The new bill just signed into law on July 4, 2025 (“Big Beautiful Bill”) includes two little-known changes in tax form reporting. One change is regarding the 1099-K tax form and goes into effect for year 2025 and beyond (ht reader calwatch). The other is regarding the 1099-MISC tax form and goes into effect for year 2026 and beyond.
- Form 1099-K is only required to be issued for someone who receives $20,000 in revenue AND 200+ transactions. This is how it was all the years, until a few years ago when they started changing it – we wrote about that in this prior post.
- Form 1099-MISC is only required to be issued for someone who receives payment of $2,000. That’s instead of the prior threshold of $600 which we’ve had all the years. This begins in 2026 and affects tax forms for earnings from small gigs and the like.
- Note: 1099-INT reporting requirement of $10 has not changed. That’s the form used for interest earned from banks and what’s usually for bank account bonus reporting. Brokerage bonuses are typically 1099-MISC, and so those could be affected by the change to make the required reporting amount $2,000. Referrer bonuses (e.g. from Chase and Amex) are also 1099-MISC and could be affected. The change would affect bonuses earned in 2026, meaning, the tax forms which are sent out in 2027 and beyond.
You can find the full bill here, look for section 70432 and 70433. Here’s another article from a congress committee with a summary of the 1099-MISC change.
As we’ve said many times before: tax forms have no effect on actual tax liability. They are just reporting mechanisms.
Note, there are a few states that have other tax reporting laws, and so it’s difficult to really know when you’ll get a 1099. The stated reporting amounts are just requirements, and a business or financial institution can issue a tax statement at lower levels if they choose. (If you never gave in your SSN/EIN, it’s pretty safe to assume your won’t get a tax form.)
Update: Comments now closed as it’s devolved into political drivel. A lot of it from commenters that don’t generally comment on the site
