How to play
- Click or tap anything in the room to look at it, or use the buttons under the picture (keys 1 to 8 do the same). Press N for your notebook and Esc to close a panel.
- Each puzzle rests on one real rule, and the clue you need is always somewhere in the room. Solving one often unlocks the next: a key, a padlock, a drawer.
- The clock runs from 4:00 PM to midnight. A wrong answer costs 10 minutes and a hint costs 20.
- Get the 1099-NEC file accepted in IRIS, piece together the four digit door code and open the door. Your score is the minutes you have left.
The real rules behind the game
Every answer in the room follows the rules on this site. Each puzzle comes in three versions, and every play deals a new mix.
The deadline in the story
Form 1099-NEC for 2026 payments is due by January 31, 2027, a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday, February 1 (Form 1099-NEC). A late 2026 return costs $60, $130 or $340, and $690 or more for intentional disregard (2026 figures).
The calendar: B-Notice business days
Publication 1281 gives you 15 business days from the CP2100 date or the date you received it, whichever is later, to mail a First B-Notice. Weekends and federal holidays (Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving) do not count; the Friday after Thanksgiving does. Backup withholding at 24% must begin within 30 business days of the CP2100 date for a payee who has not responded. See the CP2100 guide and the B-Notice deadline calculator.
The filing cabinet: a W-9 for a disregarded LLC
A disregarded single-member LLC owned by an individual completes Form W-9 as the owner: the owner on line 1, the LLC on line 2, the owner's classification, and only the owner's TIN in Part I, never the LLC's own EIN. See Form W-9.
The padlock: the IRS name control
The IRS matches up to four characters of a name. For a sole proprietor it is always the owner's last name, never the trade name. A hyphenated surname is read from its start (Okafor-Lindqvist: OKAF), prefixes and particles count (de la Vega: DELA), and a Spanish double surname uses the first surname (Herrera Campos: HERR). A corporation drops a leading “The” unless only one word follows. See the name control page.
The TIN log: numbers that cannot exist
An SSN never has area 000, 666 or 900 to 999, group 00 or serial 0000. An ITIN starts with 9 with fourth and fifth digits in 50 to 65, 70 to 88, 90 to 92 or 94 to 99 (89 and 93 are used for other IRS numbers). An EIN must start with an issued prefix; 07 and 96 never have been. Passing only means the number could exist. Try the TIN format checker.
The monitor: IRIS rejects and report errors
A Reject means the submission is not filed until you fix it and send it again; a report error means it was accepted with errors and counts as filed. SMF018 requires the issuer's business name and TIN to match IRS records, so send the legal name tied to the EIN, not a trade name. A payee name/TIN mismatch (SHAREDIRFORM014 or 015) is a report error you resolve with TIN matching and B-Notices. See the IRIS error code lookup.
The phone: which form and box
For 2026 payments, Form 1099-NEC and most 1099-MISC boxes start at $2,000. Rent goes in 1099-MISC box 1, royalties in box 2 (from $10), a prize not for services in box 3. Medical payments (box 6), gross proceeds paid to an attorney (box 10, from $600) and attorneys' fees (1099-NEC box 1a) are reported even to corporations; most other payments to a corporation are not. See Form 1099-MISC.
What the game simplifies. TINs on the W-9s are masked, the IRIS screen is a sketch, and every person and company is made up.
Sources
- Pub. 1281, Backup Withholding for Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(s)
- Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)
- Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9
- Pub. 1586, Reasonable Cause Regulations and Requirements for Missing and Incorrect Name/TINs (name controls)
- IRM 3.21.263, IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) ranges
- IRIS Schemas and Business Rules
- Form 1099-MISC
- Form 1099-NEC
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.
- Which Box?: A payment slides in, the clock runs: pick the right 1099 form and box before the timer bar empties.
- Name Control Detective: Crack the four-character IRS name control on 16 case files before the clock runs out.
- The Tip Shuffle: Deal tipped workers, then play the right occupation codes into the W-2 or 1099 box.
- Penalty Drop: Drop late and wrong 1099s down a peg board, hit the $60 tier and call the right IRS rule to pay nothing.
- Fifty-State Sort: Route each 1099 to CF/SF, a direct state filing or nothing at all, and fill in a map of 50 states and DC.
- Treaty Passport: A foreign payee's passport lands on your desk: stamp the right withholding rate, 30% or the treaty rate.
- The 1042-S Slot Machine: Spin and nudge the reels to the right 1042-S codes: income, chapter 3 and 4 exemptions, recipient status.
- Form Inspector: Run the W-8 desk: hand each foreign payee the right form, then approve or reject the forms that come back.
- 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.
- Reject Rescue: IRIS acknowledgments land one by one. Read the status and rule codes, then make the right next move.
- Get Your TCC: Roll the weeks and race the calendar from ID.me to an approved IRIS TCC before the 2027 due dates.
- CSV Cleanup Crew: Turn a messy vendor export into an upload-ready IRIS portal CSV: map the headings, fix the bad cells, split the file.
- 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.