Do clients issue 1099's to Upwork?

[fred55]

My company has hired contractors through Upwork for a total of a few thousand. Do I need to issue a 1099 to Upwork? I doesn't look like I need to. Please advise.

[ArjayM]

Hi Frederick,

Freelancers and businesses who are U.S. taxpayers and receive at least $20,000 in gross payments during the calendar year with 200 transactions or more will receive a Form 1099-K. Only those who have received at least $20,000 in gross payments and had at least 200 transactions on Upwork will receive a Form 1099-K. If you do not meet the minimum payment threshold, you will not receive any type of Form 1099 from us, although you are still required to report your income.

[tlsanders]

It's really frustrating how seldom it seems the mods here actually read the question before responding. The poster is a client, posting here in the client forum to find out whether as a client they need to ISSUE a 1099 to Upwork because they've paid you as a vendor.

[fred55]

Totally agree. Seems like bots do all the replies. There was nothing anywhere in the support/help section about clients issuing 1099’s

[NikolaS]

Hi Frederick,

Thank you for reaching out to us. You may want to check this help article for more information. Our customer support team is creating a personalized experience to better assist all Upwork platform users via the chatbot. The more you interact with the chatbot, the more custom responses you’ll receive.

Here’s how you can reach a human in customer support:

1. Select Get Support at the bottom of this or any Help center page
2. Type a question or topic and select "Send." The bot will find relevant Help articles for you.
3. If we don't find the information you need after a few tries, you’ll see an option under the article selections to "Contact Support"
4. Select "Contact Support" and follow the options provided

[prestonhunter]

re: "I doesn't look like I need to."

You are correct.

You don't need to issue 1099 to Upwork or to freelancers who you hire.

[patchworksvideo]

Short and sweet: nope, you don't need to send a 1099 (and you don't need to, and shouldn't, request any information from the freelancer! Upwork does that for you).

Why? The correct help article about it is here:

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211067918-Tax-Requirements 

Specifically, see in the FAQ - "Why don’t I have to send a 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, or 1099-K?"

Even if anyone DID transact more than $20,000 AND 200 transactions for tax year 2022 (or $600 in any transaction count for 2023), Upwork would generate the 1099-K as the appropriate form. You still don't have to do anything directly.