Physical Address
5206 Hwy 5 N Suite 100, Bryant, AR, United States, Arkansas
January 31 doesn’t sneak up on anyone.
Yet every year, finance teams still end up in the same place:
- Chasing missing W-9s
- Digging through old emails
- Stressing over 1099 deadlines
The truth is, most 1099 chaos doesn’t start in January. It starts in December, when W-9s are “something we’ll deal with later.”
This time, you can do it differently.
In this guide, we’ll walk through early 1099 prep a simple, practical process you can start in the first week of December to stop the January W-9 scramble before it begins. You’ll learn how to clean your vendor list, find the W-9 gaps, standardize the way you collect forms, and use automation tools like GetW9 to take the manual chasing off your plate.
Why Early 1099 Prep Matters More Than You Think
If you’ve ever spent the last week of January sending “Hi, quick W-9 reminder…” emails at 9 p.m., you already know the cost of waiting.
When you delay 1099 prep until mid-January:
- Vendors are on vacation or buried in their own year-end tasks
- Your team is busy closing the books
- Inboxes are full and replies get slower
The result?
- Time cost: Hours of manual chasing, reminders, and follow-ups
- Quality risk: Higher chance of errors in vendor details or 1099s
- Stress: Extra pressure on already stretched finance and operations teams
Early 1099 prep flips the script. Instead of reacting to the deadline, you:
- Decide who really needs a 1099
- Spot missing W-9s before the holiday rush
- Put a simple system in place to request and collect forms
- Use automation so vendors can respond on their schedule, without you chasing each one
Ask yourself:
- How many hours did your team spend last January just chasing W-9s?
- If you had that time back, what higher-value work could you do instead?
Early 1099 prep is not a massive new project. It’s a smarter way to use a few hours in December so January becomes calmer, more predictable and far less dependent on frantic inbox searches.
Step 1: Clean Up Your Vendor List Before Year-End
You can’t prepare accurate 1099s if you don’t know who your potential 1099 vendors are.
The first step in effective early 1099 prep is to clean up your vendor list.
Build Your 1099 Candidate List
Start by exporting your vendors from your accounting or bookkeeping system (QuickBooks, Xero, etc.). Then, filter that list down to the vendors who are most likely to need a 1099:
- Independent contractors and service providers
- Vendors that were paid during the current tax year
- Non-employees (your employees will receive W-2s, not 1099s)
From there, create a simple 1099 candidate list that includes:
- Vendor name
- Contact email
- Total payments for the year
- W-9 status (if you track it already)
You don’t have to be perfect or deeply technical here. The goal is to move away from “we’ll figure it out later” and toward “we know which vendors are on our radar.”
If you use QuickBooks, you can connect it to GetW9 to auto-import your vendors instead of maintaining a separate spreadsheet. That makes early 1099 prep easier every year.
A Quick Self-Check
- Do you have one place where you can see all potential 1099 vendors for the year?
- Or do you rely on memory and old invoices when January arrives?
Getting this list right is the foundation. Everything else in your early 1099 prep process becomes simpler once you know who you’re dealing with.
Step 2: Find the W-9 Gaps (Before It’s Too Late)
Once you have your 1099 candidate list, the next question is simple:
Which of these vendors are missing a valid W-9?
This is where early 1099 prep really starts to save you time.
What “Missing” or “Outdated” W-9s Look Like
A W-9 might be:
- Missing
- You never collected one
- Someone forgot to request it
- You collected it, but it’s sitting in a personal inbox with no record elsewhere
- Outdated
- The vendor changed their address or legal name
- Their entity type changed (e.g., from sole proprietor to LLC)
- The W-9 was collected years ago and has never been revisited
For your 1099s to be accurate, you need current, complete W-9s from each vendor that will receive a form.
If you need a refresher on what the form actually covers, refer back to our guide: What is a W-9 form?
Create a Simple W-9 Status View
Take your 1099 candidate list and add a simple status column such as:
- Valid W-9 on file
- Needs review (older W-9s or suspected changes)
- No W-9 on file
This gives you an instant view of:
- Which vendors are ready for 1099s
- Which ones you should prioritize in December outreach
- How much work you really have to do
Ask yourself:
- If someone asked you right now to show all W-9s for your top 20 vendors, how long would it take?
- How many W-9s are buried in old email threads instead of stored in a shared, searchable place?
Early 1099 prep is about surfacing those gaps in December, when you still have time to fix them without panic.
Step 3: Standardize and Automate W-9 Collection
Most of the pain around W-9s doesn’t come from the form itself. It comes from inconsistent processes.
If every W-9 request is a one-off email, sent from a different person, with a different message and a different place to store the form… chaos is guaranteed.
Early 1099 prep gives you the chance to fix that.
Standardize Your W-9 Request
Create one clear W-9 request template your team will use for every vendor. It should:
- Briefly explain why you’re requesting the W-9
- Reassure vendors that this is standard year-end practice
- Give them one simple way to submit the form
- Include a deadline that fits your early 1099 prep timeline
Decide on one destination for completed W-9s:
- A secure online portal
- A dedicated tool like GetW9
- A central document management system
The key is that your team knows exactly where W-9s are collected and where they can be found later.
Let Automation Do the Chasing
Manually following up with vendors is what turns W-9 collection into a January nightmare.
Instead, use automation to:
- Send the first W-9 request in bulk
- Schedule polite reminders to vendors who haven’t responded
- Track who has opened, completed, or ignored the request
This is where a tool like GetW9 shines:
- You send vendors a secure, branded link where they can complete their W-9 online
- Vendors enter their details and submit the form digitally
- GetW9 then saves completed W-9 PDFs with a submission history in one place
- You can see, at a glance, who has submitted and who still needs a nudge
Automation doesn’t replace your judgment but it does replace dozens of manual follow-ups and ad-hoc email chains.
Step 4: Turn Early 1099 Prep into a Simple Playbook
The best part about early 1099 prep is that once you design the process, you can reuse it every year.
Instead of reinventing your approach each January, turn it into a playbook.
Document Your Process
Write down how your 1099 workflow should run. For example:
- Timing
- First week of December: export vendor list and build 1099 candidate list
- Second week of December: run W-9 status review and identify gaps
- Third week of December: send initial W-9 requests
- Early January: send final reminders and review remaining gaps
- Templates
- Standard W-9 request email
- Reminder email text
- Internal checklist or SOP
- Tools
- Accounting system (QuickBooks, Xero, etc.)
- W-9 collection tool (GetW9)
- Any shared storage or dashboard you use
Assign Clear Roles
Make sure everyone knows:
- Who owns the W-9/1099 checklist
- Who is responsible for reviewing exceptions
- Who will monitor the dashboard and follow up on edge cases
If someone leaves the team or changes roles, your early 1099 prep doesn’t have to start from scratch. The playbook lives on.
Improve It Every Year
After 1099 season, take 15–20 minutes to review:
- What went well this time?
- Where did vendors get stuck or confused?
- Which parts of the process were still manual and could be automated next year?
Small improvements each year turn early 1099 prep into an asset, not a headache.
Where GetW9 Fits in Your Early 1099 Prep
You can do everything above with spreadsheets, shared folders, and manual emails. But if you’d rather take the admin out of early 1099 prep, this is exactly what GetW9 was built for.
Here’s how GetW9 supports each step:
From Vendor List to W-9 Status in One Place
- Import or sync your vendor list
- See which vendors have already completed a W-9
- Quickly identify who is missing or needs an updated form
(If you use QuickBooks, you can connect it to GetW9 to auto-import vendors instead of exporting CSVs.)
From One-Off Requests to a Structured W-9 Campaign
- Send secure W-9 requests in bulk with a few clicks
- Use a consistent, branded message for every vendor
- Let GetW9 handle the reminder emails so you’re not chasing people one by one
From Scattered Attachments to Organized Records
- Vendors submit their details through a simple online flow
- GetW9 saves completed W-9 PDFs with a submission history, so you know when and how each form was submitted
- Your team has one place to look when preparing 1099s, doing audits, or answering questions
With GetW9 in place, early 1099 prep becomes much lighter. You still own the process but the tool takes care of the repetitive, administrative work that usually burns time and attention in January.
Putting It All Together: Make This Your Calmest 1099 Season Yet
To recap, effective early 1099 prep comes down to a few simple moves:
- Understand the cost of waiting
January emergencies are usually December decisions. - Clean up your vendor list
Build a clear 1099 candidate list so you know who to focus on. - Find and fix W-9 gaps early
Use a simple status view to prioritize missing or outdated forms. - Standardize and automate W-9 collection
One message, one flow, one place for W-9s supported by automation. - Turn it into a playbook
Document your process so it’s easier and faster every single year.
Start this early 1099 prep in the first week of December, and January 31 becomes just another date on the calendar not a crisis.
Next Steps
- Share this article internally as your “Early 1099 Prep” checklist
- Block 60–90 minutes this week to clean your vendor list and assess W-9 gaps
- Consider whether you want a tool like GetW9 to handle the heavy lifting
Ready to take the manual chasing out of W-9s?
Start your free GetW9 trial on getw9.tax and send your first batch of W-9 requests in minutes.
Already using GetW9?
Log in and set up your “1099 Prep – December” campaign so your January is calmer from day one.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Always consult your tax advisor or legal counsel for guidance specific to your situation.
