1099s for Private Dental Practices: The New $2,000 Rule for 2026

October 29, 2026

For payments made in 2026, a private dental practice files Form 1099-NEC only for contractors it paid $2,000 or more.

The forms are due February 1, 2027. The work starts now: collect a Form W-9 from every contractor, landlord and attorney before year-end, so January is a filing task instead of a scavenger hunt.

What Changed for 1099s in 2026?

For payments made after December 31, 2025, the IRS reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation, rent and most other payments on Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC rose from $600 to $2,000 per payee, per calendar year. Here is what that means at the front desk:

• A temp hygienist you paid $1,500 this year no longer gets a 1099-NEC. At $2,000 or more, they do.
  
  
• Count by the date you paid, not the invoice date. A December invoice paid on January 4 counts toward 2027.
  
  
• Check your software. Some programs still flag vendors at the old $600 line, which produces forms you do not owe.
  
  
• Card payments and business payment app payments are reported by the processor on Form 1099-K, not by you. Checks, ACH and bank transfers such as Zelle are yours. Treat personal app transfers as yours too.
  
  

Who Needs a 1099 From a Dental Practice?

You owe a form to any unincorporated payee (a sole proprietor, partnership or single-member LLC without a corporate tax election) paid $2,000 or more in 2026 for services or rent. In a dental practice, that usually means:

• Temp hygienists and assistants you pay directly rather than through a staffing agency.
  
  
• Locum dentists and visiting specialists, such as an oral surgeon or anesthesiologist.
  
  
• IT, marketing, cleaning, landscaping and equipment repair vendors.
  
  
• Your landlord, on Form 1099-MISC, including the building LLC if you own it yourself.
  
  
• Attorneys, every time, even when the law firm is a corporation.
  
  

The corporate exemption has two exceptions: attorneys, and the one dental offices miss. Under the 1099 instructions, medical and health care payments to a professional corporation still go on Form 1099-MISC, box 6, so a specialist who bills you through a PLLC still gets a form.

No form is due for employees, who get a W-2 (see our 2026 payroll checklist), for supplies and merchandise, for rent paid through a property manager, or for other corporations, which covers most dental labs and supply houses. The W-9 confirms which is which.

First, confirm the person is a contractor at all. The IRS looks at control: who sets the schedule, supplies the equipment and directs the work. An associate who sees your patients, on your schedule, in your operatories, usually looks like an employee. So does a hygienist on a fixed weekly schedule. Paying either on a 1099 is a payroll tax problem, not a shortcut.

Why Collect W-9s Before Year-End?

A Form W-9 gives you the payee's legal name, tax classification and taxpayer identification number. The classification box decides whether a 1099 is required, and the signed certification protects the practice if the number is wrong. If a vendor will not provide a number, the IRS requires you to withhold 24 percent of future payments as backup withholding.

Make the W-9 part of vendor setup, before the first payment. Once someone has been paid, your request goes to the bottom of their pile. Your office manager can send this:

Then check what comes back. The IRS TIN Matching program confirms a name and number agree before you file, which heads off mismatch notices and supports reasonable cause if a penalty ever arrives. Your CPA can run it.

Here is the fall routine we run with our dental clients:

1. Pull a vendor payment report for January 1 through today.
   
   
2. Flag every unincorporated payee near or over $2,000, plus every attorney and clinician.
   
   
3. Request missing W-9s through a secure portal, never by email, since they carry Social Security numbers.
   
   
4. Leave card and payment app payments out of your 1099 totals.
   
   
5. Send the W-9s and the final December report to your CPA by mid-January.
   
   

What Are the 2027 Deadlines and Penalties?

January 31, 2027 falls on a Sunday, so the first deadline moves to Monday:

• February 1, 2027: Form 1099-NEC to contractors and to the IRS, and Form 1099-MISC copies to recipients.
  
  
• March 1, 2027: Form 1099-MISC to the IRS on paper, or March 31 if filed electronically.
  
  
• E-filing: if your W-2s and 1099s together total 10 or more, all of them must be filed electronically, with 1099s now going through the IRS IRIS portal. That covers nearly every practice with a team.
  
  

Texas has no state income tax, so a Texas practice has no state copy to file. Under Revenue Procedure 2025-32, each missing or incorrect form due in 2027 costs $60 if fixed within 30 days, $130 if fixed by August 1, and $340 after that. The penalty applies separately to the IRS copy and the contractor's copy, so one missed form can cost $680.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 1099 threshold for 2026?

$2,000 per payee for payments made in 2026, up from $600, for Form 1099-NEC and most Form 1099-MISC payments, including rent. The IRS will index it for inflation starting in 2027.

Do dental labs get a 1099?

Usually not. Most dental labs are corporations, and a lab makes a product rather than treating patients, so the corporate exemption applies. An unincorporated lab paid $2,000 or more gets a 1099-NEC, so let the lab's W-9 decide.

When are 1099s due in 2027?

Form 1099-NEC is due to contractors and the IRS by February 1, 2027, because January 31 falls on a Sunday. Form 1099-MISC is due to recipients by February 1 and to the IRS by March 1 on paper or March 31 electronically.

What Comes Next

Have your office manager pull the vendor report this week and send W-9 requests before Thanksgiving. Reviewing the list, matching numbers and filing in January is year-end work we do for our clients.

Not sure where to start? Contact us today!

General information for private practice owners, not legal or tax advice. Thresholds and dates are 2026 federal rules published by the IRS.

References

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). About Form W-9, Request for taxpayer identification number and certification. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-9

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee

Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Taxpayer identification number (TIN) matching. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/taxpayer-identification-number-tin-matching

Internal Revenue Service. (2025). IRS issues FAQs on Form 1099-K threshold under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-faqs-on-form-1099-k-threshold-under-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-dollar-limit-reverts-to-20000

Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Revenue Procedure 2025-32. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf

Internal Revenue Service. (2026). Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. December 2026). https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec

Internal Revenue Service. (2026). IRS reminder: Information return e-file system transitioning to a new platform. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-reminder-information-return-e-file-system-transitioning-to-a-new-platform

Internal Revenue Service. (2026). Publication 1099: General instructions for certain information returns. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p1099