1099 deadlines for 2026 payments (filed in early 2027)
Forms for payments made in 2026 are due in early 2027, and the main date moves this year: January 31, 2027 falls on a Sunday, so the 1099-NEC deadline is Monday, February 1, 2027. Here is where each date comes from, and a plan that works backward from it.
The dates for 2026 payments
| What | Due | Where the date comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1099-NEC (services) to the IRS, paper or electronic | Mon, Feb 1, 2027 | 26 U.S.C. §6071(c): January 31 of the following year; moved to Monday by 26 U.S.C. §7503 because Jan 31, 2027 is a Sunday |
| 1099-NEC copy to the contractor | Mon, Feb 1, 2027 | 26 U.S.C. §6041A(e): on or before January 31; same weekend rule |
| 1099-MISC (rent and similar) copy to the payee | Mon, Feb 1, 2027 | 26 U.S.C. §6041(d): on or before January 31; same weekend rule. Check the IRS instructions as well, since they set some form-specific details |
| 1099-MISC and other 1099s filed electronically with the IRS | Wed, Mar 31, 2027 | §6071(b): March 31 for information returns filed electronically, other than nonemployee compensation |
| 1099-MISC filed on paper with the IRS | See the IRS instructions | §6071(a) leaves this date to the regulations and instructions, which we could not open, so we do not state it |
Why it is February 1, not January 31
Section 6071(c) says returns and statements reporting nonemployee compensation "shall be filed on or before January 31 of the year following the calendar year to which such returns relate." For 2026 payments, that is January 31, 2027, a Sunday.
Section 7503 says that when the last day for an act under the tax laws "falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday", the act is timely if done "on the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday", where legal holiday means a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. Monday, February 1, 2027 is not a holiday, so the deadline is February 1, 2027. (Our date arithmetic: January 31, 2027 is a Sunday and March 31, 2027 is a Wednesday.)
The one extra day is a buffer, not a plan. Treat January 29, the Friday before, as your real deadline.
Why 1099-NEC is earlier than 1099-MISC
A 2015 amendment to §6071 (Pub. L. 114-113) added subsection (c), which gave nonemployee compensation its own January 31 filing deadline. Other information returns kept the later date when filed electronically (§6071(b)). In practice, a business that only pays contractors has one date to remember; one that also pays rent has two filing dates but one recipient-copy date.
A backward plan (our suggestion)
These steps and dates are our suggestion, not legal deadlines:
- By mid-November 2026: export your 2026 payments so far and total them by payee. Anyone at $1,500 or more is worth watching; see the $2,000 rule.
- By December 15, 2026: send a W-9 request to everyone who is above, or likely to cross, $2,000. People are easier to reach before the holidays, and under 26 U.S.C. §3406(b)(6) a payee who crosses the line without giving you a taxpayer identification number can trigger backup withholding on later payments.
- First week of January 2027: export the full year, re-total, and remove card payments and corporations (with the attorney and medical exceptions); see who doesn't get a 1099.
- By January 22, 2027: prepare the forms in your filing service or accounting software, and check names and taxpayer identification numbers against the W-9s.
- By January 29, 2027: file the 1099-NECs and send recipient copies. Keep proof of when you sent them.
- By March 31, 2027: e-file any remaining 1099-MISC returns.
If you miss a date
26 U.S.C. §6721(a) sets a penalty of $250 per late or incorrect information return, with a yearly cap. It drops to $50 per return if the failure is corrected within 30 days of the due date, and to $100 if corrected by August 1. These are the base amounts written in the statute. §6721(f) increases them for inflation, so the amounts that actually apply are higher; check the IRS for the current figures. The practical lesson is the same: if you find a missed contractor in February, file right away instead of waiting.
What we did not verify
We could not open the IRS website while writing this page. So we do not state the paper filing date for 1099-MISC, the box numbers on either form, the electronic filing requirements, or the IRS filing portal's steps. All of those are in the current IRS instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC. Everything else on this page comes from the statute text linked in the Sources.
The free Year-End Vendor Check shows these deadlines with your results and, in the paid packs, saves them to your calendar with W-9 reminders.