# How bookkeepers request a 1099-NEC from clients

Source: https://dokutrak.com/requests/bookkeepers/1099-nec
Author: Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak
Published: 2026-10-27
Language: en-US

> Ask the client for every Form 1099-NEC the business received from customers for the year, due from payers by January 31. You compare each one to the income already recorded from that customer, so revenue in the books matches what customers reported to the IRS. Ask in early February, before the year-end books go to the tax preparer.

## Why bookkeepers need a 1099-NEC

A 1099-NEC is a customer telling the IRS how much it paid the business for services. The income should already be in the books from the deposits, so the form is a check: if a customer reports more than you recorded, a deposit was missed or miscategorized, and if it reports payments made in the wrong year, the client needs to know before filing. The tax preparer will expect the books and the forms to agree.

## What exactly to ask for

Copy B of every 1099-NEC received for the calendar year just closed, one per payer, including forms that arrived by email or in a customer’s online account. Ask the client to list the customers who usually send one, so you can spot a form that never arrived.

## What to check when it arrives

- The amount in box 1 matches the income recorded from that customer for the year, or the gap is explained.
- The recipient TIN is the business’s EIN, not the owner’s SSN, if the business was the one paid.
- The tax year is the year you are closing, and there is one form for each customer on the client’s list.

## Email to send your client

Subject: The 1099s your business received

```text
Hi [Client name],

As I wrap up the books for the year, I need every 1099-NEC your business received from customers. They were due to you by January 31 and may have come by mail, by email or through a customer’s website.

I compare each one to the income recorded from that customer, so your books and what customers reported to the IRS agree before your return is prepared.

Could you send them by [date]? If a customer who paid you did not send one, tell me who and I will help you follow up.

Thank you,
[Your name]
```

## Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.

- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a 1099-NEC, an unreadable or blurry scan or a copy where one of these is missing or cut off: the recipient’s name, the recipient’s TIN. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.

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