As long as the foreign contractor is not a U.S. person and the services are wholly performed outside the U.S., then no Form 1099 is required and no withholding is required.
You should get a form W-8BEN signed by the foreign contractor. By signing Form W-8BEN, the foreign contractor is certifying that he or she is not a U.S. person. The Form W-8BEN is not filed with the I.R.S. It is kept on file with the U.S. payor in case the U.S. payor is audited. If audited, the Form W-8BEN supports why no Form 1099 was issued and why no tax was withheld.
Contractor lives in Puerto Rico and as we know they are US citizens. She performs consulting work and my client needs to issue her a 1099. QBO does not let you enter the personal info without inputting a state. Obviously Puerto Rico is not a state. As I understand it a Puerto Rican who receives income from US sources is required to file a US tax return. By that token I would think that my client who is a US company would be required to issue them a 1099. How do I get around this in QBO?
At this time, QuickBooks doesn't have the option to e-file 1099s with non-US addresses so it has to be done manually. Also, I'd suggest getting in touch with the IRS. They'll be able to provide you more ways and guidelines when filing your recommended forms.
You can always visit our blog site so you'll be able to get the latest news about QuickBooks and what our Product Care Team is working on.
Additionally, you can read these articles to learn more about how to prepare and file 1099 in QBO:
I’m trying to set up my contractors on Quickbooks pro. A number of them are non us citizens and don’t have social security numbers. I get w8s from them every year so that’s not my issue but I’m unable to enter them without SS# and I want to pay them through Quickbooks. Is there a way to do this?
Thank you for posting here in the Community, @LisaTopp.
I appreciate you providing details about your concern. Allow me to share more details about your contractor who doesn't have a Social Security Number (SSN).
If your contractor is a non-U.S. person, there's no need to send 1099 forms at all. You can input zeros as a temporary SSN. However, they need to accomplished the W-8BEN form. By this, the foreign contractor is confirming that he or she is not a U.S. person. Nevertheless, if your contractor has a Tax Identification Number or TIN, you can use this in creating and sending the 1099 form.
Also, you can leave the identification number box empty if your contractor cannot provide his or her SSN nor TIN when the time of filling Forms 1099-MISC comes. But still submit the report to the IRS. They will send a notice stating that the number is missing. This notice must be sent along with a backup withholding notice and W-9 form to the subcontractor.
Also, if you want to edit your contractor information, please visit this article link: Edit Contractor Information. This article provides you detailed steps in changing the profile of your Contractors.
If there's anything else I can further assist, please drop me a reply below and I'll get back to you.
I suggest getting in touch with the IRS to help ensure the correct form you'll be filing for the non-U.S person where the services are performed in the US.
You can also browse our QuickBooks help articles. It contains resources to help easily perform your tasks in QuickBooks.
Feel free to comment down below if you have other concerns. I'll be around to help.
Curious how I need to categorize an W-8BEN contractors pay in my transactions. I want them to be categorized correctly for my accountant at the end of the year.
Need QuickBooks guidance?
Log in to access expert advice and community support instantly.