Murph's Take: Inside Tax1099.com

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December is upon us, and it’s time to make certain you’re ready for those end of the year tax reporting chores that Uncle Sam has dumped on us over the years. The reality is that each year the filing burdens increase and filing deadlines decrease, making it not only to be compliant, but to keep your business going, too.

If you’re in the business of providing accounting services or keeping books, preparing taxes or supporting software associated with any of these functions, you probably look at this time of year as one big headache. 

It seems no matter how automated the process gets, there’s always some catch or snag in the system. It might be your accounting or tax software, it might be the government website you rely on for filing purposes.

One of the things I set out to do this year was to find some filing solutions that might give you the confidence you need, rather than the hopeful reliance you have had when it comes to meeting the filing requirements.

That’s why I’m introducing the first Product Review from AccountEx on Tax1099.com.

Tax1099.com, powered by Zenwork Inc., provides e-file services for various 1099, 1098, 1095, W-2, 1042-S, 940, 941 and 944 forms. Tax1099 has been filing tax forms since the 2010 tax season, adding services beyond the e-File and email delivery each year.

In addition to the federal e-file services, Tax1099 also:

  • Collects vendor information through an electronic W-9
  • Validates vendor name and taxpayer identification number via the IRS database
  • Delivers recipient copies through the U.S. Postal Service and electronic means
  • Integrates with accounting and bill pay software to create Payer, Payee and form records
  • Provides user management and workflow options for larger accounting firms and accounts payable organizations
  • Files to any state that requires a filing; and provides a suite or reports

E-filing is at the heart of Tax1099.com, so each year they work closely with the IRS to gain approval as an official e-file service allowing them to file tax forms on behalf of other businesses. 

Depending upon the form, one of three different e-file processes are used, including the IRS Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) System, the IRS Modernized e-File (MeF) System or the IRS ACA Information Return (AIR) System.

I could give you a lot of boring details about how each of these processes works, but what you really want to know is that they work to provide a streamlined approach to getting those ugly filings out of the way.

But e-filing isn’t the only reason to consider using Tax1099.com. They have a great vendor management feature that allows you to match vendor W-9 information with Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) to confirm the tax data you are preparing to file is accurate.

Did you know that filing a mismatched name and tax-ID can result in a fine of $260 per instance? Even if you received the wrong data from one of your vendors and send it the IRS, you actually can be the one fined by the IRS.

Tax1099.com also takes care of your recipient deliveries. The most common form still is the U.S. Postal Service, but email and portal options also are available. They can even customize your portal with you own company logo and configure it to work part-and-parcel with your domain.

Of course, you can always opt to print PDF versions of all your forms being managed by Tax1099.com.

Tax1099.com offers several ways to populate Payer, Recipient and form data in the system. For small filers or accounting users who have clients with just a few forms or no accounting software, manual entry is always available. Just open the appropriate form from your dashboard and fill-and-file away.

Of course, users with larger volumes of data, like most of our readers, will benefit from the integrated solution capabilities Tax1099.com offers for products like QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Bill.com, Zoho Books, Intacct, FreshBooks, and several others. 

As you can see from the screen shot, Tax1099.com not only offers one way to connect to QuickBooks Desktop, but actually two different methods:

Excel users can option to import tax data into forms using Tax1099.com’s bulk import feature:

So what about the cost of Tax1099.com compared to the alternatives? 

This isn’t a paid advertisement, so as with most of our product features, we’re not going to go over every price alternative. Our goal is to give you enough information for you to determine if the product we’re reviewing may be one you want to examine more closely.

That said, as far as cost is concerned, Tax1099.com, like most online tax form software filing companies, offers a variety of pricing packages and cost options. 

Their pay-as-you-go options run as low as 55 cents per form for more than 500 1099 forms, to as high as $5 for a single 1042-S form. Their E-file Plus and Enterprise level packages carry annual fees, but more services. They also offer lower prices per form in many cases. For specific pricing, see their pricing webpage.

If you doubt your present accounting, tax form preparation or E-filing service is going to be ready when you are, or, you just aren't convinced you’re going to have fewer headaches with the same old player, give Tax1099.com a look by visiting their website.