Originally Posted by
Happy
Can you point to actual cases reported on Scenario 2 ?
If that is the case then several Chase cards would be "1099 eligible", namely the 80K Priority Club and the 70K Marriott card, as well as last year's 50K Continental Card and this year's 50K UA Explorer card - they all only require first purchase to earn bonuses. So far nobody receives a 1099 MISC from Chase on those and Chase is very diligent in sending out 1099s on ANY cash bonuses received when opening bank accounts, clearly spelled out in the documents of the offer.
I cannot speak to actual cases except to say that Scenario #2 is the case with Citi's banking bonus' and you can see that they are producing 1099s. The distinction is Citi's interpretation of the 'prize/award' provisions of the 1099 which seem to be reluctantly supported by the IRS in the article below:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...1163342.column
Note that the Citi spokesman makes the distinction based on 'purchases'.
So far it seems each bank has made their own interpretation of the code; Citi's being the most impactful. I have not information about Chase issuing 1099s but it would be a concern only if they adopted the same interpretation as Citi.