What's changing
For years, payers and their accountants e-filed 1099s through FIRE by uploading one fixed-width text file in the IRS Publication 1220 format. FIRE closes on November 19, 2026. For the 2027 filing season (forms for tax year 2026), information returns are e-filed through IRIS, the IRS Information Returns Intake System.
The two ways into IRIS
- The IRIS Taxpayer Portal: a free IRS website where you type forms in one by one, or upload them in the IRS's own CSV template.
- IRIS A2A: for software that files directly. If your accounting or payroll software has been updated for IRIS, it does this for you.
Either way you need an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (TCC), which is separate from a FIRE TCC. You apply through IRS e-Services and it can take several weeks, so apply now.
If your software only exports a Publication 1220 file
That file was made for FIRE, and IRIS doesn't take it. Your options:
- Update the software if the vendor has added IRIS filing or an IRIS export.
- Type the forms into the IRIS Taxpayer Portal. Fine for a handful of forms.
- Use a filing service that accepts your data and files for you, usually for a fee per form.
- Convert the file. My FIRE to IRIS converter turns a Publication 1220 file into the IRIS Taxpayer Portal CSV upload files and checks it against its own totals. It runs in your browser, so the SSNs and TINs in your file are never uploaded anywhere. Checking and previewing is free; downloading the IRIS files is $49 per payer for the season.
Don't leave it to January
1099-NEC forms are due at the end of January. Get your IRIS TCC and pick your route in November or December, so January is just filing.