Contractor experience

Use this page to see what your contractors go through during 1099 season, from confirming their tax information to receiving their form, and to plan the messages you send them. The experience is the same for 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC (Box 6).

Communication timeline

For the 2025 tax year, the timeline was:

Wingspan's emails come from [email protected].

What you send

Introducing Wingspan before our email arrives improves open rates and builds trust in a request for tax information. Customize these templates with your company name.

Pre-Wingspan email

Subject: Our tax partner Wingspan will be sending you an important email

Preheader: Confirm your information with Wingspan

[Your Company] has teamed up with Wingspan to manage the 1099 tax forms that document your earnings. Between December 23 and January 13, expect an email from Wingspan ([email protected]) that walks you through confirming your tax details and choosing how you'd like to receive your 1099.

Next steps:

1. Watch for an email from Wingspan ([email protected]) and click the link inside.
2. If you're new to Wingspan, create an account and provide your tax information.
3. If you already have a Wingspan account, review and confirm your existing tax information.

Tips:

• Add [email protected] to your address book so the email doesn't go to spam.
• If you already have a Wingspan account, you'll get both an email and an in-app notification.

Questions:

• What is a 1099 form? A tax document that summarizes your earnings as an independent contractor if you earned $600 or more in 2025. You and the IRS both receive a copy.
• Why confirm my information? So your 1099 is accurate and delivered correctly.
• When will I get my 1099? If you earned $600 or more, expect a link to download your 1099 when it's filed, usually by February 1. A paper form is available on request.

Follow-up reminder

Send this to contractors who haven't confirmed their tax information yet.

Subject: Action Needed: Verify Your Tax Information via Wingspan

Preheader: Important steps to make sure you receive an accurate 1099 tax form

[Your Company] has partnered with Wingspan to manage your 1099 tax forms. You should have received an email from Wingspan ([email protected]) with instructions to confirm your tax details.

What to do next:

1. Check your email, including your spam folder, for a message from Wingspan.
2. Click the secure link in it.
3. If you're new to Wingspan, create your account and provide your tax information.
4. If you already have an account, review and confirm your current tax information.

Good to know:

• All US-based contractors who earned $600 or more in 2025 need to confirm.
• If you don't act before [Your Company] submits tax forms to the IRS, the information already on file is used.
• Existing Wingspan users have received both an email and an in-app notification.

For help, contact Wingspan support.

What Wingspan sends

Tax information confirmation

Wingspan sends tax confirmation requests to contractors who meet all of these criteria:

• Based in the US
• Received more than $600 in the tax year
• Not archived
• Paid by a payer who has turned on the 1099 experience
• Haven't updated their name or tax ID since September 1 of the tax year

New contractors are invited to create a Wingspan account and provide their tax information. Existing contractors are asked to review and confirm what's on file, by email and in-app notification. Existing contractors get up to three reminder emails over two weeks until they confirm. For the 2025 tax year, if a contractor took no action by January 13, 2026, the information on file was used for their tax forms.

Your 1099 is ready

Sent when you file, to contractors who chose electronic delivery. See 1099 delivery.

Walkthrough: confirming tax information

1. Email: The contractor receives one of the two confirmation emails above.
2. Sign up or sign in: New contractors create a Wingspan account. Existing contractors sign in.
3. W-9 information: Every contractor reviews or enters their W-9 details. For new entries, Wingspan verifies the TIN through the IRS TIN Matching Program.
4. Certification and consent to share: The contractor certifies their W-9 and consents to share it.
5. Electronic delivery: The contractor can opt in to receive their 1099 electronically.
6. Tax documents: After setup, the contractor can see their tax documents under Settings. During tax season, a shortcut on the home page links to them, along with any pending tasks.

When the IRS reports a TIN mismatch

Contractors with an EIN or an SSN are guided through the same steps:

1. Check the TIN and name against their IRS or Social Security documents.
2. Contact the IRS to confirm the information.
3. Update records for any business or personal legal name change.
4. Optionally upload a supporting document: IRS Form 147C, IRS Form CP-575, or a Social Security card.
5. Open a guide on resolving TIN mismatches for more help.

1099 delivery

When you file, contractors who chose electronic delivery receive an email that their Form 1099 is available. They can then:

• Download the 1099 PDF.
• See the payments included in it.
• Request a correction by choosing which information is wrong. You're notified to approve or reject the request. See Correct tax forms.

Mailed copies

A contractor can ask for a paper copy and still view and download the form online.

1. The contractor confirms their mailing address under Settings then Account settings.
2. During or after W-9 entry, they choose to have a paper copy mailed.
3. After you file, the form is also available under Tax Documents.
4. Contractors who chose only mailed delivery don't get the "ready" email, but can sign in to check their documents at any time.

Wingspan mails 1099s only to addresses in the continental United States. Contractors elsewhere can choose electronic delivery.

Electronic delivery consent through the API

If you embed Wingspan and collect consent in your own interface, record the contractor's consent to electronic tax forms on the contractor's own Account with POST /v3/onboarding/acknowledgements/ElectronicTaxFormConsent. Send the version of the consent text the contractor accepted.

curl -X POST https://api.wingspan.app/v3/onboarding/acknowledgements/ElectronicTaxFormConsent \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $WINGSPAN_TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Wingspan-Account: b9eGe0vRBbgi09qynDAkY8" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -d '{ "version": "2026-03-01" }'

// 200 OK (trimmed)
{
  "accountId": "b9eGe0vRBbgi09qynDAkY8",
  "acknowledgementName": "ElectronicTaxFormConsent",
  "acknowledgementStatus": "Given",
  "version": "2026-03-01",
  "acknowledgedAt": "2026-01-05T16:20:00Z"
}

Read the current state with GET /v3/onboarding/acknowledgements/ElectronicTaxFormConsent. If the contractor withdraws consent, call POST /v3/onboarding/acknowledgements/ElectronicTaxFormConsent/revoke with the same version field; the status becomes Revoked. See Acting on behalf of accounts for X-Wingspan-Account.

A contractor shares their tax information with a payer from their own session. See Tax information. Delivering 1099s and showing a contractor their issued 1099s isn't available in the V3 API yet. Contact support if you need it.

Related pages

• Contractor FAQ template
• Responsibilities and limitations
• File and deliver 1099s