Thousands of Businesses Have Already Trusted Sovos to Navigate the FIRE-to-IRIS Switch

Sovos has guided businesses of every size through the IRS’s mandatory migration to IRIS; with the November 19th deadline approaching, the time for remaining filers to act is now

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sovos, the agentic tax compliance company, today announced that it has helped thousands of businesses, from small and mid-sized filers to the world’s largest enterprises, successfully navigate the complexity of moving from the IRS’s legacy Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system to the Information Returns Intake System (IRIS). With the FIRE shutdown now just days away, Sovos is calling on every organization that has not yet completed its migration to act immediately.

Effective November 19, 2026, the IRS will require all electronic information return filers to migrate to IRIS, shutting down the FIRE platform that organizations have relied on for decades. The change is the most significant overhaul to federal information return filing infrastructure in a generation, and the deadline is fixed.

“We’ve been investing and building for IRIS since 2021, working closely with the IRS and thousands of businesses as the requirements took shape,” said John Kreger, VP, Product Management at Sovos. “That early groundwork gave us a solution that is now proven and production-ready; the Sovos team and our clients are prepared and confident heading into the next reporting season.”

Experience across every filer profile

The move to IRIS is more than a change of portal. It affects data formats, API connectivity, TIN validation, correction workflows and state reporting, and the challenges look different for every filer. Smaller businesses often lack in-house expertise and bandwidth, while high-volume filers face integration complexity and the risk of disrupting broader compliance operations.

Sovos’ Information Reporting & Withholding (IRW) platform was built for this kind of regulatory inflection point. With native IRIS API integration, high-volume filing, TIN validation and state reporting, Sovos enables organizations of any size to retire its FIRE-era workflows without disruption.

Why waiting is the riskiest option

The financial consequences of falling behind are real and for organizations that can’t complete their IRIS migration in time, the risk isn’t just filing incorrectly. It’s not being able to file at all.

Under IRC §6721, penalties for failure to file information returns on time scale with how late the filing is: $60 per return for filings up to 30 days late, $130 per return from 31 days through August 1, and $340 per return for returns filed after August 1 or not filed at all - with statutory maximums reaching $4,098,500. In cases of intentional disregard, the penalty rises to $680 per return with no maximum cap, or 10% of the reportable amount, whichever is greater. For businesses filing thousands or millions of 1099s annually, exposure at any of these tiers can be severe.

As the deadline nears, IRIS migration has moved from tax and compliance teams to finance and technology leadership, and for many organizations it is now a board-level priority.

“The FIRE-to-IRIS transition is a once-in-a-generation infrastructure change for information reporting,” added Kreger. “The financial stakes of getting this wrong are real and it’s receiving attention at the highest levels of the organization.”

Take action now

Sovos is working directly with organizations to assess IRIS readiness and accelerate a path to compliance before the FIRE shutdown. Businesses that have not yet begun their migration are encouraged to contact Sovos today to secure their place before demand peaks and implementation capacity tightens.

For more information about Sovos Information Reporting & Withholding solutions, visit sovos.com.

About Sovos

Sovos is delivering the future of compliant finance. Its Agentic Tax Compliance Platform enables businesses to identify, determine, and report on every tax and compliance obligation globally. Sovi AI agents extend compliance into finance and procurement workflows, VAT recovery, and error diagnosis, so every transaction is compliant by design. Sovos processes more than 70 billion transactions per year across 150+ countries. More than 100,000 customers – including half the Fortune 500 – trust Sovos’ tax and regulatory expertise and unparalleled integration with their business applications. Learn more at sovos.com.