Your company qualifies if its estimated employment tax liability is $1,000 or less. You’ll receive written notice from IRS if you qualify. (But don’t expect a new notification every year. IRS will contact you again only if you cease to qualify.)

Note: Once you receive notice you qualify for Form 944, you must file it rather than continuing to file Forms 941 quarterly. Ultimately, the new form should be a time-saver for smaller companies. But if you want to opt-out, you can, as long as your company meets at least one of the following:

• It anticipates an employment tax liability of more than $1,000 for the year, or
• It wants to file Forms 941 electronically.

The form is used if you want to file for an extension for any of the following forms: W-2, W-2G, 1099, 1098, 5498, 1042-S and 8027.

Even if you have 10 or fewer filers, IRS encourages you to file 8809 electronically through the FIRE system.

Just under 2 million corporate and partnership income tax returns were filed electronically — more than 50% more than the prior year.

Large partnerships using e-filing increased a whopping 156% over ‘07.

It’s easy to see why more companies are jumping on the bandwagon: Electronically filing your corporate tax returns and related information returns can reduce errors. And for some forms, like the 1099-MISC, extended deadlines make it more convenient to use the e-file option.

Which filing methods do you use — and why? Share your perspective in the comments.

These changes are still in the planning stage, but they’ll give you an idea of what you can look forward to — eventually:

• More interactivity — IRS wants to be able to deliver B-notices, penalty assessments and similar notices electronically, just like you can submit tax info to the Service. The move would save the feds money, and save you much-needed time.
• “Unattended transmission” — Ultimately, IRS’ goal is for your computer to send transmissions directly to its own computers without requiring a human to intervene at any point.
• Validation of received transmissions — IRS is hoping to be able to provide validation of received reports and transmissions. The idea is to save time and money for both you and IRS by letting you know right away if there’s an error or other transmission issue that requires attention.

Companies that were directly affected by the storm have until midnight on Monday, Sept. 22 to file corporate tax returns and third-quarter estimated taxes that would’ve been due on Sept. 15.

IRS will likely offer more deadline extensions as the extent of the damage becomes clearer.

To get the extension, simply write “Hurricane Ike” on paper returns. If you’re e-filing, simply use the “disaster” feature in the software program.

1. Form 8027 (Employer’s Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips) — New fields will be added, and additional validation checks will be performed. 
2. Form 1042-S (Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding) — The record layout is being expanded to 820 positions, and there are a number of changes to the payee “Q” record. 

For both forms, as of Dec. 1, the only way to file is via IRS’ FIRE system. Test files can be sent from Nov. 1 through Feb. 15. (Check here for info on e-filing related forms.) 

For more information on filing Form 8027, check out IRS’ Publication 1239; for details on filing Form 1042-S, see Publication 1187.

After that date, if you have too many returns to file paper versions (or you simply don’t want to do paper returns) filing electronically through IRS’ FIRE system is your only option.

If you’ve been using mag media to file, there’s no application process to use FIRE. You can use the same TCC (Transmitter Control Code) from your mag media filings for e-filing.

You can also do test file transmissions between Nov. 1, 2008 and Feb. 15, 2009 — strongly encouraged if this is your first time filing electronically.

Download IRS’ publication with all the details on e-filing and the FIRE system here.

IRS said instructions for Form 990-EZ will be released in the next few weeks.

Even better: Many organizations that weren’t eligible to file the shorter 990-EZ in prior years will be able to do so for ‘08.

Companies with 25 or more heavy vehicles must electronically file Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return. The form is used to report and pay highway-use excise taxes.

If you have fewer than 25 vehicles for which you report, you aren’t required to file electronically, although IRS encourages it since it reduces errors and speeds up processing.

Most Forms 2290 are due Aug. 31.

IRS just released Publication 1220, “Specifications for Filing Forms 1098, 1099, 5498 and W-2G Electronically or Magnetically.”

The publication lists the latest specifications for filing these returns and forms, including copies of Forms 4419, 4804, 8508, 8809 and Notice 210.

Publication 1220 also highlights recent changes, including the filing method modifications and programming changes to Transmitter T records, payer A records and payer B records.

To get all the details, download the publication here.