Do I need to attach 1099-NEC with paper tax return which we will be mailing?

[jcdp2020]

I called IRS and the agent seemed lost but she said that we do need to attach 1099-NEC (aka formerly 1099-MISC) but online I see that you only need to attach it if taxes were withheld. Help? I ask because one of the 1099s is handwritten by the employer and I don't want any delays if they were to question that handwritten one. 

Otherwise all I'm attaching is my W2s (in front of the tax return) and the Summary of the capital gains from trading (behind the tax return)

[HelenC12]

No, you don't have to attach your 1099-NEC form that doesn't have any income tax withheld, even if it's handwritten. 

Your mailed in tax return will automatically be delayed because the IRS has to manually type it in. Also, per IRS, they have around 12 million tax returns that have been caught in a processing backlog created by the pandemic, which shut down the IRS for a time. Americans should see their refunds in the coming months. "We would hope to be through this backlog by the summer," said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

• The IRS also has millions of returns that have to be manually verified which is also causing a delay.
•  Keep checking the IRS Where's My Refund page to see if your refund status has been updated.

[jcdp2020]

Thank you so much for the clarification. We have always e-filed but we had the unpleasant surprise of getting a prompt on our tax software that my husband's ITIN expired :( so now we have to send a W7 AND the tax return by mail :((