The IRS should expand the scope of forms accepted electronically to include non-income-tax returns — including paper-filed returns — because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the American Institute of CPAs.
In an August 19 letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, the AICPA also reiterated the request it made in a June 4 letter that the agency allow the use of electronic signatures for e-file authorization forms such as those in the Form 8453, Form 8878, and Form 8879 series.
“Nearly 90 percent of individual income tax returns . . . are filed electronically,” wrote Christopher W. Hesse, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee. “However, the majority of the E-file Authorization Forms and non-income tax returns require manual signatures.”
Manual signatures have become harder to obtain because many taxpayers are under stay-at-home orders or are trying to maintain social distance amid the pandemic, Hesse noted, adding that “many businesses are closed, making manual signatures burdensome and, in some cases, prohibitive to obtain.”
The letter asks the IRS to expand a June 12 memorandum (NHQ-01-0620-0002) that modified a prior memo approving the temporary use of e-signatures on documents for the determination or collection of tax liability, as well as the use of email and other secure messaging systems for receiving and transmitting documents to taxpayers. The June 12 memo extended the expiration date for the use of e-signatures from July 15 to December 31.
“Expanding the scope of the June 12 memorandum will remove an unnecessary burden on taxpayers, their representatives, and the IRS, help prevent identity theft, and encourage compliance with public health directives,” Hesse wrote.
The letter says that although the IRS plans to expand the use of e-signatures to Form 8821, “Tax Information Authorization,” and Form 2848, “Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative,” in 2021, that expansion is too narrow in scope and “too late to offer meaningful relief in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The IRS didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment.