The notice establishes the bases under which taxpayers can request waivers from the electronic filing requirement in circumstances where the taxpayer can not meet electronic filing requirements due to technology constraints or where compliance with the requirements would result in undue financial burden on the taxpayer.

The notice also outlines the specific steps taxpayers should follow when requesting waivers from the IRS.

“Electronic filing of tax returns is a key component to modernizing our tax system,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “While we have mandated electronic filing for large corporations and tax-exempt groups, we recognize that in limited specific circumstances some of these entities may not be able to meet this requirement.”

Electronic filing of tax returns by large corporations and information returns by large tax- exempt organizations is required by regulations issued in January 2005. The requirement applies to returns for taxable years ending on or after Dec. 31, 2005. Affected corporations are those with assets of $50 million or more that file 250 or more returns a year, including income tax, excise tax, information and employment tax returns.

For the tax year 2005 returns that are due in 2006, affected tax-exempt organizations are those with $100 million or more in assets that file 250 or more returns a year.

Electronic filing has been available to corporations and tax-exempt organizations since 2004. So far this year, about 205,000 corporations have voluntarily filed their corporate income tax returns electronically, including about 1,100 corporations with assets exceeding $10 million. In addition, the IRS has received about 3,600 electronically-filed information returns from tax-exempt organizations.