Do Brands Need to Send Influencers a 1099? The 2026 Rules and the New $2,000 Threshold

Brands often ask whether they have to send influencers a 1099. For payments made in 2026, a brand generally files Form 1099-NEC for a US creator who is not its employee or a corporation once it has paid that creator $2,000 or more during the calendar year for services. The old $600 line now applies only to payments made in 2025 and earlier. The new threshold comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, and the IRS says it will be adjusted for inflation beginning in 2027.

The threshold is counted per creator across every campaign in the year, and it follows the date you paid. Payments by credit or debit card and goods-and-services payments through apps such as PayPal are reported by the processor on Form 1099-K, not on the brand's 1099-NEC. Payment apps file a 1099-K only when a payee receives over $20,000 across more than 200 transactions, a threshold the law restored retroactively, while card processors report card payments whatever the amount. Every creator must report all income whether or not a form arrives.

Product sent in exchange for a post or video is generally taxable income to the creator at fair market value under IRS rules on property received as payment and on bartering, and there is no IRS exemption for small items received for content. Unsolicited PR boxes with no obligation to post have no creator-specific IRS guidance. Brands should write each product and its value into the agreement, keep a per-creator product log, and ask a tax professional whether that value counts toward a 1099.

Before the first payment, collect Form W-9 from US creators to get the correct tax ID and tax classification, and Form W-8BEN from foreign individuals. Both stay with the payer rather than going to the IRS. If a creator gives no valid tax ID, reportable payments are subject to 24% backup withholding, which in 2026 starts at the same $2,000 line. Work a foreign creator performs outside the US is foreign-source income, while work performed in the US can bring 30% withholding unless a treaty applies.

A simple decision flow: confirm the creator is a contractor, confirm the payment was for services, check the W-9 for a corporation or the W-8 for foreign status, remove card and app payments, then total the rest by payment date. Furnish and file 1099-NECs by January 31, which moves to February 1, 2027 for 2026 payments. Keep signed agreements, tax forms, payment and product logs, and copies of filed returns for at least three years, or four if you withheld. This is general information, not tax advice.

When a platform collects the brand's money and pays the creator, who files the 1099 depends on how the platform is set up, so brands should confirm any filing duty of their own with a tax professional. On Aurelia, a brand pays one campaign order through Stripe and Aurelia pays each creator from it once the brand approves their work. Each agreement is written from the campaign with the fee, the product and its value, and an independent-creator tax clause. Creators give tax details through Aurelia's payout setup, not to the brand, and closeout delivers one ZIP of every final file with its usage rights.