(Updated 11/17/2009)

Federal/State e-file is a cooperative tax-filing effort between the IRS and most states. Providers may file both federal and state returns electronically for clients and customers. In addition to accepting federal and state individual income tax returns electronically in a single transmission, State Only returns are also accepted and forwarded to the Electronic Management System (EMS). The IRS may accept a State Only return if the state return:

• was previously rejected by the state;
• is originated separately from the federal return;
• is a part-year residency return:
• is a non-resident state return; or
• is a married filing separately state return, but, the federal return was filed jointly.

The IRS provides state acknowledgement service on its Electronic Management System (EMS). Participating states can send their acknowledgements to EMS for transmitters to pick up when they pick up their federal acknowledgement.

Adding Federal/State e-file to a Provider’s business is very similar to the process it went through to become a Provider. Refer to Publication 3112, IRS e-file Application and Participation for further details. Also, the Provider should contact the state coordinators for the state programs in which it participates for further explanation of state rules and requirements.

For MeF, refer to the Federal/State Program for MeF.

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