I employed a commercial fishing deckhand to whom I paid a share of the fishing boat proceeds and filed a 1099-misc which is standard practice. When turbotax asks if I paid anyone wages, do I answer "no", since they are not a w-2 employee who is paid "wages".
Yes, as these are not considered wages for tax purposes. You deduction for payments to your deckhand will go on a different line on your Schedule C. Follow the prompts in TurboTax when completing your Form Schedule C.
A 1099 form shows non-employment income, such as income earned by freelancers and independent contractors.
There are several types of 1099s used for different purposes, and Form 1099-MISC is often considered a catchall for income that doesn’t fit into other categories. However, the most common use of Form 1099 is reporting independent contractor payments for services provided to a business.
Prior to tax year 2020 these payments usually appeared on Form 1099-MISC. Now, businesses must separately report nonemployee compensation on Form 1099-NEC. Other than the change for nonemployee compensation, the use of Form 1099-MISC remains mostly the same for payment reporting.
Click here for additional information on Form Schedule C.