In its Annual Report to Congress, the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) recommended increasing electronic filing of the Form 94x series and cited the American Payroll Association as a source of information on the project. ETAAC held its public meeting on June 27, where it presented its Annual Report containing 19 recommendations [IRS Publication 3415, Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee Annual Report to Congress, rev. 6-18].
Recommendation number 19 provides: The IRS should leverage its public/private partnerships to establish a collaborative undertaking with all key stakeholders focused on a two-phase approach to increase electronic filing rates for the Form 94x series. The report cites APA’s response to a March 2015 request by the IRS for comments on increasing electronic filing of employment returns. APA’s response was that the IRS should focus on streamlining its administrative processes. APA also noted employers will continue to file on paper unless and until the IRS’s process is substantially less cumbersome and time consuming.
The IRS said the Form 94x employment return series has the largest number of tax returns filed after the Form 1040 series. It said that “substantially lower electronic filing rates for employment tax returns has been an issue for years.”
ETAAC does not recommend “any policy solution that involves a mandate to compel the electronic filing of Form 94X returns unless and until the IRS significantly simplifies its Form 94X filer registration and enrollment processes. Forcing employers, and particularly small businesses, to go through the current cumbersome experience is not advisable.”
Two APA members participate on ETAAC: Luanne Brown, CPP, and Jenine Hallings.
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