CCA 200912026: A payroll service's authorized facsimile signer had to be a person

Number

200912026

Outcome

Advice

Document type

Chief Counsel Advice

IRS subject

Employer Requirements; Facsimile Signatures

Topics

Procedure, penalties, and administration

Code sections

§ 6011, § 6061

Ruling dated

February 25, 2009

Publicly released

March 20, 2009

Source

View Official PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page covers legal advice the IRS Office of Chief Counsel wrote for IRS staff, issued in 2009, which can't be cited as precedent. Ask about your situation and see what the current Code and IRS guidance say, with citations.

Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It is advice from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel to IRS personnel on the facts they presented, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.

About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.

View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel addressed who could sign employment tax Forms 940 and 941 by facsimile for a payroll service. Revenue Procedure 2005-39 made the officer or agent personally responsible for use of the facsimile signature. Because facsimile signatures were a narrow exception to the ordinary manual-signature rule, the signer still had to be a person who otherwise could sign for the relevant business, trust, or estate. A payroll service acting as an authorized signing agent therefore had to designate an individual person as the agent.

Ruling snapshot

Question: Could a payroll service itself serve as the authorized facsimile signer on Forms 940 and 941?
Outcome: Advice given: no, the duly authorized signing agent had to be a person.
Key authorities: IRC §§ 6011, 6061; Rev. Proc. 2005-39.

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2009022510232120 Number: 200912026
Release Date: 3/20/2009
Office: -----
UILC: 6011.04-00, 6061.02-00

From: -------------------------
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:23:22 AM
To: -------------------
Cc: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Rev Proc 2005-39

No, the signature must be of a person. In part, Rev. Proc. 2005-39 provides:

Officers or agents using a facsimile means of signature are personally responsible for ensuring that their facsimile signature is affixed to returns.

Because a facsimile signature is an exception to the general rule of requiring a manual signature, any guidance involving facsimile signatures is narrowly interpreted. As the signature on Forms 940/941 must otherwise be that of a person (the owner of a sole proprietorship or LLC, a duly authorized officer of a corporation, a duly authorized partner or officer of a partnership, or a fiduciary of a trust or estate), when a payroll service becomes the duly authorized agent for signature purposes, that duly authorized agent must also be a person.

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