Current through February 26, 2024
(1) GENERAL.
Subject to the provisions of this section, the official Wisconsin franchise or
income tax forms required to be filed with the department may be reproduced and
the reproductions may be filed in lieu of the corresponding official forms. Any
reproduction which varies from the official version in any particular way,
except as authorized in this section, shall be submitted to the department for
approval before it is used. The department may reject any reproduction which is
in whole or in part illegible or which is of a format that has not been
approved by the department.
(2)
SPECIFICATIONS. The following specifications shall apply:
(a) Printing of reproductions shall be by
conventional printing processes, photocopying, computer graphics or similar
reproduction processes and shall duplicate the font sizes, graphics and format
of the official form. Reproductions may be printed on one side or both sides of
the paper.
(b) Reproductions of
optical character reader-scannable, or OCR-scannable, documents shall bear an
OCR-scannable line as prescribed for the specific document type. Photocopies of
OCR-scannable forms may not be filed.
(c) The reproductions shall be on paper of
substantially the same weight and texture, and of quality at least as good as
that used in the official forms.
(d) In the reproduction of tax forms,
official forms printed on colored paper may be reproduced on white paper, and
black ink may be substituted for colored ink.
(e) The size of the reproduction, both as to
dimensions of the paper and image reproduced on it, shall be the same as that
of the official form, except that full-page official forms which are other than
8½ inches by 11 inches in size may be reproduced on 8½ inch by 11
inch paper.
(f) Except for returns
executed by fiduciaries as provided in sub. (3) or returns filed
electronically, all signatures required on returns which are filed with the
department shall be original, affixed subsequent to the reproduction
process.
(3)
FIDUCIARIES. A fiduciary or the fiduciary's agent may use a facsimile signature
in filing a tax return on form 2, subject to the following conditions:
(a) Each group of returns forwarded to the
department shall be accompanied by a letter signed by the person authorized to
sign the returns declaring, under penalties of perjury, that the facsimile
signature appearing on the returns is the signature adopted by the person to
sign the returns filed and that the signature was affixed to the returns by the
person or at the person's direction. The letter shall also list each return by
name and identifying number.
(b) A
signed copy of the letter shall be retained by the person filing the returns
and shall be available for inspection by the department.
(c) If returns are reproduced by photocopying
or similar reproductive methods, the facsimile signature shall be affixed
subsequent to the reproduction process.
Written requests for approval of substitute forms should be
mailed to Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Processing Forms Approval, P.O. Box
8903, Madison, WI 53708-8903.
Section Tax 2.09 interpretss.
71.03(6)
(a),
71.20(1),
71.24(1)
and
71.44(1)
(a),
Stats.
