The IRS is retiring the Filing Information Returns Electronically system for the 2027 filing season. Current FIRE users need an operating plan for IRIS access, source data, validation, corrections, filing confirmations, and the November 2026 FIRE cutoffs before year-end pressure begins.
The IRS says current FIRE users must complete an IRIS Application for TCC and transition to IRIS to file tax year 2026 information returns during the 2027 filing season. After January 1, 2027, IRIS is the only information-return electronic filing system for current-year, prior-year, and corrected information returns that previously flowed through FIRE.
IRS Topic 802 says an employer identification number is needed and a filer must apply for an IRIS TCC before e-filing information returns through IRIS. Access planning therefore belongs on the year-end close calendar—not on the last week of January.
Last day to file test information returns through the FIRE Trading Partner Test System
Last day to make changes to existing IR Applications for FIRE Transmitter Control Codes
Last day the IRS says information returns can be filed through FIRE
IRIS becomes the only electronic intake system for information returns previously filed through FIRE
Model constants used by Kelvaro for this page: test cutoff 2026-11-01, TCC-change cutoff 2026-11-09, production cutoff 2026-11-19 at 3:00 p.m. ET, and IRIS-only start 2027-01-01.
Access is only one dependency. A reliable filing workflow also needs clean payee identity, reconciled year-to-date amounts, a known submission channel, approval controls, rejection handling, correction ownership, and retained evidence. Teams that use a software provider still need to understand the provider's IRIS cutover and how acknowledgements and corrections will be handled.
Name the person responsible for the FIRE-to-IRIS cutover, current-state inventory, vendor coordination, test plan, and filing-season handoff.
Confirm the filer has an EIN and has applied for or received the IRIS Transmitter Control Code needed for the intended IRIS filing channel.
Decide whether the operating plan uses the IRIS Taxpayer Portal, IRIS Application to Application, or a qualified third-party filing workflow that ultimately submits through IRIS.
Identify the systems that provide payee identity, taxpayer information, reportable amounts, payment method, corrections, and state reporting data before building an IRIS export or upload workflow.
Resolve duplicate payees, failed or reversed payments, off-platform payments, wrong-year transactions, and tax-document exceptions before the filing dataset is frozen.
If software or a filing provider prepares the submission, confirm how it is adapting to the FIRE retirement, IRIS intake method, corrections, acknowledgements, and filing confirmations.
Before filing season, create a representative test dataset and walk it through your preparation, validation, approval, and submission-ready workflow without treating a successful dry run as an IRS acceptance.
Document who owns rejected submissions, payee-data corrections, amount corrections, prior-year corrections, and evidence retention after FIRE is no longer available.
Make the November 1 test cutoff, November 9 IR Application change cutoff, and November 19 production cutoff visible to teams that still rely on FIRE during 2026.
Confirm the team can prepare, submit, monitor, correct, and retain evidence for information returns after IRIS becomes the only intake system for returns previously submitted through FIRE.
Assign an owner, confirm IRIS TCC status, choose the filing channel, inventory FIRE dependencies, map source data, and identify the software or service provider responsible for final submission.
Complete remaining FIRE testing or account changes that your current process still needs, and move any transition dependency that cannot wait until December onto a named owner and date.
Run the year-end ledger cleanup, verify the IRIS preparation workflow, perform an internal dry run, document rejection and correction handling, and freeze a filing-season runbook.
Operate from the IRIS-ready workflow, preserve filing confirmations and acknowledgements, route corrections through the documented process, and keep the filing system separate from the underlying filing determination.
No under the IRS transition schedule reviewed September 9, 2026. The IRS says current FIRE users must transition to IRIS for tax year 2026 information returns during the 2027 filing season.
Do not assume an existing FIRE credential provides IRIS access. IRS Topic 802 says an EIN is needed and filers must apply for an IRIS TCC before e-filing information returns with IRIS.
No. IRIS supports a Taxpayer Portal and an Application to Application channel. A business may also use a filing provider. The right operating path depends on volume, systems, controls, and the provider relationship.
No. The filing-system transition is separate from payee classification, form selection, amount thresholds, payment-method rules, state requirements, and other filing determinations.
This checklist organizes a filing-system transition. It does not determine whether an information return is required, which form applies, whether a payee is an employee or contractor, or whether a federal or state filing obligation applies.
Keep payee records, tax-document status, payment history, reconciliation, review ownership, and filing-season evidence connected while your team transitions away from FIRE.
See Kelvaro's contractor operations workflow →