The Internal Revenue Service announced Dec. 11 it would be extending its tempoarary acceptance of electronic signatures on certain tax forms signed and postmarked by June 30, 2021. Originally, the program was to end at the end of 2020.
The memorandum per Sunita Lough, IRS deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, stated that due to COVID-19, “the agency wants to reduce in-person contact.
Further, taxpayer representatives have voiced their concerns, so “to alleviate these concerns while promoting timely filing, we are implementing deviation from [the original] memorandum that allows taxpayers and representatives to use electronic or digital signatures when signing [various forms] that currently require a handwritten signature,” she said.