This subsection provides procedures for processing requests for photocopies of tax forms and return information in the Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) Units. Requests come from taxpayers or their representatives, federal agencies, or other third parties by mail or by fax. Requests usually come in on Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return and Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

If a letter refers to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), submit to Disclosure for processing. These procedures do not provide guidelines for release of IRS internal documents. Internal document requests must be submitted to Disclosure Offices under Freedom of Information Act Procedures.

Requests for photocopies of tax forms and return information, submitted on a Form 4506 or Form 4506-T, are not considered taxpayer correspondence and do not fall under Action 61 guidelines in IRM 21.3.3, Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence/Letters. No 30 day interim letter is required. Form 4506 instructions include notification that it may take 60 calendar days to receive copies. If the request is not filled within the 60 days stated on Form 4506, notify the requester of status using the appropriate letter.

BMF requests are worked in the Cincinnati and Ogden campuses. IMF requests are worked in the Andover, Atlanta, Austin, Fresno and Kansas City campuses. The exception is IMF or BMF requests under the Income Verification Express Service (IVES) formerly the Two Business Day Service. These participants are directed to send their requests to Andover (ANSC), Cincinnati (CSC), Fresno (FSC), Kansas City (KCSC) or Ogden (OSC) Submission Processing Centers, based on their location and the Campus closest to their business office, or their assignment to a particular service center. Other requesters are directed, on Forms 4506 and 4506-T to submit requests to the campus indicated (based on the State in which they resided when the Return was filed). Procedures in IRM 3.5.20.14 for the IVES program will apply only to the five campuses listed above. The IVES program provides requests within two business days and will be the only expedited service offered by the RAIVS function.

CSC processes Disaster 4506–T requests and provides this service within 24 - 48 hours.

However, you may receive requests which should have been sent to another campus, work these requests at the receiving campus unless it is an IVES request.

In the case of photocopy requests, if your campus has deposited the fee, you will have to make the refund should the return not be found. Do not reject a request with instructions that the requester submit the request to another campus. Do not transfer requests to another campus for processing unless a specific agreement exists between campuses. If an agreement does exist and the case is transferred, notify the taxpayer that his/her case/request is being transferred.

If, during a taxpayer contact, it appears that there may be a hardship situation or the taxpayer asks to be referred to the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), see IRM 13.1.7.2, Taxpayer Advocate Case Criteria, or IRM 21.1.3.18, Taxpayer Advocate Service Guidelines, for procedures.

IRS employees have access to the Taxpayer Delivery Systems (TDS) to order transcripts, verification of non-filing, and wage and earnings information. Photocopies cannot be ordered on TDS. TDS is the primary system used to request transcripts. The postal mail delivery option should be used in most cases. However, the items listed below are not currently available on TDS. These items should be printed from other sources, if available, and mailed to the taxpayer, along with a cover letter and any associated transcript requested from TDS.

The TDS Tutorials are available on the system to provide procedures for ordering information through TDS. Systems used to produce transcripts prior to TDS (i.e. IDRS) will still be available for back-up.

The Auto Transcript Application (ATP) was retired as of June 2008.

IRC Sections 6103 (c), Disclosure of Returns and Return Information to the Designee of the Taxpayer, and (e) Disclosure to Persons Having Material Interest, authorizes release of information covered in these procedures. Requests submitted under IRC Section 6103 Item (c) are referred to in this subsection as "waivers." Requests submitted under IRC Section 6103 (e) must be signed by the taxpayer or a person having material interest, or an authorized representative. Documentation of authorization must be submitted.

There are criminal and civil penalties for unauthorized disclosure of returns or return information. These penalties are described in IRM 11.3.1.5, Unauthorized Access and Disclosures of Return or Return Information. Annual employee briefings by the local Disclosure Officers regarding these penalties are recommended.

Throughout IRM 3.5.20, any reference to "taxpayer" includes a third party with a valid Power of Attorney (POA) or Tax Information Authorization, if the authorization covers the items requested. Treat the holder of these valid authorizations as if they were the taxpayer. See IRM 11.3.3.3, Distinction Between Disclosure and the Conference and Practice Requirements, for additional information.

For further information on reporting unauthorized disclosures, using Form 10848, see IRM 11.3.38.6, "Referral of Unauthorized Disclosure and/or Inspection."

The following customer products are currently available:

Generally, requests are received from taxpayers or their representatives on Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return or Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

IRS employees send Form 4442 to RAIVS for copies of closed audit reports and CP 2000, 2501, or 2893C. IRM 21.5.10.4.4, Copies of Audit Reports, provides procedures. For copies of CP 2000, 2501, or 2893C, IRM 21.3.1.4.57, Status of Underreporter Cases, and IRM 21.3.1.4.58, Resolving or Referring Underreporter Cases, provide procedures. CP 2000, 2501, or 2893C requests should only be referred to RAIVS if the case is closed and the request is for tax year 1992 or prior.Requests for copies of CP 2000, 2501, or 2893C for tax year 1993 and subsequent are referred to Underreporter.

RAIVS Units in ANSC, CSC, FSC, KCSC, and OSC accept faxed requests from participants who have applied to the IVES program. Batches of work should be submitted from participating companies with a cover sheet listing the Taxpayers Name, Identification Number and tax periods included in the batch. Under IVES, participants are required to pay a $4.50 user fee for each tax period requested. The fee is paid through a link provided at http://irs.gov, E-Services, key word-IVES. The participants will send requests to their respective RAIVS Processing Campus in ANSC, CSC, FSC, KCSC or OSC, based on the location closest to their business office or previously assigned location.

All other requesters are directed to mail or fax their requests to the geographic location listed on Form 4506-T.

CSC processes all Disaster Transcript Requests. The requester writes the word "Disaster" on the top of the request to indicate a need for expedited processing. Most of these requests are handled by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sites. The FEMA site has the taxpayer complete the request. The FEMA site then sends the request to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for submission to CSC RAIVS. RAIVS provides tax return transcripts for individual, corporation, and partnership returns generally within 24-48 hours of receipt. The maximum time frame for providing this service is 4 days.

Requests for photocopies from disaster victims are sent to the office indicated on Form 4506. They may be faxed or mailed. The requester writes the word "Disaster" on the top of the request and receives expedited processing with no charge assessed for the copies (unless previously paid). Order these returns using ESTABDV or Form 2275 and notate Disaster in the comments.

Photocopies of signatures are acceptable for all requests for copies of tax forms or return information. Electronic signatures and stamped signatures are not acceptable.

Requests made on forms which include information on the expected delivery date are not considered taxpayer correspondence and are not subject to Action 61 Guidelines. No interim letters are required, but if the case is not closed within the processing time frame indicated on the form, the taxpayer must be advised of status using the appropriate letter. For letter requests, Action 61 Guidelines do apply. See IRM 21.3.3. Correspondence/Letters.

Time frames are based on IRM 3.30.123, Processing Timeliness: Cycles, Criteria, and Critical Dates. All requests have processing time frames and age accordingly:

A pre-processing review must be done on all requests received with remittance immediately upon receipt so that fees are not deposited when we cannot process the request. A review should be done for criteria that may cause the Service to reject a request. These criteria includes the proper payment, complete request, identification and authentication, and proper authorization for disclosure. Review of requests with remittance should be done by Receipt and Control employees, or RAIVS employees working in the Receipt and Control Deposit work area, since checks must remain in a secured area until deposited, or if necessary, returned to the requester. Review of requests without remittance may be done in the RAIVS work area. Send all rejected requests back to the taxpayer or authorized third party within three work days of review, IRM 3.5.20.9 Rejecting Requests.

Date stamp all Forms 4506 and Forms 4506-T documents except IVES requests and sort requests as follows:

Use OFP 210-34000 for all preprocessing review.

Record volumes of rejects.

Process requests submitted on Form 4506 with a prior revision date, if possible.

All requests for copies must be signed and the signer must be authorized to receive the information. Do not submit Form 4442 to signature authority analysis. The referral preparer assumes responsibility for disclosure including subsequent criminal prosecution.

All IRS employees are charged with protecting taxpayers' data from unauthorized disclosure. The taxpayer owns their tax data and must provide authorization for disclosure. Form W-2 documents, verification of non-filing and return transcripts are considered tax return information. Proper authorization for disclosure could include any of following:

Consult your local Disclosure Officer if questions arise about the signature authorities specified in the table below. If you have questions about material interest, send the request to your local Disclosure Officer for processing. If there is a concern that the request may be questioned in future, and the decision is made to service the request, annotate the request (with the concern, action taken (document sent to requester), and name of the person working the request) and send a copy of the request to be attached to the latest controlling DLN in files. Authorized taxpayers (or persons authorized to sign on behalf of taxpayers) must approve the disclosure of their tax information. Process signature authorization as follows:

To ensure the requester is authentic, take the following actions on requests to verify it is the taxpayer authorizing the disclosure. (Do not submit Form 4442 to Signature Authority Analysis. The referral preparer assumes responsibility for disclosure, including subsequent criminal prosecution.)

Compare signature(s) on the return or copy against the signature(s) on the request.

If the request is signed by a third party, and no POA or other valid authorization is attached, research CFINK and/or RPINK to make sure the signer has been authorized on the Centralized Authorization File (CAF) or Reporting Agents File (RAF) to receive the information requested on this particular request.

If you cannot verify identity using the procedures in IRM 3.5.20.8 (3), ask the requester to fax you a copy of one of the following identification verification documents:

If a taxpayer mails an original identification document, return it after verification, using Form 3699, Return of Documents to Taxpayer.

Most information needed to process a request can be secured by initiating telephone contact. (Applies to Form 4506 only) Exceptions are:

Initiate telephone contact to resolve rejects.

Once you are satisfied you are speaking to the taxpayer:

For rejects by correspondence, you should send all unprocessable requests not resolved by telephone calls to the taxpayer at the "current address," usually provided in Block 3 on Form 4506 or Form 4506-T . If "the current address" is not available, mail the rejected request to the taxpayer at the address of record (e.g., pending address on CC ENMOD, NAMES/E, or posted address on CC ENMOD/INOLE). If a request by a taxpayer (designating information be sent to a third party) does not show a current address and you are unable to find an address of record, send the appropriate letter to the third party advising them we cannot process the request. Direct them to contact the taxpayer. Do not return a copy of the request. A request by a taxpayer (designating information be sent to a third party) may be rejected back to a third party, rather than to the taxpayer, if the only missing item is payment for photocopy.

Any further questions or concerns with regard to disclosure should be directed to your local Disclosure Officer.

Sort all requests as follows:

Control Cases Use IDRS to control cases. Put cases in background (B) status. Case category codes are contained in Document 6209, IRS Processing Codes and Information. Use the following case category codes:

Reporting Time to WP&C Count each tax period requested, not each request. Use the following programs:

Records Retention for Form 4506, and Form 4506-T Retain all Forms 4506 and Forms 4506-T and correspondence received for copies of tax forms, or return information in accordance with IRM 1.15.29, Records Management, Records Control Schedule for Submission Processing Campus Records. Also, take following actions:

Send completed requests to the customer. A cover letter is required when responding to written correspondence. Identify enclosures in all appropriate places on the cover letter. Identification such as "Tax Return Information, Copy of Return" or "Transcripts" without designating the exact form with alpha designation is acceptable. Incomplete designation of a type of tax return, such as Form 1040, when you are referring to a Form 1040 A, is not acceptable. Address the letter to the taxpayer using the name shown on line three of Form 4506–T if different than shown on MF, otherwise use the name line of record at MF for the most current tax period requested (e.g. ENMOD, INOLE, or NAMES/E). If the request is to be mailed to a third party, address the letter directly to the third party. A letter can be addressed to a "company." A single letter to a third party is acceptable for a batch of requests. If an individual's name is available with company name, the letter should be addressed to "Attention" of that individual. Do not use c/o. In-care-of does not provide authority to receive and use information. The Taxpayer's name should be mentioned in body of the letter.

If a request is for multiple tax periods involving different spouses, take great care to address the response cover letter to prevent possible unauthorized disclosure when delivering to taxpayer. If questions arise, consult your local Disclosure Officer. This prevents a copy of the letter from being sent to an ex-spouse.

Correspondence — The use of Nationally approved letters is mandatory for all RAIVS units. The approved letters are: Form 13873–I, Form 13873–B, and Notices 675, 1354, 1354A, and 1356. The TDS system used by RAIVS to generate Return/Account transcripts, generates nationally approved letters for each Return/Account Transcript situation.

RAIVS teams in ANSC, CSC, FSC, KCSC, and OSC will use TDS to submit transcripts to IVES participants. Businesses register via E-Services at www.irs.gov, apply to participate in the program, and are responsible for a user fee payment of $4.50 for each transcript requested. Expedited delivery service will only be provided through the IVES program. If requesters have not applied to participate in the program, requests will be filled and sent back via regular mail or TDS Postal Mail option. If an IVES request is rejected, the reject notification will be faxed to the number provided by the participant per IRM 3.5.20.9 Rejecting Requests. Batches will be kept intact.

IVES requests are received by fax in the RAIVS unit of one of the five participating service centers which is normally closest to the participants business office or to which the business has been assigned. Under the IVES process, Courier Service is not available.

Delivery, Courier or Employee Delivery Services may still be utilized by a RAIVS requester. A delivery service, courier or company employee can receive requests in sealed envelopes at the IRS building where RAIVS is located. These envelopes must be specifically addressed to the recipient authorized by the taxpayer.

In certain instances, it is permissible to fax tax data to taxpayers and their designees, as long as disclosure requirements in IRM 11.3.1.10, Facsimile Transmission of Tax Information, are met. Specifically, see items 9, 10, 11, and 12. RAIVS does not generally fax responses to requesters due to time and equipment limitations. Photocopies of returns are not normally faxed due to the large size of the documents.

Do not refer requests for copies of returns, return transcripts, or account transcripts to the Fraud Detection Center when there is an open CI freeze. Requests received for any other form/product/service should be referred.

Photocopy/National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Project is a reimbursable project. NARA is responsible for Federal Records Centers (FRCs) and charges IRS an established fee to process a "reimbursable copy" request for documents retired to FRC. The remainder of the photocopy fee is reimbursed to the functions at your campus processing the requests.

All requests initiated to secure tax forms from the files area should be initiated as "reimbursable" requests (ESTABDR) unless otherwise instructed. Also:

RAIVS functions use TDS as the primary method for requesting transcripts.

The AUTO-TRANSCRIPT was retired as of June 15, 2008 and is no longer available for use.

Return transcripts reflect line items as originally filed by the taxpayer. Return transcripts do not reflect any changes made by IRS or the taxpayer during return processing or after posting of the original return, such as subsequent payments, adjustments, or amended returns.

RAIVS employees have access to nationally approved checkbox and TDS letters.

Use TDS to request return transcripts for information. The short request option may be used. Use the long form and the system will perform more detailed identification and authentication for you. If the information is to go to a third party and you have a CAF number, check the CAF option. The system will search the CAF for you and accept or reject the request. See the TDS Tutorials on the system.

If TDS is down use IDRS CC RTFTP. Also use IDRS to process IVES requests and fax the document to the participant at the number provided.

The Income Verification Express Service, (IVES),is a program that allows third/fourth party businesses to request bulk transcripts and receive them, electronically, within two business days. The IVES program is the only expedited service offered by the RAIVS function. Courier service is not available under the IVES program.

A participating company will fax to the IRS Form 4506-T requests accompanied by an IVES Batch Cover Sheet that includes the Participant’s ID Number and name, and a numbered list of tax periods requested, along with identifying information for each request.

Participants pay a $4.50 user fee for each transcript requested. The fee is paid by the participant or a business representative through http://irs.gov Program participants are billed every 30 days depending on usage.

Participants are charged and billed for each situation listed below.

Form 4506-T has a check box for requesting verification that no federal return was filed for a specific tax period. Follow procedures in IRM 3.5.20.1 through 3.5.20.9. Verification of non-filing requests can usually be worked quickly using on line TDS information. Suspense is only required if subsequent research is needed. Remember to research the entity provided as a secondary taxpayer. TDS will generate a notification to the taxpayer. If TDS is not available, you may use nationally approved RAIVS letters to provide information based on taxpayer's request.

Information about the current processing year return is not available until after June 15th. A Verification of Non-Filing Letter should not be issued for the current processing year until after June 15th.

TDS was designed to process third party requests regardless of whether a return has posted or not. If a return has posted to the module requested, TDS will systemically create a letter to the third party using the selected delivery method, and to the taxpayer using the National Print Site (NPS). If using TDS, verification of Non-Filing requests should be sorted and worked as follows:

If TDS is not available or information can not be obtained from TDS, process requests for verification on non-filing as follows:

"Account Information" is information posting after the original return, such as amended returns, subsequent payments, penalties, or interest. Form 4506-T has a check box to request an account transcript or record of account. You may also receive requests on non-IRS forms, or in a letter. The product we provide in response to a request for an account transcript can be obtained via TDS or a literal sanitized MFTRA-X account transcript. (If TDS information is not available) The transcript contains the following information:

Requests for internal use account transcripts such as MFTRA-C (Complete) or MFTRA-S (Specific) may be received. While IRS does not advertise these transcripts as official external products, we honor these requests, as long as we are provided with all the required information and the requester is authorized to receive the information. Detailed review and sanitization efforts must be made prior to release. The review and sanitization will vary depending on the identity of the requester, the nature of the transcript, and the level of authorization given to the third party. See IRM 21.2.3.4.1.12, Request for Record of Assessment and Certain Internal Transcripts, for sanitizing procedures.

Account Transcripts and Records of Account are processed on TDS. The short request may be used to send transcripts to the taxpayer or third party if the request is signed by the taxpayer. If the request is signed by an individual with Power of Attorney, use the long request and TDS will check the CAF file performing the necessary identification and authentication of the third party.

IRM 21.3.1.4.59, Copies of CP 2000, CP2501, or CP2893C, provides procedures for responding to requests. Requests should only be referred to RAIVSif the case is closed and the request is for tax year 1992 and prior. 1993 to current are processed in Underreporter.

The IRS employee who completed Form 4442, assumes responsibility for disclosure of information requested. RAIVS employees do not need to take further action regarding authorization for disclosure.

FOIA requests or Forms 4442 requesting FOIA, advise the requestor that a request for a copy must be made under FOIA guidelines. Include instructions.

Some state tax agencies enter into an agreement on coordination of income tax administration with IRS. The Disclosure Office has responsibility for oversight of these agreements. The agreements allow a State tax agency and the Service to exchange certain tax information for income tax administration purposes. Requests under Fed/State agreement are received by your Disclosure Officer on Form 8796, Request for Return/Information. Some campuses have a local agreement under which the Disclosure Officer will ask RAIVS to fill the requests after Disclosure has given approval.

Requests from SSA will be centralized in FSPC and will come on a Form 4506-T. Any requests received from SSA should be forwarded/transshipped to FSPC.

IRS maintains Form W-2 information for federal tax purposes. SSA maintains Form W-2 information for retirement purposes. Both agencies assist customers for "program purposes" free of charge.

SSA assists "all customers" seeking Form W-2 information for other purposes for a fee of $30 per tax year requested. Examples of "non-program purposes" where customers must pay for W-2 information include civil court cases, filing state tax returns, or attempts to establish residency.

IRS Form 4506, and Form 4506-T do not have an entry field for indicating information is requested for retirement purposes. While not obligated in the IRS agreement with SSA, IRS provides requested information, if available, for any purpose.

Use TDS to request W-2 transcripts for the current and 7 prior processing years. IRPTRW may be used if information is not available on TDS.

IRS has access to copies of returns (with Forms W-2 attached) for the current processing year plus six. IRS has access to Form W-2 information covering 9 years via IRPTRW.

For some tax years, neither IRS nor SSA have access to state withholding information.

Files are usually "complete" by July of the year following the year of the earnings, depending on when the taxpayer filed their return (i.e., all Form W-2 information for tax year 2007 is available as of July, 2008).

Generally, information returns are destroyed upon processing. Therefore, original returns cannot be retrieved. In addition, the IRS may not have a record of all information returns filed by payers, Form 1099 information is available via TDS for the current year and the 3 prior years. For information not available via TDS, use CC IRPTR. The master files are updated throughout the year following the issuance of the information document, and contain the most current year and five (5) previous years.

Follow guidelines IRM 3.5.20.1 through 3.5.20.11, to ensure requests are complete and valid.

If IRPTR is used without definer W, the following items must be sanitized before the information is released:

RAIVS units are staffed and trained to handle paper requests. In general, the only calls from the public which should be coming to RAIVS are from:

Refer taxpayers with tax or tax account questions to the appropriate number below:

Refer taxpayers who want to order photocopies and/or transcripts of tax returns or wage information to the internet at www.irs.gov or the IRS forms number (1-800-829-3676) to obtain a copy of the order form (Form 4506 or Form 4506-T).

Refer practitioners to Practitioner Priority Service at 1-866-860-4259.