Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

For the past few months I have been working on a rather lengthy piece on the upcoming new rules mandating electronic filing of 1040s by almost all professional tax preparers.  As a long-time opponent of e-filing, I was always planning on not going along with this mandate and continuing to prepare paper returns with a ton of additional info attached, such as QuickBooks financial statements. 
I have been monitoring the run-up to the implementation of this new requirement with a keen interest in the acceptable procedures for opting out.  There had been mention of some different IRS forms to allow us to submit paper 1040s; but copies of those actual forms were nowhere to be found –  until now. 
I like to browse the IRS’s Draft Tax Forms page at least once a week to see what new changes are in the works.  As I reviewed that page today, I came across Form 8948: Preparer Explanation for Not Filing Electronically and downloaded a copy of that.   

From Tax Info

I am assuming that once this form has been formally placed into service by IRS, Lacerte and other software services will add it to the 2010 program because I will be using it for all of the tax returns I prepare.
Update: I was checking TheTaxLibrary to see if they had the 8948 posted in their forms section.  They didn’t; most likely because it is still only a draft.  However, they did have Form 8944: Preparer e-file Hardship Waiver Request. I’ll look it over and possibly submit it to IRS to obtain a blanket waiver from their new e-file requirement.

From Tax Info

Update 2:  I just downloaded and installed the second 2010 CD for Lacerte and I found that it now has Form 8948 with the following input section.

From Tax Info

 Update 3: IRS Notice 2010-85 has a lot of inf on this issue.