Nobody has ever wrapped up year-end and wished they’d started later. This season gives you a few extra reasons to start now, and everything from the session is here to help you do it.
Watch the full session
Key dates for the 2026 year-end season
| Date | What happens | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2026 | Last day to file through FIRE | 1099, 1098, 1042-S, and W-2G filers |
| Jan 1, 2027 | IRIS becomes the only IRS system for current-year returns, prior-year returns, and corrections | 1099, 1098, 1042-S, and W-2G filers |
| Jan 15, 2027 | Greenshades print and mail: order by this date to skip all surcharges | Print and mail customers |
| Jan 23, 2027 | Greenshades print and mail: order by this date for on-time delivery and to avoid Peak+ pricing | Print and mail customers |
| Feb 1, 2027 | W-2s and 1099-NECs due (January 31 falls on a Sunday) | All employers and contractor payers |
| Feb 28, 2027 | Greenshades final price increase for late filings | Greenshades customers |
| Mar 1, 2027 | IRS paper filing deadline for other 1099s | Paper filers |
| Mar 31, 2027 | IRS e-file deadline for other 1099s | E-filers |
The March dates are IRS filing deadlines. Recipient copies of most 1099s are due by February 1, 2027.
Featured resource
The 2027 HR & Tax Compliance Calendar
Every 2027 payroll and tax deadline in one place, with holidays and monthly tips for staying ahead.
Get the CalendarWhat’s changed for 2026 year-end forms
FIRE retires and IRIS takes over
The IRS is retiring FIRE, the system used to e-file 1099s, 1098s, 1042-S, and W-2G forms. The last day to file through FIRE is November 19, 2026. From January 1, 2027, IRIS is the only way to e-file these forms, including current-year returns, prior-year returns, and corrections. W-2 filing isn’t affected.
If you file with Greenshades
There’s nothing to apply for. Greenshades is authorized to transmit through IRIS and files under its own credentials, so you don’t need your own TCC.
If you file on your own
Your FIRE code doesn’t carry over. IRIS requires its own Transmitter Control Code (TCC), and the IRS says to allow up to 45 days for approval. Some IRS guidance says 45 business days, which is closer to nine weeks. Apply at IRS.gov/iristcc.
If you plan to file on your own, applying is an October job, not January.
Kieran O'Connor
Director, Managed Services, Greenshades
New reporting for tips and overtime
Tips and overtime are still subject to withholding and FICA, but for 2026 employers report them separately so employees can claim the new deductions on their individual returns.
What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed
Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025. Three of its provisions reach year-end reporting:
- Qualified tips deduction. Up to $25,000 of qualified tips for tax years 2025 through 2028. Qualified tips are cash tips, including tips customers leave on a card, in occupations on the Treasury’s list. Mandatory service charges don’t count.
- Qualified overtime deduction. Up to $12,500 of overtime premium ($25,000 married filing jointly) for tax years 2025 through 2028. Only the premium counts: an employee paid $20 an hour who works 10 overtime hours at $30 an hour has a $100 premium, not $300.
- Trump accounts. Starting July 4, 2026, employers can contribute up to $2,500 a year to a Trump account for an employee or an employee’s dependent. Contributions paid under a qualified program can be excluded from the employee’s income.
Where tips and overtime go on each form
| What you report | W-2 | 1099-NEC | 1099-MISC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash tips | Box 12, code TP | Box 1b | Box 13a |
| Tipped occupation code | Box 14b | Box 1c | Box 13b |
| Overtime premium | Box 12, code TT | Box 1d | Box 14 |
W-2 Box 14 splits in two this year: Box 14a is the existing catch-all, and Box 14b holds the Treasury Tipped Occupation Code. The W-2 also adds Box 12, code TA, for employer contributions to Trump accounts. The 1099-K gets new fields too.
No penalty relief for 2026
The IRS gave employers penalty relief in 2025 for amounts not reported separately. That relief has ended, and separate reporting is mandatory for 2026. Some states, including Alaska, California, Colorado, and Nevada, require overtime beyond what the FLSA does. Only FLSA-required overtime counts toward the federal deduction, so overtime paid only because of a state rule doesn’t.
The 1099 threshold rises to $2,000
For payments made in 2026, the federal reporting threshold for the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC rises to $2,000, up from $600. A contractor paid $1,900 in 2026 is generally below the line.
What isn’t changing
- Royalties reported on the 1099-MISC stay at $10.
- Attorney gross proceeds stay at $600.
- The 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and 1099-R keep their existing thresholds.
- State requirements can differ. A contractor below the federal threshold may still need a 1099 in their state, which may set a lower threshold or none at all.
How Greenshades handles the threshold
Greenshades doesn’t apply the threshold to your data. It creates and files a form for every payee record you send, whether that payment is above or below $2,000, so the records in your import file determine which 1099s Greenshades files.
Retirement codes and Box 13
This isn’t new for 2026, but it’s where the IRS keeps finding errors. Retirement plan reporting lives in two places on the W-2, and both have to be right.
- Box 12 uses letter codes with dollar amounts: D for 401(k), E for 403(b), G for 457(b), S for SIMPLE, and the Roth codes AA, BB, and EE.
- Box 13 is the retirement plan checkbox. It’s checked when the employee was an active participant in a plan such as a 401(k), 403(b), SEP, or SIMPLE for any part of the year. It isn’t checked for nonqualified plans or a 457(b) alone.
Errors the IRS has found
- 403(b) or 457 amounts reported under code D
- Code E used when there’s no 403(b) plan
- Code H used for health benefits, when code H is for a specific tax-exempt organization plan
- Box 13 checked or left blank incorrectly, which matters because a checked box can limit an employee’s traditional IRA deduction
Other form updates for 2026
- 1099-NEC: Excess golden parachute payments move from the 1099-MISC to 1099-NEC Box 3.
- W-2: Employee contributions to state paid family and medical leave programs, including any the employer pays on the employee’s behalf, are included in wages. Required employer contributions aren’t.
- W-2G: The general reporting threshold moves to $2,000, and the amount varies by type of gambling.
- 1099-K: The $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold is back for third-party networks.
- 1099-R: Box 7 splits into Boxes 7a through 7d, including a new checkbox for Trump account distributions, and Box 8 becomes 8a and 8b.
Four things to do now to get ahead
Each month of year-end has its own job. October’s is getting ahead.
Your season, month by month
| Month | Focus | What’s on the list |
|---|---|---|
| October | Get ahead | Clean up your data, double-check your codes, get ready for new reporting, line up your filing process |
| November | New reporting | November 12 session on boxes and codes; FIRE closes November 19 |
| December | The numbers | December 10 session on filing and IRIS; reconcile 941s; confirm year-end pay dates |
| January | The finish line | Order print and mail, send your data, forms due |
Wages are reported for the year they’re paid, so a late-December check date determines which year those wages land in.
Move 1: Clean up your data
We know that this is not glamorous, but it does cause most of the late-season pain, because a mistake here travels through every single step that follows.
Bryan Lieber
Director of Product Marketing, Greenshades
- Verify TINs and SSNs. The Social Security Administration offers a free service to verify employee names and SSNs, and the IRS offers free TIN Matching for contractors and vendors. Flag blanks and mismatches now, while there’s time to fix them.
- Collect missing W-9s. Vendors respond faster now than in January, when they’re working through their own year-end.
- Reconcile your totals. Compare year-to-date payroll with the 941s filed through the third quarter, and compare the vendors you’ve paid this year with the vendors you expect to send a 1099.
Move 2: Double-check your codes
- Pull a sample of W-2s and match each code to the setup behind it. Greenshades Payroll clients can use the W-2 annual summary report.
- Review Box 12 codes. Each letter code has to match what the amount reports, from retirement codes to W for HSA contributions. Code DD, the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage, is informational and doesn’t make coverage taxable.
- Check Box 13. The retirement plan checkbox should line up with your Box 12 retirement codes.
- Check Box 14b. Each employee with tips needs a Treasury Tipped Occupation Code (TTOC). The IRS list gives each qualifying occupation a three-digit numeric code. You can report up to two codes per employee, and tips from an occupation that isn’t on the list use 000.
Something look off? Fixing a payroll setup now is an adjustment. Fixing it after forms go out is a correction.
Move 3: Get ready for new reporting
- Find out who this affects. Identify which employees receive tips and who is eligible for overtime, and check how each state you file in defines overtime.
- Assign a TTOC to every tipped position. Occupation codes are published at IRS.gov/TTOC.
- Greenshades Payroll clients: List every position that pays tips. Greenshades will let you know when the tipped occupation field is available in the positions table, and it needs to be filled in before W-2s are generated.
- Clients who upload data: Calculate the overtime premium and cash tips yourself and include them in your upload. Each has its own field on the 2026 template.
- Use the 2026 templates, never last year’s. The IRS changes the forms every year, and an old template can produce a return that doesn’t hold up. The 2026 templates aren’t released yet, and Greenshades will notify customers the moment they’re ready.
- Prep for e-filing. Filing 10 or more returns in total, across all form types, requires e-filing. Make sure your company record is complete: the Social Security Administration requires the employer’s name, delivery address, contact name, phone number, and email address on electronic W-2 submissions, and returns missing them will be returned.
Move 4: Line up your filing process
This move applies only if you file 1099s, 1098s, 1042-S, or W-2G forms. W-2-only filers can skip it.
- File with Greenshades: Nothing to apply for.
- File on your own: Apply for an IRIS TCC at IRS.gov/iristcc now, and allow up to 45 days.
Filing year-end forms with Greenshades
Greenshades files federal year-end forms under its own credentials and builds your state and most local returns for you to download and file.
Forms Greenshades supports
| Category | Forms |
|---|---|
| W-2 and wage statements | W-2, W-2c, W-2GU, W-2PR |
| The 1099 series | 1099-NEC, MISC, DIV, INT, B, C, K, PATR, R, S |
| 1098 returns | 1098, 1098-C, 1098-T |
| ACA | 1094-C and 1095-C, 1095-B |
| Foreign-person withholding and gambling | 1042, 1042-S, W-2G |
| Canadian slips | T4, T4A |
State and local returns
Greenshades builds your state and most local returns, and you download them to file directly with the state or locality. You only pay for the returns you download. Most states participate in the Combined Federal/State Filing Program, which means the IRS passes select 1099 information to them. Not every state participates and not every form is included, so check with each state you file in.
How filing with Greenshades works
- Get your data to Greenshades. Returning customers use the year-end forms portal. The Excel template works with every ERP. Dynamics GP users have a sync portal for 1099s and connectors for W-2s and 1095s, and an account manager or the sales team can walk you through setup.
- Greenshades files and delivers your forms. Returns are filed under Greenshades’ credentials, and forms can be printed and mailed or delivered electronically to recipients.
- Your records are kept for seven years.
Tip: Talk to sales before you file for an estimate of your total cost and a walkthrough of the process.
Print and mail deadlines
If you’re mailing forms, the date that matters isn’t the IRS date, it is ours.
Kieran O'Connor
Director, Managed Services, Greenshades
Print and mail demand spikes as deadlines approach, and prices step up after each date below.
| Order by | What it gets you |
|---|---|
| January 15, 2027 | No surcharges and the best season rates |
| January 23, 2027 | On-time delivery and no Peak+ pricing |
| After January 23, 2027 | Additional charges apply, with a final price increase on February 28 |
USPS delivery times vary, so send your print and mail data as early as you can.
Year-end forms pricing for tax year 2026
| Fee | Price |
|---|---|
| Upload fee | $1.45 per form |
| Filing fee | $415 per federal, state, or local return |
Delivery options:
- Distribute yourself: Included for all forms.
- Distribute electronically: Available for W-2, W-2PR, and 1095 forms.
- Print and mail: Available for all forms and priced separately, based on the number of forms and when you order.
FAQ
Questions from the session
Yes. The IRS added several boxes this year, so 2026 filings need the new 2026 templates. Greenshades will notify customers as soon as the templates are available.
It depends on your provider, and whether it files under its own credentials or yours. Check with them directly. If Greenshades files your 1099s, you don’t need your own TCC.
Greenshades is updating its templates for the new boxes the IRS recently confirmed. Once they’re ready, Greenshades will notify customers and share a timeline for when the system can accept data.
Yes. The year-end forms portal can send TINs and SSNs to the Social Security Administration or the IRS for validation, so you can catch mismatches before you file.
Yes. Having a TCC doesn’t mean you have to use it. Greenshades still files under its own credentials, and your TCC stays available as a backup in case of a delay or rejection. Approval can take up to about nine weeks, so apply as early as you can.
Greenshades creates and files a form for every record in your import file and doesn’t filter anything out based on the threshold, so which payees get a 1099 is your call. For reference, the federal threshold for 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC payments made in 2026 is $2,000, attorney gross proceeds stay at $600, and some states set lower thresholds or none at all.
Have a question that wasn’t covered here? Bring it to the January Ask the Greenshades experts session, or talk to the Greenshades team.
What’s next & resources
| Date | Session |
|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2026 | New boxes, codes, and year-end form updates: a box-by-box walkthrough with Laura Detsch, Compliance Manager |
| Dec 10, 2026 | Year-end filing essentials: filing and delivery, including IRIS |
| January 2027 | Ask the Greenshades experts: live Q&A on corrections, W-2c, and 941 reconciliation |
- Compliance Corner issue 7: the full list of 2026 form changes
- IRS Tipped Occupation Codes: the Treasury list of qualifying occupations and codes
- IRIS TCC application: for employers filing their own 1099s
- Talk to sales: an estimate of your year-end filing costs
Note: This information is for informational purposes only and does not constitute formal tax, legal, or compliance advice. Always consult with qualified tax advisors, legal counsel, and your organization’s internal teams for guidance specific to your situation. Additional regulations may apply. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, refer to official government resources and regulatory agencies.
