The IRS and the Treasury Department have issued final regulations amending the rules for filing certain kinds of returns and documents electronically.

The regulations, which will take effect in 2024, affect filers of partnership returns, corporate income tax returns, unrelated business income tax returns, withholding tax returns, certain information returns, registration statements, disclosure statements, notifications, actuarial reports, and certain excise tax returns, the IRS announced.

The new rules come in response to provisions of the Taxpayer First Act of 2019 that reduced the e-filing threshold. 

The IRS specified that the final regulations:

● Reduce the 250-return threshold enacted in prior regulations to generally require e-filing by filers of 10 or more returns in a calendar year. The final regulations also create several new regulations to require e-filing of certain returns and other documents not previously required to be e-filed;

● Require filers to aggregate almost all information return types covered by the regulation to determine whether a filer meets the 10-return threshold and is required to e-file their information returns. Earlier regulations applied the 250-return threshold separately to each type of information return covered by the regulations;

● Eliminate the e-filing exception for income tax returns of corporations that report total assets under $10 million at the end of their taxable year; and

● Require partnerships with more than 100 partners to e-file information returns, and they require partnerships required to file at least 10 returns of any type during the calendar year to e-file their partnership return. 

About 82 percent of all corporate income tax returns were e-filed, and almost 90 percent of partnership tax returns were e-filed, in 2021, according to the IRS.

“The final regulations generally provide hardship waivers for filers that would experience hardship in complying with the e-filing requirements and administrative exemptions from the e-filing requirements to promote effective and efficient tax administration,” the IRS said.