New 1099 filing date to IRS as of this year??

[Kimberly H.]

My accountant emailed a couple weeks ago and said that the 2016 1099s have to be filed to the IRS by the end of February.

However, I found an IRS website and Intuit website that says as of this year that the form needs to get to the contractor AND to the IRS by the end of January.

Did my accountant make a major miss on this? Aren't they supposed to be on top of changes like this?

On the IRS website:

from https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/forms-and-associated-taxes-for-independent-contractors

Changes for 2016

A new federal law, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, enacted in December 2015, moves up some 1099-MISC filing deadlines to January 31. The new law makes it easier for the IRS to find and stop refund fraud.

Businesses who use Form 1099-MISC to report non-employee compensation, such as payments to independent contractors, are now required to file Copy A with the IRS by January 31.

In the past, businesses typically had until the end of February, if filing on paper, or the end of March, if filing electronically, to submit their copies of this form.

Something that hasn’t changed: a copies of Form 1099-MISC must still be provided to the worker by January 31.

Also from  https://payroll.intuit.com/support/kb/2001909.html

In an effort to combat fraud, The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015, was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in December. The act revises the filing deadline for Form W-2 and certain types of Form 1099.

What's Changing?

Until now, employers had two dates to keep in mind when remitting W-2's:

• January 31, to provide employee copies, and
• February 28, for paper filings submitted to the Social Security Administration (March 31 for electronic filings)

Beginning with 2016 forms, employers will now have one filing deadline for all Federal W-2s, January 31. This is true for both employee and agency copies, or whether filing paper or electronic returns.

What about Form 1099-Misc? The new January 31 deadline applies to certain types of 1099s. If you're filing Form 1099-Misc and reporting amounts in Box 7: Nonemployee Compensation, then you will need to meet the new filing deadline of January 31.

If you don't have amounts in Box 7,then the deadline remains February 28 for paper filings or March 31 for electronic filings.