Rev. Proc. 75-14

Section 1. Purpose.

The purpose of this Revenue Procedure is to state the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service relating to paper substitutes for Form 1099-DIV, Statement for Recipients of Dividends and Distributions; Form 1099-INT, Statement for Recipients of Interest Income; Form 1099-MED, Statement for Recipients of Medical and Health Care Payments; Form 1099-MISC, Statement for Recipients of Miscellaneous Income, Form 1099-OID, Statement for Recipients of Original Issue Discount; Form 1099-PATR, Statement for Recipients (Patrons) of Taxable Distributions Received From Cooperatives; Form 1099R, Statement for Recipients of Lump-Sum Distributions from Profit-Sharing and Retirement Plans; Form 1087-DIV, Statement for Recipients of Dividends and Distributions; Form 1087-INT, Statement for Recipients of Interest Income; Form 1087-MED, Statement for Recipients of Medical and Health Care Payments; Form 1087-MISC, Statement for Recipients of Miscellaneous Income; and Form 1087-OID, Statement for Recipients of Original Issue Discount, (hereinafter collectively referred to as Forms 1099 and 1087) see Exhibit B.

Sec. 2. Filing on Magnetic Tape.

.01 In lieu of furnishing paper documents, the Service encourages payers or nominees (hereafter referred to as payers) who have the facility for submitting the information on magnetic tape to use this method of filing. Specifications for the submission of data on magnetic tape are currently contained in the publication entitled "Magnetic Tape Reporting of Wage and Information Documents," a copy of which may be obtained from any Internal Revenue District Office or Service Center. Payers or agents who desire to file information returns in the form of magnetic tape should apply by letter to the Director of Internal Revenue Service Center in the region in which the payer or agent normally files his information returns and Forms 1096.

.02 Since many states now accept information returns (Forms 1099 and 1087) on magnetic tape, savings may be obtained if similar tapes are used for filing with the Service and State tax agencies. Inquiries relating to magnetic tape filing should be made to the individual State tax authority.

.03 When magnetic tape is used, payers are free to design their own copies of information documents needed to meet the requirements of law and regulations concerning the statement of information which is required to be furnished the payee.

Sec. 3. Paper Substitutes for Forms 1099 and 1087--Copy A.

.01. Paper substitutes for Forms 1099 and 1087 which conform to the specifications contained in this procedure may be privately printed without the prior approval of the Internal Revenue Service. Proposed substitutes not conforming totally to these specifications must be submitted by payers to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, Attention: ACTS:T:C, 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224, for consideration. These requests should contain an explanation of the need for the specific deviations and the number of information returns affected.

.02. Forms 1099 and 1087 are subject to annual review and possible change, thus payers are cautioned against overstocking supplies of the privately-printed substitutes.

.03. Copies of the official forms for the reporting year may be obtained from any Internal Revenue Office. The Internal Revenue Service provides only cut sheet sets (no carbon interleaves) of these forms.

.04 All substitute Forms 1087 and 1099 must have the tax year printed in the upper right corner inclusive of the one-fourth inch top margin.

Sec. 4. Requirements for Substitute Forms--Copy A.

.01 A payer may file a substitute Form 1099 or 1087 with the Service (hereafter referred to as a substitute Copy A). The substitute forms, except Forms 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1087-INT and 1087-DIV, must be exact replicas of the official forms with respect to layout and contents. Only the dimensions of the substitute form may differ (see Section 4.06 below) and the printing of the Government Printing Office symbol must be deleted (see Section 4.09 below). The specifications and allowable tolerances for Copy A of the substitute Forms 1099 and 1087 are maximum width 8 inches, minimum 7 inches width and maximum depth 32/3 inches minimum 31/3 inches in depth, see Exhibit A.

.02 Forms 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1087-INT and 1087-DIV must meet all the requirements in Section 4.01 above except unneeded payment amount boxes may be omitted when the substitute Copy A is privately printed. If a payment box is omitted or eliminated, all remaining payment boxes must be left--justified and immediately follow the box for the "tax identifying number." There must be no blank areas or nonpayment data between the "tax identifying number" box and the payment boxes retained. The box for each payment amount field retained must contain the appropriate caption and payment identifying number shown on the official form. The payment identifying number and the payment boxes must be enclosed by 3-point rules as shown on the official forms.

.03 Color and Quality of Paper

1 Paper for Copy A must be white chemical wood bond, or equivalent, 40 pound (basis 17 x 22-1000), plus or minus 5 percent. No optical brighteners may be added to the pulp or paper during manufacture. The paper must consist of principally bleached chemical woodpulp and be free from unbleached or ground woodpulp or recycled printed paper. It also must be suitably sized to accept ink without feathering. The use of coated or super-calendered papers or other papers with a glossy appearance should be avoided since these forms will be used in an OCR application.

2 Copies B (For Recipient) and C (For Payer) are provided in the official assembly solely for the convenience of the payer (see Section 4.10). The payer may choose the format, design, color and quality of the paper used for these copies if he elects to include them in an assembly.

.04 Color and quality of ink--All printing must be in a high quality non-gloss black ink. Bar codes should be free from picks and voids.

.05 Typography--Type must be substantially identical in size and shape with corresponding type on the official form. All rules on the document are either 1-point (0.015 inch) or 3-point (0.045) as illustrated in the exhibits provided. Vertical rules must be parallel to the left edge of the document; horizontal rules, parallel to the top edge.

.06 Dimensions--The official form is 8 inches wide x 32/3 inches deep, exclusive of a 1/2 inch snap-stub on the left side of the form. The snap feature is not required on substitutes. If the substitute forms are in continuous or strip form, they must be burst and stripped to conform to the size specified for a single form before they are filed with the Service.

1 The width of substitute forms must be a minimum of 7 inches and a maximum of 8 inches, although adherence of the size of the official form is preferred. If the width of the substitute form is reduced from that of the official form, the width of each field, except the left margin and the "For Official Use Only" area, on the substitute form must be reduced proportionately. The left margin must be 1/2 inch and must be free of all printing other than that shown on the official form and the area marked "For Official Use Only" must be 3 inches.

2 The depth of a substitute form must be a minimum of 31/3 inches and a maximum of 32/3 inches. If the depth is reduced from that of the official form, the margin area at the top of the form marked "Official Use Only" must be 1/2 inch in depth by three inches in width.

.07 Clear Area--The back of Copy A must be free of all printing.

.08 Carbonized forms or "spot carbons"--Carbonized forms and "spot carbons" are not permissible. Interleaved carbon, if used, must be of a good quality to preclude smudging and should be black.

.09 Printer's Symbol--The Government Printing Office symbol must not be printed on substitute Forms 1099 and 1087. In place thereof, the forms printer should print his Employer Identification Number in the same place on such substitute forms.

.10 Other Copies--Copies B and C are included in the official assembly for the convenience of the payer. Although there is no requirement that privately-printed substitute forms include these copies, Copy B will satisfy the requirements of law and regulations concerning the statement of information which is required to be furnished the payee and Copy C may be desired by the payer for his records.

Sec. 5. Additional Instructions.

.01 Arrangement of assembly--Except as provided in paragraph .02 below, the parts of the assembly shall be arranged, from top to bottom, as follows: Copy A (Original), "For Internal Revenue Service Center," Copy B, "For Payee," (Form 1099-OID for Record Owner), Copy C, "For Payer's Record," (1087-OID for Record Owner).

.02 Additional copies--Additional copies may be prepared by payers for states requiring the report. When this is done, one such copy may be inserted between Copies A and B. Forms for delivery to state or local taxing authorities should be clearly labeled to indicate the purpose for which they are intended and should not bear the Internal Revenue Service form number or the designation, "Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service."

Sec. 6. Instructions for Payers.

.01 Only originals or ribbon copies may be filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Carbon copies are not acceptable.

.02 The term "tax identifying number" for an individual payee means his social security number, which consists of nine digits separated by hyphens as follows: 000-00-0000. For all other payees, the term "tax identifying number" means employer identification number, which consists of nine digits separated by hyphens as follows: 00-0000000. Payers may record spaces in lieu of hyphens.

.03 In recording the payee's name and address, the following rules must be followed.

1 The name of the appropriate payee; i.e., the person or organization whose tax identifying number has been provided must be shown as the first entry in the area on the form provided for the payee's name and address. No descriptive information or other individuals names are to precede the payee's name.

2 Special precaution must be taken if an account designation number is being printed. This number must not appear in the "tax identifying number" box, the payment amount boxes, nor in the box provided for the payee's name and address. This number should be printed in the clear area to the right of the payee's name and address box.

3 Payee name, street address, and city, state and ZIP code must be on separate lines. It is preferred that city, state and ZIP code be on the same line.

.04 The Service requests the cooperation of payers in typing or machine printing whenever possible and in providing good quality data entries on the forms; i.e., using black ribbon, inserting data in the middle of blocks well separated from other printing and guidelines, and taking any other measures that will guarantee a clear, sharp image. However, payers are not required to acquire special equipment solely for the purpose of preparing these forms.

.05 On corrected returns an "X" must be placed in the check box in the left 1/2-inch margin, following the "format identifier number", (e.g., Form 1099-DIV, 91???), and the words CORRECTED RETURN must be typed in all caps in the top 1/4 inch, right-of-center, margin. All required data blocks must be completed on a corrected return since it replaces and supersedes the information return previously filed.

.06 Substitute forms prepared in continuous or strip form must be burst and stripped to conform to the size specified for a single form before they are filed with the Service.

Sec. 7. Reproduction Proofs.

Order blanks for reproduction proofs are mailed annually to requestors of record, and on request, to other users. Printers and others wishing to obtain reproduction proofs may send their requests to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Attention: A:FM:P, 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20224. A charge of $0.75 per page will be made for each reproduction proof regardless of page size. Invoices will be mailed after orders have been filled.

Sec. 8. Effect on Other Documents.

This Rev. Proc. supersedes Rev. Proc. 73-11, 1973-1 C.B. 736. Rev. Procs. 73-13 and 73-14, 1973-1 C.B. 776, and 797, previously reported to modify Rev. Proc. 73-11, are not affected by this action.

[Editor's note: Exhibits A and B illustrate physical specifications of the forms discussed. These illustrations are not suitable for electronic reproduction.]