1099s Are Due January 31st! Have You Tried E-filing Yet?

I have been sending out more and more 1099s each year for my clients and the process is never fun. Each year I receive questions about the best software for do-it-yourself 1099 filers.  This year, I have a couple new suggestions:

1. First off, if you aren’t using your QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online to track your 1099 vendors, you really should.  This functionality is built right into QuickBooks and is included in the “Plus” version of QuickBooks Online.  By turning on the 1099 tracking, your QB or QBO software will track how much you’ve paid to each 1099 vendor throughout the year and help you calculate who gets a 1099 at year-end.
2. If you have just a small handful of 1099s to send, I heartily recommend efile4biz.com. For $3.95 per form, they will e-file your IRS copies and mail your recipient copies out for you. You simply need to type in the name, address, tax ID number, and amount paid for each recipient and they take care of the rest.
3. If you are using QB or QBO with the 1099 tracking turned on and have a significant number of 1099s to send, I recommend track1099.com. This service will extract your 1099 data from your QuickBooks file so that you don’t need to re-type all of your payee’s name, address, and other details.  For $1.99 each ($3.99 for the first 3), they will e-file your IRS copies and send your recipient copies via a secure email.  I tried this service for the first time this year and it truly worked like a charm. To send 35 1099 forms, they charged me $75.65 and the process took less than ten minutes…yeah!

Of course, you can always order blank forms from the IRS for free, but I encourage you to try one of these e-filing services. The amount of time that you save in not having to print forms, stuff and stamp envelopes, and send out those red-ink copies to the IRS is significant. You have much better things to be doing with all that time!

Don’t forget, the deadline to have your 1099s out to the recipients is still January 31st, regardless of whether you’re sending paper copies via snail mail or electronic copies via one of the e-filing services.  Better get to it!

Deb Howard Greenleaf

Deb Howard Greenleaf, EA, CEO and Principal, of Greenleaf Accounting Services provides virtual accounting and bookkeeping services and specializes in financial management to consultants, coaches, solo professionals, and other small business owners across the US. Deb is an Enrolled Agent (EA)—an IRS-licensed tax professional—and specializes in small businesses and entrepreneurs filing Schedule C or as an LLC. As an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Deb spends her day in QuickBooks Online and specializes in providing QBO support.

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