Accepted Forms

[RLymanC]

for e-filing:
Looks like form 5405 is going to be OK

http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=204167,00.html

[Jesse]

That list was "last reviewed or updated: November 19, 2009", I think the Quick Alert from IRS came out a day or two before Thanksgiving, so just after the 19th.

I'm not holding my breathe, but I was hoping they would revise form 8453 and allow the closing statements to be sent with that form rather than the need to paper file the entire return.

[erchess]

Tyvm

I am not surprised but it's good to know for sure. The reason I am not surprised is that the IRS wants people to e-file because it saves them time and staff hours and catches a lot of errors while avoiding problems caused by their data entry. It therefore makes sense that every year more and more situations can be e-filed. FTHB is going to be on a lot of returns this year. If it stopped e-filing there would be a decrease in e-filing.

I hadn't thought about sending in the closing statements but Jesse is right. I have always told clients who have something that must be mailed in that they cam either get another tax professional or paper file the return. (I didn't hang out my own shingle until well after we stopped having to mail in all Forms 8453.) I plan to maintain this policy because I don't want to bother with mailing things to the IRS and or State.

[DonPriebe]

... I'm not holding my breath, but I was hoping they would revise form 8453 and allow the closing statements to be sent with that form rather than the need to paper file the entire return.

I think that's unlikely because the whole reason that they want the closing papers in the first place is to avoid sending out inaccurate (or maybe even fraudulent) refunds. Using the 8453 the return would be processed and the money distributed (and perhaps the recipient long gone) before they ever got around to looking at the closing papers.

When I think about the 8453 processing area in Austin, I visualize the closing scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[RLymanC]

Talked to IRS on form 5405

The IRS will not accept form 5405 without using the new form if home purchased after 11/06/09, AND you must attach the closing statement to the return and MAIL in. They are not going to allow 8453 to be used.