Instructions for Form 5735

(Rev. January 2013)

American Samoa Economic Development Credit

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless 

otherwise noted.

What's New

Section 330 of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 has 

modified and expanded the American Samoa economic 

development credit for tax years beginning after December 31, 

2011. This revision reflects those changes. For information on 

the credit for tax years beginning before January 1, 2012, see 

the March 2007 revision of Form 5735 and the separate 

instructions.

General Instructions

Purpose of Form

Form 5735 is used to figure the American Samoa economic 

development credit under section 30A. The credit is generally 

allowed against income tax imposed by Chapter 1 (see 

Restrictions below for exceptions).

Who Must File

A domestic corporation (other than an S corporation) must 

complete Form 5735 for each year the American Samoa 

economic development credit election is in effect.

Where To File

Attach Form 5735 to the corporation's income tax return and file 

the return with the Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 409101, 

Ogden, UT 84409.

Qualifying for the Credit

To qualify for the American Samoa economic development 

credit, a corporation must meet the qualified production activities 

income (QPAI) requirement. A corporation meets this 

requirement if it has qualified production activities income 

(defined below).

The corporation does not qualify for the American 

Samoa economic development credit unless it has a 

positive QPAI.

Restrictions

The credit is not allowed against the following taxes:

1. Tax on accumulated earnings (section 531).

2. Personal holding company tax (section 541).

3. Additional tax for recovery of foreign expropriation losses 

(section 1351).

4. Recapture of investment credit (section 50).

5. Recapture of low-income housing credit

(section 42(j)(4)(D)).

6. Recapture of Indian employment credit

(section 45A).

IC-DISC or FSC

A corporation cannot take the American Samoa economic 

development credit for any tax year it is an IC-DISC or former 

IC-DISC, or for any tax year in which it owns stock in an IC-DISC 

or FSC, or former IC-DISC or former FSC (section 936(f)).

CAUTION

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Alternative Minimum Tax

Income eligible for the American Samoa economic development 

credit is not taxed under the alternative minimum tax rules. See 

Form 4626, Alternative Minimum Tax—Corporations.

Source of Gross Income, etc.

See sections 638, 861-864, and 936 to determine if the source 

of gross income, deductions, and taxable income is in or outside 

American Samoa. Amounts received in American Samoa may 

be considered sourced outside American Samoa if they are from 

sources outside American Samoa and received from an 

unrelated person in the active conduct of a trade or business. 

See section 936(b).

Qualified Production

Activities Income (QPAI)

Note. For tax years beginning in 2012, the corporation does not 

report its QPAI on Form 5735. However, the corporation must 

have positive QPAI in order to qualify for the American Samoa 

economic development credit. For tax years beginning in 2012, 

corporations should calculate their QPAI and keep it for their 

records in order to prove to the IRS (in the case of an audit) that 

they qualify for the credit.

Figuring QPAI. QPAI is the excess (if any) of:

1. Domestic production gross receipts (DPGR), over

2. The sum of:

a. Cost of goods sold allocable to DPGR, and

b. Other expenses, losses, or deductions which are properly 

allocable to DPGR.

Oil-related qualified production activities income. 

Oil-related qualified production activities income is QPAI 

attributable to the production, refining, processing, 

transportation, or distribution of oil or gas, or any primary product 

from oil or gas (section 927(a)(2)(C), as in effect before its 

repeal).

Primary products from oil. Primary products from oil are 

crude oil and all products derived from the destructive distillation 

of crude oil, including volatile products, light oils such as motor 

fuel and kerosene, distillates such as naphtha, lubricating oils, 

greases and waxes, and residues such as fuel oil.

A product or commodity derived from shale oil, which would 

be a primary product from oil if derived from crude oil, is 

considered a primary product from oil.

Primary products from gas. Primary products from gas are 

all gas and associated hydrocarbon components from gas or oil 

wells, whether recovered at the lease or upon further 

processing, including natural gas, condensates, liquefied 

petroleum gases such as ethane, propane, and butane, and 

liquid products such as natural gasoline.

See Temporary Regulations section 1.927(a)-1T(g)(2) for 

additional information.

Domestic Production Gross Receipts (DPGR)

Generally, your gross receipts (defined later) derived from the 

following activities are DPGR.

1. Construction of real property you perform in American 

Samoa in your construction trade or business.

Jan 23, 2013 Cat. No. 20920T
2. Engineering or architectural services you perform in 

American Samoa in your engineering or architectural services 

trade or business for the construction of real property in 

American Samoa.

3. Any lease, rental, license, sale, exchange, or other 

disposition of the following.

a. Qualifying production property you manufacture, produce, 

grow or extract in whole or in significant part in American 

Samoa. See Qualifying Production Property and Manufacturing, 

Producing, Growing, or Extracting, below, for details.

b. Any qualified film you produce.

c. Electricity, natural gas, or potable water you produce in 

American Samoa.

In general, gross receipts derived from the following activities 

are not DPGR.

Activities not attributable to the actual conduct of a trade or 

business.

The sale of food and beverages you prepare at a retail 

establishment.

The lease, rental, or license of property between certain 

persons treated as a single employer.

The lease, rental, license, sale, exchange, or other disposition 

of land.

The transmission or distribution of electricity, natural gas, or 

potable water.

Advertising and product-placement; however, see 

Regulations section 1.199-3(i)(5)(ii) for exceptions.

Customer and technical support, telephone and other 

telecommunications services, online services (including Internet 

access services, online banking services, providing access to 

online electronic books, newspapers, and journals) and other 

similar services; however, see Regulations section 1.199-3(i)(6)

(iii) for exceptions.

Gross receipts. Gross receipts include the following amounts 

from your trade or business activities.

Total sales (net of returns and allowances).

Amounts received for services, not including wages received 

as an employee.

Income from incidental or outside sources (including sales of 

business property).

Gross receipts are generally not reduced by the:

Cost of goods sold, or

Adjusted basis of property (other than capital assets) sold or 

otherwise disposed of, if such property is described in section 

1221(a)(1) through (5).

Allocation of gross receipts. You generally must allocate your 

gross receipts between DPGR and non-DPGR. Allocate gross 

receipts using a reasonable method that accurately identifies 

gross receipts that are DPGR. However, if less than 5% of your 

gross receipts are non-DPGR, you can treat all of your gross 

receipts as DPGR. Also, if less than 5% of your gross receipts 

are DPGR, you can treat all of your gross receipts as non-DPGR.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-1(d).

Qualifying Production Property

The following are qualifying production property.

Tangible personal property.

Computer software.

Sound recordings.

Tangible personal property. Tangible personal property 

includes any tangible property other than land, buildings 

(including structural components), computer software, sound 

recordings, qualified films, electricity, natural gas, or potable 

water. Tangible personal property also includes any gas (other 

than natural gas), chemical, and similar property, such as steam, 

oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen.

Machinery, printing presses, transportation and office 

equipment, refrigerators, grocery counters, testing equipment, 

display racks and shelves, and neon and other signs that are 

contained in or attached to a building constitute tangible 

personal property.

Note. Local law does not control whether property is tangible 

personal property.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(2) for more information.

Computer software. In general, computer software includes 

the following:

Any program, routine, or sequence of machine-readable code 

that is designed to cause a computer to perform a desired 

function or set of functions, and the documentation required to 

describe or maintain that program or routine. An electronic book 

online or for download does not constitute computer software.

Machine-readable code for (a) video games or similar 

programs, (b) equipment that is an integral part of other property, 

and (c) typewriters, calculators, adding and accounting 

machines, copiers, duplicating equipment, and similar 

equipment, even if the program is not designed to operate on a 

computer as defined in section 168(i)(2)(B).

Computer programs including, but not limited to, operating 

systems, executive systems, monitors, compilers and 

translators, assembly routines, utility programs, and application 

programs.

Any incidental and ancillary rights that are necessary for the 

acquisition of the title to, the ownership of, or the right to use 

computer software, and that are used only in connection with 

that specific software. These incidental and ancillary rights are 

not included in the definition of a trademark or trade name under 

Regulations section 1.197-2(b)(10)(i).

Exception. Computer software does not include any data or 

information base unless the data or information base is in the 

public domain and is incidental to a computer program.

Example. If a word processing program includes a dictionary 

feature that may be used to spell-check a document, then the 

entire program (including the dictionary feature) is a computer 

software program regardless of the form in which the dictionary 

feature is maintained or stored.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(3) for more information.

Sound Recordings. Sound recordings include any works that 

result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other 

sounds. The definition of sound recordings is limited to the 

master copy of the recordings (or other copy from which the 

holder is licensed to make and produce copies), and if the 

medium (such as compact discs, tapes, or other 

phonorecordings) in which the sounds may be embodied is 

tangible, then the medium is considered tangible personal 

property.

Exception. Sound recordings do not include the creation of 

copy-righted material in a form other than a sound recording, 

such as lyrics or music composition.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(4) for more information.

Qualified film. A qualified film is any motion picture film, video 

tape, or live or delayed television programming, for which 50% 

or more of the total compensation required to produce the film is 

paid for services performed by actors, production personnel, 

directors, and producers in American Samoa.

A qualified film includes the copyrights, trademarks, or other 

intangibles related to the film. Also, QPAI includes gross receipts 

from the production of a qualified film regardless of the methods 

and means by which the film is distributed.

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See section 199(c)(6) and Regulations section 1.199-3(k) for 

more information.

Manufacturing, Producing, Growing, or Extracting

Manufacturing, producing, growing, and extracting (MPGE) 

generally include the following trade or business activities.

Activities related to manufacturing, producing, growing, 

extracting, installing, developing, improving, and creating 

qualifying production property.

Making qualifying production property out of scrap, salvage, 

or junk material, or from new or raw material by processing, 

manipulating, refining, or changing the form of an article, or by 

combining or assembling two or more articles.

Cultivating soil, raising livestock, fishing, and mining minerals.

Storage, handling, or other processing activities (other than 

transportation activities) in American Samoa related to the sale, 

exchange, or other disposition of agricultural products, provided 

the products are consumed in connection with, or incorporated 

into, manufacturing, producing, growing, or extracting qualifying 

production property whether or not by the taxpayer.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-3(e).

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold is a component of QPAI and it includes the:

Cost of goods sold to customers, and

Adjusted basis of non-inventory property you sold or 

otherwise disposed of in your trade or business.

Allocation of cost of goods sold. Generally, you must 

allocate your cost of goods sold between DPGR and non-DPGR 

using a reasonable method. If you use a method to allocate 

gross receipts between DPGR and non-DPGR, the use of a 

different method to allocate cost of goods sold will not be 

considered reasonable, unless it is more accurate. However, if 

you qualify to use the small business simplified overall method, 

you can use it to apportion both cost of goods sold and other 

deductions, expenses, and losses between DPGR and 

non-DPGR.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-4.

Form W-2 wages. To determine the amount of Form W-2 

wages to include in cost of goods sold, see Wage expense 

included in cost of goods sold, later.

Other Deductions, Expenses, or Losses

Other deductions, expenses, or losses include all deductions, 

expenses, or losses (other than cost of goods sold and 

employee business expenses) from a trade or business.

Allocation and apportionment of other deductions, expenses, or losses. You can generally use one of the following 

three methods to allocate and apportion other trade or business 

deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and 

non-DPGR.

Small business simplified overall method.

Simplified deduction method.

Section 861 method.

However, do not allocate and apportion a net operating loss 

deduction or deductions not attributable to the conduct of a trade 

or business to DPGR under any of the methods.

Small Business Simplified Overall Method

You generally can use the small business simplified overall 

method to apportion cost of goods sold and other deductions, 

expenses, and losses between DPGR and non-DPGR if you 

meet any of the following tests.

You are engaged in the trade or business of farming and are 

not required to use the accrual method of accounting (see 

section 447).

Your average annual gross receipts (defined below) are $5 

million or less.

You are eligible to use the cash method of accounting under 

Rev. Proc. 2002-28. You can find Rev. Proc. 2002-28 on 

page 815 of I.R.B. 2002-18 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/

irb02-18.pdf.

Under the small business simplified overall method, your total 

cost of goods sold and other deductions, expenses, and losses 

are ratably apportioned between DPGR and non-DPGR based 

on relative gross receipts.

Example. Your total cost of goods sold and other trade or 

business deductions, expenses, or losses are $400 and do not 

include a net operating loss deduction. You have $1,000 total 

gross receipts and $750 DPGR. Your DPGR equal 75% of your 

total gross receipts. Under the small business simplified overall 

method, you subtract $300 ($400 × .75) of your total cost of 

goods sold and other trade or business deductions, expenses, 

or losses from your DPGR to figure your QPAI, which is $450 

($750 minus $300).

Average annual gross receipts. For this purpose, your 

average annual gross receipts are your average annual gross 

receipts for the preceding 3 tax years. If your business has not 

been in existence for 3 tax years, base your average on the 

period it has existed. Include any short tax years by annualizing 

the short tax year's gross receipts by (a) multiplying the gross 

receipts for the short period by 12 and (b) dividing the result by 

the number of months in the short period.

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related 

qualified production activities income and you choose to use the 

small business simplified overall method, you must allocate part 

of these costs to DPGR from oil-related production activities to 

determine oil-related QPAI.

Simplified Deduction Method

You generally can use the simplified deduction method to 

apportion other deductions, expenses, and losses (but not cost 

of goods sold) between DPGR and non-DPGR if you meet either 

of the following tests.

Your total trade or business assets at the end of your tax year 

are $10 million or less.

Your average annual gross receipts (defined above) are $100 

million or less.

Under the simplified deduction method, your other trade or 

business deductions, expenses, or losses are ratably 

apportioned between DPGR and non-DPGR based on relative 

gross receipts.

Example. Your total other trade or business deductions, 

expenses, or losses are $400 and do not include a net operating 

loss. You have $240 of cost of goods sold allocable to DPGR. 

You have $1,000 total gross receipts and $600 DPGR. Your 

DPGR equal 60% of your total gross receipts. Under the 

simplified deduction method, you subtract $240 ($400 × .60) of 

your total other trade or business deductions, expenses, or 

losses from your DPGR to figure your QPAI, which is $120 ($600 

minus $240 minus $240).

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related 

qualified production activities income and you choose to use the 

simplified deduction method, you must allocate part of these 

costs to DPGR from oil-related production activities to determine 

oil-related QPAI.

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Section 861 Method

You do not have to meet any tests to use the section 861 

method. Under the section 861 method, you generally must 

apply the rules of the section 861 regulations to allocate and 

apportion other trade or business deductions, expenses, or 

losses between DPGR and non-DPGR. Section 199 is treated 

as an “operative section” described in Regulations section 

1.861-8(f).

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-4(d).

For guidance on automatic approval to change certain 

elections relating to the apportionment of interest expense and 

research and experimentation expenditures, see Rev. Proc. 

2006-42. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-42 on page 931 of I.R.B. 

2006-47 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-47.pdf.

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related 

qualified production activities income, apply the rules of section 

861 to determine the amount of other trade or business 

deductions, expenses, or losses to deduct for purposes of 

determining oil-related QPAI.

Figuring Form W-2 Wages

You figure Form W-2 wages in two steps. First, you must 

determine the amount of wages to classify as Form W-2 wages 

under Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(1). Second, you must 

figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR.

You can figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to 

DPGR using one of the safe harbor methods discussed under 

Form W-2 Wages Allocable to DPGR, below. Also, you can use 

any reasonable method based on all the facts and 

circumstances.

You can use one of the following three methods to determine 

the amount of wages to classify as Form W-2 wages under 

Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(1).

Unmodified box method.

Modified box 1 method.

Tracking wages method.

Relevant Forms W-2. To figure your Form W-2 wages, 

generally use the sum of the amounts you properly report for 

each employee on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, for the 

calendar year ending with or within your tax year. However, do 

not use any amounts reported on a Form W-2 filed with the 

Social Security Administration more than 60 days after its due 

date (including extensions).

Non-duplication rule. Amounts that are treated as Form W-2 

wages for a tax year under any method cannot be treated as 

Form W-2 wages for any other tax year. Also, an amount cannot 

be treated as Form W-2 wages by more than one taxpayer.

Unmodified box method. Under the unmodified box method, 

Form W-2 wages are the smaller of:

1. The sum of the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant 

Forms W-2, or

2. The sum of the amounts reported in box 5 of the relevant 

Forms W-2.

Modified box 1 method. Under the modified box 1 method, 

Form W-2 wages are figured as follows.

1. Add the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms 

W-2.

2. Add all the amounts described below and included in 

box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2.

a. Amounts not considered wages for federal income tax 

withholding purposes.

b. Supplemental unemployment compensation benefits.

c. Sick pay or annuity payments from which the recipient 

requested federal income tax withholding.

3. Subtract (2) from (1).

4. Add together any amounts reported in box 12 of the 

relevant Forms W-2 that are properly coded D, E, F, G, or S.

5. Add (3) and (4).

Tracking wages method. Under the tracking wages method, 

Form W-2 wages are figured as follows.

1. Add the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms 

W-2 that are also wages for federal income tax withholding 

purposes.

2. Add any amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms 

W-2 that are both:

a. Wages for federal income tax withholding purposes, and

b. Supplemental unemployment compensation benefits.

3. Subtract (2) from (1).

4. Add together any amounts reported in box 12 of the 

relevant Forms W-2 that are properly coded D, E, F, G, or S.

5. Add (3) and (4).

Form W-2 wages paid to produce a qualified film. Form W-2 

wages include compensation for services performed in 

American Samoa by actors, production personnel, directors, and 

producers to produce a qualified film. See Qualified film, earlier, 

for more information.

Form W-2 Wages

Allocable to DPGR

After you calculate Form W-2 wages, as discussed above, you 

must figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to 

DPGR.

You can figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to 

DPGR under one of the following methods.

Small business simplified overall method safe harbor.

Wage expense safe harbor.

Any other reasonable method based on all the facts and 

circumstances.

Small business simplified overall method safe harbor. If 

you use the small business simplified overall method to allocate 

costs between DPGR and non-DPGR (see Small Business 

Simplified Overall Method, earlier), you can use the small 

business simplified overall method safe harbor to determine the 

amount of Form W-2 wages allocable to DPGR. Under this safe 

harbor method, the amount of Form W-2 wages that is properly 

allocable to DPGR equals the proportion of DPGR to total gross 

receipts.

Wage expense safe harbor. If you are using either the section 

861 method of cost allocation under Regulations section 

1.199-4(d) or the simplified deduction method under Regulations 

section 1.199-4(e), you determine the amount of wages properly 

allocable to DPGR by multiplying the amount of wages for the 

tax year by the ratio of your wage expense included in 

calculating QPAI for the tax year to your total wage expense 

used in calculating your taxable income (or adjusted gross 

income) for the tax year without regard to any wage expenses 

disallowed by sections 465, 469, 704(d), or 1366(d).

If you use the section 861 method or the simplified deduction 

method, you must use the same expense allocation and 

apportionment methods that you use to determine QPAI to 

allocate and apportion wage expense for purposes of the safe 

harbor.

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Wage expense included in cost of goods sold. After you 

determine the amount of wages under the wage expense safe 

harbor, discussed earlier, you can allocate a portion of those 

wages to cost of goods sold by any reasonable method based 

on the facts and circumstances. For example, you can include 

wage expense in cost of goods sold in proportion to (a) the 

amount of direct labor included in cost of goods sold, or (b) 

section 263A labor costs (as defined in Regulations section 

1.263A-1(h) (4)(ii)) included in cost of goods sold. See 

Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(2)(ii)(B) for more information.

More information. For more information on figuring your Form 

W-2 wages, see Regulations section 1.199-2 and Rev. Proc. 

2006-47. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-47 on page 869 of I.R.B. 

2006-45 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-45.pdf.

For more information on figuring Form W-2 wages properly 

allocable to DPGR, see Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(2).

Specific Instructions

Note. Any wages or other expenses taken into account in 

determining the American Samoa economic development credit 

may not be taken into account in determining the research credit 

under section 41.

Line 1

Enter 60% of the sum of:

The aggregate amount of the corporation's qualified wages for 

the tax year and

The allocable employee fringe benefit expenses of the 

corporation for the tax year.

Qualified wages. Qualified wages are wages paid or incurred 

by the corporation during the tax year in connection with the 

active conduct of a trade or business in American Samoa to an 

employee for services performed in American Samoa, but only if 

the services are performed while the employee's principal place 

of employment is in American Samoa.

The term “wages” generally means wages as defined in 

section 3306(b), but without regard to any dollar limitation 

contained in that section. For this purpose, section 3306(b) is 

applied as if the term “United States” includes American Samoa. 

See section 936(i)(1)(D)(ii) for a special rule for agricultural labor 

and railway labor.

The wages that are taken into account for the tax year for any 

employee are limited to 85% of the old-age, survivors, and 

disability insurance (OASDI) contribution and benefit base for 

the calendar year in which that tax year begins. The OASDI 

contribution and benefit base for 2012 is $110,100 and for 2013 

is $113,700.

Special rules apply to part-time employees and employees 

whose principal place of employment with the corporation is not 

within American Samoa at all times during the tax year.

For more information, see section 936(i)(1).

Allocable employee fringe benefit expenses. The total 

amount of employee fringe benefit expenses taken into account 

in figuring the economic-activity limitation is the amount 

deductible by the corporation in the tax year for:

Employer contributions to stock bonus, pensions, 

profit-sharing, or annuity plans,

Employer-provided health or accident plan coverage for the 

employees, and

The cost of life or disability insurance provided to employees.

Note. Any amount treated as qualified wages may not be 

treated as an employee fringe benefit expense.

The amount of allocable employee fringe benefit expenses 

for a tax year is equal to the total amount of employee fringe 

benefit expenses (defined above) multiplied by a fraction. The 

fraction consists of the corporation's qualified wages (defined 

above) for the tax year, divided by the aggregate amount of 

wages paid or incurred by the corporation during the tax year.

The allocable employee fringe benefit expenses cannot 

exceed 15% of the corporation's qualified wages for the tax year.

For more information, see section 936(i)(2).

Lines 2–4

Qualified tangible property means any tangible property used 

by the corporation in the active conduct of a trade or business 

within American Samoa.

Short-life qualified tangible property is qualified tangible 

property that is 3-year or 5-year property under section 168.

Medium-life qualified tangible property is qualified tangible 

property that is 7-year or 10-year property under section 168.

Long-life qualified tangible property is qualified tangible 

property that is not short-life or medium-life qualified tangible 

property.

For more information, see section 936(i)(4).

Note. In the case of any qualified tangible property to which 

section 168 (as in effect before the date of enactment of the Tax 

Reform Act of 1986) applies, any references above to section 

168 are to that Code section as then in effect.

For more information on depreciation, see the Instructions for 

Form 4562 and Publication 946.

Line 7

Include the line 7 credit on your income tax return on the same 

line on which the qualified electric vehicle (QEV) credit is 

reported. Enter “Form 5735” and the amount next to the entry 

space for that line. On the 2012 Form 1120, the QEV is reported 

on Schedule J, line 5b. The credit must also be included on the 

QEV line of the following forms as applicable: Form 3800, Form 

6478, Form 8835, Form 8860, Form 8910, Form 8911, and Form 

8912.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask for the information 

on this form to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United 

States. You are required to give us the information. We need it to 

ensure that you are complying with these laws and to allow us to 

figure and collect the right amount of tax.

You are not required to provide the information requested on 

a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless the 

form displays a valid OMB control number. Books or records 

relating to a form or its instructions must be retained as long as 

their contents may become material in the administration of any 

Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax returns are confidential, as 

required by section 6103.

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary 

depending on individual circumstances. The estimated average 

time is: Recordkeeping, 7 hr., 53 min.; Learning about the 

law or the form, 2 hr., 17 min.; and Preparing, copying, 

assembling, and sending the form to the IRS, 2 hr., 32 min.

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of these time 

estimates or suggestions for making this form simpler, we would 

be happy to hear from you. See the instructions for the tax return 

with which this form is filed.

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