client wants to 1099 workers now???

[David1980]

He wants to know what he should do about that because he only received 1099's for a few thousand in income, the rest were jobs that paid him in cash.

Cash received isn't taxable, right?

[joanmcq]

****, you mean I bin overreporting my income all these years! And I could'a had even less taxed if I'd a asked for it all in cash?

[Black Bart]

Summer work.

It doesn't sound too bad and I'd probably do it. These guys are always something of a pain to do or they wouldn't be late in the first place, but they need it done, you need the money, and it's fair, slow-paced summer work. While it may be somewhat difficult, you've got plenty of time to dig through it. There's really no way to gauge these things for sure until you're too far into it to back out, but like the folks say, it's a must to get something down. I'd recommend 1/2 for the first job, finish that, and go to the next one collecting as you go -- that way they don't get to owing you more than they can pay.

The fact that he even wants to file 1099s speaks well for him and that's a few extra dollars plus picking up guy #2's tax return will help. Late filing penalty for 1099s is no big deal ($30 each if sent before August 1st) and half the time IRS never gets around to billing for that anyway.

As far as the "cash jobs" just tell him they're taxable and he has to give you whatever information he has -- if no paper's available then get his best estimate (you're not responsible for auditing his sources) and go with that.

These things can be a nice off-season tidbit running into several hundred dollars of extra cash for you, but just take it slow and hack at it a piece at a time; that way you can always throw in the towel if it starts to get out of hand.