Arkansas 1099 Filing Requirements: Deadlines, Methods, and Penalties

If you paid an Arkansas contractor, vendor, or other non-employee during the year, the Arkansas 1099 filing requirements say you must send the form to the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) when you paid a single recipient $2,500 or more, or any time you withheld Arkansas income tax from the payment regardless of the amount.¹ That $2,500 state threshold sits well above the federal $600 trigger for non-employee compensation, so a payment can be reportable to the IRS and not to Arkansas, or the reverse when state tax was withheld on a smaller payment.²

When You Have to File With the State

Two tests decide the question. If you withheld any Arkansas income tax from the payment, file with the state no matter how small the amount. If you did not withhold, file only when total payments to that recipient reached $2,500 or more for the year.¹

Every 1099 variant the IRS requires you to file federally also has to go to Arkansas once the thresholds are met. That covers 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-R, 1099-S, and the rest of the series.¹ The rules apply to payments made to Arkansas residents and to nonresidents who earned income from Arkansas sources.

Filing Deadline

Paper 1099 forms and the copies you give to recipients are due January 31 of the year following the payment year.³ When January 31 lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day. For tax year 2025 returns, January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday, which moves the effective due date to February 2, 2026.¹

Form AR3PAR, the state’s Pension and Annuity Reconciliation of Income Tax Withheld, has a later deadline of February 28.³

How to File

Combined Federal/State Filing Program

Arkansas participates in the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Program.⁴ If you file your 1099s electronically with the IRS and include the correct Arkansas state code, the IRS forwards the data to the DFA automatically, so no separate state submission is needed. The file has to follow IRS Publication 1220 specifications, and the payee records must carry the state income tax withheld field and the Combined Federal/State code.¹

ATAP Portal

You can also file directly through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point at atap.arkansas.gov. The portal accepts bulk 1099 file uploads, which works well if you have many forms to send.⁵ Look under the Businesses section for “Submit a 1099 Bulk File.”¹

Paper

Paper filers send Copy 1 of each 1099 (the copy marked “For State Tax Department”) together with a photocopy of Federal Form 1096 as the transmittal summary.³ The IRS will not accept a photocopied 1096 for federal purposes, but Arkansas specifically asks for the photocopy. Mail the package to:

Department of Finance and Administration
Withholding Tax Branch
P.O. Box 8055
Little Rock, AR 72203⁶

What Each Form Needs to Show

Every 1099 going to Arkansas has to carry accurate payer and payee information. On the payer side, that means your legal business name, address, and Federal Employer Identification Number. Arkansas accepts the FEIN as your state identification number on information returns, so no separate state ID is required for this filing.

On the recipient side, the form needs the full legal name, current address, Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number, and the exact payment amount. Collecting a signed W-9 from every contractor or vendor before you issue the first payment is the simplest way to avoid chasing missing TINs at year-end.

For electronic submissions, numeric fields in the state data section must be right-justified and zero-filled, with no dollar signs, decimal points, or commas.¹ Formatting mistakes are a common cause of rejected files.

Pass-Through Entities With Nonresident Members

If you run a partnership, S corporation, or LLC taxed as a partnership and you distribute Arkansas-source income to nonresident members, the entity must withhold Arkansas income tax at 3.9% of the member’s share, or 4.3% for a corporate nonresident member.⁷ That withholding sits outside the 1099 program, but because tax has been withheld, the state filing threshold is met regardless of the payment size.

Penalties for Late or Missing Filings

When tax is owed and the return is late, the DFA charges a failure-to-file penalty of 5% of the tax due per month or partial month, capped at 35%.⁸ If the return is on time but the balance is not paid, a separate failure-to-pay penalty of 1% per month applies, also capped at 35%.⁹ When both run at once, their combined total cannot exceed 35%. Interest accrues on any unpaid balance at 10% per year and cannot be waived.

If a taxpayer keeps ignoring DFA notices about missing or incorrect returns, the state can tack on an additional $50 per return.¹⁰

Willfully refusing to file a required return or pay tax owed is a Class D felony in Arkansas,¹¹ carrying up to six years in prison¹² and a fine of up to $10,000.¹³ Criminal prosecution for a simple late 1099 is rare, and the “willfully” standard means a deliberate, knowing refusal rather than an honest mistake.

Corrections and Penalty Waivers

The DFA does not publish a self-service 1099 correction process. If you spot an error on a form you already sent, contact the Withholding Tax Branch at 501-682-7290 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central), by email at Withholding@dfa.arkansas.gov, or by mail at P.O. Box 8055, Little Rock, AR 72203 for instructions on submitting a corrected form.⁶ A federal correction through the CF/SF program may not automatically flow through to Arkansas, so confirming directly with the branch is the safest route.

If a penalty was assessed and you believe the cause was beyond your control, the DFA accepts an Individual Income Tax Penalty and Interest Waiver Request covering failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and underpayment penalties.¹⁴ You can mail the completed form to P.O. Box 3628, Little Rock, AR 72203, fax it to 501-682-7692, or email individual.income@dfa.arkansas.gov. The request has to explain the circumstances and include supporting documentation. Reasonable cause generally means something beyond negligence, such as a serious illness, a natural disaster, or a tax professional’s failure to file; being busy or forgetting will not qualify.

1
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Electronic Media Specifications for Submittal of State of Arkansas W-2/1099 Information
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Withholding Tax Employer’s Instructions
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Electronic Filing Program
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Businesses
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. 1099 Guidelines and Instructions
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Instructions for Nonresident Member Withholding Exemption Affidavit
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Subject 702 – Penalty and Interest Charges
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Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code Regulation 18-208(3)(B)
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Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code Regulation 85 – Penalties
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Justia Law. Arkansas Code 26-18-202 – Failure to Pay or File Return
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Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
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Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-201 – Fines – Limitations on Amount
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Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Individual Income Tax Penalty and Interest Waiver Request