Patient bad debts and IRS Form 1099

The Truth About Sending IRS Form 1099 to Patients for Bad Debt

Many practices want to send a patient a Form 1099 when they write off their account as a bad debt; they do this as a way to get the patient to pay something. However, you cannot do this.

IRS Form 1099-C cannot be used unless you are a lending institution per their rules, not anyone's opinion.  As you can guess, a practice could be in a bind from sending a person a 1099 when they aren't legally allowed to per IRS regs.  Also remember this: if you send someone an incorrect or fictitious 1099-Misc, you could get in a load of trouble.


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