Electronically Filing Form 1096 and 1099-MISC

I manually prepared my 2011 1099-MISCs last month and mailed them to the recipients myself.  However, this year I decided to e-file my 1096 with the Internal Revenue Service.  I used one of the IRS recommended vendors and found it very easy.   Soup to nuts, it took me about 30 minutes to set up my account, enter recipient info, pay and transmit.

Most services charge about the same amount for the service and have a sliding scale fee structure based on how many 1099s you are e-filing and whether you also want the service to mail the 1099 to the recipient.  

Don't forget - the deadline to e-file or mail the Form 1096 and 1099-MISCs to the IRS is February 29.