Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation, is the form a US business files with the IRS to report payments made during the year to a person or entity for services, when that payee is not an employee. The threshold is $2,000 per payee for payments made from 2026, raised by the 2025 tax law from the long-standing $600 and indexed for inflation after 2026 (as of August 2026). The business filing it also sends a copy to the payee, generally by the end of January for the prior tax year.
The form applies to US payees: it is built around the Form W-9 information a US vendor already has on file, name, entity type and taxpayer identification number, and it feeds the payee's own US tax filing. A payer only issues a 1099-NEC to someone it has classified as a US person or US entity for tax purposes.
A foreign contractor who has certified non-US status, typically with a Form W-8BEN, is generally outside the 1099-NEC system for services performed outside the United States: the payer has no reason to issue that particular form to that payee. This is a direct consequence of the W-8BEN, not a separate exemption a freelancer has to request; the certification itself establishes which reporting track applies.
If you are a freelancer outside the United States, not receiving a 1099-NEC from a US client is expected, not a mistake on anyone's part. It reflects certified foreign status rather than any gap in how the client paid you or what the client's accounting recorded.
Whatever your home country requires you to report on income received, including this income, remains a separate question that a US form does not answer. For more on why a merchant of record changes which US forms apply to a payment at all, see merchant of record vs. employer of record.
Will I get a 1099-NEC if I am not a US citizen or resident?
Generally no, if foreign status has been certified to the payer, usually with a Form W-8BEN, and the services were performed outside the United States. The 1099-NEC system is built around US payees.
Does no 1099-NEC mean the payment was not reported anywhere?
It means the US payer did not report it on that particular US form. It says nothing about what a freelancer is required to report to their own country's tax authority, which is a separate question with separate rules.
What is the reporting threshold for a 1099-NEC?
For payments made from 2026 a US business generally must file one for nonemployee compensation of $2,000 or more paid to a single US payee in a calendar year; the threshold was $600 through 2025 and is indexed for inflation after 2026 (as of August 2026). Payments below it, or payments to non-US payees, typically do not trigger the form.