Tax1099 Review: Is It Worth It for Your 1099 Filing?
Tax1099 is one of the most popular IRS-authorized e-filing platforms for 1099s, W-2s, and other tax forms. It's used by over 100,000 businesses and promises to simplify the entire filing process with integrations, bulk uploads, and automated compliance.
But is it actually good? After digging through hundreds of user reviews and testing the platform, here's the honest breakdown.
What Is Tax1099?
Tax1099 is a cloud-based e-filing platform built by Zenwork, Inc. It handles federal and state filing for 1099 series forms (NEC, MISC, DIV, INT, K, etc.), W-2s, 94X payroll forms, ACA forms, and more. The platform is IRS-authorized and has won industry awards including the Accountex User Favorite Award.
The core appeal: you can import data from your accounting software, validate TINs against IRS records, e-file to the IRS, and deliver copies to recipients—all from one dashboard. For businesses that file multiple 1099s each year, this beats the manual alternative of ordering forms, printing, mailing, and filing separately with the IRS.
Tax1099 Pricing
Tax1099 uses a tiered, pay-per-form pricing model. There's no upfront subscription required for basic use—you pay as you go based on volume.
Per-Form E-Filing Costs
- 1-20 forms: $2.99 per form
- 21-150 forms: $2.30 per form
- 151-500 forms: $1.31 per form
- 501-1,000 forms: $0.68 per form
- 1,000+ forms: Custom pricing
For payroll forms like 940 and 941, pricing can go as low as $1.34 per form at higher volumes.
Add-On Services
- Real-time TIN Matching: $1 per TIN
- Bulk TIN Matching: $150 for 10,000 records
- Print & Mail (US): $1.90 per form
- Print & Mail (International): $4.99 per form
- IRS-compliant eDelivery: $0.25 per form
Note: There's a $1 rush-hour fee for mail requests placed in the final 5 days before the February deadline.
Enterprise Plans
If you need team management, workflow approvals, or notice management, you'll need the Enterprise plan at $349/year. This gets you rights management, the ability to add multiple users with different access levels, and workflow management for reviewing forms before submission.
The Essential plan (free to start) works fine for most small businesses who just need basic filing without the enterprise bells and whistles.
Key Features
Integrations
Tax1099 connects with over 12 accounting platforms including QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks, BILL, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Excel. If your accounting data lives in one of these systems, you can import it directly instead of manual entry. This is a genuine time-saver, especially if you're filing dozens or hundreds of forms.
TIN Matching
The TIN Match feature validates taxpayer identification numbers against IRS records before you file. This catches errors that would otherwise result in rejected filings or B-Notices from the IRS. You can run real-time checks or batch process thousands of records. Given that IRS penalties for invalid TINs can stack up fast, this feature alone can justify the platform cost.
Bulk Processing
Upload hundreds or thousands of forms at once via CSV, PDF import, or API. The platform handles form validation, address verification (via USPS), duplicate detection, and error checking. For accounting firms or businesses with high contractor volumes, this is essential.
AI Tax Assist
Zenwork AI Tax Assist provides 24/7 chat support to answer tax filing questions, guide you through complex scenarios, and help with compliance. It's not a replacement for a CPA, but it's useful for quick questions during filing.
Form Coverage
Tax1099 handles a wide range of forms: 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-DIV, 1099-INT, 1099-K, W-2, W-9/W-8, 940, 941, 944, 945, 1095-B/C, 1094-B/C, and state forms. If you have diverse filing needs, you won't need to juggle multiple platforms.
Recipient Delivery
Three options: eDelivery through a secure online portal ($0.25/form), print and mail via USPS ($1.90 domestic), or download PDFs to handle delivery yourself. The eDelivery option is the most cost-effective and meets IRS compliance requirements—recipients get notified via email and can access their forms through a secure link.
What Users Like
After analyzing reviews across GetApp, Capterra, Software Advice, and other platforms, here's what consistently comes up as positives:
- Easy to use: The interface is straightforward. Most users can figure it out without extensive training. Data entry is simple, and prior-year vendor information carries forward.
- Reasonable pricing: Compared to hiring an accountant or using more expensive enterprise solutions, Tax1099 is affordable—especially for small businesses with occasional filing needs.
- Time savings: The QuickBooks/Xero integrations eliminate hours of manual data entry. Users report completing their entire annual 1099 filing process in a fraction of the time.
- Reliable for basic use: Many long-term users (8+ years) report consistent, hassle-free filing season after season for straightforward 1099-NEC needs.
- Print & mail convenience: Not having to stuff envelopes, buy stamps, and visit the post office is a legitimate quality-of-life improvement.
What Users Hate
Now for the rough parts. About 85% of reviews are positive on value, but the remaining 15% have some serious complaints:
- Customer support: This is the most common complaint. Support is difficult to reach, especially during peak filing season (January-February). Chat can be unresponsive, and email response times are slow when you're up against deadlines.
- Bugs and glitches: Some users report persistent bugs—login issues, forms getting stuck in "Submitted" status, and data display problems. One reviewer documented years of bugs that required constant double-checking.
- Site slowdowns: During peak filing periods, the platform can lag. When you're rushing to meet an IRS deadline, this is frustrating.
- Confusing corrections process: Making corrections to filed forms isn't always intuitive. Users report needing support to navigate corrections, which is problematic given the support issues.
- Hidden complexity in pricing: While the per-form pricing is transparent, the add-ons can stack up. Mailing, TIN matching, state filing, and corrections can make your final bill higher than expected.
The Worst-Case Scenario
There's one particularly detailed negative review worth acknowledging: a long-time user reported that a site crash corrupted their recipient database, swapping business names and personal names across 2,800 records. This resulted in five years of failed TIN matching and eventual IRS penalties totaling $70,000+. While this appears to be an isolated incident, it highlights the importance of maintaining your own backup records and regularly auditing your data on any platform.
Tax1099 Alternatives
If Tax1099 doesn't seem like the right fit, here are the main competitors:
Track1099 (Avalara 1099 & W9)
Now part of Avalara's compliance ecosystem. Pricing starts at $3.10 per form for 1-15 forms and drops to $0.63 at volumes above 500. Strong API with 5,000 free sandbox calls monthly. Good fit if you're already using Avalara products or need deep accounting integrations.
TaxBandits
Starts at $2.75 per form for federal filing, plus $0.70 for state filing. Offers a multi-client dashboard and role-based access—good for accounting firms managing multiple EINs. Known for responsive customer support, which addresses one of Tax1099's weaknesses.
Yearli (by Greatland)
Tiered subscription model: Core (free + filing fees), Performance ($129/year + fees), Premier ($799/year + fees). Bundles tend to include more features per tier, which can be good or confusing depending on your needs. Strong for businesses that want predictable annual costs.
IRS IRIS Portal
Free option directly from the IRS. If you're filing a small number of forms and don't need integrations or bulk processing, this works. The tradeoff is no automation, no TIN matching, and no recipient delivery services—you handle everything manually.
Who Should Use Tax1099?
Good fit:
- Small businesses filing 10-200 1099s annually who want to save time over manual filing
- Accounting firms and bookkeepers managing multiple clients (with Enterprise plan)
- Anyone already using QuickBooks, Xero, or other supported accounting software
- Businesses that need TIN matching to avoid IRS penalties
Not ideal for:
- Solo filers with just 1-3 forms (IRS IRIS is free and sufficient)
- Anyone who needs reliable phone support during crunch time
- Organizations that can't tolerate any platform bugs or downtime during peak season
The Bottom Line
Tax1099 is a solid, cost-effective platform for e-filing 1099s and related tax forms. The integrations are legitimately useful, pricing is competitive, and most users have positive experiences. It's been around for years and handles millions of filings.
But go in with realistic expectations. Customer support is a known weak point. Don't wait until January 30th to file if you might need help. Test your integrations and data imports well before deadlines. Keep your own backup records.
For most small to mid-sized businesses that need to file contractor 1099s without the headache of paper forms and manual IRS submissions, Tax1099 does the job at a reasonable price. Just give yourself buffer time in case you hit any snags.
If you're looking for a full payroll solution that handles W-2s, tax filing, and benefits all in one place, you might want to check out Gusto instead—it's a more comprehensive platform for businesses that need ongoing payroll management beyond just 1099 filing. See our Gusto pricing breakdown for details.