SEC. 4. ELECTRONIC — Internal Revenue Bulletin 1996-2

.01 Electronically filed information may be submitted to IRS/MCC 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Technical assistance will be available Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time by calling (304) 263-8700.

.02 Filers may submit as many documents as they choose electronically. Filers are allowed 240 minutes a day; however, more time may be requested if needed.

.03 Do not transmit data using IRP–BBS January 1 through January 7. This will allow time for the IRP–BBS to be updated to reflect current year changes.

.04 Data compression is encouraged when submitting information returns by way of the IRP–BBS. MCC has the ability to decompress files created using several popular software compression programs such as ARC, LHARC, and PKZIP. Software data compression can be done alone or in conjunction with V.42bis hardware compression. Transmission time can be reduced by as much as 85 percent when data compression is used; therefore, it is highly recommended.

The time required to transmit information returns electronically will vary depending on the modem speed and the type of data compression used, if any. However, transmissions to IRP–BBS will be significantly faster than electronic filing to the mainframe.

The following are actual transmission rates achieved in test uploads at MCC using compressed files (PKZIP) and the xmodem protocol. The actual transmission rates will vary depending on the protocol that is used. (Uploads will be approximately 25% faster when using the XMODEM-1K or ZMODEM protocols.)

Transmission Speed in bps	500 Records	2500 Records	10000 Records
2400	2 min 55 sec	10 min 25 sec	55 min 10 sec
9600	1 min 5 sec	4 min 35 sec	21 min 20 sec
19200	41 sec	2 min 51 sec	13 min 23 sec
38400	25 sec	1 min 55 sec	9 min 10 sec

.05 Files submitted to IRP–BBS must have a unique filename; therefore, the IRP–BBS will build the filename that must be used. The name will consist of the filer’s TCC, submission type (T = Test, P = Production, C = Correction, and R = Replacement) and a sequence number. Filers may call the file anything they choose on their end. The sequence number will be incremented every time they send, or attempt to send, a file. Record the upload date, time, and filename. This information will be needed by MCC in order to identify the file if assistance is required and to complete Form 4804.