1. 1099 Year-End Processing Guide
  2. Understanding Combined Federal and State Filing

Understanding Combined Federal and State Filing

The IRS established the Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) program to simplify the filing of tax returns, which no longer requires separate reporting to the participating state.

The IRS prescribes the format for combined federal and state filing, and the software generates a text file that complies with the IRS requirements for electronic filing.

On Write 1099 Media, if you select the Combined Federal State Filing option, the Write Media program (R04515):

  • Creates a B record for each supplier, which includes the federal total. The program also writes the record to the 1099 Electronic Media table (F04515OW).

  • Creates a K record for each state, which includes the total number of suppliers and total payment amount. The program also writes the record to the 1099 Electronic Media table (F04515OW).

The Write Media program uses the user-defined code (UDC) table 04/ST, which contains the IRS state code that is required for each participating state.

After the Write Media program (R04515) writes records to the F04515OW table, you can use the Export 1099 Electronic Work File program (P04515A) to generate the test file that is required for IRS approval.

Before you decide to use the combined federal and state filing feature, review this information to ensure that you understand its scope and limitations:

  • Combined federal and state filing is available only for electronic filing.

  • Not all states accept combined federal and state filing. Research the regulations for the states in which you file. The UDC table 04/ST that is delivered with the 1099 year-end software includes only those states that are participating in the combined federal/state filing program at the current time.

  • The Write Media program uses federal minimum amounts, which are specified in the processing options, and not individual state minimum amounts. Do not use combined federal and state filing, unless the minimum amount requirements for your state are the same as the federal minimum amount requirements.

  • Combined federal and state filing does not handle suppliers that have more than one reporting state because of a change of address. The Write Media program creates only one B record for each supplier, and uses the current address of the supplier.

  • The federal government publishes one set of guidelines for the creation of all B records; however, a participating state might have additional requirements. The combined federal and state filing feature supports the federal guidelines only. The software does not handle additional requirements that are specific to any of the participating states.