for payments to a contractor if I don't have the contractors tax ID # (EIN)?

You don't need their EIN  (like if they don't have one).  You can use their SSN.  Either one.  They should give you a W9 form with it. So you can give them a blank W9 to fill out or ask them for one. Here is a blank one......

 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf 

And for the next person do not pay them until you get their SSN or EIN.

MichaelDC
New Member

How do I fill out a 1099-MISC for payments to a contractor if I don't have the contractors tax ID # (EIN)?

There's no easy way to do this. The easiest is calling the company. Sometime individual state agencies have a lookup to find information about companies incorporated in their state. For example, Florida has SunBiz.org

Here some info from Chron.com (http://smallbusiness.chron.com/look-up-ein-number-4268.html:(

1. Look up an EIN number for a publicly traded company on their Investor Relations website. Most have an SEC Filings page. On the filings page, open any Securities and Exchange Commission filing document. The EIN must be listed on the first page of the document.

2. Utilize the SEC EDGAR online Forms and Filings database. This is a free alternative you can use when a company doesn't post its SEC filings online. The EDGAR database contains the SEC filings of all publicly traded corporations.

3. Subscribe to an online commercial database service if you expect to look up EIN numbers on a regular basis. For example, Dun & Bradstreet  Selectory service lists some 14 million EINs as of 2010.

4. Look up EIN numbers using a pay-as-you-go database service. Database providers, including KnowX, give you the option of paying for only the searches you perform instead of having to subscribe to their service. This is a good option if you only need to find a few EIN numbers.

5. Check commercial EIN database providers for special offers. Many allow you to make a few searches for free to motivate you to try their service. This is a good way to make sure an EIN database provides all the information you need on businesses and other organizations.



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