Part 3 Physical Aspects and Requirements

Section 3.1 — General Guidelines for Substitute Forms

3.1.1 General Information The official form is the standard. Because a substitute form is a variation from the official form, you should know the requirements of the official form for the year of use before you modify it to meet your needs. The IRS provides several means of obtaining the most frequently used tax forms. These include the Internet, fax-on-demand, and CD-ROM (see Part 4).

3.1.2 Design Each form must follow the design of the official form as to format arrangement, item caption, line numbers, line references, and sequence.

3.1.3 State Tax Information Prohibited

State tax information must not appear on the federal tax return, associated form, or schedule that is filed with the IRS. Exceptions occur when amounts are claimed on, or required by, the federal return ( e.g., state and local income taxes, on Schedule A of Form 1040).

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3.1.4 Vertical Alignment

3.1.5 Attachment Sequence Number

3.1.6 Paid Preparer’s Information and Signature Area

Many individual income tax forms have a required “attachment sequence number” located just below the year designation in the upper right corner of the form. The IRS uses this number to indicate the order in which forms are to be attached to the tax return for processing. Some of the attachment sequence numbers may change from year to year.

On computer-prepared forms:

On Forms 1040EZ, 1040A, 1040, and 1120, etc., the “Paid Preparer’s Use Only” area may not be rearranged or relocated. You may, however, add three extra lines to the paid preparer’s address area without prior approval. This applies to other tax forms as well.

3.1.7 Assembly of Forms If developing software or forms for use by others, please inform your customers/clients that the order in which the forms are arranged may affect the processing of the package. A return must be arranged in the order indicated below.

Supporting statements should then follow in the same sequence as the forms they support. Additional information required should be attached last.

In this way, the forms are received in the order in which they must be processed. If you do not send returns to us in order, processing may be delayed.

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Section 3.2 — Paper

3.2.1 Paper Content The paper must be:

3.2.2 Paper With Chemical Transfer Properties

There are several kinds of paper prohibited for substitute forms. These are:

1. Carbon-bonded paper

2. Chemical transfer paper except when the following specifications are met:

a. Each ply within the chemical transfer set of forms must be labeled.

b. Only the top ply (ply one and white in color), the one that contains chemical on the back only (coated back), may be filed with the IRS.

3.2.3 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.”

The file designation, “Federal Return, File with IRS,” for ply one must be printed in the bottom right margin (just below the last line of the form) in 12-point, bold-face type.

It is not mandatory, but recommended, that the file designation “Federal Return, File with IRS,” be printed in a contrasting ink for visual emphasis.

3.2.4 Carbon Paper Do not attach any carbon paper to any return you file with the IRS.

3.2.5 Paper and Ink Color

We prefer that the color and opacity of paper substantially duplicates that of the original form. This means that your substitute must be printed in black ink and may be on white or on the colored paper the IRS form is printed on. Forms 1040A and 1040 substitute reproductions may be in black ink without the colored shading. The only exception to this rule is Form 1041–ES, which should always be printed with a very light gray shading in the color screened area. This is necessary to assist us in expeditiously separating this form from the very similar Form 1040–ES.

3.2.6 Page Size Substitute or reproduced forms and computer prepared/generated substitutes may be the same size as the official form or they may be the standard commercial size (8 ¹ /2′′ x 11′′). The thickness of the stock cannot be less than .003 inches.

Section 3.3 — Printing

3.3.1 Printing Medium The private printing of all substitute tax forms must be by conventional printing processes, photocopying, computer-graphics, or similar reproduction processes.

3.3.2 Legibility All forms must have a high standard of legibility as to printing, reproduction, and fill-in matter. Entries of taxpayer data may be no smaller than eight points. The IRS reserves the right to reject those with poor legibility. The ink and printing method used must ensure that no part of a form (including text, graphics, data entries, etc.) develops “smears” or similar quality

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deterioration. This includes any subsequent copies or reproductions made from an approved master substitute form, either during preparation or during IRS processing.

3.3.3 Type Font Many federal tax forms are printed using “Helvetica” as the basic type font. We request that you use this type font when composing substitute forms.

3.3.4 Print Spacing Substitute forms should be printed using a 6 lines/inch vertical print option. They should also be printed horizontally in 10 pitch pica ( i.e., 10 print characters per inch) or 12 pitch elite ( i.e., 12 print positions per inch).

3.3.5 Image Size The image size of a printed substitute form should be as close as possible to that of the official form. You may omit any text on both computer-prepared and computer-generated forms that is solely instructional.

3.3.6 Title Area Changes To allow a large top margin for marginal printing and more lines per page, the title line(s) for all substitute forms (not including the form’s year designation and sequence number, when present), may be photographically reduced by 40 percent or reset as one line of type. When reset as one line, the type size may be no smaller than 14-point. You may omit “Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service” and all reference to instructions in the form’s title area.

3.3.7 Remove Government Printing Office Symbol and IRS Catalog Number

3.3.8 Printing on One Side of Paper

3.3.9 Photocopy Equipment

When privately printing substitute tax forms, the Government Printing Office (GPO) symbol and/or jacket number must be removed. In the same place, using the same type size print the Employer Identification Number (EIN), the Social Security Number (SSN) of the printer or designer, or the IRS-assigned source code. (We prefer this last number be printed in the lower left area of the first page of each form.) Also, remove the IRS Catalog Number (Cat. No.) if one is present in the bottom center margin, and the recycle symbol if the substitute is not produced on recycled paper.

While it is preferred that both sides of the paper be used for substitutes and reproduced forms, resulting in the same page arrangement as that of the official form or schedule, the IRS will not reject your forms if only one side of the paper is used.

The IRS does not undertake to approve or disapprove the specific equipment or process used in reproducing official forms. Photocopies of forms must be entirely legible and satisfy the conditions stated in this and other revenue procedures.

3.3.10 Reproductions Reproductions of official forms and substitute forms that do not meet the requirements of this revenue procedure may not be filed instead of the official forms. Illegible photocopies are subject to being returned to the filer for re-submission of legible copies.

3.3.11 Removal of Instructions

You may remove references to instructions. No prior approval is needed.

Exception: The words “For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions” must be retained or a similar statement provided on each form. Some forms refer the taxpayer to a page number in the instructions for information on the Paperwork Reduction Act Notice.

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Section 3.4 — Margins

3.4.1 Margin Size The format of a reproduced tax form when printed on the page must have margins on all sides at least as large as the margins on the official form. This allows room for IRS employees to make the necessary entries on the form during processing.

prior to filing with the IRS.

3.4.2 Marginal Printing Prior approval is not required for the marginal printing allowed when printed on an official form or on a photocopy of an official form.

941, etc.), you may print in the left vertical margin and in the left half of the bottom margin.

1040EZ, 1120, 940, 941, etc.). The Service uses this area to imprint a Document Locator Number for each return. There are no exceptions to this requirement.

Section 3.5 — Examples of Approved Formats

3.5.1 Examples of Approved Formats From the Exhibits

Three sets of exhibits (Exhibits A–1, 2; B–1, 2; and C–1, 2) are at the end of this revenue procedure as examples of how these guidelines may be used. Vertical spacing is six (6) lines to the inch. A combination of upper and lower-case print font is acceptable in producing substitute forms.

The same logic may be applied to any IRS form that is normally reproducible as a substitute form, with the exception of the tax return forms as discussed elsewhere. These exhibits may be from a prior year and are not to be used as current substitute forms.

Section 3.6 — Miscellaneous Information for Substitute Forms

3.6.1 Filing Substitute Forms

3.6.2 Caution to Software Publishers

To be acceptable for filing, a substitute form must print out in a format that will allow the filer 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 appropriately sized paper, legible, and include a jurat, where one appears on the published form.

The IRS 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:

items on the proper pages.

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3.6.3 Use Pre-Addressed IRS Label

3.6.4 Caution to Producers of Software Packages

3.6.5 Programming to Print Forms

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 pre-addressed label provided in the tax package the IRS 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 the IRS to automatically accelerate processing of those returns. This results in quicker refunds, more accurate names/addresses and postal deliveries, and less manual review by IRS functions.

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 IRS preprinted check digits or a practitioner-derived name control to appear on any return prepared and filed with the IRS.

Whenever applicable:

JOHN Q. PUBLIC 310 OAK DRIVE HOMETOWN, STATE 94000

JOHN Q. PUBLIC MARY I. PUBLIC 310 OAK DRIVE HOMETOWN, STATE 94000