IMPORTANT - NEW 1099 AND W-2 DEADLINES

In the past the deadline to mail the 1099s to recipients and distribute W-2s to employees was January 31st. Then if there were any errors there was time to fix them before they were filed with the IRS and social security administration. The deadline to file them with the IRS/SSA was February 28th if paper filed and March 31st if electronically filed.This has changed for the 2016 1099s and W-2s that are due this January. Public Law 114-113requires form W-2 to be filed with the SSA on or before January 31, 2017, and also form 1099 to the IRS when you are reporting non-employee compensation payments in box 7. For 1099s with payments other than box 7, the dates remain the same.Since the majority of 1099s filed are for non-employee compensation payments, this is going to cause taxpayers and CPAs a lot more headache. Now if you wait until the January 31st deadline to mail your 1099s and file them with the IRS at the same time, there is no window to make any corrections. This is going to result in a significantly increased number of corrected 1099s to file. It is a lot to easier to make corrections before they are filed with the IRS.With these earlier deadlines, it is imperative that you plan ahead and make sure you have all of the necessary information for filing your 1099s. If you are missing any addresses or social security numbers/EINs, now is the time to take action. If you failed to get this information on the front end, one easy way to get the information is with a form W-9.Remember you need to send a 1099 to any non-employee that you pay $600 or more to for services or rent. There are a few exceptions. You don't have to send one to any company that is incorporated. (Unless they are an attorney, you still have to file one for them even if they are incorporated).The new deadlines cover W-2s, 1099-MISC and 1099-R.We are asking any clients that need us to prepare and file these forms have the information to us no later than Monday, January 16th. The earlier you can have them ready the better. Please let us know if we can assist you or you have any questions. Let’s work together now to get this information to make the filing season go as smoothly as possible.