The IRS provides for the approval and acceptance of computer-prepared and computer-generated tax forms that are filed by individual taxpayers and tax practitioners, in place of many of the official IRS printed forms.

In all cases these substitute tax forms must have official approval prior to their use, and must be designed under specifically prescribed and limited Service guidelines, like the 1040PC tax return, which is discussed in Topic 251.

If you want to produce your own version of a tax form, you should first obtain a copy of IRS Publication 1167, Substitute Printed, Computer-Prepared and Computer-Generated Tax Forms and Schedules. This document describes the general requirements for designing and submitting all such forms for approval and is updated annually to coincide with the current tax year.

Publication 1167 cross-references other similar, related publications that are available for certain specialized substitute forms that differ from normal form size, that require multi-part paper stock, or that have other similarly unique features (such as Forms W-2, 1099, etc.). Publication 1167 also provides actual examples or layouts of some of the most frequently used IRS forms.

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