Our business has insurance agents as independent contractors. Can 1099 earnings be paid in two categories? First as 1099 income to be reported in box 9, and keep it under the threshold of $5000. And the remainder of earnings to be reported in box 7?

Number 7 is how much your biz paid them and number 9 is that you sold more than $5k to a sale for commission. etc you would want to enter the amount you actually paid the contrctors in box 7 and also check box 9.The instructions for Form 1099-MISC indicate that checking box 9 isn't mutually exclusive with entering information in box 9. If ox 9 on a 1099-misc form is checked, then it means;that's informational only. If checked, $5K or more of sales of consumer products was paid to you on a buy-sell, deposit-commission, or other basis. A dollar amount does not have to be shown. Generally, you need to report any income from your sale of these products on Sch C ofForm 1040.