FIRE to IRIS: The Move

FIRE closes for good, and every habit your team built on it has to be packed: does it move to IRIS as is, change shape, or stay behind? Sort 17 cards against the clock, build a streak, and survive the double-points speed round.

You will learn what carries over from FIRE to IRIS: the TCC, test files, corrections, extensions, CF/SF and the file formatPrivacy runs in your browser; scores stay on your device

How to play

Press Start the move. Each card is a habit or fact from the FIRE days.
Sort it: Still true in IRIS (it carries over as is), Changed (it still exists, done a new way) or Gone (it does not exist in IRIS). Tap a box, or press 1, 2 or 3.
Read the one-line explanation, then press Next card (or Enter). The card drops into the right box.
Answer fast for a time bonus. Three right in a row multiplies your points by 1.5, five by 2 and eight by 3.
The last five cards are the speed round: 6 seconds a card, double points.

The real rules behind the game

FIRE to IRIS: The Move drills the change every electronic 1099 filer faces this season. The IRS is retiring FIRE (Filing Information Returns Electronically), the system it has used for information returns since the 1990s. FIRE stops accepting returns on November 19, 2026 at 3 p.m. ET, including late and corrected returns for prior years, and tax year 2026 returns filed in 2027 go through IRIS, the Information Returns Intake System. Every card's answer is stated on one of this site's IRIS pages, and the game checks each explanation against that page when the site is built.

What stays the same

The rules behind the returns do not change: thresholds, due dates, penalty tiers and TIN rules are the same. Filers with 10 or more information returns in total must still e-file, and paper remains allowed below that. Form W-2 still goes to the Social Security Administration. If a payroll provider or filing service transmits for you under its own TCC, you need no TCC of your own. A rejected file replaced within 60 days keeps its original filing date. IRS TIN Matching is a separate e-Services application and keeps working. See the FIRE to IRIS guide.

What changes

The TCC. A FIRE Transmitter Control Code does not carry over. Anyone who transmits their own returns needs an IRIS TCC, which is bound to one filing method (the Taxpayer Portal or A2A). The application still needs Responsible Officials and Contacts, and changes to it must be made within 30 days. An IRIS TCC works as soon as it is assigned, and one left unused for three consecutive years is deleted. The TCC lifecycle guide has the detail.

The file. Publication 1220's fixed-length T, A, B, C, K and F records give way to nested XML for A2A or the IRS CSV templates in the portal. Amounts get their own named elements instead of amount codes, and are written as decimals rather than cents. The Pub 1220 to IRIS crosswalk maps every position and lists what does not carry over.

Testing and results. The portal has no test environment and accepts only live data; A2A software tests in the Assurance Testing System. IRIS validates each return when it is submitted and reports accepted, accepted with errors, or rejected. FIRE's 10-day hold on Good files does not exist in IRIS.

Corrections. IRIS has no two-step G and C correction. One corrected record points to the original, and a return first filed through FIRE is corrected in IRIS with fields that name FIRE as the original system (see what changed for tax year 2026).

Extensions. The automatic 30-day Form 8809 request is made inside IRIS, in the portal between January 1 and March 31 or through A2A. The 1099-NEC and W-2 extension, the second 30 days and the Form 8508 waiver stay on paper, and Form 15397 is faxed. See extensions in IRIS.

CF/SF. The Combined Federal/State Filing program continues. Consent is given once on the IRIS TCC application, and each return carries the CF/SF box and its states instead of K records. Oregon is off the tax year 2026 list. See CF/SF in IRIS.

The game simplifies on purpose: one line per card cannot carry every exception. Before you file, read the linked pages and the IRIS filing hub.

Sources

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