SECTION 5. APPLICATION FOR THE

FORM 941 ELF PROGRAM

.01 A prospective Electronic Filer (“Applicant”) must first submit a Letter of Application (“Application”) to participate in the Form 941 ELF Program.

.02 All Applications must contain the following:

(1) the name, address, and EIN of the Applicant;

(2) the name, title, and telephone number of the person to contact regarding the Application;

(3) the first tax period for which the Applicant plans to file Forms 941 electronically or to have Form 941 software available to the public;

(4) a representation that the A p p l icant will comply with section 10 of this revenue procedure regarding responsibilities of an Electronic Filer;

(5) a listing of any suspension from any of the Service’s magnetic tape or electronic filing programs;

(6) the name and title of the Authorized Signatory; and

(7) the signature of the A p p l i c a n t ’s Authorized Signatory for electronically

filing Forms 941 or for software development testing.

.03 An Application of an Agent must also contain the following:

(1) the estimated volume of returns the Applicant plans to file under the Form 941 ELF Program; (2) the brand name of the software translation package and the EDI version to be used;

(3) a statement that the Applicant will keep a copy of all the Authorizations on file at the A p p l i c a n t ’s principal place of business for examination by the Service upon request;

(4) a representation that the Applicant will comply with section 3.03 of this revenue procedure regarding the types of returns accepted under the Form 941 ELF Program;

(5) an A g e n t ’s List containing the names of 10 or more taxpayers (except as provided in the grandfather rule in section 23.02 of this revenue procedure); and (6) except as provided in section 5.05 of this revenue procedure, an A u t h o r i z ation made on Form 8655 with a revision date of October 1995 or later (or its equivalent) for each taxpayer included on the A g e n t ’s List. See Rev. Proc. 96-17, as modified by section 22.02 of this revenue procedure, for general instructions on preparing Form 8655. See Exhibit 1 in the APPENDIX of this revenue procedure for a sample Application to Participate in the Form 941 ELF Program as an Agent.

.04 An Application of a Software Developer must also contain the following:

(1) the brand name of the software translation package, or the development name if no brand name exists, and the EDI version to be used; and

(2) whether the software is standalone or interfaces with a named payroll package. See Exhibit 2 in the APPENDIX of this revenue procedure for a sample Application to Participate in the Form 941 ELF Program as a Software Developer.

.05 A revised Authorization is not required to replace an Authorization made on Form 8655 with a revision date before October 1995 (or its equivalent) that was previously submitted to the Service by an Agent, provided that Authorization places no restriction on the medium for filing Form 941, and the Agent:

(1) advises its client that its Forms 941 may be filed electronically, and provides the client with the option of rejecting electronic filing as the medium for filing its Forms 941. An Agent may use the most efficient and timely method of clearly providing this notification to a client. A c l i e n t ’s rejection of electronic filing for its Forms 941 must be submitted in writing to the Agent; and

(2) immediately removes any client from its electronic filing client base that rejects having its Forms 941 filed electronically.

.06 To allow sufficient time for the approval process, the Applicant should submit its Application by the Application due dates preceding the quarter ending dates, as follows:

Application Due For Quarter Date Ending December 15 (prior year) March 31 March 15 June 30 June 15 September 30 September 15 December 31

.07 The Application must be submitted to the Service at the address provided in section 21 of this revenue procedure.

.08 An Application may not include a request to file Forms 941, 940, and 945 on magnetic tape or make FTD payments and submit FTD information to the Service on magnetic tape or electronically. An Applicant interested in participating in these programs should submit an Application in accordance with the following revenue procedures: Rev. Proc. 96–18 (magnetic tape filing of Forms 941, 940, and 945); Rev. Proc. 97–33 (electronic transmission of FTDs); and Rev. Proc. 89–48 (magnetic tape filing of FTD information).