How to Send 1099 Forms to the IRS and Recipients

Sending a 1099 has two halves: getting Copy B to the person you paid, and getting Copy A to the IRS. For tax year 2025 forms filed in early 2026, the hardest deadline is January 31, 2026, which covers both the recipient copy and the IRS copy of Form 1099-NEC. Learning how to send 1099 forms to the IRS and to recipients comes down to five steps: collect a W-9, pick the right form, deliver Copy B, transmit Copy A through IRIS or on paper with Form 1096, and keep proof of what you sent.

Collect the W-9 First

Every 1099 starts with a W-9. Before you pay a contractor, vendor, or other non-employee, ask them to complete Form W-9 so you have their legal name, entity type, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN). The TIN is what lets the IRS match the income you report to the right tax return.¹ Skip this step and you are required to withhold 24 percent of every payment as backup withholding and send it to the IRS.²

Before filing season, run your payee list through the IRS TIN Matching Program in e-Services. The interactive version handles up to 25 lookups at a time with instant results; the bulk option takes up to 100,000 combinations and returns them within 24 hours.³ Catching a mismatch now prevents CP2100 notices and backup withholding headaches later.

Pick the Right Form

Most small filers use one of two forms:

Form 1099-NEC reports $600 or more in nonemployee compensation, including fees, commissions, and prizes paid to independent contractors, freelancers, and attorneys for services. The payment amount goes in Box 1.⁴
Form 1099-MISC covers other payment types: rent of $600 or more (Box 1), royalties of $10 or more (Box 2), and gross proceeds paid to an attorney in a settlement (Box 10), among others.⁵

One carve-out trips people up. Payments made by credit card, debit card, or through a third-party network such as PayPal or Venmo do not belong on a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. The payment processor reports those on Form 1099-K.⁴ If you paid a contractor $5,000 and $3,000 of it went through a payment app while $2,000 went by check, only the $2,000 check portion goes on the 1099-NEC.

2026 Filing Deadlines

Deadlines depend on the form and the delivery method:

Form 1099-NEC: recipient copy and IRS copy both due January 31, 2026, whether you file on paper or electronically. No automatic extension is available.⁴
Form 1099-MISC recipient copy: due January 31, 2026. Forms reporting substitute payments (Box 8) or gross proceeds paid to an attorney (Box 10) have a February 15 recipient deadline.
Form 1099-MISC IRS copy on paper: due March 2, 2026 (the statutory February 28 date falls on a Saturday).⁶
Form 1099-MISC IRS copy electronically: due March 31, 2026.⁴

If you need more time on a 1099-MISC, Form 8809 gives you an automatic 30-day extension. You can file it electronically through the FIRE system, and approval is instant when submitted by the original due date.⁷ The 1099-NEC does not get the automatic extension. You can request a nonautomatic 30-day extension for it, but the request must be on paper with a written justification and signature, and the IRS can deny it.

Delivering Copy B to the Recipient

You must furnish Copy B to every person whose income you report. How you deliver it matters.

Mailing a Paper Copy

Send the form by USPS to the address on the recipient’s W-9. The IRS recommends a sealed envelope clearly marked as containing an important tax document. Double-window envelopes work well because they display the addresses without exposing the TIN on the form. Certified mail isn’t required, but keeping proof of mailing is worth the effort if a recipient later says the form never arrived.

Sending It Electronically

You can deliver 1099s electronically, but only with the recipient’s affirmative consent, and that consent has specific requirements. Before the recipient agrees, you have to tell them that a paper copy is available if they decline, explain how to withdraw consent, describe the hardware and software needed to access the form, and state how long the electronic version will remain available.⁸ The consent itself must show the recipient can actually access the format. A secure online portal where recipients log in to download their forms usually satisfies this. If someone withdraws consent or never gives it, mail a paper copy.

Filing Copy A with the IRS Electronically

If you file 10 or more information returns of any kind during the calendar year, electronic filing is mandatory. That threshold counts all your information returns together: W-2s, 1099-NECs, 1099-MISCs, and every other type combined.⁹ So a business with five 1099-NECs and six W-2s has crossed the line and must e-file.

IRIS, the Information Returns Intake System, is the IRS’s primary electronic filing platform for 1099s. The Taxpayer Portal is free; you can enter data manually or upload a CSV file up to 100 returns at a time, and you can download payee copies from the portal for distribution.¹⁰ High-volume filers can use the IRIS Application-to-Application (A2A) channel for bulk XML uploads.¹¹ Either channel requires an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (TCC), which you apply for through an IRS e-Services account; each authorized user needs an ID.me account.¹²

The older FIRE system uses fixed-length ASCII text files following Publication 1220 and has its own separate TCC.¹³ The IRS has announced that FIRE will be retired after tax year 2026, so the 2027 filing season will run on IRIS only. Existing FIRE users should plan the transition now.

If e-filing would cause undue financial hardship, request a waiver on Form 8508. First-time requests are granted automatically. Repeat requests need written justification, typically two cost estimates showing paper filing is cheaper. Catastrophic events, lack of internet access, and religious objections to the required technology also qualify. Submit Form 8508 at least 45 days before the filing deadline.¹⁴

Filing on Paper

If you have fewer than 10 returns and don’t need a waiver, paper is an option. Two rules apply that don’t apply to e-filers. You must use official IRS-scannable forms; photocopies of Copy A trigger penalties. And you must include Form 1096 as a transmittal cover sheet.¹⁵

Prepare a separate Form 1096 for each type of 1099 you send. If you’re filing both 1099-NECs and 1099-MISCs, that’s two 1096s. Each one reports the number of forms in the batch and the total dollar amounts.¹⁶ Order official forms from the IRS well before filing season, since they can take a few weeks to arrive.

Where you mail depends on your business location. For 2026, the IRS uses three processing centers:

Austin, TX (P.O. Box 149213, Austin, TX 78714): for businesses in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. Businesses located outside the United States also use this address.
Kansas City, MO (P.O. Box 219256, Kansas City, MO 64121-9256): for businesses in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Ogden, UT (1973 North Rulon White Blvd., Ogden, UT 84201): for businesses in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.⁶

What Missing a Deadline Costs

Penalties apply per form to the IRS filing and per statement to the recipient delivery, so a single late 1099 can generate two penalties. The per-form amount scales with delay:

Up to 30 days late: $60 per form
31 days late through August 1: $130 per form
After August 1 or never filed: $340 per form
Intentional disregard: $680 per form with no annual cap¹⁷

Annual caps limit exposure for filers who aren’t acting intentionally, and small businesses with $5 million or less in gross receipts get lower maximums than larger firms.¹⁸ Two safety valves can help. A de minimis error safe harbor applies when a reported dollar amount is off by $100 or less, or $25 or less for tax withholding, in which case no penalty applies and no correction is required. And the IRS can waive penalties for reasonable cause when the failure was not due to willful neglect, though documentation requirements are strict.

Fixing Mistakes After You File

When you catch an error, the fix depends on what’s wrong.

Wrong Amount, Code, or Checkbox

Prepare a new form with the correct information and check the “CORRECTED” box at the top. Send the corrected Copy A to the IRS with a new Form 1096, and furnish a corrected copy to the recipient. Do not attach the original incorrect form.¹⁹

Wrong Name, TIN, or Form Type

This correction takes two filings. First, submit a form marked “CORRECTED” that mirrors the original but with all dollar amounts zeroed out, which voids the incorrect record. Then file a new form with the correct information and do not mark it corrected. On the accompanying Form 1096, write “Filed To Correct TIN,” “Filed To Correct Name,” or “Filed To Correct Return” in the bottom margin.¹⁹

Do not check the “VOID” box on a paper correction. VOID tells the IRS scanning equipment to skip the form entirely, so the correction never gets recorded.⁴ If you e-filed the originals, e-file the corrections through the same system.

CP2100 Notices and Recordkeeping

If the IRS finds a name/TIN mismatch or a missing or obviously wrong TIN, it sends a CP2100 or CP2100A notice listing the affected accounts. Compare the notice to your records. Where the discrepancy is real, begin backup withholding at 24 percent on future payments to that payee and send them the appropriate “B” notice requesting a corrected TIN.²⁰ Where the notice doesn’t match what you filed, the issue may be an IRS processing error, and you just update your records.

Keep 1099 records, W-9s, proof of mailing, and electronic filing confirmations for at least three years from the filing date, which is the standard assessment period.²¹

State Filing Is Separate

Filing with the IRS does not automatically satisfy state obligations. Many states require their own 1099 filings, with thresholds and deadlines that don’t always match federal rules. If you e-file through FIRE, you may be able to participate in the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Program, which forwards returns to participating states at no charge and can eliminate a separate state submission for forms including the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC. Some participating states still require a notification that you’re using the program.²² Check with your state tax department before filing season to confirm what applies to you.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9
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Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding
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Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Matching Tools
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information
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Internal Revenue Service. 2026 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. Requirements for Furnishing Form 1099-G Electronically
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eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6011-2
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Internal Revenue Service. E-file Information Returns with IRIS
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Internal Revenue Service. IRIS FAQs
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Internal Revenue Service. IRIS Application for TCC
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Internal Revenue Service. Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE)
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Internal Revenue Service. Application for a Waiver from Electronic Filing of Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 1096
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Penalties
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Internal Revenue Service. IRM 20.1.7 Information Return Penalties
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Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns
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Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP2100 or CP2100A Notice
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Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
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Internal Revenue Service. Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Program