Rev. Proc. 78-29

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 design and printing of substitute federal tax return forms and schedules for filing purposes in lieu of the official forms and schedules. Rev. Proc. 77-42, 1977-2 C.B. 575, is superseded.

Sec. 2. General Instructions

.01 When filing reproduced or privately printed federal tax returns and related schedules, use the preaddressed label furnished to the taxpayer in the tax package by the Service on the copy that is to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Use of the label avoids larger processing costs because it reduces the potential for error--the kind of error which can delay the receipt of refund and information needed by the taxpayer.

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

.03 When filing reproduced or privately printed federal tax returns and related schedules, use the envelope enclosed with the taxpayer's tax package. This envelope is coded for sorting into several categories. Use of the coded envelope can help speedup the processing and reduce processing costs. Do not use the Service provided tax package envelope for other correspondence with the Service as its misuse could delay the correspondence.

.04 The Service prefers only original filled-in Forms 1040A, 1040 and related schedules.

.05 Attach all Forms W-2, Employees Wage and Tax Statements, Forms W-2G, Statement for Certain Gambling Winnings, and Forms W-2P, Statement for Recipients of Periodic Annuities, Pensions, Retired Pay, or IRA Payments 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. Additional information required or voluntarily submitted should be on the same size paper as the official form and attached to the back of the form to which it relates.

.07 Attach all payments (check or money order, no cash) to the front of Forms 1040A or 1040.

.08 On both Forms 1040A and 1040, the Paid Preparer's Information area may not be rearranged or relocated. An exact facsimile must appear on Page 1 of Form 1040A and page 2 of Form 1040.

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 and 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:

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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 cutoff date is December 1 of the current year.

Sec. 5. 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: RM: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

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

(a) Must be exact facsimiles of the official forms and schedules. The private printing of these facsimiles must be 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. Carbon bonded paper is prohibited from use for forms and schedules filed with the Service. Chemical transfer paper may be used ONLY when the following specifications are met:

(1) Each ply within the chemical transfer set of forms or schedules must be labeled.

(2) Only the top ply (ply one), the one which contains chemical on the back only (coated back), may be filed with the Service. For example, a set containing three plies would be constructed as follows: Ply one (coated back), "Federal Return, File with IRS"; Ply two (coated front and back), "Taxpayer's copy"; and Ply three (coated front), "Preparer's copy."

(3) The file designation, "Federal Return, File with IRS", for ply one must be placed in the left-hand one-half inch margin area at least three inches from the top of each individual form or schedule. It is not mandatory, but recommended, that the file designation, "Federal Return, File with IRS", be printed using a contrasting ink to be clearly visible to the taxpayer.

(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 or that do not meet the specifications of this Revenue Procedure.

.03 Reproductions and privately designed and printed substitutes may be the same size as that of the official form, or they may be 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.

.05 Data entries on supporting statements must be totaled where applicable, and the proper information entered on the appropriate line of the corresponding forms or schedules. Supporting statements must conform to the size of the form or schedule to which they apply.

.06 Original, facsimile, or privately designed and printed forms and schedules containing data identical to that shown on the official forms or schedules included in the return may not be attached as supporting statements. Supporting statements must provide detail and explain entries made on the official form or schedule, must furnish all required information in the same sequence as called for on the official forms or schedules, and must be attached to the form or schedule in the same order as the entries appear on the official forms or schedules.

.07 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 from that provided on the official form.

Sec. 7. Additional Instructions

.01 The Service 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. 6.01(a), (b), and (c).

.02 Reproductions of forms may be made after insertion of the tax computations and other required information. All taxpayer signatures on forms to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service must be original signatures, affixed subsequent to the reproduction process. However, the income tax preparer can satisfy the requirement that he/she manually sign the return if he/she signs a completed income tax return form, makes a photocopy of the return form, and has the taxpayer sign and file the photocopy. (See Rev. Rul. 78-370, page 336, this Bulletin.)

.03 Reproduction of schedules and forms meeting the above conditions may be used without prior approval of the Service. However, if specified 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: TX:R:I, 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224, for consideration. When copies of privately designed forms or schedules are submitted for approval there must also be an accompanying statement that lists additions, deletions, and those items that deviate from the official form in position, arrangement, appearance, type size, type face, line number(s), etc. Included with each of the items so noted, there must be a detailed reason or justification for requesting the change. The cutoff date for submitting a request for approval of reproduced or privately designed and printed Forms 1040 and related schedules (those listed with an asterisk in Section 4 above) is December 1, 1978. Those received postmarked after December 1, 1978, will be considered for approval but the Service cannot assure that a determination on the forms submitted for approval can be completed in time for use during the filing period. This requirement is to allow adequate time for analysis and response and to permit notice to our field offices (see subsection .04 below) before the January 1 beginning of the filing period. This December 1 cutoff date is also a requirement in Revenue Procedure 78-30, this page, this Bulletin, for computer-prepared substitute Forms 1040 and related schedules.

.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 TX:R:I, so that we can notify our field offices. We reserve the right to reject sets which are not assembled in the order specified. A set constitutes a return with the related schedules and forms in order as they will be filed, i.e., Form 1040, Schedules A & B, C, D, etc., Forms 2440, 2441, etc.

Sec. 8. Effect on Other Documents

This Revenue Procedure supersedes Rev. Proc. 77-42.