The Combined Federal/State Filing program in IRIS: consent, forms, states, and what it does not do

How CF/SF works in IRIS

"Through the CF/SF Program, the IRS electronically sends information returns (original and corrected) to participating states" (Pub 5718 section 9). Nothing about it is automatic. Three things have to line up for a return to be forwarded:

1. The filer's IRIS TCC application has CF/SF participation marked, with consent for the IRS to disclose the data to the states.
2. The return has the CF/SF box checked and the state or states selected. "If the CF/SF box is not selected and the state boxes are not checked, the file will not be forwarded to the state(s)" (Pub 5717 3.4).
3. The form is one of the eleven in the program.

A return reportable to more than one state is prorated between them: "If you made a payment to a recipient that's reportable to more than one state, you must prorate the amounts for each state" (Pub 5718 section 9). The portal's Report State Withholdings and Payments page takes up to two states per return; A2A takes as many as the schema's state group allows.

Consent on the TCC application

"If you want to participate in the IRS CF/SF Program, you must select the option and give consent for the IRS to disclose data to the participating states during the IRIS TCC Application process" (Pub 5717 2.2). The portal repeats the consequence on the Payments page: "If Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Program Participant is not marked on the IRIS Application for TCC, the file will not be forwarded to the state(s)." A firm transmitting for clients gives the consent on the firm's application, once, for all clients. If the box was missed, the Responsible Official revises the application; a role or consent change can require every RO to re-sign (Pub 5718 1.3.7). Software developers who claim CF/SF support must include a CF/SF submission in their ATS test (Pub 5719 section 6).

The eleven forms

CF/SF covers Form 1099-B, Form 1099-DIV, Form 1099-G, Form 1099-INT, Form 1099-K, Form 1099-MISC, Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-OID, Form 1099-PATR, Form 1099-R and Form 5498 (Pub 5718 section 9; Pub 5717 6.4). Nothing else in IRIS is forwarded: not 1099-S, 1099-DA, 1098, W-2G or 1042-S, and not the three forms new for 2026. A state copy of those, where the state wants one, is a direct filing.

Participating states for tax year 2026

The list below is the table in Publication 5717 (Rev. 9-2026), which matches Publication 5718's except for one state: the January 2026 edition of Pub 5718 lists Oregon, the September 2026 edition of Pub 5717 does not, and Oregon's Department of Revenue says it "was inadvertently added to the Combined Federal and State Filing Program" and is not participating. Treat Oregon as a direct-filing state. Each state's own rules decide whether CF/SF satisfies that state; the second column is the first line of what the state says, from the state pages.

Participation changes by calendar year: a state asks its IRS Government Liaison by January 1 to be added or removed for the following tax year (Pub 5718 section 9), so the list for tax year 2027 is set by January 1, 2027 and appears in the next editions of the publications.

What CF/SF does not do

• It does not file withholding with the state. The states that participate but require a direct filing when state tax was withheld are the common case; the state map is colored by exactly that distinction. CF/SF forwards the return; the withholding return and the state's reconciliation form are separate.
• It does not forward the forms outside the eleven.
• It does not reach a state that is not on the list, however the return is marked.
• It does not relieve the filer of state deadlines or thresholds that differ from the federal ones; a state may want a return the IRS does not.
• It does not tell you whether the state got it. The IRIS acknowledgment is the IRS's; the state's receipt is the state's.

CF/SF in a CSV and in XML

In the portal's CSV templates the election is the column "Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Check all states that apply," followed by the State 1 and State 2 blocks (state code, state tax withheld, payer state number, state income); the templates page and each form's column table show them. In the XML record the election and the state detail sit in the shared state group the form pages map, and the business rules that police them (state code must be valid, state amounts need a state) are on the rules index. A corrected return keeps its CF/SF marking so the correction is forwarded too.

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