§ 301.6020-1. Returns prepared or executed by the Commissioner or other Internal Revenue Officers.

Individual A, a calendar-year taxpayer, fails to file his 2003 return. Employee X, an Internal Revenue Service employee, opens an examination related to A's 2003 taxable year. At the end of the examination, X completes a Form 13496, “IRC Section 6020(b) Certification,” and attached to it the documents listed on the form. Those documents explain examination changes and provide sufficient information to compute A's tax liability. The Form 13496 provides that the Service employee identified on the form certifies that the attached pages constitute a return under section 6020(b). When X signs the certification package, the package constitutes a return under paragraph (b) of this section because the package identifies A by name, contains A's taxpayer identifying number (TIN), has sufficient information to compute A's tax liability, and contains a statement stating that it constitutes a return under section 6020(b). In addition, the Service will determine the amount of the additions to tax under section 6651(a)(2) by treating the section 6020(b) return as the return filed by the taxpayer. Likewise, the Service will determine the amount of any addition to tax under section 6651(a)(3), which arises only after notice and demand for payment, by treating the section 6020(b) return as the return filed by the taxpayer.

Same facts as in Example 1, except that, after performing the examination, X does not compile any examination documents together as a related set of documents. X also does not sign and complete the Form 13496 nor associate the forms explaining examination changes with any other document. Because X did not sign any document stating that it constitutes a return under section 6020(b) and the documents otherwise do not purport to be a section 6020(b) return, the documents do not constitute a return under section 6020(b). Therefore, the Service cannot determine the section 6651(a)(2) addition to tax against nonfiler A for A's 2003 taxable year on the basis of those documents.

Individual C, a calendar-year taxpayer, fails to file his 2003 return. The Service determines through its automated internal matching programs that C received reportable income and failed to file a return. The Service, again through its automated systems, generates a Letter 2566, “30 Day Proposed Assessment (SFR-01) 910 SC/CG.” This letter contains C's name, TIN, and has sufficient information to compute C's tax liability. Contemporaneous with the creation of the Letter 2566, the Service, through its automated system, electronically creates and stores a certification stating that the electronic data contained as part of C's account constitutes a valid return under section 6020(b) as of that date. Further, the electronic data includes the signature of the Service employee authorized to sign the section 6020(b) return upon its creation. Although the signature is stored electronically, it can appear as a printed name when the Service requests a paper copy of the certification. The electronically created information, signature, and certification is a return under section 6020(b). The Service will treat that return as the return filed by the taxpayer in determining the amount of the section 6651(a)(2) addition to tax with respect to C's 2003 taxable year. Likewise, the Service will determine the amount of any addition to tax under section 6651(a)(3), which arises only after notice and demand for payment, by treating the section 6020(b) return as the return filed by the taxpayer.

Corporation M, a quarterly taxpayer, fails to file a Form 941, “Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return,” for the second quarter of 2004. Q, a Service employee authorized to sign returns under section 6020(b), prepares a Form 941 by hand, stating Corporation M's name, address, and TIN. Q completes the Form 941 by entering line item amounts, including the tax due, and then signs the document. The Form 941 that Q prepared and signed constitutes a section 6020(b) return because the Form 941 purports to be a return under section 6020(b), the form contains M's name and TIN, and it includes sufficient information to compute M's tax liability for the second quarter of 2004.