Looking for recommendations on a reliable 1099 software for my small business. Tax season is coming up, and I want something easy to use but effective for preparing and filing 1099 forms. Has anyone used software they’d recommend that fits a small business budget?
If you’re really looking for the best 1099 software, let me warn you now, you’re about to be buried in opinions. Every software claims to be “intuitive” and “streamlined,” but half of them will probably have you screaming into the ether by the second form. That said, I’ve used TaxBandits, and it’s not the worst. It’s pretty straightforward and doesn’t have a million cryptic menus or pop-ups about “premium features” like some others I’ve tried. You can e-file directly, so zero postal running around needed.
Another one people swear by is Track1099, especially for smaller businesses. It’s simple, does the job, and won’t overload you with unnecessary bells and whistles. Also, if spreadsheets are your thing (you psychopath), it integrates with Excel.
Avoid over-complicated stuff like the plague—lookin’ at you, TurboTax Business—because tax software for small businesses doesn’t need to feel like solving climate change. Check reviews before committing because customer service quality makes or breaks these programs. Nothing worse than needing help on deadline day and getting ghosted. Wouldn’t wish that trauma on anyone, even my competitors.
Anyway, look into those two. Anyone else have recs or war stories?
Totally agree with @jeff on avoiding the overly complex stuff—some of these options feel like they were designed by someone who’s never filed a tax form in their life. But I’ll throw in a wildcard option that worked for me last year: eFileMyForms. Not the flashiest name, but it does exactly what it says. What I loved most is that it doesn’t pretend to be “all-in-one enterprise software”; it’s just for 1099s and W-2s. Super focused, less headache.
One downside, though, is if you have more than a handful of forms to file, the costs can stack up. It’s pay-as-you-go, which works for smaller businesses like mine, but maybe not if you’re distributing 50+ forms. For those situations, something like Yearli might start making more sense—pricing’s a bit different, and it offers state reporting too, which saved me a ton of time instead of adding that crap manually.
Also, big PSA: don’t sleep on downloadable import templates wherever offered. Manual entry is the tax season killer. Been there, manually typed that, cried into my keyboard. Compare features heavily ahead of time, because once you’re mid-January, changing tools is like changing car tires while driving. Anyone else tried different solutions?