I separated from my husband in October and filed for divorce in late October of 2011. We have a business together. I worked occasionally on the books but received no paychecks- I stayed at home with our children and spent monies from the business on household necessities. He has sent me a 1099 Misc for 20,000, under the title "nonemployee contributions". How should I handle this? Do i not report it on my tax returns? Should I contact him or the IRS?

“He has sent me a 1099 Misc for 20,000, under the title "nonemployee contributions". How should I handle this?”----->As yo can see, form 1099MISC is used when your husband paid $600 or more during the tax year in the course of his trade or business to an individual , a non-EE, a contractor or P/S or etc. As he is in business or self-employed, he may need to submit this report to both the IRS(he should send both a copy of 1099 and the Form 1096 summary summarizing income paid to you on 1099 to the IRS)and the person or business whom he paid.Any business that has paid you $600 or more as a non-employee must provide you with a 1099-MISC form by January 31st of the year following payment( I guess . Filing false 1099's is illegal. However, it is likely that you will be able to prove intention. You need to contact the payer to let him know that you do NOT need it; you are neither an independent contractor nor a sub-contractor for him. In general, asyou said, I guess you are not even an EE of the business(so you are NOT subject to salary so he can’t treat the monies you spent on house necessities as wages/salary /draw on W2 either). As long as your business, I guess, SMLLC, a joint venture, then your husband can treat you as an EE instead of a being a partner, then you can receive a W2, NOT a 1099MISC form.
“ Do i not report it on my tax returns? Should I contact him or the IRS?”-----> So, you NEED to contact him as soon as possible and explain the form 1099 is NOT for you. However, because the deadline for 1099-Misc report is over and there may be a cost attached to filing an amended form 1096 annual transmittal letter along with all the 1099-Misc reports, you might find that he might be reluctant to do this. He may suggest to you instead, that you file a Schedule C on line 1b and report these expenses as deductions against the total amount reported on the 1099-Misc on Sch C line 27 a ,other expenses. . In this manner the net profit from your Schedule C would be the same amount, zero, and you do NOThave to pay self employment tax on $20,000.There is nothing to worry in taking the 2nd option, and this is quite common. Perhaps, by reporting this income on your Sch C of 1040. Also, you need to contact your local IRS to explain the situation to the IRS(you are NOT subject to 1099MISC). Then IRS closely scrutinizes a relationship between the business and an alleged independent contractor to ensure the legal nature of the relationship. The IRS utilizes the Form 1099 for the preparation and filing of informational returns. So, you need to ALSO contact the IRS and advise that the 1099 that you received is not correct.