The IRS has decided to extend their program of accepting certain forms using electronic signatures that was scheduled to end on December 31, 2020 to June 30, 2021, per a new memorandum issued by Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement.[1]

The original program was discussed earlier in an online article I posted when the program was announced in August.[2]  The new memorandum repeats what was found in the original memorandum, but now covers the period from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021.

The memorandum provides:

As part of our response to the COVID-19 situation, we have taken steps to protect employees, taxpayers and their representatives by minimizing the need for in-person contact. Taxpayer representatives have expressed concerns with securing handwritten signatures during these times for forms that are required to be filed or maintained on paper. To alleviate these concerns while promoting timely filing, we are implementing a temporary deviation with this memorandum that allows taxpayers and representatives to use electronic or digital signatures when signing the following forms that currently require a handwritten signature…[3]

The memorandum has the same language allowing use of a broad set of electronic signature types in a footnote to the above paragraph:

Electronic and digital signatures appear in many forms when printed and may be created by many different technologies. No specific technology is required for this purpose during this temporary deviation.[4]

Note that only the following forms are covered by this program.  Other forms that must be filed in paper form still require physical signatures rather than electronic ones:

• Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method;

• Form 8832, Entity Classification Election;

• Form 8802, Application for U.S. Residency Certification;

• Form 1066, U.S. Income Tax Return for Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit;

• Form 706, U.S. Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return;

• Form 706-NA, U.S. Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return;

• Form 709, U.S. Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return;

• Form 1120-ND, Return for Nuclear Decommissioning Funds and Certain Related Persons;

• Form 1120-RIC, U.S. Income Tax Return for Regulated Investment Companies;

• Form 1120-C, U.S. Income Tax Return for Cooperative Associations;

• Form 1120-REIT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Real Estate InvestmentTrusts;

• Form 1120-L, U.S. Life Insurance Company Income Tax Return;

• Form 1120-PC, U.S. Property and Casualty Insurance Company Income Tax Return;

• Form 1128, Application to Adopt, Change or Retain a Tax Year;

• Form 3520, Annual Return To Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts;

• Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner;

• Form 8453 series, Form 8878 series, and Form 8879 series regarding IRS e-file Signature Authorization Forms; and

• Form 8038 series, pertaining to tax-exempt bonds.[5]

The forms in question must be signed and postmarked by June 30, 2021.[6]

[1] Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, “Temporary Deviation from Handwritten Signature Requirement for Limited List of Tax Forms,” December 11, 2020, (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/dcse-wet-signature-compliance-morandum.pdf retrieved December 15, 2020)

[2] Edward Zollars, CPA, “IRS Temporarily Expands the Use of Electronic Signatures for a Limited Set of Forms,” Current Federal Tax Developments website, August 28, 2020 (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/blog/2020/8/28/irs-temporarily-expands-the-use-of-electronic-signatures-for-a-limited-set-of-forms retrieved December 15, 2020)

[3] Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, “Temporary Deviation from Handwritten Signature Requirement for Limited List of Tax Forms,” December 11, 2020

[4] Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, “Temporary Deviation from Handwritten Signature Requirement for Limited List of Tax Forms,” December 11, 2020

[5] Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, “Temporary Deviation from Handwritten Signature Requirement for Limited List of Tax Forms,” December 11, 2020

[6] Sunita Lough, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, “Temporary Deviation from Handwritten Signature Requirement for Limited List of Tax Forms,” December 11, 2020