FIRE is ending. IRIS is taking over. The forms may change systems, but the year-end questions remain.
Every January, a business owner asks, “Did we file the forms?”
The better question is, “Did we finish the reporting?”
Think of year-end reporting as a tree.
The trunk is the business’s records: who was paid, how much, for what, where, and whether you withheld tax. Get the trunk wrong, and every form growing from it is at risk.
The large branches are familiar:
- W‑2s report employee wages to the Social Security Administration.
- 1099s report different types of nonwage payments to the IRS.
- Form 941 reports wages and payroll taxes during the year.
Then the branches divide again. Which state needs a copy? Was state tax withheld? Is an annual reconciliation due? Does that state accept a form forwarded by the IRS?
Those questions determine whether the job is finished.
The FIRE-to-IRIS Change
For 2026 information returns filed in 2027, the IRS is retiring FIRE and moving electronic filing to IRIS. If you have filed through FIRE, you need to prepare for IRIS, including its separate transmitter control code.
IRIS supports the IRS’s Combined Federal/State Filing program, or CF/SF. For eligible forms, the IRS forwards filing information to participating states.
That sounds like an efficient way to finish the federal and state work in one step.
Sometimes it is. Connecticut shows why you have to check.
Connecticut participates in CF/SF. But its Department of Revenue Services says that only Forms 1099‑MISC, 1099‑NEC, and 1099‑R with no Connecticut withholding filed through the program satisfy its state filing requirement.
So “Connecticut participates” is true. “Every 1099 filed through IRIS takes care of Connecticut” is false.
A business owner will not find that distinction on an IRS filing confirmation. As tax professionals, we need to find it before we call the job done.
Start with Company and People’s Names and Amounts
For 2026, the federal threshold on Form 1099‑NEC moves to $2,000.
Before you celebrate, remember that $2,000 is a federal threshold, not a universal state rule. Check the state requirement for the payment and form involved.
A higher threshold doesn’t make your records any less important, and the fines don’t care whether it was $601 or $2,000 if you should have filed in a state. You still need to know who received each payment, what it was for, which state is involved, and whether you withheld tax. You also need the recipient’s correct legal name and taxpayer identification number.
Collect W-9s while you can still reach the vendor. Resolve missing or questionable information before the filing deadline arrives. Eligible filers can use the IRS’s TIN Matching service; Tax-Aid Filing also offers TIN matching to check name and TIN combinations before filing.
A filing system can confirm that a form was submitted. It can’t correct an incorrect name or TIN.
Before the Snow Flies
The move to IRIS brings another year-end job: check your filing access. FIRE users need an IRIS transmitter control code. Confirm who is authorized to file, who can complete the required identity verification, and who will review accepted and rejected submissions.
Business owners: Give your tax professional complete payment records, W‑9s, payroll reports, and details of federal and state withholding before January.
Tax professionals: Reconcile the records, check names and TINs, confirm filing access, and follow each form through its federal and state requirements.
We are building a state-by-state guide to help with those last questions, starting with where CF/SF applies and where a direct state filing is still required.
Get the trunk right. Then follow every branch to the end.
There is still time before the snow flies.
