AICPA recommends IRS clarification of Form 8050

The AICPA recommended that the IRS modify Form 8050, Direct Deposit of Tax Exempt or Government Entity Tax Refund, to indicate that the form is not included in copies of a return made available for public inspection.

Form 8050 was introduced to comply with Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments to and From America’s Bank Account. But the form does not address a significant privacy concern for exempt organizations, which generally are required to make public various forms, including Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return, the AICPA said.

Modifying the form “to indicate that it will not be included in an exempt organization’s public disclosure copy of their filed tax return would offer an efficient and practical approach to implementing the order while reducing the risk of inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information,” the AICPA wrote in a letter dated Monday.

“Clarification would provide certainty to taxpayers and practitioners, facilitate compliance with the order’s requirements, and address potential public inspection concerns associated with collecting banking information from exempt organizations,” Scott Klein, CPA, senior manager–Tax Policy & Advocacy for the AICPA, said in a news release. “Creating this safeguard to protect taxpayer information helps safeguard sensitive direct deposit and banking information from unnecessary public access.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at Martha.Waggoner@aicpa-cima.com.