"Unofficial" 1099-MISC forms

[Patrick Woodard]

Hi,

I have a strange question.  I am trying to mail out my 1099MISC forms to contractors, but I can't seem to find an "official" IRS form.  Their website says that you have to order them from them.  My father has turbo tax, and he can print them, but all copies are black, no red one for the irs.  We use buildium, and for some reason, they will only let you efile, and charge to do it.  I would go ahead and do it, but a couple of the contractors refused to give their tax id numbers, and buildium won't let me put "refused" in the place for taxid.  

So my question is, is there any problem with just sending an "unofficial" one, seems kind of a dumb thing, but the irs.....  The irs claims that they can penalize you for not using the correct official forms.  How much?  I wish I had more time, but Monday 2/1 is that last day to mail them.  Anyone have any answers or ideas?

Thx.