Form 1099-NEC, Non-Employee Compensation

Form 1099-NEC is reports payments that previously would have gone into box 3 of Form 1099-MISC.
Activities that generate income and offsetting expenses but do not meet the criteria of being for income or profit (say, coin collecting) are classified by the IRS as a hobby. Any hobby income reported on Form 1099-NEC makes the return out-of-scope.
A 1099-NEC issued to an athlete receiving Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) income is out-of-scope.
Income in box 1, “Nonemployee compensation,” must be carried by TaxSlayer to a Schedule C.

[Workaround] If this income is not earned income and is not business related, and therefore , but belongs on Schedule 1 Line 8, “Other income”, then:
Enter the amount in Box 3 of a 1099-MISC page, in TaxSlayer, rather than using the 1099-NEC input form, so that it correctly flows to Schedule 1 Line 8z.

The section Schedule 1, Line 3 - Business Income, page 56, discusses when to use Schedule C.
Note: In theory, the employer should correct such an error by issuing a 1099-MISC. In practice, it is not worth asking the taxpayer to go back to the employer to get a new tax form.

New in 2025: TaxSlayer now validates the entered EIN by comparing it with its EIN database.
Note for CA returns: If Box 5 has an amount in it, enter that in TaxSlayer, along with the State (California) and the CA EIN (“Payer’s State No.”). Otherwise, no state information needs to be entered