IRS reverses controversial procedural notice.The Internal Revenue Service issued an advance copy of revenue procedure 94-51 (1994-31 IRB IRB See: Industrial Revenue Bond 31) amending revenue procedure 94-34 (1994-18 IRB 19), which strictly limited the types of substitute tax returns that could be filed. The earlier procedure, published last May, essentially banned the use of computer-generated tax forms and photocopies of official forms. Beginning in tax year 1995, revenue procedure 94-34 said, the IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. would accept only returns filed electronically, computer-generated forms 1040PC, IRS-published originals or exact duplicates. "We were inundated in·un·date tr.v. in·un·dat·ed, in·un·dat·ing, in·un·dates 1. To cover with water, especially floodwaters. 2. with letters from practitioners as well as members of Congress writing to us on behalf of their constituents," said Steve Schneider, substitute forms program coordinator in the IRS Forms Standardization standardization In industry, the development and application of standards that make it possible to manufacture a large volume of interchangeable parts. Standardization may focus on engineering standards, such as properties of materials, fits and tolerances, and drafting Project Office. "We also received phone calls and letters from the AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). as well as a number of CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. firms expressing their concern about the restrictions." The purpose of revenue procedure 94-51 is to allow for more flexibility in the approval of substitute individual tax returns in future tax years. It eliminates restrictions on laser-printer and dotmatrix printouts. It also allows machine-readable substitutes, including computer-generated and computer-printed forms that meet criteria to be published later based on IRS system requirements To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer system. These pre-requisites are known as (computer) system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed to an absolute rule. and on input from tax practitioner groups and software developers. "The fact the IRS said it would work with practitioners is an extremely positive step," said Anita Horn, a technical manager in the American Institute of CPAs tax division. "It shows how revenue procedure 94-34 caught even people in the IRS off guard." Horn added the IRS tax forms office told AICPA representatives it had yet to determine what kinds of scannable returns it would accept. One form not available for electronic processing is form 6251, which computes the alternative minimum tax. For most practitioners, complicated returns typically include forms 6251. "CPAs are not against filing electronically," said Horn, "but until all forms are included in the electronically filed returns, many practitioners will be sending in the paper." The IRS does not expect its systems to be ready to process all tax forms electronically for at least two filing seasons. |
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