Here we are again at the start of another season of Section 6039 filings. Nothing much has changed with respect to Section 6039 filings in recent years, so imagine my surprise when I learned that the IRS had updated Form 3922.
Form 3922 Grows Up
As it turns out, the only update to the form is that it has been turned into a fill-in form. If you are planning on submitting paper filings, this allows the form to be filled in using Adobe Acrobat, so you don’t have to scare up a typewriter or practice your handwriting. I haven’t owned a typewriter since college and even I can’t read my handwriting, so I am a big fan of fill-in forms.
Unfortunately, this is just about the least helpful improvement to the forms that the IRS could make. Form 3922 is for ESPP transactions. ESPPs tend to be offered by publicly held companies with well over 250 employees. Chance are, if a company has to file Form 3922, the company has more than 250 returns to file (less than 250 ESPP participants is probably a pretty dismal participation rate for most ESPP sponsors) and the returns have to be filed electronically. The fill-in feature doesn’t impact the electronic filing procedures; it is only helpful for paper filings.
It would have been more helpful if the IRS had made Form 3921 a fill-in form. Given the declining interest in ISOs (only around 10% of respondents to the NASPP/Deloitte Consulting 2016 Domestic Stock Plan Design Survey grant ISOs), companies are more likely to be filing this form on paper. The IRS notes, however, that it selected Form 3922 to be made into a fill-in form because they receive so few filings of it on paper. I guess the IRS’s goal was to appear helpful but not actually be helpful. Your tax dollars at work.
A Fill-In Form Isn’t As Helpful As You Think, Anyway
As it turns out, having a fill-in form may not be that helpful, anyway. I was thinking you could fill in the form, save it, and then email it to the IRS but it doesn’t seem like this is the case. No, even if you fill it in using Adobe Acrobat, you still have to print it out and mail it to the IRS. And the requirements for printing the form out still include phrases like “optical character recognition A font,” “non-reflective carbon-based ink,” and “principally bleached chemical wood pulp.” I think this means that you have to print the form on white paper, using black ink that isn’t too shiny, and using the standard fonts in the fill-in form. But I’m not entirely sure.
What About Form 3921?
When I first saw that Form 3922 is now fill-in-able, I assumed, perhaps naively, that a fill-in Form 3921, which would truly be useful, would be available any day. But that was back in September and still no update to Form 3921. Upon reflection, especially given the IRS’s statement about why this honor was bestowed upon Form 3922, I think I may have been overly optimistic.
More Information about Section 6039 Filings
For more information on Section 6039 Filings, check out the NASPP Alert “Reminder: ISO and ESPP Information Returns and Statements.”
Thanks to Diana Woods of Fenwick & West for bringing the updated form to my attention.
– Barbara
