Rev. Proc. 77-42

Section 1. Purpose

The purpose of this Revenue Procedure is to restate the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service relating to the preparation of acceptable reproductions and private printing of substitute Federal tax return forms and schedules for filing purposes in lieu of the official forms and schedules. Rev. Proc. 76-40, 1976-2 C.B. 662 is superseded.

Sec. 2. General Instructions

.01 When filing reproduced or privately printed Federal tax returns and related schedules, use the preaddressed label furnished by the Service on the copy that is to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

.02 State tax information must not appear on the Federal tax return which is filed with the Internal Revenue Service Center, except amounts claimed on line 11, Schedule A (Form 1040) as a state tax deduction.

.03 File reproduced or privately printed Federal tax returns and related schedules, using the envelope enclosed with the taxpayer's package. Do not use the Service provided tax package envelope for other correspondence with the Service.

.04 File only original filled-in Forms 1040A, 1040 and related schedules.

.05 Attach all Forms W-2, Employees Wage and Tax Statements, Form W-2G, Statement for Certain Gambling Winnings, and Forms W-2P, Statement for Recipients of Annuities, Pensions or Retired Pay to the front of Forms 1040A, or 1040.

.06 Attach all schedules in alphabetical order and forms other than W-2, W-2G, and W-2P in numbered order to the back of Form 1040.

.07 Attach all payments and Forms W-2, W-2G and W-2P to the front of Forms 1040A or 1040.

.08 Space must be provided on page 1 of Form 1040A and page 2 of Form 1040 for a paid preparer's name, business address, identifying number and signature.

If the preparer is an employee of a preparer firm, space should be provided for the preparer's social security number as well as the employer's identification number.

Sec. 3. Specifications

.01 Subject to the conditions enumerated in Section 5, the Service will accept, for filing purposes, exact facsimile reproductions of any of the following tax return forms and schedules:

U.S. Estate Tax Return, Form 706.

U.S. Quarterly Gift Tax Return, Form 709.

U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040.

Itemized Deductions AND Interest Dividend Income, Schedules A & B (Form 1040).

Profit or (Loss) From Business or Profession, Schedule C (Form 1040).

Capital Gains and Losses, Schedule D (Form 1040).

Supplemental Income Schedule, Schedule E (Form 1040).

Farm Income and Expenses, Schedule F (Form 1040).

Income Averaging, Schedule G (Form 1040).

Credit for the Elderly, Schedules R & RP (Form 1040).

Computation of Social Security Self-Employment Tax, Schedule SE (Form 1040).

Tax Computation Schedule, Schedule TC (Form 1040).

U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040A.

U.S. Departing Alien Income Tax Return, Form 1040C.

U.S. Fiduciary Income Tax Return, Form 1041.

Capital Gains and Losses, Schedule D (Form 1041).

Beneficiary's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc., Schedule K-1 (Form 1041).

Allocation of Accumulation Distribution, Schedule J (Form 1041).

U.S. Partnership Return of Income, Form 1065.

Partner's Share of Income, Credits, Deductions, etc., Schedule K-1 (Form 1065).

U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, Form 1120.

Capital Gains and Losses, Schedule D (Form 1120).

U.S. Small Business Corporation Income Tax Return, Form 1120S.

Capital Gains and Losses, Schedule D (Form 1120S).

.02 Specifications.--Basic specifications such as margin, pagination, etc., will be printed in the margins of the reproduction proofs and must be removed before printing. The official reproduction proof margins across the top, bottom, and sides, must be maintained on all reproductions and privately printed Federal tax returns and related schedules.

Sec. 4. Physical Aspects

The conditions with respect to size, number of printed pages, quality of paper, and color of both paper and ink are as follows:

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² Forms cannot exceed sizes shown, nor be less than size of official forms.

³ This is a 3-part snapout with a 1/2 to 3/4-inch left-hand stub.

/*/ If approval is necessary, the cut-off date is December 20 of the current year.

Sec. 5. Conditions

.01 Reproductions and privately printed substitutes must meet the following conditions:

(a) Must be exact facsimiles of the official forms produced by photo-offset, photo-engraving, photocopying or other similar reproduction process.

(b) Must be on chemical wood writing paper equal to or better than the quality used for the official forms. The thickness of the stock cannot be less than 0.0030 inch. Use of Chemical Transfer and carbon bonded papers are prohibited for forms or schedules to be filed with the Service.

(c) Must substantially duplicate the colors of the paper and ink of the official form in order to be accepted except those listed in Section 4. In addition Forms 1040A and 1040 reproductions may be in black ink without the blue and pink screening.

.02 Reproductions must have a high standard of legibility, both as to original form and as to fill-in matter. The Service reserves the right to reject any reproductions with poor legibility.

.03 Reproductions and privately printed substitutes may be the same size as that of the official form; or the standard commercial size of 81/2 X 11 as noted in columns 2 and 3 of the table in Section 4. The image size of printed material should be as close as possible to that of the official form.

.04 Reproductions of official forms and substitute forms which do not meet the requirements of this Revenue Procedure may not be filed in lieu of the official forms and schedules. Supporting statements must provide detail and explain entries made on the official form or schedule, and must furnish all required information in the same sequence as called for on the official forms or schedules and be attached to the form or schedule in the same order as the entries appear on the official form or schedule. Supporting statements must conform to the size of the form or schedule to which they apply. The totals on all supporting statements must also be entered on the appropriate official form or schedule.

.05 While it is preferred that both sides of the paper be used in making reproductions, resulting in the same page arrangement as that of the official form or schedule, the Service will not object if only one side of the paper is used or if the reproduction has a different fold than that provided on the official form.

Sec. 6. Additional Instructions

.01 The Service ordinarily does not undertake to approve or disapprove the specific equipment or process used in reproducing official forms, but requires only that the reproduced forms and schedules satisfy the conditions stated in Sec. 5.01(a), (b) and (c).

.02 Reproductions of forms may be made after insertion of the tax computations and other required information. However, all signatures on forms to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service must be original signatures, affixed subsequent to the reproduction process.

.03 Reproduction of forms and schedules meeting the above conditions may be used without prior approval of the Service. However, if specific approval of a reproduction of any such form or schedule is desired, or if the use of a reproduction of any form or schedule not listed herein or otherwise specifically authorized is desired, a sample of the proposed reproduction should be forwarded, by letter, to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Attention: ACTS:T:C, 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224, for consideration. The cut-off date for submitting a request for approval of a reproduction is January 10, 1978.

.04 Once an approval is granted for the use of privately printed or reproduced forms and related schedules, fifty (50) copies of each approved form, and/or related schedule, must be assembled in sets and submitted to ACTS:T:C, so that our field offices will be properly notified.

Sec. 7. Reproduction Proofs

Order blanks for reproduction proofs will be mailed to requesters of record and, on request, to prospective users. Printers and others wishing to obtain reproduction proofs may send their requests to the Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, Washington, D.C. 20224, Attention: A:FM:P.

A charge of $1.00 per page will be made for each reproduction proof regardless of page size. After an order has been filled, invoices will be mailed to the consignee.

Reproduction proofs are available for the following forms:

 Form

This Revenue Procedure supersedes Rev. Proc. 76-40.