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1099-NEC and 1099-MISC Filing-Readiness Audit

Find out which of your vendors need a 1099 for 2026, and what would stop a clean filing, before January. Send your vendor list with the year's totals. You get back, payee by payee, the forms and boxes required under the new $2,000 threshold, and every missing TIN, W-9 or address, every TIN that cannot be right, and every payee owed backup withholding.

Why it matters this year

  • The threshold moved. For payments made after 2025, nonemployee compensation, rents, other income and medical payments are reported at $2,000 or more, not $600. Last year's vendor list overstates who needs a form.
  • FIRE is gone. From tax year 2026, IRIS is the only intake system for information returns. Anyone who e-filed through FIRE moves to IRIS this season.
  • The deadline is early. 1099-NEC is due to the IRS and to recipients by February 1, 2027. A missing W-9 found in late January is hard to fix in time.
  • Ten returns means e-file. At 10 or more information returns for the year, counting every type together, you must file electronically.

Sources: IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. December 2026) and Publication 1099 (2026), linked at the bottom of this page.

Audit a payee listDownload the CSV template

A readiness check, not a filing. It checks the list you enter against the published IRS rules. A PASS is not tax advice and not IRS acceptance, and the returns remain yours to file.

Try it now

Paste up to 25 payees and run it free. A full list, or a workbook, runs as a paid audit at $25.00 from your credit.

Free demo, no account: pasted CSV, up to 25 payees, 10 runs a day. For full validations from this form, sign in and buy credits: $25.00 per completed report, packs from $25.

Use payee_name, tin, entity_type (from the W-9), w9_on_file, the address columns, and the amounts paid for the year: nec, attorney_fees, rents, royalties, other_income, medical, attorney_proceeds, direct_sales, federal_withheld, card_payments. Download the template.

Processed in memory and not stored. Reports never repeat a name, TIN or address: they name rows by line number, and the references in the table are joined in your browser.

Sample report
Invented payees with planted problems
FAIL
Forms to file for tax year 20265 NEC, 1 MISC6 of 6 payees need a 1099 for tax year 2026. 5 payees have problems to fix before you file.
6 payees6 need a 10995 with errorsE-file not required
  • Feb 1, 2027 1099-NEC to the IRS and to recipients (90 days left)
  • Feb 1, 2027 1099-MISC statements to recipients (90 days left)
  • Mar 31, 2027 1099-MISC to the IRS, electronically (148 days left)
PayeeForms and boxes
V-201 (line 2)1099-NEC: Box 1a $6,200.00
V-202 (line 3)1099-NEC: Box 1a $8,000.00
V-205 (line 6)1099-NEC: Box 1a $2,400.00
V-206 (line 7)1099-MISC: Box 1 rents $30,000.00
V-207 (line 8)1099-NEC: Box 1a $500.00, Box 4 withheld $120.00
V-203 (line 4) and 51099-NEC: Box 1a $5,500.00
SeverityRuleWho and what
ErrorF1099-TIN-MISSINGV-201 (line 2)
A 1099 is required but there is no TIN. Get a Form W-9 before you file. Without a TIN, backup withholding applies to the payments.
ErrorF1099-W9-MISSINGV-201 (line 2)
There is no Form W-9 on file for a payee who needs a 1099. Request one now: the W-9 gives the legal name, TIN and tax classification that go on the form.
WarningF1099-BACKUP-WITHHOLDINGV-201 (line 2)
This payee gave no usable TIN, so 24 percent of the reportable payments should have been withheld as backup withholding. Less was withheld. The payer is liable for backup withholding it should have collected; collect the W-9 before the next payment.
ErrorF1099-TIN-EIN-PREFIXV-202 (line 3)
The TIN is marked as an EIN, but its first two digits are not a prefix the IRS assigns to EINs. It is probably mistyped, or it is an SSN.
WarningF1099-DUPLICATE-PAYEEV-203 (line 4)
Lines 4, 5 are the same payee. Their amounts were added together, because the thresholds apply to the total paid to a payee for the year.
WarningF1099-ENTITY-UNKNOWNV-203 (line 4)
No entity type, so this payee was treated as reportable. If the W-9 shows a corporation, most of these payments need no 1099. Add entity_type from the W-9.
ErrorF1099-TIN-SSN-NEVER-ISSUEDV-205 (line 6)
The TIN is marked as an SSN, but the SSA never issues numbers with this structure (area 000, 666 or 900 to 999, group 00 or serial 0000).
ErrorF1099-ZIPV-205 (line 6)
The ZIP code is not 5 digits or ZIP+4. Spreadsheets often drop a leading zero: format the column as text.
ErrorF1099-ADDRESS-MISSINGV-206 (line 7)
The address is incomplete: address1 is blank. The recipient statement must be mailed or delivered to the payee, and the form needs the full address.
ErrorF1099-TIN-SHAPEV-207 (line 8)
The TIN is not 9 digits. SSNs, ITINs and ATINs are written XXX-XX-XXXX and EINs XX-XXXXXXX.
ErrorF1099-W9-MISSINGV-207 (line 8)
There is no Form W-9 on file for a payee who needs a 1099. Request one now: the W-9 gives the legal name, TIN and tax classification that go on the form.

6 information returns counted (6 from this list). At 10 or more, counting all types together, you must file electronically. IRIS (Information Returns Intake System). FIRE takes no tax year 2026 returns.

What it checks

  • Who needs a form. Each payee's totals against the 2026 thresholds: $2,000 for 1099-NEC box 1a and 1099-MISC rents, other income and medical payments, $10 for royalties, $600 for attorney proceeds, $5,000 for direct sales.
  • Who is left off. Corporations (with the attorney and medical exceptions), tax-exempt organizations, government units, foreign persons, and card or PayPal payments.
  • Payees listed twice. Rows with one TIN are added together before any threshold, and flagged when their names differ.
  • TINs. Missing, malformed, placeholder, never-issued SSN structures, ITIN and ATIN ranges, EIN prefixes, and a corporation or partnership with an individual's number.
  • W-9s and addresses. No W-9 on file for a payee who needs a form, incomplete addresses, bad state codes, ZIP codes that lost a leading zero.
  • Backup withholding. 24 percent due where there was no usable TIN, compared with what was withheld.
  • Filing. The form counts, the e-file mandate, IRIS CSV uploads needed, and every due date with the days left.

Who it's for

  • Small business owners and bookkeepers: clean up the vendor list in November and December, while W-9s are still easy to collect.
  • Accountants and tax preparers: run every client's list the same way before 1099 season, from the form or a script.
  • Former FIRE filers: know exactly which forms you are moving to IRIS this year.

Not checked

  • Whether a payment is really for services, rent and so on, and whether a payee is really an employee.
  • Whether a TIN matches the name on IRS records. Use IRS TIN Matching for that.
  • The boxes new for 2026 for cash tips, tipped occupation codes and qualified overtime, and the rarer 1099-MISC boxes.
  • State filing and withholding requirements.

Input and output

  1. Send

    CSV, an .xlsx workbook, or JSON with parameters and payeesCsv. One row per payee with payee_name and at least one amount column, plus tin, entity_type, w9_on_file and the address. Up to 5,000 rows and 4.4 MB.

  2. Check

    Every rule on this page, in exact decimal arithmetic. No network calls, nothing stored.

  3. Report

    JSON with payees (lines, entity, forms and box amounts, or why no form), filing (form counts, e-file rule, due dates) and findings (severity, ruleId, line, message, source).

Every column, parameter and rule ID is in the API docs.

Pricing

$25.00 per completed audit. One payer's list for the year, every payee, one full report.

  • Billed when a report is produced, PASS, WARN or FAIL. Invalid input is never billed.
  • Paid from the same prepaid credits as every SpreadRun API, in $5, $20, $25, $50, $100, $250 or $500 packs. A $25 pack covers one audit. Credits never expire. All pricing
  • Preparing returns for many clients? Talk to us first so we can tell you honestly whether this fits.
Audit a payee listGet API access

Call it from code

Columns, parameters, rule IDs, error codes and limits are in the API docs.

curl -X POST "https://www.spreadrun.com/api/v1/1099-readiness-audit?taxYear=2026&otherInformationReturns=12" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPREADRUN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/csv" \
  --data-binary @vendors_2026.csv

Questions

Does a PASS mean the IRS will accept our returns?

No. A PASS means nothing in the rows you sent stops a clean filing: every payee who needs a form has a TIN with a valid structure, an entity type, a W-9 on file and a complete address. It is a readiness check against the published IRS rules, not tax advice, not a filing and not IRS acceptance. Whether each payment is what you say it is remains your call.

What changed for 2026?

For payments made after 2025 the reporting threshold for nonemployee compensation, rents, other income and medical and health care payments rose from $600 to $2,000, and the IRS says it may be adjusted for inflation from 2027. Royalties and substitute payments stay at $10, and gross proceeds paid to an attorney and fish purchased for resale stay at $600. Tax year 2026 is also the first year IRIS is the only way to e-file information returns: FIRE takes none.

Which payees are left off?

Corporations, including LLCs taxed as C or S corporations, except for attorney fees, gross proceeds paid to an attorney, medical and health care payments, substitute payments and fish purchased for resale. Tax-exempt organizations, government units and foreign persons who gave a Form W-8. And any amount you paid by credit card or a third party network such as PayPal, which the card company or network reports on Form 1099-K.

What does it check about TINs?

That each TIN is nine digits with the dashes in the right place, that it is not a placeholder, that an SSN does not use a number the SSA never issues, that an ITIN or ATIN is in the IRS ranges, and that an EIN starts with a prefix the IRS assigns. It cannot tell whether a TIN belongs to the name: use the IRS TIN Matching program for that before you file.

What about backup withholding?

When a payee who needs a form gave you no usable TIN, 24 percent of the reportable payments should have been withheld. The audit works out that amount and flags the payee when less was withheld. Any payee you withheld from gets a form, whatever the amount.

Do we have to e-file?

If you file 10 or more information returns for the year, counting every type together (W-2s included), yes. Enter how many other returns you file and the audit counts them in. For tax year 2026 that means IRIS, either the Taxpayer Portal (CSV uploads of up to 250 forms per file) or software that transmits to IRIS.

Does it produce the IRIS upload file?

Not yet. The IRS publishes the tax year 2026 IRIS CSV templates inside the IRIS portal, and the template for each form type is what you upload. The audit gives you the list of payees, forms and box amounts to put in it.

Is my data stored?

No. The list is processed in memory for the length of the request and is not stored or shared. The report names payees by line number and never repeats a name, TIN, address or reference. For billing and usage we log the time, endpoint, result status, size and duration, never the contents.

When is a run charged?

When the audit finishes and returns a report, whether it says PASS, WARN or FAIL: $25.00 per completed audit of one payer's list. Requests rejected before a report exists are free, such as a missing payment column, an unreadable amount, or a tax year other than 2026.

Can I try it for free?

Yes. Paste up to 25 payees and run it free, up to 10 times a day, or load one of the samples. A longer list, or a workbook, runs as the paid audit: sign in with enough credit and run it from the same form, or call the API.

Sources

SpreadRun is not affiliated with or endorsed by the IRS. Where this audit and the IRS instructions differ, the instructions control.

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