Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: Box 2 on Form 1099-NEC and box 7 on Form 1099-MISC are the same checkbox: the payer made direct sales of $5,000 or more of consumer products to you for resale. It is not a dollar amount of income. The recipient instructions say to report income from your sale of those products on Schedule C (Form 1040), and the box numbers are the same on the 2025 and December 2026 forms.
Related reading on this site: Form 1099-NEC filing deadline.
What the checkbox means
The recipient instructions for the NEC form read: “If checked, consumer products totaling $5,000 or more were sold to you for resale on a buy-sell, a deposit-commission, or another basis.” The MISC instructions use the same sentence for box 7. “If checked, consumer products totaling $5,000 or more were sold to you for resale on a buy-sell, a deposit-commission, or another basis.”
The payer instructions add that the box is not a measure of payments to you: “Do not enter a dollar amount in this box.” The line on both forms is a statement about sales made to you, not a payment to you.
What to report and where
The NEC recipient instructions say “Generally, report any income from your sale of these products on Schedule C (Form 1040).” The MISC instructions say the same: “report any income from your sale of these products on Schedule C (Form 1040).” The amount comes from your own sales records, because the checkbox has no dollar figure. Schedule C is covered on the Schedule C page, and the self-employment tax that follows business profit is on the self-employment tax page.
Who the payer is describing
The payer side defines the sale. “Enter an “X” in the checkbox for sales by you totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products to a person on a buy-sell, deposit-commission, or other commission basis for resale” “(by the buyer or any other person) anywhere other than in a permanent retail establishment.” The condition is about where and how the products were sold, not about how much the payer paid you.
One form, one box
A payer chooses the form. “You may either use box 2 on Form 1099-NEC or box 7 on Form 1099-MISC to report the direct sales totaling $5,000 or more.” “Caution: Report these sales on only one form.” So a seller who sees the checked box on a 1099-NEC should not expect a second checked box on a 1099-MISC for the same sales.
The payer instructions also say that “If you use Form 1099-NEC to report these sales, then you are required to file the Form 1099-NEC with the IRS by January 31.” The statement to the recipient has some flexibility: “The report you must give to the recipient for these direct sales need not be made on the official form.” “It may be in the form of a letter showing this information along with commissions, prizes, awards, etc.” So the notice may arrive as a letter next to a commission statement, not a form with a box 2.
| Form and revision | Box | Label as printed |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1099-NEC, December 2026 | 2 | “Payer made direct sales totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products to recipient for resale” |
| Form 1099-NEC, 2025 | 2 | “Payer made direct sales totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products to recipient for resale” |
| Form 1099-MISC, December 2026 | 7 | “Payer made direct sales totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products to recipient for resale” |
| Form 1099-MISC, 2025 | 7 | “Payer made direct sales totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products to recipient for resale” |
Related boxes and links
If the same payer also paid you commissions for services, those are nonemployee compensation, covered with the other NEC boxes on the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC boxes overview. The miscellaneous income form is covered on the Form 1099-MISC overview. Withholding is a different box: the NEC form shows it in box 4, as described on the hub. If you are building a business around resale, the paperwork side of hiring and paying others is on the 1099 basics page.
Edition and box numbers
The primary read for this page is the December 2026 revision of Form 1099-NEC (recipient copy) and the December 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, which are the revisions for tax year 2026. This is one of the boxes whose number did not change: the 2025 Form 1099-NEC has it as box 2 and the 2025 Form 1099-MISC has it as box 7, the same as the December 2026 forms. The 2025 form wording was “on a buy-sell, a deposit-commission, or other basis”, where the December 2026 text says “on a buy-sell, a deposit-commission, or another basis”. The label for the box is identical on all four forms, as the table above shows. Both the December 2026 and the 2025 revisions were being served by irs.gov on 2026-10-16. Check the revision printed on the form you received, because the box numbers differ between the 2025 form and the December 2026 form.
Common mistakes
- Looking for a dollar amount. The payer instructions say “Do not enter a dollar amount in this box.” because the box is a checkbox.
- Treating a checked box as proof the payer paid you $5,000. The instructions describe “consumer products totaling $5,000 or more were sold to you for resale”, which is a statement about products sold to you.
- Reporting the sale twice. The payer instructions say “Report these sales on only one form.”, so a box 2 on the NEC and a box 7 on a MISC for the same sales should not both be used.
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), self-employment tax explained, 1099 basics when you hire help, and first-year estimated taxes for the self-employed.
Sources
- Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation (Rev. December 2026), recipient copy: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099nec.pdf
- Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation (2025), recipient copy: IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information (Rev. December 2026), recipient copy: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099msc.pdf
- Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information (2025), recipient copy: IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. December 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099mec.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.