The purpose of this revenue procedure is to provide guidelines and general requirements for the development, printing, and approval of substitute tax forms. Approval will be based on these guidelines. After review and approval, submitted forms will be accepted as substitutes for official IRS forms.

Certain unique specialized forms require the use of other additional publications to supplement this publication. See Part 4.

The IRS accepts quality substitute tax forms that are consistent with the official forms and have no adverse impact on our processing. The IRS Substitute Forms Unit administers the formal acceptance and processing of these forms nationwide. While this program deals primarily with paper documents, it also reviews for approval other processing and filing forms such as those used in electronic filing.

Only those substitute forms that comply fully with the requirements are acceptable. This revenue procedure is updated as required to reflect pertinent tax year form changes and to meet processing and/or legislative requirements.

The following types of forms are covered by this revenue procedure:

The following types of forms are not covered by this revenue procedure:

Send your substitute forms for approval to the following offices (do not send forms with taxpayer data):

In addition, the Substitute Forms Program Unit can be contacted via email at Substituteforms@irs.gov. Please include “PDF Submissions” on the subject line.

For questions about Forms W-2 and W-3, refer to IRS Publication 1141, General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms W-2 and W-3. For Forms W-2c and W-3c, refer to IRS Publication 1223, General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms W-2c and W-3c. For Forms 941 and Schedule B (Form 941), refer to IRS Publication 4436, General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Form 941 and Schedule B (Form 941). For Forms 1096, 1098, 1099, 5498, W-2G, and 1042-S, refer to IRS Publication 1179, General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms 1096, 1098, 1099, 5498, W-2G, and 1042-S.

The following changes have been made to the Revenue Procedure for tax year 2007.

A tax form (or related schedule) that differs in any way from the official version and is intended to replace the form that is printed and distributed by the IRS. This term also covers those approved substitute forms exhibited in this revenue procedure.

A form produced using conventional printing processes, or a printed form which has been reproduced by photocopying or a similar process.

A printed form that has marginal perforations for use with automated and high-speed printing equipment.

A preprinted form in which the taxpayer's tax entry information has been inserted by a computer, computer printer, or other computer-type equipment.

A tax return or form that is entirely designed and printed using a computer printer such as a laser printer, etc., on plain white paper. This return or form must conform to the physical layout of the corresponding IRS form, although the typeface may differ. The text should match the text on the officially printed form as closely as possible. Condensed text and abbreviations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Exception. All jurats (perjury statements) must be reproduced verbatim.

A preprinted reproduced form in which the taxpayer's tax entry information is entered by an individual using a pen, pencil, typewriter, or other non-automated equipment.

Parts of a printed tax form that are not tax amount entries or required text. Examples of graphics are line numbers, captions, shadings, special indicators, borders, rules, and strokes created by typesetting, photographics, photocomposition, etc.

A legible photocopy of an original form.

A document providing detailed information to support a line entry on an official or approved substitute form and filed with (attached to) a tax return.

Note. A supporting statement is not a tax form and does not take the place of an official form.

The following specific terms are used throughout this revenue procedure in reference to all substitute forms: format, sequence, line reference, item caption, and data entry field.

The overall physical arrangement and general layout of a substitute form.

Sequence is an integral part of the total format requirement. The substitute form should show the same numeric and logical placement order of data, as shown on the official form.

The line numbers, letters, or alphanumerics used to identify each captioned line on an official form. These line references are printed to the immediate left of each caption and/or data entry field.

The text on each line of a form, which identifies the data required.

Designated areas for the entry of data such as dollar amounts, quantities, responses and checkboxes.

A draft version of a new or revised form may be posted to the IRS website for information purposes. Substitute forms may be submitted based on these advance drafts, but any submitter that receives forms approval based on these early drafts is responsible for monitoring and revising forms to mirror any revisions in the final forms provided by the IRS.

Generally, approval could be in writing or assumed after 20 business days from our receipt for forms that have not been substantially changed by the IRS. Also, this does not apply to newly created or substantially revised IRS forms.

Any person or company who uses substitute forms and makes all or part of the changes specified in this revenue procedure agrees to the following stipulations.

We will inform you when the Substitute Forms Unit has received your form submission. You can consider your submission approved if you do not receive a response from us within 20 business days. If we anticipate a problem reviewing your submission within the 20 business day period, we will send an interim email notifying you of an extended period of approval.

Once the substitute forms have been approved by the IRS, you can release them after the final versions of the forms have been issued by the IRS. Before releasing the forms, you are responsible for updating forms approved as draft and for making form changes we requested.

The policy has the following stipulations.

If you produce any tax forms using IRS guidelines on permitted changes, you can generate your own substitutes without further approval. If your changes are more extensive, you must get IRS approval before using substitute forms. More extensive changes can include the use of typefaces and sizes other than those found on the official form and the condensing of line item descriptions to save space.

Note. The 20-day turnaround policy may not apply to extensive changes.

The Substitute Forms Program accepts substitute forms submissions via email. The email address is Substituteforms@irs.gov. Please include the term “PDF Submissions” on the subject line.

Follow these guidelines.

If the guidelines are not followed, you may need to resubmit.

In addition to submitting forms via email, you may continue to send your submissions to:

Follow these basic guidelines for expediting the process.

Schedules are considered to be an integral part of a complete tax return. A schedule may be included as part of a form or printed separately.

Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, is an example of this situation. Its Schedules A through U have pages numbered as part of the basic return. For Form 706 to be considered for approval, the entire form including Schedules A through U must be submitted.

However, Schedules 1, 2, and 3 of Form 1040A are examples of schedules that can be submitted separately. Although printed by the IRS as a supplement to Form 1040A, none of these schedules are required to be filed with Form 1040A. These schedules may be separated from Form 1040A and submitted as substitute forms.

The IRS is continuing a program to identify and contact tax return preparers, forms developers, and software publishers who use or distribute unapproved forms that do not conform to this revenue procedure. The use of unapproved forms hinders the processing of the returns.

Official IRS tax forms are supplied by the IRS. These forms may be provided in the taxpayer’s tax package or over-the-counter. Forms can also be picked up at many IRS offices, post offices, or libraries, and are available on CD and online at www.irs.gov.

There are methods of reproducing IRS printed tax forms suitable for use as substitutes without prior approval.

All payment vouchers (Forms 940-V, 940-EZ(V), 941-V, 943-V, 945-V, 1040-V, and 2290-V) must be reproduced in conjunction with their forms. Substitute vouchers must be the same size as the officially printed vouchers. Vouchers that are prepared for printing on a laser printer may include a scan line.

Code Number for Forms:

Type Number for:

The voucher size must be exactly 8.0′′ x 3.25′′ (Forms 1040-ES and 1041-ES must be 7.625′′ x 3.0′′). The document scan line must be vertically positioned 0.25 inches from the bottom of the scan line to the bottom of the voucher. The last character on the right of the scan line must be placed 3.5 inches from the right leading edge of the document. The minimum required horizontal clear space between characters is .014 inches. The line to be scanned must have a clear band 0.25 inches in height from top to bottom of the scan line, and from border to border of the document. “Clear band” means no printing except for dropout ink.

Vouchers must be imaged in black ink using OCR A, OCR B, or Courier 10. These fonts may not be mixed in the scan line. The horizontal character pitch is 10 CPI. The preferred paper weight is 20 to 24 pound OCR bond.

Certain vouchers may be reproduced for use in the IRS lockbox system. These include the 1040-V, 1040-ES, the 940 family, and 2290 vouchers. Software developers must follow these specific guidelines to produce scannable vouchers strictly for lockbox purposes. Also see Exhibit C.

Note. All software developers must ensure that their software uses OCR A font so taxpayers will be able to print the vouchers in the correct font.

Follow these line specifications for entering taxpayer data in the lockbox vouchers.

To receive approval, please send 25 voucher samples yearly, by December 10, for testing to the following address.

For further information, contact either Doris Bethea, Doris.E.Bethea@irs.gov, at 202-283-0218.

You cannot, without prior IRS approval, change any IRS tax form or use your own (non-approved) versions including graphics, unless specifically permitted by this revenue procedure. See Sections 2.5.7 to 2.5.11.

You cannot adjust any of the graphics on Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ (except in those areas specified in Part 5 of this revenue procedure) without prior approval from the IRS Substitute Forms Unit.

You cannot use your own preprinted label on tax returns filed with the IRS unless you fully comply with the criteria specified in Section 3.6.3 on the use of pre-addressed IRS labels.

Note. The 20-day turnaround policy may not apply to extensive changes.

Preparers who submit substitute privately designed, privately printed, computer generated, or computer prepared tax forms must develop these substitutes using the guidelines established in this part. These forms, unless there is an exception outlined by the revenue procedure, must be approved by the IRS before being filed.

The IRS cannot grant final approval of your substitute form until the official form has been published. However, the IRS posts advance draft forms in the “Tax Professionals” area of its website at:

www.irs.gov/taxpros/lists/0,,id=97782,00.html

We encourage submission of proposed substitutes of these advance draft forms and will grant conditional approval based solely on these early drafts. These advance drafts are subject to significant change before forms are finalized. If these advance drafts are used as the basis for your substitute forms, you will be responsible for subsequently updating your final forms to agree with the final official version. These revisions need not be resubmitted for further approval.

Note. Approval of forms based on advance drafts will not be granted after the final version of an official form is published.

Follow these general guidelines when submitting substitute forms for approval.

Because only the Substitute Forms Unit is authorized to approve substitute forms, unnecessary delays may occur if forms are sent to the wrong office. You may receive an interim letter about the delay. The Substitute Forms Unit may then coordinate the response with the originator responsible for revising that particular form. Such coordination may include allowing the originator to officially approve the form. No IRS office is authorized to allow deviations from this revenue procedure.

The IRS does not review or approve the logic of specific software programs, nor does the IRS confirm the calculations on the forms produced by these programs. The accuracy of the program remains the responsibility of the software package developer, distributor, or user.

The Substitute Forms Unit is primarily concerned with the pre-filing quality review of the final forms that are expected to be processed by IRS field offices. For this purpose, you should submit forms without including any taxpayer information such as names, addresses, monetary amounts, etc.

Proposed substitutes, which are required to be submitted per this revenue procedure, should be sent as much in advance of the filing period as possible. This is to allow adequate time for analysis and response.

When submitting sample substitutes, you should include an accompanying statement that lists each form number and its changes from the official form (position, arrangement, appearance, line numbers, additions, deletions, etc.). With each of the items you should include a detailed reason for the change.

When requesting approval, please include a check sheet. Check sheets expedite the approval process. The check sheet may look like the example in Exhibit D displayed in the back of this procedure or may be one of your own design. Please include your fax number on the check sheet.

The Substitute Forms Unit will fax the check sheet or an approval letter to the originator if a fax number has been provided, unless:

Notice of approval may impose qualifications before using the substitutes. Notices of unapproved forms may specify the changes required for approval and require re-submission of the form(s) in question. When appropriate, you will be contacted by telephone.

Most signature tax returns and many of their schedules and related forms have the tax (liability) year printed in the upper right corner. Approvals for these annual forms are usually good for one calendar year (January through December of the year of filing). Quarterly tax forms in the 940 series and Form 720 require approval for any quarter in which the form has been revised.

Because changes are usually made to an annual form every year, each new filing season generally requires a new submission of a substitute form. Very rarely is updating the preprinted year the only change made to an annual form.

Limited changes approved for one tax year may be allowed for the same form in the following tax year. Examples are the use of abbreviated words, revised form spacing, compressed text lines, and shortened captions, etc., which do not change the integrity of lines or text on the official forms.

If substantial changes are made to the form, new substitutes must be submitted for approval. If only minor editorial changes are made to the form, it is not subject to review. It is the responsibility of each vendor who has been granted permission to use substitute forms to monitor and revise forms to mirror any revisions to official forms made by the Service. If there are any questions, please contact the Substitute Forms Unit.

If you received approval for a specific change on a form last year, you may make the same change this year if the item is still present on the official form.

Exception. Forms with temporary, limited, or interim approvals (or with approvals that state a change is not allowed in any other tax year) are subject to review in subsequent years.

Forms without preprinted tax years are called “continuous-use” forms. Continuous-use forms are revised when a legislative change affects the form or a change will facilitate processing. These forms frequently have revision dates that are valid for longer than one year.

A schedule of print dates (for annual and quarterly forms) and most current revision dates (for continuous-use forms) are maintained on the IRS website. The Tax Products Posting Schedule can be found at www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=103641,00.html. See Section 4.2.2.

Generally, you must send us one copy of each form being submitted for approval. However, if you are producing forms for different computer systems (for example, IBM compatible vs. Macintosh) or different types of printers (for example, laser vs. inkjet), and these forms differ significantly in appearance, submit one copy for each type of system or printer.

Following receipt of an initial approval for a substitute forms package or a software output program to print substitute forms, it is the responsibility of the originator (designer or distributor) to provide client firms or individuals with forms that meet the IRS’s requirements for continuing acceptability. Examples of this responsibility include:

The Substitute Forms Unit will assign a unique source code to each firm that submits substitute paper forms for approval. This source code will be a permanent identifier that must be used on every submission by a particular firm.

The source code consists of three alpha characters and should generally be printed at the bottom left margin area on the first page of every approved substitute form.

There are legal requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (The Act). Public Law 104-13 requires the following.

This information must be provided to every user of official or substitute IRS forms or instructions.