What’s New with Information Returns — Q2 of 2026

Another Draft W-9 Released in May — EIN Prohibition on Individuals is Gone

The IRS in May released another draft of a new W-9, and this draft removed the prohibition on an individual/sole proprietor from using an EIN.

In this latest draft, the only thing listed under “What’s New” is a new backup withholding exemption code that applies to brokers and Form 1099-DA. The language about no EIN for those checking individual/sole proprietor is gone.

The latest rendition of the W-9 draft does contain some changes to the wording relating to TINs, adding the following sentence to the TIN area of the form: “Do not enter the employer identification number (EIN) of a disregarded entity.”

What this means is, people checking individual/sole proprietor can still give an EIN, as long as the EIN was issued to them in their name personally. This is how it’s always been, but it has never been clearly stated on the form. This latest draft would clarify the wording.

While most AP departments likely welcome this news, it’s important to remember that this is simply another draft and has not been released for real yet. This draft says “June 2026” on it, but obviously that doesn’t mean much since it’s now July and it hasn’t been released yet. The form to continue using is the one that says “March 2024” in the upper-left. 

Treasury Releases Proposed Regs on Backup Withholding Threshold Change

The Treasury Department recently released proposed regulations to update backup withholding thresholds to conform with the increased reporting thresholds for many 1099’able transactions.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changed sections 6041 and 6041A to increase the reporting threshold from our old, familiar $600 threshold to $2,000. This amount will be adjusted for inflation each year. 

The requirement to backup withhold in certain situations comes from section 3406. Regulations under section 3406 – specifically 31.3406(b)(3)-1 – still reference $600.

The proposed regulations would update this regulation to reference the wording to “the dollar amount in effect for such calendar year under section 6041(a).”

This affects AP departments and other issuers of 1099s by changing the level at which backup withholding applies. 

Treasury Seeking Public Feedback on E-Delivery Rules

This spring, the Treasury Department sought public feedback on potential changes to the regulations surrounding e-delivery of information forms. There are surprisingly complex rules on this topic. Whether many organizations actually follow the rules is, of course, another story. But the rules do exist.  

The rules were written long ago, and Treasury is looking at changing them. They opened a public comment period that ended on May 23. Treasury’s timeline on updating the regs is unknown. They did release proposed regulations easing the rules for issuers of Form 1099-DA, but the easing is specific only to that one form.  

New Versions of 1099-NEC and MISC Released

In June, the IRS released updated versions of 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC. The new versions contain new boxes for reporting of qualifying tips and overtime. We discuss these items in more detail in other articles. 

Kwong Case Deadline Looming

In April, a court case called the Kwong case was released. The case involves a court ruling in which the court said deadlines during the COVID pandemic should have been delayed until July 10, 2023. 

This is a bigger deal than it might seem. It means many tax-relation actions that had due dates that fell during the time the federal COVID disaster declaration was in effect — January 20, 2020, through May 11, 2023, would not have been due during that time. Instead, the due date would have been 60 days after May 11, 2023 — July 10, 2023. 

Many late-filing or late-payment penalties and interest assessed on items due during that time period would be abated. But not on “everything” that was due during that time.

And this is where the wheels fall off for information returns. Filing of information returns such as 1099s is explicitly not on the list of things that get pushed back during a disaster declaration — they have the same due dates as always. 

Same thing goes for deposits of taxes, such as backup withholding. 

This means, if your organization paid penalties or interest because of late filing of a 1099 or 1042-S, or because of late deposits on backup withholding, the Kwong case doesn’t help you.

One possible avenue would be penalty relief for late filing of the reconciliation forms relating to backup withholding — Forms 945 or 1042. 

The Kwong case will be appealed and go through two rounds of appeals, with the second round being the US Supreme Court. A final ruling will not happen until a long time down the road. Meanwhile, the deadline for making what’s called a “protective claim” to get your name in the queue for a refund of penalties and interest is July 10, 2026. Obviously, this is an extremely condensed discussion of a very complex matter. Consult applicable counsel on your side for more guidance. 

IRIS Taxpayer Portal Now Accommodates 250 Forms

At some point in the first part of 2026, the IRS quietly updated IRIS to allow filers to submit up to 250 forms in one batch on the Taxpayer Portal side of IRIS. Previously, the limit was 100 forms. 

IOFM Conference

The spring conference of IOFM — the Institute of Finance and Management — was held in May in Orlando. Your author was in attendance to teach on information returns. The best part about the conference is more than the classes — it’s hearing from attendees about their real-world questions and struggles. 

(Side note: you may have noticed throughout this article that the author uses em dashes a lot. He has been doing so for decades, long before AI came on the scene. He writes 100% of his own material with no AI involvement.)

If the things discussed on this blog are of interest to you — which they must be if you’re reading this (and there goes the em dash again) — consider joining IOFM. Find out more at www.iofm.com.