How to get an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (TCC)

What a TCC is

A Transmitter Control Code (TCC) is a 5-character code the IRS assigns to your business so it can e-file information returns such as Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC. You need an IRIS TCC to sign in to the free IRIS Taxpayer Portal. The code belongs to the business, not to one person, and it only works in IRIS.

The application and the code are free. What they cost is time: the identity checks, the signatures, and the IRS's processing.

Apply now: the timing

The IRS says to allow up to 45 days to process an IRIS TCC application, and its own training material describes a typical application as processed within 45 business days, which is closer to nine weeks. Busy periods are slower. Work backwards from your deadline:

• 2026 Forms 1099-NEC are due to the IRS by Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday).
• Forty-five calendar days before that is mid-December; forty-five business days is the end of November.
• So if you will e-file 2026 forms, submit the application in November, and make sure every person who must sign does so straight away. The clock only starts when the last signature is in.

This matters more than usual in 2026 because FIRE, the old e-file system, closed after November 19, 2026. Everyone who used FIRE needs an IRIS TCC this season, so expect queues.

Who has to take part

The application lists people in three roles:

• Responsible Officials (ROs): people with authority over the business, such as owners, partners or officers. An RO starts the application, and every RO must sign it. You need at least two ROs, unless the business is a sole proprietorship, a single-member LLC or a single-member S corporation.
• Contacts: people the IRS can reach about your filings, at least two (again, one is enough for a sole proprietor, single-member LLC or single-member S corporation). An RO can also be a contact.
• Authorized Delegates: optional, up to two, who can later update and sign a revised application.

Before the application can be completed, each of these people verifies their identity with ID.me. Have them do this first, with a phone, a photo ID and some patience. An ID.me account they already use for other IRS services works.

Which role to choose

The application asks what you will do in IRIS. For a small business filing its own forms through the Taxpayer Portal:

Buying accounting software that makes an upload file does not make you a software developer. If you upload a CSV in the portal, you are an Issuer or a Transmitter.

The application, step by step

1. Read the IRS guide. Publication 5903, IRIS Application for TCC, has the screens step by step.
2. Every participant sets up ID.me. ROs, contacts and any delegates.
3. An RO starts the application at irs.gov/iristcc: choose Access IRIS Application for TCC, sign in, and select New Application for an IRIS application.
4. Firm information: the legal name and EIN exactly as the IRS has them, and the business and mailing addresses. A mismatch with IRS records is the usual cause of delay. If you want the IRS to forward your 1099s to participating states (the Combined Federal/State Filing program), give consent here.
5. Roles and transmission method: as in the table above, and the Taxpayer Portal for portal filing.
6. Authorized users: add the ROs, contacts and delegates.
7. Review the summary, then each RO signs the submission page with their own 5-digit PIN and accepts the terms. The status shows Signature Required until the last RO signs, then Submitted Pending Review.
8. Wait for Completed. Applications left unsubmitted for 90 days are deleted, so don't start one and forget it.

After you have it

• When the application is completed and passes the IRS's suitability check, the TCC appears on your Application Summary page, ready to use. Letter 6524C confirming it follows by mail; you don't have to wait for the letter.
• Keep the application current. Add new owners or contacts and change addresses when they change. Any change to the users or details puts the application back to Resubmission Required until it is signed again.
• Use it at least once every three years. A TCC unused for three consecutive years is deleted and cannot be reactivated.
• Then file: see how to file 1099s free with IRIS.

If it won't arrive in time

• Fewer than 10 information returns in total (W-2s included)? You can file on paper: official red-ink Copy A forms with Form 1096. See do you still need Form 1096?
• 10 or more? You must e-file. An accountant or filing service with its own IRIS TCC can file for you as a transmitter. A waiver from e-filing (Form 8508) must be requested at least 45 days before the due date, so it rarely helps at the last minute.
• Recipient copies are still due on time, whatever happens with the IRS filing. Send contractors their 1099s by February 1, 2027.

AcboBooks prepares the 1099 figures and an IRIS upload file, and prints paper 1099s and Form 1096. It never files for you and does not have, or need, your TCC: you upload the file yourself. See 1099 and T4 software.

Frequently asked questions