BUYER'S GUIDE
Best Year-End Close and 1099 Software for Property Managers and Landlords
Updated October 2026 · 12 min read
TL;DR
For third-party property managers, Buildium is the simplest path: it builds owner 1099-MISCs and vendor 1099-NECs from your books and e-files them through Nelco at a published $4.50 per form plus $50 per batch. Rentec Direct also e-files through Nelco at low per-unit prices. Rentvine and Yardi Breeze generate IRIS-ready files you upload yourself, which matters because the IRS retires its old FIRE system for the 2027 filing season. DoorLoop hands filing to Avalara, and Rent Manager and Propertyware export files for you to submit. Landlords who manage their own properties mostly need tax-ready reports, not 1099 filing: Stessa, TurboTenant and Landlord Studio cover that.
January is the property manager's busiest accounting month. Bank and trust accounts have to be reconciled through December 31, owner statements and distributions finalized, and 1099s built from a year of payments: rent paid over to owners, and payments to contractors and other vendors. Most property management platforms can help, but they differ in one important way: some file the forms with the IRS for you, some export a file you upload yourself, and some only produce PDFs. This guide sorts them on that basis, after a short summary of the IRS rules the software has to follow.
The IRS Dates and Rules the Software Has to Meet
These points summarize the IRS instructions so you can check what a tool supports. They are not tax advice; confirm details with irs.gov or your tax adviser.
- January 31 for Form 1099-NEC. The IRS instructions say Form 1099-NEC must be filed on or before January 31, on paper or electronically, and the recipient statements furnished by the same date [1].
- Form 1099-MISC. Recipient statements are due by January 31; the IRS filing is due by February 28 on paper or March 31 if you file electronically [1].
- Weekends and holidays. If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the due date is the next business day [1]. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so check irs.gov for the exact dates for tax year 2026 forms.
- Rent paid to owners. A property manager reports the rent it pays over to a property owner on Form 1099-MISC (box 1, rents), and nonemployee compensation to contractors goes on Form 1099-NEC [1].
- New $2,000 threshold. For tax years beginning after 2025, the minimum reporting threshold for these payments rose to $2,000, and it may be adjusted for inflation from 2027 [1]. Many vendor help pages still say $600, so check that your software's settings and reports use the current figure.
- E-filing at 10 returns. If you must file 10 or more information returns in a year, counted across all form types together, you must e-file [2].
- FIRE is closing; IRIS replaces it. The IRS says IRIS will be the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027, and FIRE users must move to IRIS to file tax year 2026 returns [4]. The IRIS Taxpayer Portal is free and accepts manual entry or CSV uploads [3]. If your software only exports FIRE-format files, ask how it will support this season.
What Year-End Software Should Handle
- 1099 data from the ledger. Owner rent distributions and vendor payments should flow into 1099s without re-keying, with a flag on each vendor for the right form and box, and taxpayer ID numbers stored securely.
- A real filing path. Know which of three models you are buying: the vendor or its partner files for you, the software exports a file you upload to IRIS, or it only prints PDFs.
- Recipient copies. Owner and vendor portals, email delivery or printed and mailed copies.
- Reconciliation and close. Bank and trust account reconciliation through December 31, and a way to lock the closed period so nobody posts into it after statements go out.
- Owner year-end packages. Final owner statements, annual cash flow and income statements, and the 1099 in one place for each owner.
- Corrections. Corrected forms happen every year; check how the tool produces them.
Quick Comparison
| Tool | Best for | 1099 forms | How filing works | Published pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buildium | Third-party managers | Owner 1099-MISC, vendor 1099-NEC | E-filed for you via Nelco ($50/batch + $4.50/form) | From $62/month |
| Rentec Direct | Small and mid-size managers | 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, federal and state | E-filed for you via Nelco (billed by Nelco) | From $2.50/unit (PM), $50 min |
| Rentvine | Growing management companies | Owner and vendor 1099s | IRIS or FIRE file you upload; paid service option | From $1.50/unit, by quote |
| Yardi Breeze | Residential, commercial, affordable | Owner and vendor 1099s | File you upload; IRIS support stated | From $1/unit, $100 min |
| DoorLoop | Managers wanting a filing partner | Owner 1099-MISC, vendor 1099-NEC | CSV to Avalara, which e-files (fees separate) | From $2.50/unit, $199 min |
| Rent Manager | Larger residential and commercial | Owner and vendor 1099s | File you upload; docs describe FIRE | Quote |
| Propertyware | Single-family rental managers | 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, 1096 | Export you submit yourself | From $1/unit, $250 min |
The 7 Best Year-End and 1099 Tools for Property Managers
1. Buildium
Best for: Third-party residential and association managers who want 1099s filed for them inside the software
Buildium creates 1099-MISC forms for rental owners and 1099-NEC forms for vendors and e-files them through its 1099 e-filing add-on, powered by Nelco, which also postmarks recipient copies; digital copies for recipients are free when you file through Buildium [5]. The add-on costs $50 per batch plus $4.50 per form, published on its pricing page [6]. That is the clearest end-to-end filing path among the tools here: the forms are built from the payments already in your books, and you do not upload files to the IRS yourself.
For the rest of year-end, Buildium reconciles bank accounts automatically, has reports aimed at trust accounting rules, and lets you set owner statement periods so the final statements of the year go out on schedule [7]. Its help center did not load for our checks, so we could not confirm how period locking works. Plans start at $62 a month (Essential), $192 (Growth) and $400 (Premium).
What's good
- Owner 1099-MISC and vendor 1099-NEC e-filed for you through Nelco
- Per-form filing fee published
- Same-day postmarked recipient copies and free digital copies
- Automatic bank reconciliation and owner statement periods
What's not
- E-filing is a paid add-on ($50 per batch plus $4.50 per form)
- Period lock and year-end close steps not documented publicly
- Residential and association focus; light on commercial CAM
Pricing: Essential from $62/month, Growth from $192/month, Premium from $400/month; 1099 e-filing $50 per batch + $4.50 per form.
2. Rentec Direct
Best for: Small and mid-size managers who want low per-unit pricing with trust accounting
Rentec Direct e-files federal and state 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms for owners and vendors through Nelco Solutions, an IRS-approved third-party vendor that can also mail recipient copies; Nelco bills separately for the service [8]. You flag each vendor as non-employee (1099-NEC) or other (1099-MISC). The feature is on the Rentec Pro and Rentec PM plans, not Starter, and no Form 1096 is provided for paper filers.
Rentec PM is the plan for managers who hold client money: it is certified for trust accounting and includes trust account management and reporting. Pricing is published: Pro is $2 per unit per month and PM $2.50 per unit per month, each with a $50 monthly minimum, and Starter is a flat $25 a month [9]. The per-form charge from Nelco is not published on Rentec's site.
What's good
- Federal and state 1099 e-filing through Nelco
- Trust accounting on the PM plan
- Low published per-unit pricing
- Recipient copies can be mailed for you
What's not
- Nelco's per-form fees are billed separately and not published by Rentec
- Not available on Starter
- No Form 1096 for paper filing
Pricing: Rentec PM $2.50/unit/month, Rentec Pro $2/unit/month ($50 monthly minimum); Starter $25/month (no 1099s).
3. Rentvine
Best for: Growing management companies that want IRIS-ready files and owner and vendor portals
Rentvine generates both FIRE and IRIS-compatible 1099 files, so once you have a Transmitter Control Code you download the file and upload it to the IRS yourself [10]. Forms can be published to owner and vendor portals, corrected forms can be generated, and owners can get a year-end cash flow comparison statement. If you would rather not file yourself, Rentvine's accounting services team offers 1099 processing at a per-form price it does not publish [11].
Rentvine is built around trust accounting, with bank sync, AI-assisted reconciliation and monthly closeout and owner distributions [12]. Its IRIS support matters this season: the IRS says IRIS will be the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027 [4]. Pricing is quoted, from as low as $1.50 per unit, with a one-time setup fee.
What's good
- Generates IRIS-compatible files as well as FIRE
- Publishes 1099s to owner and vendor portals
- Trust accounting with monthly closeout built in
- Optional done-for-you 1099 processing
What's not
- You upload the file to the IRS yourself (or pay for the service)
- Per-form service price not published
- Pricing by quote beyond the per-unit floor
Pricing: From $1.50/unit/month (request pricing); one-time setup fee; 1099 processing service priced per form.
4. Yardi Breeze
Best for: Residential, commercial and affordable managers who want a big vendor with published pricing
Yardi Breeze and Breeze Premier generate the electronic 1099 records for owners and vendors (each carries a receives-1099 flag), which you download and upload to the IRS. Yardi says Breeze will fully support the IRIS portals as the IRS retires FIRE [13]. Owner tools include report packets customized by owner or property, pro rata statements, and escrow and trust accounts; Premier adds advanced general ledger controls [14].
Pricing is published: residential Breeze is $1 per unit per month with a $100 minimum, residential Breeze Premier $1 per unit with a $400 minimum, and commercial Breeze $2 per unit with a $200 minimum, all on annual agreements; commercial Premier is quoted. One caution: the same Breeze article cites older e-file thresholds than the current IRS instructions, so check figures against irs.gov rather than vendor blogs.
What's good
- Published per-unit pricing
- Owner report packets and trust accounting
- States IRIS support for the 2027 filing season
- Covers residential, commercial and affordable portfolios
What's not
- Export and self-upload rather than filing for you
- Commercial Premier pricing by quote
- Vendor articles cite outdated IRS thresholds
Pricing: Breeze from $1/unit/month ($100 minimum, residential); Premier from $1/unit/month ($400 minimum); commercial Breeze $2/unit ($200 minimum); annual agreement.
5. DoorLoop
Best for: Managers who want 1099s handed to a filing partner without leaving their books
DoorLoop prepares Form 1099-MISC for owners and Form 1099-NEC for vendors from your payment data and hands the filing to Avalara 1099 & W-9 (formerly Track1099): you export a CSV from DoorLoop, upload it to Avalara and pay Avalara for e-filing, then print and mail recipient copies yourself or pay Avalara to mail them [15]. The handoff adds a step compared with Buildium, but uses a large filing provider.
For the rest of year-end, DoorLoop has owner statements, live bank sync for reconciliation and budgeting. Plans are priced per unit, from $2.50 per unit per month billed yearly with a $199 monthly minimum [16]. Its help article says 1099s are not on Starter plans, a plan its pricing page no longer lists, so confirm what your plan includes.
What's good
- Owner and vendor 1099s generated from your books
- E-filing through Avalara, a large filing provider
- Owner statements and live bank sync
- Published per-unit pricing
What's not
- CSV handoff; Avalara's fees are paid separately
- $199 monthly minimum
- Help docs reference a retired plan name
Pricing: From $2.50/unit/month billed yearly ($199/month minimum).
6. Rent Manager
Best for: Larger residential and commercial managers who want deep accounting and file their own returns
Rent Manager generates vendor and owner 1099s, lets you verify amounts before filing, prints on aligned Safeguard forms, and exports an electronic file that you submit to the IRS under your own Transmitter Control Code [17]. Its year-end close tips and release notes cover corrections exported for the same system [18]. It has electronic bank reconciliation and an owner web portal for statements.
The caveat is timing: Rent Manager's public pages describe filing through the IRS FIRE system, which the IRS is retiring; the last day to file through FIRE is November 19, 2026, and IRIS becomes the only system after January 1, 2027 [4]. We found no IRIS statement on Rent Manager's site, so ask how it will support tax year 2026 returns. Pricing is by quote (Basic, Plus and Premium bundles).
What's good
- Owner and vendor 1099s from the same ledger as CAM and owner accounting
- Amount verification before filing
- Correction files supported
- Strong commercial and residential accounting
What's not
- Public docs describe FIRE only; confirm the IRIS path for 2027
- You file the export yourself
- No published pricing
Pricing: Basic, Plus and Premium bundles; quote on request.
7. Propertyware
Best for: Single-family rental managers already on the RealPage family of products
Propertyware prints owner 1099s (1099-MISC), vendor 1099s (1099-NEC) and Form 1096, and can generate an e-file export; the export is saved to your computer and submitted outside Propertyware [19]. That guidance comes from a 2020 article, and Propertyware's support site did not load for our checks, so confirm the current process and whether the export works with IRIS.
Pricing is published: Basic $1 per unit per month ($250 minimum), Plus $1.50 ($350 minimum) and Premium $2 ($450 minimum), plus an implementation fee of twice the monthly subscription, with units billed in 50-unit increments [20].
What's good
- Owner and vendor 1099s plus Form 1096
- E-file export available
- Published per-unit pricing
What's not
- Public 1099 documentation dates from 2020
- Self-upload; IRIS support not confirmed
- Implementation fee of twice the monthly price
Pricing: Basic $1/unit/month ($250 min), Plus $1.50 ($350 min), Premium $2 ($450 min), plus implementation fee.
For Landlords Who Manage Their Own Properties
A landlord collecting rent on its own properties usually does not issue 1099s to tenants; the job at year-end is clean books and a Schedule E-ready summary for the accountant, plus totals of what was paid to each contractor. These tools are built for that and are free or low cost:
- Stessa includes a basic tax package on every tier and Schedule E reports on its Manage and Pro plans ($12 and $28 a month billed annually); Essentials is free [21].
- TurboTenant generates Schedule E data (not the form itself) and an expenses-by-vendor report, and says plainly that its accounting does not generate 1099 forms [22].
- Landlord Studio has a Schedule E report on Pro and a supplier expense report that totals what you paid each contractor; it does not file 1099s [23].
- Baselane produces Schedule E reports and an accountant tax package, plus 1099-K and 1099-INT forms for money that moved through Baselane accounts, not vendor 1099s [24].
- TenantCloud can generate 1099-NEC and, in property manager mode, 1099-MISC forms as PDFs, but does not send them to the IRS [25].
Also Worth Knowing
- AppFolio supports 1099-NEC preparation and lets owners see the 1099s their manager shares in the owner portal, and its Plus plan includes an accounting tool that automates parts of month-end close. How it files 1099s is documented only behind its customer login, so ask in a demo.
- Entrata and ResMan serve multifamily operators; both have bank reconciliation and owner accounting, but neither documents its 1099 filing process publicly.
- If your books are in QuickBooks, as with STRATAFOLIO, the 1099s are prepared in QuickBooks rather than in the property management layer.
- You can also file directly through the IRS's free IRIS Taxpayer Portal with a CSV upload [3], which some smaller managers do with an export from their property management system.
How to Choose
- Choose Buildium if you want the forms filed and mailed for you from inside the software, at a known per-form cost.
- Choose Rentec Direct if price matters most and you want federal and state e-filing through a partner, with trust accounting.
- Choose Rentvine or Yardi Breeze if you are comfortable uploading a file to IRIS yourself and want strong trust accounting or published entry pricing.
- Choose DoorLoop if you like the rest of its platform and are happy to pay Avalara for filing.
- Choose Rent Manager for deep residential and commercial accounting, after confirming its IRIS support.
- Self-managing landlords should start with Stessa, TurboTenant or Landlord Studio and leave 1099 filing to their accountant or IRIS.
Commercial managers running recoveries should also see the CAM reconciliation software guide, since CAM true-ups land in the same months. For property tax bills and appeals, see the property tax management and appeal software guide.
How We Researched This Guide
IRS dates and rules come from the IRS instructions and IRIS and FIRE pages on irs.gov listed under Sources, read in October 2026. Product facts come from each vendor's own feature pages, help centers and pricing pages, checked in October 2026, and we only ranked tools listed in this directory. We did not file returns through these products. Buildium's and Propertyware's help centers did not load for our checks, and SimplifyEm's site blocked them, so those details are limited or left out. Prices are the vendors' published rates; where a vendor does not publish prices we say so. This guide describes what software does and is not tax advice. Rankings reflect fit for property managers and landlords at year-end, and no vendor paid for placement.
Sources
- Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, Internal Revenue Service
- General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, Internal Revenue Service
- E-file information returns with IRIS, Internal Revenue Service
- Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE), Internal Revenue Service
- Buildium: 1099 e-filing
- Buildium pricing
- Buildium: property management accounting
- Rentec Direct help: 1099 tax forms, federal and state e-filing
- Rentec Direct pricing
- Rentvine: tax tips for property managers, December 2025
- Rentvine accounting services
- Rentvine: trust accounting
- Yardi Breeze: 1099 tips for property managers, December 2025
- Yardi Breeze pricing
- DoorLoop help: e-file IRS Forms 1099 with DoorLoop and Avalara
- DoorLoop pricing
- Rent Manager: accounting
- Rent Manager: year-end close tips, December 2025
- Propertyware: how to generate 1099-MISC forms, December 2020
- Propertyware pricing
- Stessa help: reports included by plan
- TurboTenant accounting features Q&A
- Landlord Studio: tax reporting
- Baselane: tax preparation
- TenantCloud help: 1099-NEC/MISC tax form
Frequently Asked Questions
When are 1099s due for property managers?
The IRS instructions say Form 1099-NEC is filed with the IRS and furnished to recipients by January 31. For Form 1099-MISC, recipient copies are due January 31 and the IRS filing by February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically. When a date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day, and January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so check irs.gov for the exact dates.
Do property managers send 1099s to property owners?
The IRS instructions say a property manager uses Form 1099-MISC to report rent paid over to the property owner. Most property management platforms built for third-party managers, such as Buildium, Rentec Direct, Rentvine, DoorLoop and Rent Manager, generate owner 1099-MISCs from the distributions in your books.
Which property management software e-files 1099s for you?
Buildium and Rentec Direct e-file through Nelco, and DoorLoop hands filing to Avalara. Rentvine, Yardi Breeze, Rent Manager and Propertyware produce a file you upload to the IRS yourself, and TenantCloud produces PDFs only.
What is IRIS and why does it matter this year?
IRIS is the IRS's Information Returns Intake System. The IRS says it will be the only electronic filing system for information returns after January 1, 2027, replacing FIRE, so tax year 2026 forms filed in early 2027 go through IRIS. If your software only exports FIRE files, ask the vendor how it will support IRIS.
How much does 1099 e-filing cost in property management software?
Buildium publishes $50 per batch plus $4.50 per form for its Nelco-powered add-on. Rentec Direct and DoorLoop use partners that bill separately and do not publish fees on the vendor sites. The IRS's own IRIS Taxpayer Portal is free.
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