Enter gross royalty payments of $10 or more before reduction for severance and other taxes that may have been withheld and paid. Use box 2 to report gross royalties (before reduction for fees, commissions, or expenses) paid by a publisher directly to an author or literary agent, unless the agent is a corporation. The literary agent (whether or not a corporation) that receives the royalty payment on behalf of the author must report the gross amount of royalty payments to the author on Form 1099-MISC whether or not the publisher reported the payment to the agent on its Form 1099-MISC. Do not include surface royalties. They should be reported in box 1. Do not report oil or gas payments for a working interest in box 2; report payments for working interests in box 7. Do not report timber royalties made under a pay-as-cut contract; report these timber royalties on Form 1099-S, Proceeds From Real Estate Transactions.

Box 7. Nonemployee Compensation

Enter nonemployee compensation of $600 or more. Include fees, commissions, prizes and awards for services performed as a nonemployee, other forms of compensation for services performed for your trade or business by an individual who is not your employee, and fish purchases for cash. Include oil and gas payments for a working interest, whether or not services are performed. Also include expenses incurred for the use of an entertainment facility that you treat as compensation to a nonemployee. Federal executive agencies that make payments to vendors for services, including payments to corporations, must report the payments in this box. See Rev. Rul. 2003-66, which is on page 1115 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2003-26 at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb03-26.pdf.
Exceptions.
Do not report in box 7, nor elsewhere on Form 1099-MISC, the cost of current life insurance protection (report on Form W-2 or Form 1099-R); an employee’s wages, travel or auto allowance, or bonuses (report on Form W-2); or the cost of group-term life insurance paid on behalf of a former employee (report on Form W-2).

Self-employment tax. Generally, amounts reportable in box 7 are subject to self-employment tax. If payments to individuals are not subject to this tax and are not reportable elsewhere on Form 1099-MISC, report the payments in box 3. However, report section 530 (of the Revenue Act of 1978) worker payments in box 7.

Nonqualified deferred compensation (Section 409A) income. Include in box 7 the amount of all deferrals (plus earnings) reported in box 15b that are includible in gross income because the nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan fails to satisfy the requirements of section 409A. These amounts generally are subject to self-employment tax and are also subject to a substantial additional tax under section 409A that is reported on the nonemployee’s Form 1040. See Regulations sections 1.409A-1 through 1.409A-6.

What is nonemployee compensation? If the following four conditions are met, you must generally report a payment as nonemployee compensation.

You made the payment to someone who is not your employee;
You made the payment for services in the course of your trade or business (including government agencies and nonprofit organizations);
You made the payment to an individual, partnership, estate, or, in some cases, a corporation; and
You made payments to the payee of at least $600 during the year.