WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service has announced that issuers can modify and use the existing 8038-GC form to separately report governmental bond, lease, and installment sales of less than $100,000.
The IRS said in Announcement 92-147, which was published Wednesday, that issuers should make two modifications to the existing forms, which were meant to be used by issuers reporting these issues on a consolidated rather than separate basis. The announcement says issuers should strike the word consolidated" from the title of the form and cross out line five, replacing it with issue price of the small tax-exempt governmental obligation."
Issuers have until Nov. 16 to file separate forms for all such issues that were issued during the first three quarters of the year. Failure to file forms could lead to the loss of tax exemption for the deals, IRS officials said.
Issuers are stuck with modifying and using the existing 8038-GC form because the IRS was unable to publish a revised version before the Nov. 16 deadline. The IRS gave issuers the option of separately reporting such issues under a rule published in August, but has been slow to revise the existing reporting forms to reflect the new rule.
The officials said all of the existing 8038 forms, variations of which are used for different kinds of bond issues, have been extended through the end of the year to avoid expiration. New forms will be issued later this year or next year reflecting the latest tax law and regulatory changes, they said.
