FIRE stops taking files at 3 p.m. Eastern on 19 November 2026
Open your FIRE 1099 file and see what IRIS will make of it
Older payroll and accounts payable systems write 1099s for the IRS in the FIRE format: fixed-width records, 750 characters each. From 1 January 2027 the only electronic route is IRIS, and its free Taxpayer Portal takes CSV files laid out its own way. Open your FIRE file here to see every return, the counts by form and payer, and what IRIS would object to. The export to IRIS CSV files is coming; leave your email to hear when it opens.
The file is read by this page inside your browser. It is not uploaded anywhere.
Converter
Open a FIRE file
The Publication 1220 file your system writes for FIRE: plain text, often named .txt or .dat, or with no extension at all. 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-INT and 1099-DIV returns convert; other forms in the file are listed.
Or drop the file on this box. The sample is invented data for five payers; you can also download it to see what a FIRE file looks like.
Payers
| Payer | TIN | Form | Returns | C record totals | Status | Details |
|---|
Returns
| Rec. | Form | Recipient, as IRIS gets it | TIN | Amounts | State | Status |
|---|
Export for IRIS
IRS answers to its IRIS working group say 100 per file; Publication 5717 (Rev. 9-2026) says 250. 100 works under both.
Otherwise each payer gets its own files, which is what IRIS asks of a payer's own TCC.
FIRE records name a state only for Combined Federal/State filers. IRIS wants a state beside every state amount.
FIRE files do not say. One payer can be changed under Payer details.
Positions 663-722 were for the payer's or a state's own use; most filers leave them behind.
IRIS templates
The portal compares column headers exactly. If you have an IRIS account, download the blank template for each form (Upload CSV with Form Data, then pick the form) and add it here; the page lists any column it does not know, and the export will use the template's header row as it is. Without one, the headers come from the IRS formatting guidelines for tax year 2025. 2026 returns on 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC need the 2026 template, because both forms gained boxes for 2026.
Export not open yet
The CSV download, the five-return sample included, opens once I have checked the built-in headers against real tax year 2025 templates from the portal. A few header spellings in the IRS guidelines differ from a real template, and IRIS rejects a file over one wrong header. The full export will be US$39 a year for one organisation. Email me when the export opens.
What it does with your file
It reads the T, A, B, C, K and F records described in IRS Publication 1220, for any number of payers, and turns each 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-INT and 1099-DIV return into a row of the matching IRIS template, for tax years 2024 and 2025. The 2026 Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC add boxes for cash tips, the tipped occupation code and overtime, and the IRS publishes the matching IRIS templates only inside the portal, so 2026 returns on those two forms will export only once you add the blank 2026 template from the portal. A FIRE file has no place for the new boxes; enter tips or overtime in IRIS yourself. 2026 returns on 1099-INT and 1099-DIV, whose forms did not change, use the 2025 columns.
Every record is checked the way FIRE checked it: 750 characters, the right order, sequence numbers, payment years, amounts that are numbers, and the C, K and F records against the B records they total. Then each row is checked against the field rules in the IRS's CSV formatting guidelines. A return that IRIS would refuse is marked with the reason, and you can fix it on this page.
What changes on the way
| Field | In the FIRE file | In the IRIS file |
|---|---|---|
| A person's name | One 40-character line, usually surname first | First, middle and last name in separate columns. The name control in positions 7-10 says which word is the surname; where it is blank, the rest of the file decides and the return is marked to check. |
| Address | 40 characters, punctuation allowed | 35 characters of letters, digits, hyphens and slashes. A long line breaks onto line 2; periods, commas and # are dropped. |
| Amounts | Twelve digits of cents, by amount code | Dollars with a decimal point in the right box, blank when zero |
| TIN | Nine digits and a type of 1, 2 or blank | SSN, EIN, ITIN, ATIN or UND, written the way IRIS wants each |
| Country (INT box 7, DIV box 8) | A name | The IRS two-letter country code |
| State tax | An amount, with a state only for Combined Federal/State filers | State 1 and the amount |
Each change is listed against the return it touched, so you can read them before you upload anything.
What it does not do
- File anything. You upload the CSV files in the IRIS Taxpayer Portal yourself, under your own IRIS TCC, and IRIS shows every form for review before you submit.
- Convert corrected returns (G or C in position 6). IRIS makes corrections from its own screens, against the original IRIS submission.
- Split foreign addresses. FIRE kept city, province and postal code in one field; you type them into the return here and the page checks them.
- Fill in state ID numbers or state income. FIRE files did not carry them, so add them in IRIS if your state needs them.
- Convert other forms yet. 1099-R, 1099-B, 1099-G, 1099-K, 1099-S, 1098, 5498 and W-2G records are read and listed; 1099-R comes next.
- Write IRIS A2A XML. That route needs your own software and IRS testing, and the portal's CSV upload does the same job for most small filers.
Price
Opening files, every check and the table of returns cost nothing, and that part is open now.
The export to IRIS CSV files is coming. IRIS checks every column header letter for letter against templates that download only inside the portal, and the IRS formatting guidelines this page follows differ from a real template in a few spellings. Rather than have your upload rejected, I am holding the export back until the headers are checked against the real tax year 2025 templates. When it opens, exporting every return will be US$39 a year for one organisation, for any number of files and payers, with a sample of the first five ready returns of each form to try in IRIS before you pay.
If you already have an IRIS account, you can help it open sooner: download the four blank templates (1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-INT and 1099-DIV, under Upload CSV with Form Data) and send them to jonathonwager@plaugstudios.com. They are empty files with a header row and nothing about you.
Email me when the export opens
Where your file goes
Nowhere. These files hold Social Security numbers, so the page is built to work without sending anything. The file is read with JavaScript in this tab, and closing the tab forgets all of it. The site's security policy tells your browser to refuse connections to anywhere except two addresses: the sign-up server, which gets your email address only when you send the form above, and Cloudflare's visitor counter, which records that the page was viewed. Open a file with the browser's developer tools on the Network tab and you will see nothing go out. TINs are masked on screen unless you choose to show them.
Check before you submit
Sevenfifty moves the data that is in your file into the IRIS layout. It does not decide what should be reported, and it is not tax or legal advice. Look over the forms in IRIS before you submit them, compare the totals in the export report with your own records, and ask your tax adviser about anything you are unsure of.