E-Delivery Checklist
The IRS authorizes businesses to furnish electronic copies of certain tax forms, instead of a paper copy. There are many benefits to E-Delivery:
- It can be more cost-effective than traditional form furnishing.
- Immediate form delivery to recipients.
- Physical mail can take longer to arrive and may not be deliverable due to address changes, etc.
- Ability to meet last minute deadlines that physical mail copies cannot meet.
However, electronic form delivery isn’t as simple as just sending forms via email; there are extensive rules and requirements for it.
E-Delivery Requirements
The requirements for electronic delivery of recipient forms can be found in IRS Publication 1179 (pg. 28).
Before you are able to send forms to your employees electronically, you must gain employee consent. There are lengthy consent requirements, and employees can withdraw consent at any time. Additionally, you must ensure that the electronic copy is formatted correctly and has all of the required data. Recipients must still receive their forms by the furnishing deadline. If they do not consent to E-Delivery, then a physical copy must be provided by the deadline.
Find out more about the IRS E-Delivery requirements here.
Due to these rules and regulations, sending a PDF copy to your recipients via email will not suffice.
Employer Checklist for E-Delivery
- Requesting consent is not enough. As the employer, you must monitor who has consented and mail physical copies to those who have not.
- Track employee consent and monitor email and physical mailbox for E-Delivery opt-outs.
- As deadline approaches, a physical copy of forms must be mailed to recipients that have not consented to E-Delivery.
- Many employers will gather electronic consent as part of their payroll workflow. If you have gathered consents outside of BoomTax, please make sure they follow the guidelines outlined here:Electronic Form Delivery Consent (BoomTax)
BoomTax E-Delivery
This is where BoomTax can help! We have created our E-Delivery to meet all of these requirements, so you don’t have to worry about them.
By using our E-Delivery service, you will be able to monitor recipient enrollment, consent, whether they have viewed their documents. With these tracking features, you can easily select recipients who have not enrolled and mail out physical forms.
We are committed to providing excellent products and service to make information return filing as easy and stress-free as possible.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or need further information on electronic form delivery, please contact us.
BoomTax does not provide tax or legal advice and any information contained in this document should not be construed as such. Always consult with a tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.