How To Report Cash Income Without 1099 Information Returns (2024)

Have you ever wondered how to report cash income without a 1099?

It can be difficult for some people who do not have any type of employment status with an employer that is required by law. Fortunately, the Internal Revenue Service has specific guidelines on what constitutes self-employment income.

According to the IRS's rules, all undocumented cash income (no W-2 or 1099-MISC), for work performed, is considered self-employment income.

As a self-employed worker, it is your duty to report all of your income--including cash income. Contractors must pay taxes on all of their earnings.

Many business owners are unsure how to report their money without 1099 information returns. So, we created this guide to walk you through it. In this article, we'll go over everything you need to know about the reporting requirements and how to file for cash income and report taxes without a 1099 information return.

The Lowdown On Reporting Cash Income Without A 1099 Without A Form 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC

The IRS is fairly familiar with your income situation and is expects you to file income from certain sources. The IRS has an algorithm or program that analyzes all tax returns to make sure folks are not avoiding payment of their taxes.

Technically, the IRS only knows about the reported income on your 1099 forms. So if you at least report what is stated on your information returns or 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC, then you won't run into any trouble with the government during tax time.

Although the IRS doesn't require businesses to send out 1099 forms for independent contractor payments totaling less than $600, you are still responsible for paying taxes on the profit you earn from your business or services. If you earned less than $400, you are exempt from paying self-employment tax but you still have to file income tax.

Per the tax law, you need to report your cash payments. There are better (legal) ways to avoid paying taxes on 1099 income.

Filing Cash Payments

For example, if the 1099 form the IRS receives only states you earned $8,000 in gross receipts or income, that earnings amount is all they are aware of.

Now, let's say you received $1,500 in cash payments. If you wanted to disclose the income without a 1099 form, all you would need to do is total up the gross total from your 1099 and your cash payments. For instance, in this example, you would report $9,500 in your tax return.

The IRS is more than happy to receive tax returns from independent contractors where they are declaring they earned more income than what is formally recorded. All that means is that the independent contractor would have to pay more Social Security and Medicare taxes.

What If You Are Only Paid In Cash?

You are still considered self-employed even if you are paid in cash and do not receive a form 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC.

If contractors earned more than $400 in cash, the IRS considers them to be self-employed.

Therefore, they are required to file a Schedule C, business income and expenses and pay self-employment tax

In other words, independent contractors only paid in cash must surely estimate and file taxes at the end of the year.

There are contractors who are paid via a third-part transaction network like PayPal or Venmo. if that is the case, they would receive a Venmo 1099 or PayPal tax form via the platform to report their taxes.

IRS Requirements To Report Self-Employment Income

Typically, the IRS considers all income you receive in the form of money, property, or services to be taxable income. This means, unless there is a specific law to exempt tax payments, you need to pay self-employment taxes on all your earnings. All your taxable income should be reported on Form 1040. An independent contractor would use Form 1040 and Schedule C to report income and expenses. A Schedule C is used to report (profit or loss from business)

It's important to keep records of all your earnings and expenditures in order to accurately report them. It is recommended that contractors set aside earnings to pay their 1099 taxes.

Time To File Self-Employed Taxes!

If you did not receive a 1099-MISC form and were unsure of how to file your income, we hope this article helped guide you on how to file without your tax forms. If you have any 1099 tax-related questions about disclosing all your self-employment income or how to handle your Schedule C, we always recommend you talk to a tax professional or accountant for support.

After all, an error in your tax return can potentially trigger an IRS tax audit. In some instances where you are paid cash without being issued a 1099 Form by your employer, it may seem like there's nothing left but guesswork when reporting how much money was made during the year on taxes That is why it is important to keep detailed records of everything.

Be sure to keep copies of any receipts or invoices for expenses related to the work in case the IRS requests them later. An easy way to keep track of your receipts is to use our 1099 expense tracker to organize and store your records.

Bonsai has a ton of other free tools to help freelancers manage their taxes. Try our free self-employed tax calculator to figure out how much taxes you'll owe to Uncle Sam (don't forget to include your cash payments!).