Information returns in 2027: what is set, what is pending

Published and final

Penalties for returns filed in 2027

Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (October 2025) sets the IRC 6721IRC 6721Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII and 6722 amounts for returns required to be filed, and statements required to be furnished, in calendar year 2027. The per-return tiers are unchanged from 2026; intentional disregard and every annual maximum rose.

The same amounts apply separately under IRC 6722IRC 6722Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII for the payee statement. The 972CG estimator has a 2027 option with these figures. Small business means average annual gross receipts of $5 million or less for the three prior years.

The $2,000 threshold applies to 2026 payments

P.L. 119-21 raised the IRC 6041IRC 6041Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII and 6041A amounts from $600 to $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025, and tied backup withholding to the same figure (IRC 3406(b)(6))IRC 3406Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII. The 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC you file in January 2027 use $2,000. Royalties ($10), attorney gross proceeds ($600), 1099-S ($600), 1099-C ($600) and the $10 interest and dividend amounts are under other sections and did not change. The statute indexes the $2,000 for inflation for payments made after 2026, and the first indexed figure is $2,100 for payments made in 2027 (Rev. Proc. 2026-35, section 3.52), reported on the 1099s you file in early 2028. The 1099-NEC and backup withholding rules use the same section 6041(a) amount.

FIRE is retired; IRIS is the only intake system

Publication 1099 (2026) states that beginning with tax year 2026 (filing season 2027) IRIS is the only IRS intake system for information returns, that FIRE will not accept current-year, prior-year or corrected submissions once it shuts down at the end of 2026, and that references to FIRE and Pub. 1220 have been removed from the general instructions. A Transmitter Control Code for IRIS is separate from a FIRE TCC, and the IRS says the application typically takes 45 business days. The FIRE to IRIS page covers the migration; the IRIS portal takes CSV uploads of up to 250 records per file and submissions of up to 100 forms, and the A2A channel takes XML for volume filers. Forms 8027, 8596 and 8955-SSA, which were FIRE forms, move into IRIS for the 2027 season, and Forms 8809 and 15397 (the two extension requests) are filed inside it. For software and A2A filers, the tax year 2026 schema and business rules diff lists every rule and element that changed from the tax year 2025 package, the new schema version number and the fields for correcting FIRE-filed returns.

Three new forms

• Form 1098-VLI, Vehicle Loan Interest Statement. Created by IRC 6050AIRC 6050AInternal Revenue Code, Cornell LIIA for the 2025 to 2028 car-loan interest deduction. Lenders receiving $600 or more of interest on a specified passenger vehicle loan file it; 2025 was covered by transition relief (Notice 2025-57), so the 2026 forms filed in 2027 are the first mandatory filing. The December 2026 form and instructions are final.
• Form 1099-LPS, Long-Term Care Premiums Paid Statement. Filed by issuers of certified long-term care insurance, but only for a policyholder whose long-term care premium statement the issuer filed with a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan so the employee could take a qualified long-term care distribution (capped at $2,600 for 2026, indexed after that). Notice 2026-33 sets the rules, including a disclosure the issuer must file with the IRS before it can file premium statements with plans. Due to the IRS February 1 and to the recipient January 31 per the Pub 1099 chart. The IRS posted a revised draft of the form on October 2, 2026; the form and instructions are not final.
• Form 5498-TA, Trump Account Contribution Information. Draft form posted April 3, 2026 and draft instructions May 13, 2026, with six boxes: pilot program and qualified general contributions, qualified rollovers, IRC 128IRC 128Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII employer contributions, other contributions, basis, and December 31 value. Reports contributions (including the pilot-program deposit, qualified general contributions, rollovers and IRC 128IRC 128Internal Revenue Code, Cornell LII employer contributions), basis and fair market value for the new accounts created by P.L. 119-21, which accept contributions from July 4, 2026. Pub 1099 lists it as under development; the IRS has said it will be filed electronically only. Distributions from these accounts are flagged on Form 1099-R with new checkbox 7c, and rollovers into ABLE accounts appear in box 8 of Form 5498-QA.

New boxes on existing forms

For the tips and overtime deductions (tax years 2025 to 2028): Form 1099-NEC boxes 1b (cash tips), 1c (Treasury Tipped Occupation Code) and 1d (overtime compensation); Form 1099-MISC boxes 13a, 13b and 14, with nonqualified deferred compensation moving to box 15; Form 1099-K boxes 1c and 1d. Excess golden parachute payments move from the MISC to 1099-NEC box 3. Form 1099-G adds box 10 for state paid family leave benefits; Form 1099-S adds box 2c for digital assets used in a real estate exchange; Form 1099-R adds checkboxes 7b, 7c and 7d; Form 1099-Q adds box 4b for 529-to-Roth rollovers. Address fields on the 2026 revisions are split into separate entry boxes. Forms 1098-MA and 1099-H are retired.

Form 1099-DA: basis arrives

Brokers reported gross proceeds only for 2025 digital asset sales. For sales in 2026, filed in 2027, cost basis is required for covered digital assets acquired on or after January 1, 2026. Notice 2025-33 extended penalty relief and the backup-withholding transition for brokers making a good-faith effort through 2026; see the 1099-DA page.

The 2027 calendar

January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so the 1099-NEC (IRS and recipient) and every January 31 statement are due Monday, February 1, 2027. February 28, 2027 is also a Sunday, so paper returns are due Monday, March 1, 2027; electronic returns stay at Wednesday, March 31. February 15 and March 15 are Mondays. May 31, 2027 is Memorial Day, so the 5498 series is due Tuesday, June 1, 2027. The compliance calendar has every date with the shifts applied.

From the IRS drafts (October 2026)

What the forms and instructions posted at IRS.gov/DraftForms add, checked against the current final versions on October 7, 2026. Drafts can still change.

• Automatic penalty relief replaces First Time Abate for Form 945. The IRS's Automatic Exemption from Penalty program (IR-2026-83, July 8, 2026) applies to Forms 940, 941, 943, 944 and 945 for tax year 2025 onward: if the prior three years were filed and paid on time, failure-to-file, failure-to-pay and failure-to-deposit penalties are not assessed, with no request needed. The 2026 Instructions for Form 945 note one exception, a deposit penalty for not using EFT. AEP replaces FTA for returns originally due on or after January 1, 2027. Information returns are excluded, so a 972CG is still answered with reasonable cause only. See automatic penalty relief (AEP).
• Form 945 refunds go electronic. The 2026 Instructions for Form 945 say refunds will be issued by direct deposit when valid account details are given, and that balances due should be paid electronically under Executive Order 14247. The draft Form 945-X (Rev. February 2027) adds direct-deposit lines 5b to 5d for refunds claimed on a correction.
• Form 8809 (Rev. December 2026) adds separate checkboxes for the new Forms 1099-LPS and 5498-TA. Extensions for W-2 and 1099-NEC are still non-automatic, with no second 30 days.
• Form W-9 (Rev. June 2026) is still a draft. It adds a digital-asset-broker certification and exempt payee code 14; sole proprietors may still give an SSN or an EIN. See the W-9 page.
• Looking ahead to 2027 payments (filed in 2028). The draft 2027 Form 1042-S, re-posted October 6, 2026, splits income code 15: code 15 becomes pensions only, and new codes 62 (annuities), 63 (alimony), 64 (insurance premiums) and 65 (social security benefits) take the rest (the new income codes). The draft 2027 Form W-2 adds box 14c for the Saver’s Match destination number. Forms 1099-DIV and 1098 move to continuous-use December 2027 revisions. The 2026 forms are unaffected. The draft 2027 Instructions for Form 1042-S (dated Nov. 6, 2026) confirm the code 15 split, keep codes 59, 60 and 61 optional for 2027, and describe a Foreign Filer TCC System for foreign filers whose authorized users have no U.S. TIN: it "will allow for the electronic filing of Form 1042-S and other information returns through the International Data Exchange System (IDES)."

Announced but not yet final

• Inflation adjustments for 2027 (published). Rev. Proc. 2026-35 (released with IR-2026-133 on November 5, 2026) sets the section 6041(a) threshold at $2,100 for payments made in 2027, which also governs the 1099-NEC, backup withholding and the W-2G slot, bingo and keno thresholds. For returns due in 2028 the penalties are $70 / $140 / $360 per return and $720 for intentional disregard, with annual maximums of $721,000 / $2,163,500 / $4,327,500 ($252,000 / $721,000 / $1,442,500 for small businesses). None of it changes what you file in early 2027, which uses $2,000 and the Rev. Proc. 2025-32 penalties.
• Form 1099-LPS is final: the IRS posted the December 2026 form on October 16, 2026 and its instructions on October 21, 2026. Form 5498-TA is still a draft. For 5498-TA the Pub 1099 chart says "see form instructions", and the draft instructions give only the May 31 beneficiary statement date.
• State conformity to $2,000. States split three ways. Some tie filing to the federal requirement, so $2,000 carries over; California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island say so outright, and Oregon has said it will align. Some keep their own figure: Alabama $1,500, Arkansas $2,500, Missouri $1,200, New Jersey $1,000, Oklahoma $750, Montana, Mississippi and Wisconsin $600. Many want only 1099s that show state withholding. Several states have moved to IRIS file formats for tax year 2026 as FIRE retires, among them California, Illinois, North Carolina and Oregon. The 50-state table has the answer for each state, rechecked October 26, 2026.
• IRIS capacity and correction workflows. The IRS has said IRIS will accept corrections for prior years that were filed on FIRE, but the mechanics (Pubs 5717 and 5718 for the 2027 season) are revised each fall.
• The $2,000 threshold in the regulations. REG-113229-25 proposes to write the new threshold into the 6041, 6041A and backup withholding regulations, indexed after 2026, and to raise the W-2G bingo, keno and slot thresholds in 1.6041-10 to the same $2,000; proposed to apply to payments on or after January 1, 2026, final regulations pending.
• Electronic recipient statements. Notice 2026-4 asked (comments due May 23, 2026) whether the consent rules for furnishing payee statements electronically should change, first for brokers and then for every payee statement; REG-105064-25 is the broker-side proposal for 1099-DA statements.
• Saver's Match. Notice 2026-48 announces regulations under section 6433 and says the forms will be amended for separate reporting of Saver's Match contributions (the 2027 W-2 draft's box 14c code is the first sign).
• Opportunity zone reporting. REG-116506-25 (91 FR 57968, September 11, 2026; comments closed October 16, hearing November 5) would implement the new sections 6039K and 6039L: Form 8996 becomes a standalone annual information return that counts toward the 10-return e-file threshold, qualified opportunity funds furnish annual investor statements by March 1 (January 15 to brokers for street-name holders), opportunity zone businesses furnish compliance statements to their funds by February 1, and the 6722 payee-statement penalty reaches both new statements, with a separate section 6726 penalty for the Form 8996 itself. Every applicability date is tied to publication of the final regulations, so nothing changes for the 2027 season unless they are finalized first. Dispositions of fund interests continue to be reported on Form 1099-B (box 3) or 1099-DA.

What to watch for

Three IRS releases will settle the rest: the annual inflation revenue procedure (October or November 2026), the final Form 5498-TA with instructions (Form 1099-LPS was finalized in October 2026), and the 2027 revisions of Publications 5717 and 5718 for IRIS. The IRS posts drafts at IRS.gov/DraftForms before finalizing. This page and the figures page will be updated when each arrives; the form pages already reflect the December 2026 form revisions.

What to do before January

• Get an IRIS TCC now if you filed through FIRE or a FIRE-based vendor; the 45-business-day estimate puts a September application at mid-November.
• Re-run the vendor file against the $2,000 test for 2026 payments, but keep the W-9s for everyone; the threshold changes who gets a form, not who needs a TIN, and backup withholding still applies to any payee without one.
• Add the tips, TTOC and overtime fields to the NEC/MISC/K data feed if you pay tipped or hourly contractors and gig workers.
• If you are a lender, stand up 1098-VLI: VIN, assembly point, original use, per-loan $600 test, borrower name as the SSA holds it.
• Budget penalties at $340 / $690 with the higher 2027 maximums, and run the payee list through TIN matching before January so the CP2100 in the autumn of 2027 is short.