IRIS CSV character limits for 1099-NEC
Business name lines hold 40 characters, name parts 20, address lines 35, city 40.
| Col | Field | Max | Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | Payer Business or Entity Name Line 1 | 40 | Letters, numbers, spaces, hyphen, pound, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe. |
| G | Payer Business or Entity Name Line 2 | 40 | Same characters as line 1 plus slash and percent. |
| H | Payer First Name | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| I | Payer Middle Name | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| J | Payer Last Name (Surname) | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| K | Payer Suffix | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| M | Payer Address Line 1 | 35 | Letters, numbers, hyphen, slash and space only. |
| N | Payer Address Line 2 | 35 | Letters, numbers, hyphen, slash and space only. |
| O | Payer City/Town | 40 | Letters and spaces only. |
| W | Recipient Business or Entity Name Line 1 | 40 | Letters, numbers, spaces, hyphen, pound, parentheses, ampersand, apostrophe. |
| X | Recipient Business or Entity Name Line 2 | 40 | Same characters as line 1 plus slash and percent. |
| Y | Recipient First Name | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| Z | Recipient Middle Name | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| AA | Recipient Last Name (Surname) | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| AB | Recipient Suffix | 20 | Letters, spaces and hyphens. |
| AD | Recipient Address Line 1 | 35 | Letters, numbers, hyphen, slash and space only. |
| AE | Recipient Address Line 2 | 35 | Letters, numbers, hyphen, slash and space only. |
| AF | Recipient City/Town | 40 | Letters and spaces only. |
| AJ | Form Account Number | 20 | May not equal the payer or recipient TIN. |
| AS | State 1 - State/Payer state number | 24 | Up to 24 letters and numbers, no spaces or special characters. |
| AV | State 1 - Special Data Entries | 60 | Up to 60 characters. |
| AY | State 2 - State/Payer state number | 24 | Up to 24 letters and numbers, no spaces or special characters. |
| BB | State 2 - Special Data Entries | 60 | Up to 60 characters. |
All of these fields also may not start or end with a space or contain two spaces in a row.
When a value is too long
- A business name over 40 characters continues on Business Name Line 2 (another 40).
- An address over 35 characters continues on Address Line 2.
- A first or last name over 20 characters has no overflow field. You have to shorten it.
Perfrow moves the overflow to line 2 at a word break and flags anything that still does not fit.
Rules here follow the tax year 2025 guidelines, the newest the IRS has published as of 10 November 2026. Tax year 2026 guidelines were not posted yet. The IRS says the copy inside the Taxpayer Portal is the current one, so check it there before you file.
Fix the whole file at once
Drop in your blank IRIS template and your spreadsheet. Perfrow cleans every row, tells you which ones need you, and writes CSVs of at most 250 records. It runs in your browser, so names and TINs stay on your computer.
Open the 1099-NEC CSV fixerQuestions
- What is the maximum length of an address line in the IRIS CSV?
- 35 characters for each of address line 1 and line 2, in the tax year 2025 1099-NEC guidelines.
- How long can a business name be?
- 40 characters on line 1 and 40 more on line 2.
Other answers: All 54 columns · Required fields · State codes · 250-record limit · Why files get rejected · Scientific notation · ZIP code format · Date format · Line breaks · Extra spaces · Periods and # · $0.00 cells · Y/N check boxes · Tax year · Error types · Headers do not match · From QuickBooks · TIN format · Key dates