Key takeaways
Contractor pay and employee pay are different problems: a 1099 contractor gets an invoice and a 1099-NEC, an employee gets a pay stub and withheld tax. Same vendor category, different mechanics underneath.
US-domestic contractor tools (Gusto, OnPay, QuickBooks Contractor Payments) file 1099s cleanly but mostly stop paying out at the US border.
Cross-border payout tools (Wise, 4dev.com, Deel) actually move money internationally, but differ sharply on how much documentation and compliance work they do for you versus leave on your plate.
The 1099-NEC filing threshold jumped from $600 to $2,000 a year starting with 2026 payments. Any internal script or spreadsheet rule still checking against $600 is now over-reporting.
