Rules for Paper filing 1099 IRS Forms
There is a tremendous level of comfort in filing 1099 forms by paper. Especially if you are submitting just a few 1099 tax forms per year.
My accountant is probably 80 plus years old (I never asked him his exact age). Every year when I file my taxes, I have one 1099-MISC tax form that needs to be filled out and submitted. My accountant fills out IRS Form 1099-MISC by hand with an ordinary pen and hands it to me to mail.
There were 2-questions I investigated and write about below.
Can I submit handwritten 1099 forms to the IRS?
Yes. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns can be found on the internet. If you search for Paper Document Reporting you can read:
“Although handwritten forms are acceptable, they must be completely legible and accurate to avoid processing errors.”
Use black ink, block print and not script characters. The general instructions also state that if you have no data for a particular box to just leave it blank. Do not enter 0 or “none” if you have no money value.
Send the 1099 form along with the 1096 form as separate forms. Do not use staples on any of the forms.
Where to mail paper information returns?
If your principal business or legal residence is located in:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia or West Virginia, then you mail your paper information returns to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, TX 73301.
If your principal business or legal residence is located in:
Alaska, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin or Wyoming, then you mail your paper information returns to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Kansas City, MO 64999.
And if your legal residence or principal place of business is outside the United States, file with the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, TX 73301.
Due Dates
Copy A of 1099 forms typically must be postmarked and mailed by the end of February. If you file electronically, you get an extra month of time to file. Also when filing electronically, you can automatically apply for an receive a one month extension.
I hope this helps when paper filing this year.