SEC. 14. SPECIFICATIONS FOR

FILING SUBSTITUTE FORMS

.01 Filing Substitute Forms. To be acceptable for filing, a substitute return or form must print out in a format that will allow the party submitting the return to follow the same instructions as for filing official forms. These instructions are in the taxpayer’s tax package, or in the related form instructions. The form must be on the appropriate size paper, be legible, and include a jurat where one appears on the published form.

1 Note to software publishers: The Service has received returns produced by software packages with approved output where either the form heading was altered or the lines were spaced irregularly. This produces an illegible or unrecognizable return or a return with the wrong number of pages. We realize that many of these problems are caused by individual printer differences but they may delay input of return data and, in some cases, generate correspondence to the taxpayer. Therefore, in the instructions to the purchasers of your product, both individual and professional, please stress that their returns will be processed more efficiently if they are properly formatted. This includes:

(a) having the correct form numbers and titles at the top of the return and

(b) submitting the same number of pages as if the form were an official IRS form, with the line items on the proper pages.

.02 Use Preaddressed Internal Revenue Service Label. If you are a practitioner filling out a return for a client or a software publisher who prints instruction manuals, stress the use of the preaddressed label provided in the tax package the Service sent to the taxpayer, when available. The use of this label (or its precisely duplicated label information) is extremely important for the efficient, accurate, and economical processing of a taxpayer’s return. Labeled returns indicate that a taxpayer is an established filer and permits us to automatically accelerate processing of those returns. This results in quicker refunds, accurate names/addresses and postal deliveries, and less manual review by IRS functions.

1 If you are producing a software package that generates name and address data onto the tax return, do not under any circumstances program either the Service preprinted check digits or a

practitioner-derived Name Control to appear on any return prepared and filed with the Service.

3 If programming to print forms, use only the following label information format for single filers:

000–00–0000 JOHN Q. PUBLIC 310 OAK DRIVE HOMETOWN, STATE 94000 4 Use only the following information for joint filers:

000–00–0000 000–00–0000 JOHN Q. PUBLIC MARY I. PUBLIC 310 OAK DRIVE HOMETOWN, STATE 94000