IRS Deadline: February 1, 2027

Tax Year 2026

Tax Year 2026 Information Return Changes

Tax year 2026 brings major information-return changes for businesses, accountants and payroll teams. The reporting threshold for certain payments increases from $600 to $2,000, subject to form-specific exceptions. New reporting fields apply to qualified tips and qualified overtime compensation on certain W‑2 and 1099 forms. The IRS FIRE system retires on November 19, 2026, and IRIS becomes the IRS intake system for affected information returns in filing season 2027.

The Short Version

Six things to know before you file a tax year 2026 return. Each is unpacked further down the page.

$600 became $2,000

Nonemployee compensation, rents and other income now need a form only at $2,000 or more. It applies to payments made after December 31, 2025, and the figure is indexed for inflation after 2026.

Tips and overtime got their own boxes

Cash tips, a Treasury Tipped Occupation Code and qualified overtime compensation are now reported separately on the 1099‑NEC, the 1099‑MISC and the W‑2, and the tip boxes appear on the 1099‑K.

The 1099-K went back to $20,000

The $600 marketplace rule was reversed retroactively. A third party settlement organisation reports when gross payments exceed $20,000 and transactions exceed 200 — both conditions, as before 2021.

FIRE closes for good

The IRS retires the FIRE system on November 19, 2026. From January 1, 2027 the Information Returns Intake System is the only way an information return reaches the IRS — originals, prior years and corrections.

Ten returns means e-file

Not ten of one kind — ten in total. Every 1099, 1098, W‑2 and the rest are counted together, so a small payer crosses the line more easily than they expect.

The deadline is February 1

January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so the 1099‑NEC and the W‑2 — both copies, recipient and agency — are due Monday February 1, 2027.

The New $2,000 Threshold

The $600 figure had stood since 1954. Public Law 119-21 replaced it for payments made after December 31, 2025.

Reporting thresholds, tax year 2025 compared with tax year 2026
Form Box What it reports TY 2025 TY 2026
1099-NEC Box 1a Nonemployee compensation $600 $2,000
1099-MISC Box 1 Rents $600 $2,000
1099-MISC Box 3 Other income $600 $2,000
1099-MISC Box 2 Royalties $10 $10 — unchanged
1099-MISC Box 7 Direct sales of $5,000 or more $5,000 $5,000 — unchanged
Either Any Any payment you applied backup withholding to Any amount Any amount — unchanged

A threshold is not a tax rule. It decides whether a form is required, not whether the money counts. A contractor paid $1,500 in 2026 still owes tax on $1,500 and you still deduct it as an expense — the only thing that changed is whether a return has to be filed about it. That last row matters too: if you withheld, you file, whatever the amount.

Watch the year you are filing for. The forms most payers file in January 2026 are tax year 2025 forms, and they still use $600. The $2,000 figure applies to money that moved during 2026, reported in early 2027. TaxFormHero asks for the tax year before it asks for anything else, and applies that year’s rules to the form you are on.

New Boxes for Tips and Overtime

The same law created deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime. The IRS needs those amounts reported on their own so a recipient can claim them, which is why the forms grew.

Boxes added for tax year 2026
Form Box What goes in it
1099-NEC Box 1b Cash tips — cash and charged tips alike New
1099-NEC Box 1c Treasury Tipped Occupation Code(s) New
1099-NEC Box 1d Qualified overtime compensation New
1099-MISC Box 13a Cash tips New
1099-MISC Box 13b Treasury Tipped Occupation Code(s) New
1099-MISC Box 14 Qualified overtime compensation New
1099-K Box 1c Cash tips New
1099-K Box 1d Treasury Tipped Occupation Code(s) New
W-2 Box 12 — TP Total cash tips reported to the employer New
W-2 Box 12 — TT Total qualified overtime compensation New
W-2 Box 12 — TA Employer contributions under a section 128 Trump account contribution program New
W-2 Box 14a / 14b Box 14 split in two: 14a keeps what used to sit in box 14, and 14b is the Treasury Tipped Occupation Code(s) New

A tipped occupation code is not optional decoration. Where you report tips, the code that identifies the occupation goes with them — it is how the deduction is matched to an occupation Treasury has listed as customarily and regularly tipped. An amount without its code is an incomplete box.

FIRE Closes. IRIS Is the Only Door.

The bigger change of the year is not on a form. It is how the form gets to the IRS.

Nov 9

2026

Last day to modify an existing Information Returns Application for Transmitter Control Code to add IRIS. This one is for transmitters, not for payers.

Nov 19

2026 · 3:00 p.m. ET

The last moment FIRE accepts an information return. After this the system stops taking filings.

Jan 1

2027

IRIS becomes the only intake system the IRS operates for information returns — current year, prior years and corrections alike.

What this means depends on who transmits

If you have been sending your own files to FIRE, this is a migration with a deadline: the Transmitter Control Code you hold for FIRE does not carry over by itself, and the application has to be modified before the November cut-off. Leave it until January and there is no system left to file through.

If you file through TaxFormHero, there is nothing for you to do. We transmit through IRIS under our own IRS authorisation, so the change of system is ours to carry. Your Submit Forms page, your Recipient Directory and your Tax Report work the way they did last season.

Getting your data out of a FIRE file

A file written for FIRE is still your data, and it does not stop being readable because the system that accepted it closed. Our free FIRE file converter opens one in your browser and gives you back two spreadsheets — your payers, and your recipients with their form data. Nothing is uploaded; the conversion happens on your own machine. No account, no charge.

What IRIS changes about corrections

Corrections follow the originals. From 2027 a correction to a prior-year return goes through IRIS as well, which is worth knowing if your habit has been to fix an old year the way you always did. In TaxFormHero a correction is filed from the same filing it corrects, so the route it takes is not something you have to think about.

Tax Year 2026 Deadlines

These are the dates for money that moved during 2026, filed in early 2027.

Filing and furnishing dates for tax year 2026 returns
Form To the recipient To the IRS on paper To the IRS electronically
1099-NEC Feb 1, 2027 Feb 1, 2027 Feb 1, 2027
W-2 Feb 1, 2027 Feb 1, 2027 to the Social Security Administration, paper or electronic
1099-MISC Feb 1, 2027 — or Feb 16, 2027 where only boxes 8 or 10 are used Mar 1, 2027 Mar 31, 2027
1099-K Feb 1, 2027 Mar 1, 2027 Mar 31, 2027
1098 series Feb 1, 2027 Mar 1, 2027 Mar 31, 2027
1099-B, 1099-S Feb 16, 2027 Mar 1, 2027 Mar 31, 2027

Why these are not the dates you remember. The statutory dates have not moved — January 31, February 15, February 28 and March 31 are where they always were. The calendar moved. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday and February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so each rolls to the next business day; February 15, 2027 is Washington’s Birthday, so it rolls to the 16th. A due date that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday is met on the next business day.

Ten Returns, and What Missing Costs

The e-file threshold catches more small payers than most expect, and the penalty for filing late is charged per return.

The ten-return rule is a total, not a per-form count

If you have to file ten or more information returns in a year, they must be filed electronically — and the ten is counted across every type together, not separately for each. Six 1099‑NECs and five W‑2s is eleven returns, and both sets have to be e-filed. It is the single most misread sentence in the general instructions, because the intuitive reading is “ten 1099s”.

TaxFormHero e-files everything it sends, so the rule is satisfied whatever your volume — including the volume that would otherwise have you posting paper.

Penalty per return for tax year 2026 returns, filed in 2027
How late Per return Annual maximum — under $5M receipts Annual maximum — over $5M receipts
Corrected within 30 days $60 $244,500 $698,500
Corrected after 30 days, by August 1 $130 $698,500 $2,095,500
After August 1, or never filed $340 $1,397,000 $4,191,500
Intentional disregard $690 No maximum

It is charged twice. These figures are the penalty for not filing a correct return with the IRS. A separate penalty of the same size applies for not furnishing a correct statement to the recipient, so a form that is both unfiled and unfurnished can be charged under both.

What This Changes Inside TaxFormHero

Mostly: nothing you have to do. Here is where each change already lives in the product.

The tax year drives the form

You choose payer, tax year and form type before anything else on Submit Forms. The boxes you are shown, and the thresholds behind them, are the ones for the year you picked — so a 2025 filing and a 2026 filing do not share a rule they should not share.

We already transmit through IRIS

The FIRE retirement is a transmitter’s problem, and we are the transmitter. No Transmitter Control Code to apply for, no application to modify before November, no change to how you file.

Check the name and TIN before you file

A mismatched name and taxpayer ID is the most common reason a return is penalised as incorrect. The TIN Matching Portal checks a payee against IRS records for $0.49 per payee, and a verified payee stays verified for three years.

Collect the W-9 first

The higher threshold does not change who you need details from — you still cannot file on a payee whose tax ID you never collected. The W‑9 Portal requests and stores a signed W‑9 for $0.69 per request, and fills the Recipient Directory from what comes back.

The recipient copy is a deadline too

February 1, 2027 is the recipient’s date as much as the IRS’s. E‑Delivery furnishes the copy electronically for $0.19 once the recipient has consented, and Print & Mail covers anyone who has not.

States have their own thresholds

A state is not bound by the federal $2,000 figure, and several require a filing the IRS would not. State Filing is $0.99 per form across 41+ states, added at checkout beside the federal filing.

Filing starts at $1.99 a form, with no subscription and no signup fee. Add-ons are chosen per form on the Submit Forms grid, so a payee who needs a TIN check and a mailed copy can have both while the one beside them has neither.

Common Questions

The ones we are asked most about tax year 2026.

Yes, for payments made after December 31, 2025. Public Law 119-21 raised the reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation and for most 1099-MISC boxes to $2,000, and the figure is indexed for inflation after 2026. Tax year 2025 forms, the ones filed in early 2026, still use $600.

Yes. The threshold decides whether a form has to be filed, not whether the income counts. Your contractor still reports what they earned, and you still deduct what you paid. All that changed is the paperwork trigger.

You can, and some payers prefer to. TaxFormHero does not stop you filing a form under $2,000 — the threshold is a floor for when a form is required, not a ceiling on when one is allowed.

Public Law 119-21 created deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime, and the IRS needs those amounts reported separately so a recipient can claim them. Cash tips, a Treasury Tipped Occupation Code and qualified overtime compensation now have boxes of their own on the 1099-NEC, the 1099-MISC and the W-2, and the 1099-K carries the two tip boxes.

A code from the Treasury list of occupations that customarily and regularly receive tips. It identifies which tipped occupation the reported tips belong to, and it goes in its own box next to the tip amount.

The $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold was reinstated retroactively, which puts the rule back where it stood before the American Rescue Plan Act. A third party settlement organisation reports when the gross amount exceeds $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200 — both, not either.

It closes. November 19, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern is the last time FIRE accepts an information return. From January 1, 2027, IRIS is the only intake system the IRS operates for information returns, for the current year, prior years and corrections alike.

No. TaxFormHero transmits through IRIS under its own IRS authorisation, so the change of system is ours to carry, not yours. You need your own Transmitter Control Code only if you transmit to the IRS yourself.

The recipient copy and the IRS copy of the 1099-NEC, and the W-2 to employees and the Social Security Administration, are all due February 1, 2027 — January 31 falls on a Sunday. Most other forms are due to the IRS by March 1, 2027 on paper or March 31, 2027 electronically.

Ten. The count is not per form type: 1099s, 1098s, W-2s and the rest are added together, so six 1099-NECs and five W-2s is eleven returns and e-filing is mandatory. TaxFormHero e-files everything, so the rule is met whatever your volume.

Where these figures come from

Every number on this page is taken from a primary IRS source. Rules change; if you are reading this well after it was written, check the source before you rely on it.

This page is general information about filing requirements, not tax advice. TaxFormHero is not a law or accounting firm. For how a rule applies to your own situation, speak to your tax adviser.

File tax year 2026 without relearning the rules

The thresholds, the new boxes and the route to the IRS are already built in. You choose the year and the form; we take care of what changed. From $1.99 per form, no subscription.

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