The IRS is also temporarily allowing workers to receive documents by email, and workers can also send taxpayers documents through secure messaging systems, according to the Friday memo sent to all of the agency's services and enforcement workers by Sunita Lough, IRS deputy commissioner for services and enforcement.
"We are maximizing the ability to execute on critical duties in a remote working environment where employees, taxpayers and their representatives are working from alternate locations," Lough wrote in the memo.
Categories of documents to which the memo applies include extensions of the statute of limitations on assessment or collection, waivers of statutory notices of deficiency and consents to assessment, and any other form needing a taxpayer's signature or that of a taxpayer representative that IRS workers normally collect outside of customary filing procedures, the memo said.
In a statement announcing the move, the agency said taxpayers or their representatives have to include either an attached cover letter or a statement in the body of the email essentially saying that the document includes the taxpayer's valid signature and the taxpayer intends to send the agency the attached document. Decisions about whether to send documents electronically rest just with taxpayers, the agency's statement said.
The IRS said in the announcement it continues reviewing standards for electronic signatures on other documents and welcomes suggestions and comments.
"The IRS is continuing to monitor methods to lessen the burden on taxpayers and professionals during this period," Lough said in the agency's statement. "We greatly appreciate the patience, support and valuable comments we continue to receive from the tax professional community as we move forward."
The memo comes as the agency has directed much of its workforce to work remotely, announced a plan to suspend some enforcement work and closed several offices as a result of the pandemic. It also comes as tax professionals still seek guidance on the use of electronic signatures for disclosure of taxpayer returns or return information to practitioners or for power of attorney authorizations granted to practitioners.
The Taxpayer First Act, the IRS reform law President Donald Trump signed into law in 2019, required the IRS to issue guidance on accepting electronic signatures. The agency has said it released guidelines as the law requires and as part of a multistep process to allow for electronic signature capability for the disclosure requests using forms 2848 and 8821.
Jeff Trinca, legislative counsel for the National Association of Enrolled Agents, said despite Lough's memo, tax professionals continue looking for guidance on electronic signatures.
"It would be more helpful if they actually just gave us guidance," he said. "I think it's a good thing in the sense that they're telling their people you can communicate with taxpayers by email."
--Editing by Vincent Sherry.
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