Year-End Checklist: Getting 1099-K Reconciliation Ready Before January

The firms that spend the least time on 1099-K reconciliation in February are the ones who do a handful of small things in November, while there's still time to fix a problem instead of just documenting it. None of this is complicated — it's mostly about not finding out about a gap for the first time under deadline pressure.

What to pull together now, per client

• Confirm which processors are actually in use. A client who added a second Stripe account mid-year, or started using Square at a second location, is the single most common source of a January surprise. Ask directly rather than assuming last year's list is still complete.
• Check for TIN or business name changes. An LLC conversion, a name change, or a new EIN mid-year can cause a 1099-K to arrive under different information than what's on file — and that mismatch is exactly what triggers IRS matching notices later.
• Pull a rough December revenue estimate from the processor. You don't need the final number yet, but knowing roughly where the client landed lets you sanity-check the actual 1099-K when it arrives in January instead of taking it at face value.
• Ask whether the client's bookkeeping is current through at least November. A client three months behind on reconciling their own books in November will not magically catch up by February — better to know now.

The one habit that actually prevents the scramble

Clients who had a monthly close running throughout the year walk into January with eleven of twelve months already reconciled — the 1099-K becomes a confirmation, not a reconstruction project. If a client didn't have that habit this year, November is the last realistic window to at least reconcile Q4 before the form arrives, rather than starting from zero in January.

What this checklist is not

It's not a substitute for the actual reconciliation once the 1099-K arrives — Box 1a still needs to be traced against the processor's own transaction history, refunds still need to land on Line 2, and fees still don't net against receipts. This is just the groundwork that makes that process fast instead of archaeological.