Track1099 built a loyal following on a clean, self-serve filing experience and is now part of Avalara, a large tax-compliance company. That’s a plus if you want a broader compliance suite behind your 1099 filing, and worth watching if you preferred the small, focused tool it started as. e1099f stays deliberately focused on one thing: getting you filing through IRIS today, with no TCC of your own, no 45-day wait, and automatic conversion of legacy FIRE/Pub 1220 files to IRIS XML. Compare on capability — and check Avalara’s current Track1099 pricing directly rather than trusting a number here.
In this story
Track1099 Is Now an Avalara Product. That Matters.
The most important thing to know before you compare features: Track1099 isn’t an independent startup anymore. It’s part of Avalara, a large tax-compliance vendor. Whether that’s good or bad depends entirely on what you want.
If you already use Avalara for sales tax, or you want a single vendor spanning multiple compliance needs, folding 1099s into that relationship is genuinely convenient. Bigger companies often prefer one throat to choke and one procurement cycle. For them, the acquisition is a feature.
If you fell for Track1099 precisely because it was a small, self-serve tool that did one job cleanly, an acquisition is the kind of change worth watching. Product roadmaps, pricing, and support models can shift after a deal. None of that is a prediction — it’s just the reason a chunk of Track1099’s base is quietly shopping for alternatives, and why you might be reading this.
Who Each One Actually Suits
Track1099 (Avalara) suits the filer who wants a polished, established web app and either already uses Avalara or likes the idea of one vendor across sales tax, business licenses, and information returns. It’s a comfortable pick for companies standardizing their whole compliance stack on one name.
e1099f suits the filer whose problem is specifically the FIRE-to-IRIS transition and speed. You have a January 31 deadline, you don’t have your own TCC, and you may have FIRE files from years of transmitting through the old system. You want to be filing today, not enrolling in a compliance platform.
Track1099 (Avalara)
Best when you want one broad compliance vendor behind your 1099s.
e1099f
Best when you want a same-day IRIS start and a clean FIRE bridge.
Overlap
Both file the 1099 series electronically and furnish recipient copies.
This isn’t winner-take-all — it’s about which problem is yours.
How Fast Can You Actually Start?
Filing directly with the IRS normally means getting your own TCC through IRIS, and that application can take up to 45 days to process. Any real e-file service, Track1099 included, lets you file without becoming your own transmitter — that’s table stakes for a filing tool.
Where e1099f pushes harder is treating “start now, file today” as the default. You create an account, bring your data, and file the same day under e1099f’s own IRS authorization. There’s no TCC step to plan around and no onboarding clock ticking against your deadline. For a last-minute filer, that’s the difference between filing on time and filing late.
1099-NEC is due to recipients and the IRS by January 31. If you discover that on January 20, a 45-day TCC clock is useless to you. Pick a service that’s already authorized, and confirm on its site how quickly a brand-new account can transmit.
How Hard Is It to Move?
Switching vendors sounds heavier than it is. What actually moves is your data and, if you have them, your legacy files. Neither is locked to a vendor.
Your recipient and payer records are just data — names, TINs, addresses, box amounts. Exporting them from one tool and bringing them into another is a normal spreadsheet operation, and e1099f imports standard form data plus payer-bound CSVs. You’re not re-keying a year of work by hand.
The bigger migration story is FIRE. The old IRS FIRE system retires December 31, 2026, so everyone still transmitting Pub 1220 files has to land somewhere on IRIS. e1099f converts those FIRE files to IRIS XML automatically — that’s the core of why it exists. If your “migration” is really a FIRE sunset problem, that bridge is the whole ballgame. We laid out the full move in migrating from FIRE to IRIS.
Moving off FIRE before it sunsets?
Upload the FIRE files you already produce and get validated IRIS XML back the same day.
Capability Comparison, Side by Side
As with any comparison on this blog, the table sticks to approach and capability. The only prices here are e1099f’s own published ones — for Track1099’s current rates under Avalara, check their site.
| Capability | e1099f | Track1099 (Avalara) |
|---|---|---|
| File through IRIS | Yes — core focus | Yes |
| Need your own TCC | No | No (files as a service) |
| Same-day start, no 45-day wait | Yes | Verify onboarding on their site |
| Automatic FIRE/Pub-1220 → IRIS XML | Yes — native | Not its focus; check current support |
| Part of a broader compliance suite | No — focused on IRIS filing | Yes — Avalara compliance platform |
| 1099-series form coverage | Full 1099 series + new IRIS forms | Broad catalog |
| TIN matching | Yes | Yes |
| State / CF/SF filing | Emitted & validated automatically | Yes |
| Print & mail recipient copies | Flat $1.85/recipient | Available; check current pricing |
| Corrections | $4.99 per correction | Available; check current pricing |
| Published, flat pricing tiers | Yes — Free/Pro/Teams/Enterprise | Per-form; check current pricing |
The pattern mirrors the whole comparison: Track1099 is the broad, suite-backed option; e1099f is the focused FIRE-to-IRIS on-ramp with visible pricing.
How e1099f Prices
We won’t print a Track1099 price next to ours — per-form rates move, and post-acquisition pricing is exactly the kind of thing you should confirm at the source. Check Avalara’s current Track1099 pricing. Here’s ours, in full.
- Tiers: Free, Pro $99, Teams $149, Enterprise $199.
- E-file, additional forms: about $0.65 each (Pro add-on forms $0.45).
- Print & mail: a flat $1.85 per recipient.
- Corrections: $4.99 each.
- Online recipient access: $0.49 per recipient.
A per-form rate that looks cheap at 20 forms can look different at 2,000, and print & mail is where surprises hide. Model both vendors’ current numbers against your real recipient count before you commit.
The Bottom Line
Pick Track1099 (Avalara) if you want your 1099 filing to sit inside a larger, established compliance suite and you’re comfortable with the vendor consolidation that comes with it. Pick e1099f if your real problem is the FIRE sunset and speed: file today, no TCC of your own, and your legacy FIRE files converted to IRIS XML without reformatting.
If you’re still torn, run the same test we’d run: take your actual form count and recipient list, price both at current rates, and ask which one gets you a Receipt ID from the IRS with the least setup. That answer tends to make the decision for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Track1099 still independent?
Is e1099f a good Track1099 alternative?
How hard is it to switch from Track1099 to e1099f?
Do I need a TCC to use e1099f?
Why isn’t Track1099’s price shown here?
Does e1099f handle state filing like Track1099?
When does FIRE retire?
Not tax advice. This guide is general information for filers and may not reflect the latest IRS rules; thresholds and amounts change. Confirm current-year requirements with the IRS or a tax professional before you file.