Form 1099-NEC for Landlords: Cleaners, Handymen, Co-Hosts

Do I have to send a 1099 to my rental cleaner or handyman?

A landlord or short-term rental host generally files Form 1099-NEC for each cleaner, handyman or co-host paid $2,000 or more in a calendar year for services, when the payments are made in the course of a rental business (IRS instructions; 26 U.S.C. 6041). Generally all four conditions must be met:

1. You paid someone who is not your employee.
2. The payment was for services in the course of your trade or business.
3. The payee is an individual, a partnership or an estate, or in some cases a corporation, such as a law firm paid for legal services.
4. You paid that payee the threshold or more during the year, unless you withheld backup withholding, which requires a form at any amount.

If the cleaner is really your employee, no Form 1099-NEC applies; wages go on Form W-2.

A rental case stops being simple when it is unclear whether the rental is a business, several properties or LLCs share the same workers, a co-host or manager collects the booking money, a worker has no W-9 or no Social Security number, earlier years were never filed, or a worker looks like an employee. Each is covered below.

Gather first: each payee's name, address and signed W-9; invoices; the date, method and amount of every payment; and the year's total for each payee. A cleaner who works all your personally owned rentals is one payee, so add the payments across properties. A single-member LLC that is ignored for tax files under its owner's name and number, while an LLC taxed as a partnership or corporation has its own number (General Instructions). Whether payments add up across rentals in separate LLCs depends on how each is taxed, so settle that before you file; see books for an LLC per rental property.

Does owning a rental count as a trade or business for 1099 purposes?

It depends on the facts, and the IRS instructions and Publication 527 do not settle it for one or two rentals. Form 1099-NEC applies only to payments made in the course of a trade or business. Personal payments are not reportable, and a person is in a trade or business if they "operate for gain or profit" (IRS instructions; 26 CFR 1.6041-1(b)). What the sources add:

• Uncertainty is acknowledged. The IRS calls it uncertain for some rental owners in a different setting, the qualified business income deduction. That safe harbor applies solely to that deduction, so it does not decide the 1099 question (Rev. Proc. 2019-38).
• Substantial services. Providing substantial services mainly for the tenant's convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen or maid service, generally means an individual owner reports on Schedule C instead of Schedule E, and a partnership files Form 1065. Heat and light, cleaning of public areas and trash collection are not substantial services (Publication 527). That is a rule about which return form to use; it does not by itself decide the 1099 question.
• Your return asks. Schedule E, Part I, line A asks whether you made payments that would require Forms 1099, and line B whether you filed or will file them. The line A instructions say that, in general, paying at least the threshold for services to someone who is not your employee means you must file Form 1099-NEC, and they mention no business test. The 2025 edition still prints the old $600 figure (Schedule E; instructions).

A landlord who is unsure should write down each year why the payments were or were not made in the course of a rental business, keep the note with that year's records, and keep in mind that the return's own instructions point toward filing once the threshold is met. A rental run as a regular operation, with several properties, hands-on services or an entity, is the case to have a professional confirm before deciding that no forms are due.

What is the 1099-NEC threshold, and what counts toward it?

The threshold is $2,000 paid to one payee in a calendar year, and a payee paid exactly that amount gets a form (26 U.S.C. 6041). A payer who withheld backup withholding files at any amount (IRS). Older forms and articles show $600, the amount for earlier payment years. The statute adjusts the amount for inflation for calendar years after 2026, so read the current figure each filing season (26 U.S.C. 6041(h)).

Count each payment in the year you paid it, not the year of the work or the invoice (26 CFR 1.6041-1). The instructions name only travel for reimbursements, so keep the receipts when you repay a worker for supplies and confirm the treatment (IRS instructions).

Which payees need no 1099-NEC?

Payees taxed as corporations, sellers of merchandise, employees and payees under the threshold generally need none (IRS instructions). Line 3a of the payee's Form W-9 shows how the payee is taxed.

Does it matter if I paid by check, cash, bank transfer, card or payment app?

Yes, because it decides who reports. Card payments and payments through a third-party payment network are reported by the processor on Form 1099-K, and the person who paid files no Form 1099-NEC for them (IRS instructions; 26 CFR 1.6041-1(a)(1)(iv)). The regulation ignores the network's own reporting minimum for this purpose, so a small network payment is still not yours to report.

• Check, cash and bank transfer: you report them. A network that merely processes bank-to-bank payments, with no agreement with the sellers to accept payments through it, is not a third-party payment network (26 CFR 1.6050W-1, Example 3).
• Payment apps: whether a payment is a network transaction depends on how the app settles it. Record how each payment was settled. Leave a payment out only if it is a payment-card or third-party-network transaction, even if the processor issues no Form 1099-K. Count a direct transfer, and any payment you cannot confirm is covered, including one marked personal or as a gift.

For cash with no receipt or tax ID, see paying subcontractors in cash. The Form 1099-K a booking platform sends you is covered in booking payouts: gross or net.

How do I get a W-9 from my cleaner, and what if they refuse?

Ask for a Form W-9 before the first payment. The IRS suggests requesting one from a US payee, and the payee gives it to you, not to the IRS (General Instructions; Form W-9). It gives the legal name, tax classification and number for the form. A payee who fails to give a correct number faces a $50 penalty for each failure, unless there is reasonable cause. A worker without a Social Security number can still give a number: a resident alien who is not eligible for an SSN uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) on the W-9 (Form W-9).

If the payee refuses or gives no number at all:

1. Ask again in writing and keep copies. This is separate from withholding. The IRS expects an initial request when the relationship starts and up to two annual requests to show reasonable cause for a missing number (Publication 1586).
2. Backup withholding of 24% is required on payments to a payee who is not exempt and gives no number, and waiting for the reminders does not delay it. For fees for services it starts with the payment that takes the year's total to the threshold, or with the first payment if you had to file or withhold for that payee the year before (26 U.S.C. 3406(b)(6)). If you do not withhold as required, you may owe the uncollected tax (requester instructions). The form is then due at any amount, with the number blank and the withholding shown in the federal tax withheld box (box 4) (Topic 307).

Start dates, deposits, Form 945 and notices are covered in collecting tax IDs from contractors.

What goes on Form 1099-NEC, when is it due, and where does it go?

Form 1099-NEC goes to the IRS and to the payee by January 31 after the payment year, or the next business day when that date falls on a weekend or holiday. For payments made this tax year the date is February 1, 2027 (IRS instructions).

The form shows you as payer, the payee's name, address and number from the W-9, the total paid for services in the nonemployee compensation box (box 1a, including parts and materials that were incidental to the service), and any backup withholding in box 4. If you pass a guest's voluntary tip on to the worker, it stays in box 1a and is also shown in the cash tips box (1b), with a Treasury Tipped Occupation Code in box 1c (IRS instructions). A sole proprietor is listed by personal name, with any business name on the second line. A single-member LLC that is ignored for tax is reported under its owner's name and number, and so is a payer using one (General Instructions).

• E-file through the free IRS IRIS Taxpayer Portal, which needs a Transmitter Control Code, so apply early. E-filing is required once you file 10 or more information returns of any type in the year, counting 1099s, W-2s and similar forms together.
• Fewer than 10: paper is allowed with Form 1096 and an IRS-printed Copy A. A Copy A printed from the IRS website cannot be filed (IRS).
• State: the form's state boxes are optional for the IRS. Ask your state tax agency whether it wants a copy (IRS instructions).

A late or wrong form costs a penalty for each form, charged separately for the IRS copy and the payee's copy. It is $60 when corrected within 30 days, $130 through August 1, and $340 after that or if never filed. Intentional disregard costs the greater of $690 or 10% of the amount, with no annual cap. Reasonable cause may remove or reduce a penalty (IRS penalty page; amounts for forms due in 2027 are in Rev. Proc. 2025-32). For missed years and notices, see late 1099s and W-2s.

A co-host takes a percentage of bookings, or my property manager hires the repairmen: who files?

The person who makes the payment files. A manager that hires and pays contractors out of your money is generally the one who makes the payment.

• A co-host you pay. A co-host manages your listing and guests for a share of bookings. Commissions for services go on Form 1099-NEC, so a percentage of bookings is a fee like any other (IRS instructions). File if the year's fees reach the threshold, unless the co-host is a corporation, which is generally exempt.
• A share the co-host or manager keeps. If it collects the booking money and keeps its fee before sending you the rest, the fee may still be a payment you report. The closest example in the regulation is a literary agent who deducts a commission from a client's money; there the client is the one who reports the commission (26 CFR 1.6041-1(e)(5), Example 6). The regulation does not address a rental co-host, and the IRS instructions do not say who reports when a platform pays the co-host directly, so this is unsettled for that case. Ask the co-host in writing for its W-9 and a year-end statement of the fees it kept, and have a professional confirm who files.
• A manager that hires and pays repairmen. A rental agent who hires and pays repairmen from the owner's rent is performing management or oversight and has the reporting duty for those payments (26 CFR 1.6041-1(e), Example 5). A person who only writes checks at your direction is not treated that way, so you would generally file. When more than one person qualifies, the one who actually pays the contractor files unless they agree in writing that another qualifying party will.
• Rent and the manager's fee. Tenants who pay rent to your manager file nothing on it. The manager reports the rent it collected for you on Form 1099-MISC when that rent reaches the threshold, generally the gross rent before its fee and the repairs it paid (IRS instructions; 26 CFR 1.6041-1(f)). The manager's own fee follows the usual rules, so a manager taxed as a corporation generally needs no form from you.

Ask the manager in writing who issues forms for the contractors it pays, and ask for a year-end list. If you manage or co-host for other owners, see owner funds for co-hosts and property managers.

Could my cleaner be a W-2 employee instead of a 1099 contractor?

Yes, if the facts point that way. A Form 1099-NEC does not make a worker a contractor. The IRS weighs three groups of facts, and no single fact decides it (IRS).

If the worker is an employee, you do not file Form 1099-NEC; you run payroll and file Form W-2. A wrong call can mean employment taxes (IRS). The tests, the cost and the state rules are in workers who may be employees.

What records do I keep to prove the payment and deduct it?

Keep what shows who was paid, for what, how much, when and how. The IRS does not require a special format; it expects records that support what you report on your return (Recordkeeping; Schedule E instructions).

Rental records beyond the 1099 file are in rental property records and receipts. Where cleaning and repair costs land on the return is in rental property taxes.

Example

These examples are illustrative. All figures are in US dollars.

A cleaner paid by check

A host in Austin pays one cleaner US$6,200 by check over the year, across two properties she owns personally. She asked for a W-9 at the first payment and keeps an invoice for each visit. If the rental is run as a business, the total is above the threshold, so she files one Form 1099-NEC showing US$6,200 in box 1a and sends the cleaner a copy by the due date. If the W-9 had shown a corporation, she would generally file nothing.

A co-host paid a percentage

A host pays a co-host 15 percent of US$80,000 in bookings by bank transfer, which is US$12,000 of fees for services. A bank transfer is not a card or payment-network payment, so the host reports it. If the rental is run as a business and the co-host is an individual, a partnership or an LLC taxed as either, a Form 1099-NEC for US$12,000 is generally due. If the W-9 shows a corporation, none is due.

A payment app

A landlord pays a cleaner US$3,000 through a payment app and US$2,500 by check in the same year. Assume the landlord has confirmed the app payments are third-party network transactions for services, so the processor's Form 1099-K rules cover them and they stay out of the total. If they were personal transfers, they would count and the total would be US$5,500. If the rental is run as a business, the checks alone are above the threshold, so a form for US$2,500 is generally due. The landlord keeps the invoice and payment record for all of it.

Different for you?

• You pay cleaners, handymen or a co-host across several properties or entities, have no W-9s on file, a co-host or platform keeps its fee before paying you, or a manager hires the contractors and you do not know who reports: the totals, payee types and missing numbers have to be built from your bank and payment records. That is bookkeeping work, best done before the due date. Whether the rental counts as a business is a tax question to settle with a CPA before you decide no forms are due.
• Earlier years' forms were never sent, or the IRS sent a penalty notice: see late 1099s and W-2s. Rebuilding each missed year's totals from bank records is catch-up bookkeeping work.
• A payee refuses a W-9, or you paid cash with no number: see collecting tax IDs from contractors and paying subcontractors in cash.
• A cleaner works your hours and uses your supplies: see workers who may be employees.
• The contractor is outside the US: a W-9 certifies US status, so see paying contractors abroad.
• Each rental sits in its own LLC: see books for an LLC per rental property.
• You want the general 1099-NEC rules for any business, or whether a cost is a repair or an improvement: see which contractors get a tax form and rental repair or improvement.