A 1099 is a tax form that reports money you received outside of being an employee — freelance work, contract jobs, gig driving, bank interest, rent. The company that paid you sends one copy to you and one to the IRS. The big difference from a W-2: nobody took any tax out along the way, so that part is on you.
Employees get W-2s. Everybody else gets 1099s. If you freelanced, drove for an app, rented out a property, or even just earned interest at the bank, there is probably a 1099 with your name on it — and a matching one sitting in the IRS's files.
The common flavors
1099-NEC is the big one: it reports pay to non-employees — freelancers and contractors — of $600 or more from one payer. 1099-INT reports interest your bank paid you. 1099-MISC covers rents, prizes, and a grab bag of other payments. There are cousins for investment sales, retirement payouts, and canceled debts, all following the same idea: someone paid you, and now it is on the record.
The tax part nobody warns you about
A paycheck has tax skimmed off every two weeks. A 1099 payment usually arrives whole. That feels great in March and hurts the following April, when the income gets taxed all at once. Many freelancers set aside roughly a fifth to a third of each payment for taxes, and people who earn this way regularly often pay estimated taxes four times a year instead of once.
You design a website for a local shop and they pay you $1,200. In January you receive a 1099-NEC showing $1,200. Not a dime was withheld. When you file, that $1,200 is income — though the software, materials, and mileage you spent earning it can count as business expenses that shrink the taxable part. The IRS received the same $1,200 figure, so leaving it off your return is not an option they will miss.
Multiple forms are normal
Freelance for three clients and you get three forms. Every one goes on the same tax return, added together. Keep them all in one folder as they arrive in January and February.