The IRS has issued guidance (Notice 2024-18) on the availability of administrative exemptions from the requirement to file certain returns and other documents in electronic form and on the procedure to request a waiver of the requirement to file electronically.
Section 6011(e) was amended in 2019 to allow Treasury to prescribe regulations that decrease the number of returns a filer may file without being required to file returns and other documents electronically. Under that authority, any person who must file at least 10 returns during a calendar year must e-file. Sections 6011 and 6033 were also amended to require that certain returns filed by tax-exempt organizations must be filed electronically. Notice 2010-13 provided the procedure for corporations, S corporations, and tax-exempt organizations that are required to file returns under section 6033 to request a waiver of the requirement to file specified forms electronically.
The updated electronic filing regulations (T.D. 9972) provide for certain administrative exemptions from the electronic filing requirement, including one for filers of the returns or other documents described in the regs for whom using the technology required to file electronically conflicts with their religious beliefs. Most filers claiming the religious exemption have the option to notify the IRS that they qualify for it in advance of filing by submitting Form 8508, “Application for Waiver from Electronic Filing of Information Returns.”
However, filers of forms 1120, 1120-F, 1120-S, and 1065 who claim the religious exemption should not file Form 8508, but instead must file in paper form following the paper filing requirements prescribed by the IRS. Those filers must print in bold letters “Religious Exemption” at the top of page 1 of the return they file in paper form. Filers who qualify for the religious exemption for those forms are not subject to the electronic filing waiver procedure that is available to other filers, which requires advance application and approval from the IRS before filing in paper form.
Notice 2024-18 modifies Notice 2023-60 and makes Notice 2010-13 obsolete.
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