Wis. Admin. Code § Tax 2.09 — Reproduction of franchise or income tax forms

Tax 2.09(1) (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.

Tax 2.09(2) (2) Specifications. The following specifications shall apply:

Tax 2.09(2)(a) (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.

Tax 2.09(2)(b) (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.

Tax 2.09(2)(c) (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.

Tax 2.09(2)(d) (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.

Tax 2.09(2)(e) (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 8 ½ inches by 11 inches in size may be reproduced on 8 ½ inch by 11 inch paper.

Tax 2.09(2)(f) (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.

Tax 2.09(3) (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:

Tax 2.09(3)(a) (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.

Tax 2.09(3)(b) (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.

Tax 2.09(3)(c) (c) If returns are reproduced by photocopying or similar reproductive methods, the facsimile signature shall be affixed subsequent to the reproduction process.