The IRS has fixed the hour it switches off the system information returns are filed through, and it is three in the afternoon on 19 November
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Three in the afternoon, eastern time, on 19 November. That is the last moment an information return can be filed through the Filing Information Returns Electronically system.
The Internal Revenue Service said on Monday that FIRE retires after the November maintenance window, and that filers using it must move to the Information Returns Intake System to file tax year 2026 returns during the 2027 season.
Two earlier dates matter as much as the closing one. Test returns through the FIRE Trading Partner Test System stop on 1 November. Changes to the Information Returns Applications for Transmitter Control Codes stop on 9 November, ten days before the system itself goes.
Two ways into the new system
IRIS receives returns through two channels. The taxpayer portal is free and web based, takes up to 100 returns at a time by manual entry or CSV upload, and produces payee copies and a record of what was filed. Filers with larger volumes, or with their own software, use IRIS Application to Application.
The system is not new. It has been running since 2023, taking forms across from FIRE in phases, and from 2027 every form FIRE supported will be available on it.
What the agency asks filers to do
The release lists four steps: complete an IRIS Application for a Transmitter Control Code, review the guidance on filing information returns with IRIS, subscribe to IRIS QuickAlerts, and register for the IRIS working group meetings. Those meetings fall on the second Wednesday of each month and registration is required every month.
The release carries the agency's standing note that news items may not be updated after release.
