Year end is a critical window for property managers. Clean books, tight processes, and accurate reporting make tax season faster and less risky. The tips below are practical, high-level guidelines based on common practices across the property management industry. They are general guidelines only, not legal or tax advice.
Every portfolio and entity structure is different. You should always reach out to a qualified CPA or tax professional with questions about your specific situation.
You can do everything here with spreadsheets, your accounting system, or your property management software. If you use a modern platform like Rentvine, a lot of this work can be streamlined or automated behind the scenes.
1. Reconcile trust accounts before the year closes
Trust accounting is non-negotiable. Before the year ends, reconcile:
Bank balances
Tenant and owner ledgers
Security deposit ledgers
Any “manager” or “operating” ledgers
If the trust bank balance, the software ledger, and the sum of all owner/tenant balances don’t agree, fix it now, not in February.
👉 If you’re on Rentvine:
Our webinar about accessing 1099s in Rentvine emphasized getting trust accounts fully reconciled first, then running tax reporting on clean data instead of trying to fix issues after 1099s are compiled.
2. Get your IRS e-file setup sorted early (TCC, FIRE, IRIS)
If you are filing 1099s electronically yourself, you need a Transmitter Control Code (TCC) with the IRS and access to one of their e-file platforms (FIRE or IRIS).
Key points you can share with your owners and internal team:
You must apply for a TCC through the IRS if you will upload files directly.
The IRS has moved away from paper as the primary option in many cases. Relying on manual paper filing is risky and often non-compliant at scale.
FIRE and IRIS both handle 1099s, but they expect different file formats and upload flows. IRIS typically uses CSV and may require multiple uploads if you have a large number of records, while FIRE consumes a special electronic file format.NOTE: The IRS is retiring the legacy FIRE system and transitioning all information return filings to the new IRIS system in 2026. A TCC for IRIS will need to be obtained prior to that time.
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
Rentvine can generate both FIRE and IRIS-compatible files for your 1099s, so once your TCC is approved, you download the appropriate file and upload it directly into the IRS system instead of building files by hand. If you would like assistance filing, or need a TCC,, our Accounting as a Service team can take care of the process for you.
3. Lock in your company tax settings correctly
A surprisingly common problem: the payer information on 1099s doesn’t match what the IRS has on file.
Best practice:
Use your legal company name exactly as registered, including “LLC” or “Inc” if applicable.
Make sure your EIN or SSN is correctly formatted, including the dash in the correct position.
Confirm the tax form type you’ll be issuing (typically 1099-NEC and/or 1099-MISC).
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
You’ll configure this under your tax and accounting settings. The legal name, address, and formatted EIN entered there is exactly what prints on your 1099s and in the IRS upload files, so this setup has to be right.
4. Make sure your income accounts are properly marked as taxable
You can’t get accurate 1099 totals if your chart of accounts doesn’t distinguish between taxable and non-taxable income.
Conceptually, you want to:
Identify all income types that owners actually receive (rent, shared late fees, pet fees, add-on fees, etc.).
Mark those as taxable for 1099 purposes.
Ensure the system only taxes the owner’s share where items are split (for example, a 50/50 late fee split between manager and owner).
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
You can mark income accounts as “taxable / included on 1099,” and Rentvine will only include the portion that flows to the owner when fees are split.
5. Clean up owner and vendor data using reports
Before you touch 1099 compilation, use reports to identify missing or bad data.
For any owner or vendor who should get a 1099, you need:
Correct tax form type (subject to 1099 or not)
Taxpayer name
Tax ID (SSN or EIN), correctly formatted
Legal mailing address
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
Set up and save:
An owner review report with status, contact info, tax form, taxpayer name, and tax ID
A vendor review report with the same columns
Those reports quickly highlight missing addresses, tax IDs, or tax form flags so you can fix them before compiling, instead of getting blocked by errors later.
6. Prep and compile 1099 data, including prepays
From a process standpoint, good year-end practice looks like this:
Confirm the minimum thresholds you will use (the IRS standard is your floor).
Decide, with your CPA, how you will treat prepaid rent and whether it needs to be included in 1099 totals for your situation.
Compile owner and vendor 1099 data, then review all values and errors before printing or filing with the IRS.
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
Rentvine’s tax reporting tools allow you to:
Select the tax year and IRS minimums for owners and vendors.
Choose whether to include prepays in 1099 totals, aligned with IRS regulations and your CPA’s recommendations.
Review who is below the minimum and automatically skipped, so you understand why certain taxpayers won’t receive a form.
See clear error indicators for missing addresses or improperly formatted tax IDs and fix them directly from the 1099 screen.
If you migrated mid-year, Rentvine can use “tax adjustments” from your previous system so you can still issue a single 1099 per recipient from Rentvine that reflects the full year.
7. Avoid double-reporting and fragmented 1099s
If you’re paying vendors or owners from multiple systems (for example, some payments in QuickBooks and some in your property management platform), you have to avoid issuing duplicate 1099s to the same taxpayer.
Best practice:
Decide which system will be your source of truth for 1099s.
Bring in totals from the other system as adjustments.
Issue only one 1099 per taxpayer and tax ID, with the full combined amount.
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
You can enter tax adjustments for vendors and owners to fold in payments made elsewhere. That way, the 1099 issued from Rentvine reflects all payments for the year, and you don’t risk conflicting forms hitting the IRS for the same tax ID.
8. Use exports to validate numbers with your CPA
Even with great software, you still want your CPA to sanity-check the numbers.
What to generate:
A summary showing each owner/vendor, taxpayer name, masked tax ID, and 1099 total.
A detailed export with address and tax information for deeper review.
Supporting reports that explain the gap between “simple rent math” and 1099 totals (for example, because of prepays, fee splits, or mid-year onboarding).
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
You can:
Export full detail to Excel with owner/vendor information and totals.
Use the cash flow comparison report to show how income, expenses, and prepays add up to what is being reported.
This makes it easy to email everything to your CPA and ask them to confirm that 1099 totals and reporting logic line up with current tax rules.
9. Publish 1099s securely and respect electronic delivery rules
Regardless of what tools you use, think about:
How much of the tax ID you display (showing only the last four digits is safer).
Whether you have proper consent to deliver 1099s electronically instead of on paper, based on current IRS expectations.
How you’ll correct and re-issue forms if you discover an error after filing.
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
From a process standpoint, Rentvine lets you:
Publish 1099s to owner and vendor portals.
Mask all but the last four digits of the tax ID when publishing to reduce risk if a document gets forwarded.
Generate corrected forms by marking a record as “corrected,” specifying what changed, and producing updated PDFs and IRS files.
You still decide how to handle paper copies and consent, in line with your CPA’s guidance and IRS requirements.
10. Give owners a full year picture with cash flow statements
A 1099 is not the whole story. Owners want to see where their money actually went.
Best practice:
Issue a year-end cash flow or income/expense statement that shows income, expenses, prepayments, and net results by property.
For migrations, consider issuing two statements (old system and new system) plus one consolidated 1099 so owners can tie everything together.
👉If you’re on Rentvine:
You can set up a year-end statement based on the Cash Flow Property Comparison report. That gives owners a side-by-side view of each property’s performance. You can mass-send it to all relevant portfolios, including those deactivated during the year, so everyone gets a complete picture.
Closing
Strong year-end processes don’t happen by accident. They come from disciplined accounting, consistent documentation, and clear reporting. Use these guidelines to sharpen your workflow, then run everything past a qualified CPA to make sure you’re aligned with current tax rules. Whether you’re managing a handful of units or a full portfolio, platforms like Rentvine can streamline the heavy lifting so you can focus on accuracy and owner confidence.
