Free tool
Enter what went wrong with a batch of information returns and get an estimate of the section 6721 (IRS copy) and section 6722 (recipient copy) penalties, with the math shown.
Uses the IRS copy's count, date, and outcome above, measured against the recipient due date of Monday, February 1, 2027.
1099-NEC, returns due in 2027 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), at or under $5M receipts.
Filed March 20, 47 days after February 1 (due Monday, February 1, 2027).
Filed March 20, 47 days after February 1 (due Monday, February 1, 2027).
An estimate, not a bill. The calendar-year cap covers all of a filer's failures that year, so other penalties for the same year reach the cap sooner. Every figure comes from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (checked 2026-09-18), and every due date has the weekend and holiday shifts applied. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Each side follows one formula: the per-return tier amount times the penalized returns, capped at the calendar-year maximum. Then the two sides are added. For returns due in 2027 the tier amounts are $60, $130, and $340 per return, from Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
The tier comes from your dates, not from a menu. The tool finds the required date for the form, method, and copy you picked, with weekend and DC-holiday shifts applied, then measures your filing or correction date against it: within 30 days after the required date is the first tier (IRC 6721(b)(1)), after that but by August 1 of the due year is the second, and anything later is the third. A tax-year 2026 1099-NEC is due Monday, February 1, 2027, so its 30-day window closes Wednesday, March 3, 2027. The 30-day count starts on the shifted due date, which is the reading the 1099 penalties guide uses. The regulation defines the required filing date without addressing the shift (Treas. Reg. 301.6721-1(b)(3)).
The 10-return exception removes timely returns with errors that you correct by August 1, up to the greater of 10 or 0.5% of the returns required that year (IRC 6721(c)(2); IRC 6722(c)(2) for recipient copies). The regulation states the limit but not how to round a fractional 0.5%, so the tool rounds down. The exception never removes a late-filing penalty, and it does not apply to intentional disregard. The tool treats each copy as either late or on time with an error; a return that was both late and wrong is priced as late.
The cap is per side and per calendar year: $4,191,500 at the highest tier for large filers and $1,397,000 for filers at or under $5 million in average gross receipts. The cap covers all of a filer's failures that year, so other penalties the same year reach the cap sooner.
De minimis errors: no correction or penalty when no amount is off by more than $100, or $25 for withholding, unless the recipient elects out and asks for a corrected statement. The 1099 penalties guide explains the election-out.
Reasonable-cause relief: the main route off a penalty, claimed with a signed written statement under IRM 20.1.7.12. The 1099 penalties guide lists what the statement must contain.
State penalties: each state sets its own information-return requirements on top of the federal ones. The 1099 penalties guide covers federal penalties only.
Penalties on W-2, 1042-S, and 1095 forms: the picker covers the 1099 family and 1098, so it does not price those forms. The 1099 penalties guide prices information returns under sections 6721 and 6722.
Last verified September 19, 2026 against Rev. Proc. 2025-32, IRC sections 6721 and 6722, Treasury Regulation 301.6721-1, IRM 20.1.7, and the General Instructions for Certain Information Returns. Every dollar figure is computed from lib/penalties.ts, and every date from lib/deadlines.ts. For the rules behind each tier, read the 1099 penalties guide.