TIN ComplianceA resource from TIN Comply
🎮 Knowledge game · about 5 minutes

CSV Cleanup Crew

A vendor export lands on your desk and the IRIS Taxpayer Portal will reject it as it stands: map its columns to the IRS template headings, then hunt down the TINs, ZIPs, states and amounts the template guidelines refuse without touching the cells that were already fine. Three shifts, three forms, one clock, and a file size check at the end of each.

You will learn the IRS template formatting rules for an IRIS portal CSV upload, and the 250-form file limitPrivacy runs in your browser; scores stay on your device
CSV

CSV Cleanup Crew

The vendor export is a mess and the IRIS Taxpayer Portal will reject it. Map the columns to the IRS template, fix only the cells that break the rules, then size the upload. Three shifts: 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-INT. Every vendor, name and TIN is made up.

Arrows move between cells, 1 2 3 pick a fix, C runs the checker
Shift1/3
Score0
Clock0:00
Problems?
Xexport.xlsxinto

How to play

  1. Map. Pick a column from the vendor export, then the IRS template heading it belongs under (or drag it there). Columns the template has no place for go to "Leave out". Export headings that already match the template exactly are matched by name.
  2. Fix. Tap a cell in the sheet (or move with the arrow keys) and choose with 1 2 3. A right fix scores 100. A wrong fix, or leaving a bad cell as it is, costs 30. Changing a cell that was already fine is a false fix and costs 50.
  3. Run the checker (C) when the file looks clean. Clean rows score 40 each, anything left costs 60, and a fully clean file earns a speed bonus.
  4. File step. Size the upload: files per form type and tax year, the header row, and how many submits. Three shifts: Form 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC and 1099-INT.

The real rules behind the game

CSV Cleanup Crew runs on the same rules as the site's IRIS CSV upload checker, which holds the IRS Template Formatting Guidelines for the tax year 2025 templates. Every column name, required flag, length and character set in the game comes from that data, and every cell's verdict is computed with the checker's own tests. The tax year 2025 templates are the latest the IRS has published; it has not published tax year 2026 templates, and a template is tied to its tax year (see IRIS CSV templates).

Headings first

The IRIS Taxpayer Portal takes a CSV built on the IRS template for one form. Row 1 holds the column headings exactly as the IRS wrote them, such as "Recipient Taxpayer ID Number" and "Recipient ZIP/Postal Code". A heading the portal does not recognize rejects the file at upload, before any business rule runs, so a vendor export's own column names have to be moved under the template's headings. Data with no template column, such as a payee's email, stays out.

The cell rules the game tests

  • TINs with dashes. An EIN goes in as XX-XXXXXXX and an SSN, ITIN or ATIN as XXX-XX-XXXX; nine bare digits are only for TIN type UND. The TIN type must be one of the template's values (SSN, EIN and so on), not "Soc Sec" or "FEIN".
  • Spreadsheet damage. A column left as General drops leading zeros (an EIN that starts with 0, a ZIP like 02108) and turns long numbers into scientific notation (4.5E+08). The fix is the real value from the W-9 or the ledger, typed into a column set to Text.
  • ZIP and state. A domestic ZIP is exactly 5, 9 or 12 digits with no dash; the state is the two-letter code, not "Texas" or "Mass.".
  • Amounts. Digits with at most one decimal point and two decimals: no dollar sign, no thousands separators, no "USD".
  • Names and addresses. A business name line takes up to 40 characters of letters, digits, space, hyphen, pound, parentheses, ampersand and apostrophe; a person's first or last name up to 20 letters, spaces and hyphens; an address line up to 35 letters, digits, hyphens, slashes and spaces; a city only letters and spaces. So "Inc." loses its period, "O'Neill" its apostrophe, a comma or # in an address goes, and Winston-Salem becomes Winston Salem.
  • Required fields. Address, city, state and ZIP are required for every recipient. Name Type B needs the business name line; Name Type I needs both first and last name. A cell holding only a space is a problem, not an empty cell.

Changing a cell that already passed is a false fix in the game because it is one in real life: stripping the dashes from a good TIN or adding a period to a good name turns a clean row into a rejected one.

File size and submitting

IRS Publication 5717 sets the size: up to 250 forms per CSV file, header row not counted, and one form type and one tax year per file. A bigger file is split into parts, each with the header row; the IRIS CSV splitter does it without opening the file in Excel. After the upload the forms wait on the Unsubmitted Forms page, where you can submit up to 100 at a time. The IRIS portal walkthrough shows each screen.

What the game simplifies

The game shows only the recipient columns and Box 1; Form Type, Tax Year, the payer block and Recipient Country are treated as already filled in. It offers three choices per cell instead of free typing, uses only domestic addresses, and checks formatting only. Passing the checker does not mean the names and TINs match IRS records; that is what TIN Matching is for. The form pages list every template column: 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC and 1099-INT. All payees, payers and TINs in the game are made up.

Sources

More knowledge games

  • Inbox Zero: Notice Season: Sort W-9s, CP2100s, returned B-Notices and 972CG letters into the right bin before the IRS clocks run out.
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  • Penalty Drop: Drop late and wrong 1099s down a peg board, hit the $60 tier and call the right IRS rule to pay nothing.
  • Escape the Filing Room: Locked in the filing room on January 30: crack seven 1099 puzzles before the clock hits midnight.
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  • The 1042-S Slot Machine: Spin and nudge the reels to the right 1042-S codes: income, chapter 3 and 4 exemptions, recipient status.
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  • Deadline Dash: Filings fly in and the clock runs: tap each one's 2027 due date on the calendar before time is up.
  • Real or Fake TIN?: Swipe SSNs, ITINs and EINs as valid or impossible, name the TIN type, then decode IRS TIN matching codes.
  • Match Code Rush: Vendor records roll in: predict the IRS TIN Matching code, then fix the record before it turns into a B-Notice.
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  • Schema Surgeon: Operate on IRIS A2A transmissions: find the broken XML nodes, fix them, and get Accepted in ATS.
  • FIRE to IRIS: The Move: Sort FIRE-era filing habits into still true, changed or gone before the IRIS season starts.