1099 Filing for Landscaping Companies: 2026 Tax Year Guide for Businesses

Landscaping is a business built on independent contractors. Between mowing crews, tree-removal specialists, and the seasonal cleanup rush, most landscaping companies pay independent contractors all through the year.

This guide covers the key things about 1099 filing for landscaping companies, including when a landscaping business needs to issue Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC, which payments fall outside the rules entirely, how to gather the contractor details you’ll need, and what the retirement of the IRS’s old FIRE system means for how you actually file.

Do Landscaping Companies Need to File Forms 1099?

A landscaping company has a reporting obligation whenever it makes a reportable payment in the course of running its trade or business. The people and businesses on the receiving end of those payments vary widely and can include:

• Independent contractors
• Consultants
• Landscape or snow-removal subcontractors
• Tree-trimming companies
• Irrigation installation technicians
• Contractors for hardscaping
• Technicians that repair equipment
• Property or equipment landlords

However, whether any given payment actually triggers a form comes down to four things:

• What the money was for
• How it was paid
• How the payee is classified for tax purposes
• Whether the payment cleared the reporting threshold

Get those four straight and the rest of the process mostly follows.

The OBBBA Update: A New $2,000 Threshold for 2026

The biggest change for the 2026 tax year comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). For payments made after December 31, 2025, the federal reporting threshold was raised from the long-standing $600 up to $2,000 for certain payments under Internal Revenue Code Sections 6041 and 6041A.

For a landscaping company, that shift matters most for the compensation paid to independent contractors for services, by far the most common reportable payment these businesses make. The timing of the payment, not the timing of the work, is what decides which threshold applies:

• For 2025 payments, use the $600 threshold.
• For 2026 payments, file Form 1099-NEC once qualifying nonemployee service payments to a payee reach $2,000 during the year.
• Starting in 2027, the threshold is expected to be adjusted for inflation.

There are two things to keep in mind about the threshold. First, royalties, direct sales, certain attorney payments, and payment-card transactions have their own separate rules. Second, a state may still require reporting at a lower dollar amount even when no federal 1099 is due.

When to File Form 1099-NEC

Form 1099-NEC is the form for nonemployee compensation  money paid to someone who did work for you but isn’t on your payroll. For tax year 2026, a landscaping business needs to file it when all of the following are true:

• The payment was made in the course of your trade or business.
• It was for services performed by someone who wasn’t your employee.
• The reportable payments to that payee reached at least $2,000 during 2026.
• The payee was an individual, partnership, estate, or another nonexempt recipient.
• The payment wasn’t made through a method that gets reported on Form 1099-K.

Landscaping Payments Commonly Reported on 1099-NEC

The following services are among the most common payments reported on Form 1099-NEC:

• Lawn mowing and maintenance
• Edging, aeration, and fertilization
• Mulching and seasonal cleanup
• Landscape design or installation labor
• Tree removal, stump grinding, and pruning services
• Installation or repair of irrigation systems
• Labor for retaining walls, patios, or other hardscaping projects
• Lawn treatment and pest management services
• Repairs to equipment carried out by an independent technician
• Bookkeeping, consulting, and marketing services

Referral commissions paid to independent service providers can also be reportable.

For example, a landscaping company pays an independent tree-removal contractor $4,500 by check in 2026. Since the payment is over the $2,000 threshold for qualifying service payments, the company must issue Form 1099-NEC when it files in 2027.

Payments That Usually Don’t Belong on 1099-NEC

Just as important as knowing what to report is knowing what to leave off. Several common landscaping payments fall outside 1099-NEC, such as:

Employee wages: Anyone who’s genuinely your employee gets a W-2, not a 1099-NEC. Whether someone is an employee or a contractor depends on who controls how the work gets done, who supplies the tools and equipment, whether the worker can turn a profit or take a loss, whether the arrangement is ongoing, and whether the work is central to what your business does.

Purchases of goods: Payments for products or materials are not reported on Form 1099-NEC. That covers plants and trees, mulch and soil, fertilizer, pavers and stone, fuel, hand tools, mowers and other equipment, and irrigation parts bought without installation.

Credit-card payments: Contractor payments made by credit card or payment card should not be reported on Form 1099-NEC because the payment processor reports them on Form 1099-K instead. Payments made by cash, check, ACH, or direct deposit may still be reportable.

Payments to corporations: Most payments to corporations are exempt from 1099-NEC, though exceptions exist. Collecting a Form W-9 up front is how you confirm a payee’s tax classification and settle the question before filing season.

Personal landscaping: A homeowner paying for personal lawn service doesn’t issue a 1099-NEC. But landscaping done for a business or a rental property can be a different story, and may be reportable.

When Form 1099-MISC Comes Into Play

Form 1099-MISC covers payment types that aren’t nonemployee compensation. A landscaping company encounters it less often, but a few categories are worth knowing about.

Rent: Rent paid in the course of the business for office space, a storage yard, warehouse space, land, or certain rented equipment can be reportable.

Prizes and awards: Prizes or awards related to the business may need to be reported as other income on Form 1099-MISC.

Attorney payments: Legal fees for services are reported as nonemployee compensation, while gross proceeds paid to an attorney are reported under separate Form 1099-MISC rules.

Deadlines for the 2027 Filing Season

Reportable payments that are made during 2026 need to get reported during the 2027 filing season.

Form 1099-NEC — Tax Year 2026

1099-NEC is the simple one: everything is due the same day.

Form 1099-MISC — Tax Year 2026

Note: February 15, 2027, is Washington’s Birthday, so the deadline rolls to the next business day.

The Box 8 and Box 10 exception is something to look out for: statements reporting those amounts get a later recipient-delivery deadline, so it’s worth checking whether any of your 1099-MISC forms use them.

FIRE Is Retiring: What IRIS Means for 1099 Filing

If your process has always run through the IRS’s FIRE system (Filing Information Returns Electronically), that is about to change. Starting with tax year 2026 and the 2027 filing season, the Information Returns Intake System (IRIS) becomes the IRS’s electronic filing system for the information returns previously filed through FIRE. That means businesses should confirm their 1099 filing provider is ready for the switch.

Some filing providers may still be catching up to the IRIS transition or may offer IRIS filing only through a managed service. 1099Online already files through IRIS, so your team can move to the new IRS system without disrupting your 1099 process.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

For landscaping companies, most 1099 issues come from a few common mistakes:

• Misclassifying workers: A 1099-NEC won’t paper over a working relationship that’s really an employment relationship.
• Using the $2,000 threshold for the wrong year: The new figure applies to qualifying payments made after December 31, 2025 not to 2025 payments filed in 2026.
• Applying $2,000 to every 1099-MISC payment: Different payment categories carry different thresholds; the new number isn’t universal.
• Double-reporting card payments. Anything captured on a 1099-K shouldn’t also appear on a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC.
• Reporting labor only: When an invoice bundles incidental materials with the service, the full service payment can be reportable.
• Skipping the W-9: Missing payee information is a leading cause of filing errors, IRS notices, and corrections so collecting W-9s at onboarding is the recommended procedure.
• Ignoring state rules: States set their own thresholds, deadlines, and filing requirements, independent of the federal ones.
• Waiting until January: When you review vendor records through the year, you get the time to fix missing or wrong information long before the deadline crunch.

FAQs

1. Do independent landscapers receive Form 1099-NEC?

Yes, when qualifying payments meet the federal reporting threshold.

2. What is the Form 1099-NEC threshold for 2026?

The threshold is $2,000 for qualifying payments made during 2026.

3. Does a landscaping company issue a 1099 for plants or mulch?

Payments for goods alone generally aren’t reportable. However, if the service is reportable, then incidental materials need to be included in the reported amount.

4. Do credit-card payments count toward Form 1099-NEC?

Payment-card transactions are reported on Form 1099-K instead.

5. Do landscaping companies issue Forms 1099 to corporations?

Most corporate payments are exempt, though some exceptions apply.

The Bottom Line

For landscaping companies, the 1099 season comes down to good record-keeping and staying current with a few new rules. Keep W-9s on file as you bring on each contractor, separate goods from services and card payments from checks, watch the new $2,000 threshold for 2026 payments, and don’t let the FIRE-to-IRIS switch sneak up on you. Start filing your landscaping company’s 1099 forms with 1099Online.