Episode 43: FIRE, Extinguished
The IRS has announced the official shutdown date for the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system: 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 19, 2026.
We knew this day was coming. Now we know exactly when — right down to the hour.
A Little FIRE History
FIRE has been around since 1986 and, for most of its existence, was the primary IRS intake system for electronically filed information returns, including Forms 1099 and 1042-S.
That began to change with the introduction of the Information Returns Intake System (IRIS). IRIS debuted in 2023 for filing 2022 information returns.
Initially, IRIS had limitations. For example, Form 1042-S wasn't available through the system during its first few years. That meant FIRE and IRIS needed to coexist.
But the IRS made it clear that this wouldn't last forever.
In May 2025, the IRS announced that FIRE would be retired at the end of 2026. Throughout 2026, IRS guidance continued to reinforce that timeline.
Now we have the official shutdown: November 19 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
That means IRIS will be the IRS filing system available for 2026 information returns filed in 2027.
What Should FIRE Users Do?
If you're currently filing through FIRE, you essentially have two choices.
Option 1: Use a third-party vendor.
There are numerous information return filing vendors that connect to IRIS. Instead of interacting directly with the IRS system, you provide your information to the vendor and the vendor handles transmission to the IRS.
If this is the route you're taking, don't wait until January to start looking for a vendor.
Larger filers in particular may face onboarding and other implementation requirements. Waiting until filing season could leave too little time to get everything in place.
Even smaller filers should start exploring their options now. Unexpected hurdles have a way of appearing at the worst possible time.
Option 2: File directly through IRIS.
If you've always been a do-it-yourself FIRE filer, you can continue doing things yourself through IRIS.
But you can't simply take your existing FIRE credentials and move them over.
A FIRE Transmitter Control Code (TCC) does not work in IRIS. You'll need to apply for an IRIS TCC, and the process can take up to 45 days.
You should also make sure you can successfully access the system. Login issues are one of the most common complaints I hear about IRIS.
Depending on how you intend to file, additional setup may also be required. For example, IRIS Application-to-Application (A2A) filing requires testing before you can begin transmitting production files.
Don't Make This a January Project
As this episode drops, we're still several months away from filing season. It might seem like there's plenty of time.
But whether you're moving to a third-party vendor or planning to use IRIS yourself, there may be more involved in the transition than you expect.
The takeaway: If you're still using FIRE, start planning your transition now.
FIRE has been around for 40 years. At 3:00 p.m. Eastern on November 19, that era officially comes to an end.
Welcome to another episode of Information Return Intelligence sponsored by IOFM. This week we talk about the official end to the fire system. It has been announced. We knew it was coming, but we didn't know the exact date. Now we know not only an exact date, but an exact time. That's this week's topic on information return intelligence powered by IOFM. Welcome to the show. Remember this is not tax advice, I'm not your accountant, and you should never make final decisions based on anything you see or hear on this podcast. Always pay your own advisors before making final decisions. On this week's show we're talking about the end of the fire system. The IRS has announced the official end to fire, and they have put it as three PM Eastern Time on november nineteenth. We knew this day was coming, we've known this for several years, but we didn't know exactly when. Now we do write down to the exact time. So a little background here. FIRE stands for filing information returns electronically. And for most of that time, since nineteen eighty six, FIRE was the only intake system for e filing of information forms, which is ten ninety nine's and ten forty two s, and various other forms that fall under the heading of an information form, although without getting into technicalities, not W twos, even though W twos are information forms, they never went to FIRE. Those go to a different system at the Social Security Administration, and later on some of the things like Affordable Care Act forms 1094 and 1095 went to a different intake system from FIRE, so it's not necessarily every information form, but it was the big ticket ones like 1099's and the 1042s. FIRE was the only intake system. Then in 2023, for 2022 forms, the IRS rolled out IRIS, the information return intake system. IRIS had some limitations, you couldn't file the 1042S in it the first few years, now you can, but at first you couldn't. And so it wasn't quite ready to take over as the only system. But we also knew that the IRS's plan was to retire fire eventually. We just didn't know when. So for the first few years, the two systems existed together, and you could choose which system you used. Then in May of twenty twenty five the IRS said it was going to end fire at the end of twenty twenty six. And at that time it was eighteen months or more down the road, and so some fire users who didn't want to switch thought maybe the IRS will change their mind on all of this. I had several people say that to me, and that wouldn't have been totally surprising if the IRS did change its mind. However, it became very clear as time went on that the IRS was serious about ending fire at the end of this year. And as we came into 2026, various documents released in the first half of the year consistently said that fire was going to be shut down at the end of 2026 and that IRIS would be your only option for filing 2026 forms in 2027. And now the IRS has given us the official end to fire three PM Eastern Time on november nineteenth. And now a word from our sponsor, IOFM. If you're a financial operations professional, IOFM is the place for you. IOFM's membership website, IOFM.com, features industry research and best practices, metrics and benchmarking data, policies, case studies, tools, templates, and critical compliance and corporate governance resources. The institute also produces on demand eLearning resources including video trainings and web based seminars, and they host industry leading conferences in the spring and fall. Learn more at IOFM.com And now back to the show. What are your options then with fire coming to an end? Well you have two options. If you're a fire user who's going to be left without a home after three PM on november nineteenth, one option is to partner with a third party vendor. There are many out there. The one that I always use and recommend is Avalera, but there are many out there that you could partner with. They have the connection to Iris. You interface with the vendor's system and then they take care of sending it off to the IRS. That's one option. Your other option is if you've been a do-it-yourselfer in FIRE, become a do-it-yourselfer in IRIS. You have your own login to iris and file them yourselves. You do need to apply to use Iris. So if you're a FIRE user, you have what's called a TCC, a transmitter code. And your FIRE transmitter code won't work in Iris. You have to apply for a new TCC. If you plan to partner with a vendor, I know it seems like it's a long ways down the road yet before you would need to deal with this because you'll be filing in January of 2027, and as this episode drops it's September first of 2026. So it's like there's four months, almost five months before you would have to worry about this. Four plus months. However, this'll be more complicated than you might think. Especially if you're a larger filer, you're gonna find that there are a lot of moving parts with this. There will almost certainly be an onboarding period. And you don't want to be dealing with these things in January. In fact, if you wait until the last minute, you might find if you're a larger filer, that some of these places might not even be able to help you with filing by January 31st. So start on those conversations with vendors now. And even if you're a smaller filer, which what are we talking about here with definitions of large and small? I don't know, but if you consider yourself a smaller filer and you're only doing a few forms, but you want an e-filing option with a vendor who can do it for you, start now even if you're a small filer, because there could be unexpected hurdles along the way. What if you want to use iris yourself? You always used fire yourself, and so you're just gonna jump right in to Iris. You need to make sure your login works. Logins are actually the number one complaint that I receive about all of this. The other thing is you can't just create a login and start using the system. It takes up to 45 days to get that transmitter code from the IRS. And within Iris you have two options, and we're not going to get into that today, but there's an option in Iris called application to application A2A, which requires you to submit test files into the system. So these are all things that are going to take time to come together, so you really need to start on this now so that you can have things in place by the time filing season gets here. That'll do it for another episode of Information Return Intelligence powered by IOFM. You can find all of our podcasts at podcasts.dynasinmedia.com. As always, Information Return Intelligence is sponsored by IOFM and produced by Dynason Media Ventures. We do this every week, so we'll talk to you again next week. Dynason Media Ventures.