Records
Form W-9
The form a contractor gives a business stating their legal name and taxpayer identification number.
It is not filed with anybody. The business keeps it and uses it to issue a 1099 in January.
It also records whether the contractor is a corporation, which is what usually decides whether a 1099 is required at all.
Collect it before the first payment. Chasing a W-9 from somebody you have already paid and no longer work with is the ordinary way a January goes wrong.
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