Reproduced/Substitute Forms Approval Process

Getting Approval

Any company or individual that designs and/or markets substitute/reproduced tax forms must get approval from the department. Income Tax forms must be approved each year as they are reviewed annually (ex: IL-1040, Schedule ED, etc.). It is incumbent upon the company or individual to maintain the current version of any other department form that is being reproduced or used (ex: ST-1, RMFT-5, etc.). The Illinois Department of Revenue does not require a Letter of Intent prior to submissions, and does not have a specific deadline for submissions of income tax forms.

It is preferred that forms be submitted for review prior to distribution, release to customers/clients, or use of form. A form that has not been approved, but is included in the release of a product, must have a prominent notice on the form stating that it has not been approved for filing and should not be filed. The department reserves the right to deny and/or reject any form that does not follow the guidelines specified in this document. Filers of unapproved forms may be subject to penalties and interest under the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act.

For Non-Scannable forms (those without a scan line), a PDF file sent as an attachment through email, is the preferred method of submission. The files need to be submitted in the following formats:

One PDF file per form.
Recognizable name for each file.

For example, if you are sending the IL-1040, Schedule ED, Schedule F, and the IL-1041, the department should receive four PDF files with names such as IL1040.pdf or 1040.pdf, SchED.pdf, and so forth. By submitting these files in this type of a format, reduces processing time on our end, speeding up the time for approvals.

For Scannable forms (those with a scan line), 5 examples with unique sample taxpayer data will need to be mailed to the department for approval for testing purposes. If the tax type is such that has varying liability periods, then there should be a variety in the 5 examples. These samples should also be cut to size and separated by form type (IL-1040-ES’s in one group and IL-1040-V’s in a separate group).

Once reviewed and/or tested (vouchers), you will be notified by email within 5-10 business days normally. (We do not send confirmation of receipt of forms for emails, faxes, or hard copies.) If the form is not approved, you will need to resubmit the form for approval. Please mark your second email as “Resubmission” in the subject area, as these will be given higher priority than first submissions. Upon approval of a form by the department, a four digit identification number (if not previously issued) will be assigned to the producer of the form. This identification number must be placed on the bottom left corner of the form near the revision date (for non-scannable forms) and at the top left under the form name (for scannable forms/vouchers) in the following format: ID: 9999.

Note: The response times listed for forms approvals, for non-scannable and scannable forms, will be longer during peak times (December - February).

For more detailed information on reproducing forms - please see our Guidelines.

Draft Forms - Secured Area

Draft forms (income tax) are usually released starting in August and are posted in a secured area on the web site. You must obtain a username and password from the Forms Approval Contact (Vickie Harvey - listed below) to access this page. The link to the 2007 Draft Forms is located under "Featured Topics" on the Tax Professionals page. You may submit drafts for approval - they will be considered "Approved Pending Legislation". What that means is that if the form doesn't change, the approval will stand in December (when forms in IL are usually made final for public use), and you will not need to resubmit. However, if the form changes before December or due to any legislation, you will need to resubmit the form for approval. Any draft form that is approved, is not to be released to your customers until the form is made final later this year.

Forms Approval Contact

All forms to be reviewed should be directed to:

Vickie Harvey
vickie.harvey@illinois.gov

Office of Publications Management/Web Services, 3-375
Illinois Department of Revenue
101 West Jefferson Street
Springfield, Illinois 62702
217 524-0091 Phone
217 524-0513 Fax