To mail a 1099-NEC, put the contractor's Copy B and the other pages meant for them in an envelope addressed to them, and get it into the mail by Monday, February 1, 2027. The IRS treats a statement as furnished on time when it's properly addressed and mailed by the due date, so the day it goes into the mail is the date that counts.
You probably have those pages already: the IRS's fillable form, the recipient copies from IRIS (the IRS's free e-file portal), a download from your payroll or accounting software, or a PDF from your accountant. This guide shows which pages in each file go in the envelope, how to make one clean PDF per contractor (including the print-to-PDF step that keeps a filled-in IRS form from printing blank), and how to mail it so the address shows and the numbers stay inside.
Copy A, the IRS's copy, is filed separately by the same date.
Copy B by Monday, February 1, 2027: what counts as on time#
Each contractor you file a 1099-NEC for gets their own Copy B. The IRS due date (opens in new tab) for furnishing it is January 31, which falls on a Sunday in 2027, so the deadline moves to Monday, February 1. That shift comes from the IRS rule that moves any due date landing on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (opens in new tab) to the next business day. The IRS hasn't posted its 2027 calendar yet, so the 2027 dates in this guide are worked out from that rule; check them against the IRS tax calendar (opens in new tab) once it's up. Most 1099-MISC statements share the February 1 date, and the mail-by calendar further down lists the ones that run later.
On time means mailed, not delivered. Publication 1099 (opens in new tab) says a statement that's properly addressed and mailed on or before the due date is deemed furnished on time. Two things follow. The address has to be complete and current: the place the contractor gets mail now. And the date that counts is the day the envelope enters the mail. If you mail it yourself, that's the day it crosses a post office counter or goes into a collection box in time for that day's pickup. If a service prints and mails it for you, it's the day the letter enters the mail, which comes after the day you upload and pay; the calendar below builds in that gap.
The rule doesn't require proof that you mailed it. There's no receipt to get and no certificate to buy. What you keep is your own record of what you sent and when, and the records section below lists what belongs in it.
Paper is the default. You can furnish Copy B electronically instead only if the contractor has agreed to it affirmatively and electronically, after receiving the disclosures the IRS requires, and hasn't withdrawn that consent. Without that consent on file, their copy goes in the mail.
Copy A, the IRS's copy of a 1099-NEC, is due by the same February 1 date and takes its own route. You can't file the red Copy A printed from the IRS's fillable PDF, because the IRS can't scan self-printed copies. For tax year 2026, IRIS (opens in new tab) is the IRS's only e-file system, and e-filing is required once you have 10 or more information returns in total, W-2s included; below that, you can also file on official forms ordered from the IRS, with a Form 1096 (opens in new tab). If you'll e-file, apply now for the Transmitter Control Code (TCC) that IRIS requires: the IRS says a typical application is processed within 45 business days (opens in new tab), though processing times vary. If you mail paper forms instead, send them to the IRS flat, not folded, with Form 1096, as Publication 1099 (opens in new tab) explains; our guide to certified mail for the IRS covers getting proof you mailed them. The rest of this guide is about the contractor's.
The pages that go in each contractor's envelope#
The IRS's fillable 1099-NEC (opens in new tab) is a six-page PDF, and three of those pages go to the contractor. You don't have to count pages to find them: each copy names its destination in its label, such as "Copy B For Recipient" or "Copy 1 For State Tax Department."
Here's the whole file, page by page.
Page | Label on the page | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
1 | Attention | Stays out |
2 | Copy A | Stays out |
3 | Copy 1 | Your state, if it asks |
4 | Copy B | Contractor's envelope |
5 | Instructions for Recipient | Contractor's envelope |
6 | Copy 2 | Contractor's envelope |
Pages 4 to 6 go in the envelope. Copy B is the one you're required to furnish, and a Copy B printed in black from IRS.gov counts; you don't need to order paper forms from the IRS for it. Page 5 explains each box to the contractor. Copy 2 is labeled for the contractor to file with their state income tax return, when their state requires one.
The rest stays out of the envelope. Page 1 is an IRS notice about revisions and Copy A. Page 2 is Copy A, which, as above, can't be filed from this printout. Page 3, Copy 1, is for your state tax department if your state wants one; its rules say how to send it. There's no payer copy at all, so the copy you keep is the filled-in file itself: save it before you print.
Before you print, check three things on Copy B:
- The revision. It should read "Rev. December 2026" under the form name, and box 1 should be split into four: 1a Nonemployee compensation, 1b Cash tips, 1c TTOC (a Treasury tipped occupation code) and 1d Overtime compensation. A form with a single box 1 is an older revision. Tax year 2026 statements go on the December 2026 revision or a substitute that matches it.
- Your phone number. The payer section has a Telephone number field, and on a 1099-NEC it's required: the number of someone who can answer the contractor's questions about the form.
- The contractor's TIN. On the copies you mail, you may mask all but the last four digits of the contractor's taxpayer identification number. Your own TIN always appears in full.
Downloads from IRIS, software or your accountant#
The same sorting rule works on any file: keep the pages labeled for the recipient, and take out anything labeled for the IRS, the state or the payer. If you also have employees, their W-2 copies sort the same way; see how to mail W-2 forms to employees.
IRIS lets you download recipient copies of the forms you enter there. You print them, and getting them to each contractor is your job; the IRS doesn't track whether you've sent them. The IRIS user guide, Publication 5717 (opens in new tab), says the download is a zip file with a separate PDF for each form, so each contractor's copy arrives as its own file.
A file from payroll or accounting software, or from your accountant, is a substitute statement unless it's Copy B of the IRS's own form: the same information in the software's layout, under rules set by Publication 1179 (opens in new tab). What's in the export varies: one file per contractor, or every contractor in one long PDF, sometimes with a cover sheet or a payer copy mixed in. Open it and find each contractor's Copy B and the pages marked for the recipient.
Whatever the source, the file you upload should hold one contractor's pages and nothing else. Postmarkr prints and mails every page in the PDF you upload and adds a separate address page on top, so a stray Copy A or state copy would go to the contractor too. The next section turns each download into that one clean file.
Turn your download into one PDF per contractor#
You want one PDF per contractor, holding only their pages, with the numbers printed into the page rather than left in form fields.
- Print the filled form to a new PDF. The IRS's fillable 1099-NEC is a kind of PDF form that many viewers and printers show or print blank, even when the boxes look filled in on screen. Fill it in and save it. Then open Print, and where you'd pick your printer, choose the option to save as a PDF; set the pages to 4–6. Open the new file and check that every number you typed is there.
- Split a combined file. If one PDF holds every contractor, print each contractor's pages to their own PDF the same way, and name each file after the contractor.
- Remove any password. Postmarkr can't accept an encrypted or password-protected PDF. Ask whoever sent it for an unprotected copy, or print it to a new PDF if the file allows printing.
- Keep it US Letter. Pages need to be 8½ × 11 inches. The IRS form already is; print anything else to PDF at Letter size.
Then upload each file and read the preview before you pay. Postmarkr renders a print preview of each letter before checkout, so check Copy B there: the amounts, the TINs, your phone number. Empty boxes mean the numbers didn't print into the page. Check that you uploaded the new PDF from step 1, not the form you filled in. If that copy is blank too, the app you used can't handle this kind of form: fill it in with a different PDF app and print to PDF from there. Pay within six days of uploading, or you'll need to upload the file again.
How the address shows without lining up the form#
If you mail Copy B yourself, you can address a plain envelope by hand, or use a window envelope sold for 1099s, folded so the form's address blocks sit behind the windows. The form's address fields changed this year, so test a folded December 2026 Copy B against one of those envelopes before you buy a box.
When you send a letter online through Postmarkr, nothing has to line up. Postmarkr adds a separate address page on top of your PDF, printed with the contractor's address and your return address, and mails the letter in a #10 double-window envelope with a security tint inside. The windows show the address page. Copy B and the pages behind it stay inside, TIN and amounts included. Letters of up to six sheets, counting the address page, are folded in thirds for that envelope, so three form pages fit easily. Front to back, the envelope holds the address page, Copy B, the instructions and Copy 2.
The contractor's address has to verify as deliverable with USPS before you can pay, so a typo shows up before the letter goes anywhere. Each contractor is one letter: add each one to your cart, up to 10 letters per checkout. Bulk Send mails one shared PDF or letter template to a list, so it can't send each contractor their own Copy B. The total shows before you pay, and per-letter prices are on the pricing page.
Tax year 2026 mail-by calendar#
Each suggested send-by date leaves a week before the due date.
Form | IRS due date | Suggested send-by | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
1099-NEC | Mon, Feb 1, 2027 | Mon, Jan 25, 2027 | Copy A due the same day |
1099-MISC, most boxes | Mon, Feb 1, 2027 | Mon, Jan 25, 2027 | Same as 1099-NEC |
1099-MISC, box 8 or 10 | Tue, Feb 16, 2027 | Tue, Feb 9, 2027 | Feb 15 is a holiday |
The 1099-NEC, its Copy A to the IRS, and most 1099-MISC statements are due Monday, February 1, 2027, so send by Monday, January 25. A 1099-MISC with an amount in box 8 or 10 starts from February 15, a Monday and a legal holiday in 2027, so it's due Tuesday, February 16; send it by Tuesday, February 9.
The week is a cushion we suggest, not a processing time: room to fix a file that won't preview or an address that won't verify, and for printing before the letter enters the mail. If you mail it yourself, the due date is your last day. The IRS counts the mailing date, but your contractors need the form in hand to file; our guide to First-Class Mail delivery times covers how long that takes.
If you'll miss a date, ask before it passes. Form 15397 (opens in new tab) requests a one-time extension of up to 30 extra days to furnish recipient statements. Send it online or by fax, never by mail, no earlier than January 1, so the IRS receives it by the statement due date. The IRS doesn't send approval letters, and the form doesn't extend Copy A's filing date; for a 1099-NEC, no automatic extension of that date is available (see Form 8809 (opens in new tab)). Late or missing statements can draw penalties, explained in Part O of Publication 1099 (opens in new tab).
What to keep in each contractor's file#
Keep copies of the information returns you file, or be able to reconstruct the data, for at least three years from the due date, and four years if any federal income tax was withheld, backup withholding included, as Publication 1099 (opens in new tab) explains. For each contractor, it's good practice to keep:
- your own copy of the PDF you mailed
- the mailing address you used, and where it came from, such as their W-9
- the date the letter went out
- their consent, if you delivered electronically instead
If you mailed through Postmarkr, the letter's page in Sent lists dated processing updates and USPS scans when available. Treat it as your own dated record. Postal scans can be delayed or missing, and they don't prove delivery. The page also isn't a Certificate of Mailing: that's USPS's own record of the mailing date, and you get it at the post office counter when you mail the letter yourself. The IRS doesn't require one for Copy B. If you want one for a particular contractor, our guide to getting a letter postmarked covers the counter visit.
If an envelope comes back#
The IRS has no specific rule for a returned 1099 statement, so this is good practice rather than a requirement. An undeliverable letter comes back to its return address (with Postmarkr, the one printed on the address page), so use one where you'll see it.
- Keep the returned envelope in the contractor's file and note the date it came back.
- Confirm the address with the contractor, or ask for an updated W-9, and update your records.
- Mail Copy B again to the corrected address, and note that date too.
If the letter went through Postmarkr, mail returned as undeliverable because of an incorrect or incomplete address is not eligible for a refund or free resend.
Other questions about mailing 1099s#
Does Postmarkr file Copy A with the IRS?#
No. Postmarkr prints and mails the letters you upload and doesn't file anything with the IRS.
Can I email a 1099 instead of mailing it?#
Only with the contractor's consent, given affirmatively and electronically after you've provided the disclosures the IRS requires. You then post the statement by the due date, keep it available through October 15, and tell the contractor, electronically or by mail, where it is and how to print it. Without consent on file, mail it.