1120 signing officer does not have a social security number but has applied for it months ago with no reply

[gn]

I have an 1120 with a foreign officer who will sign the return. He applied for a social security number with the IRS well over 10 weeks ago and has not gotten a reply so he has no tax id number which is required to sign a return as an officer. Is there a way we can designate this in lacerte and still efile the return such as a designation like "applied for" or something to that effect in place of the social security number? Or are we stuck with filing a paper return with an explanation of the applied for status of the social security number and will it be accepted? Any experiences out there on this topic would be appreciated

[itonewbie]

Why would you need an ITIN for the foreign officer for purposes of filing the 1120?  Even 8879-C doesn't require an ITIN from the signing officer.

[gn]

its required for the signing officer on page#2, name, address ss# etc. the return cannot be efiled missing that info. my guess is this will have to be paper filed with an explanation unless someone knows how to efile with a missing ss# which has been applied for but not yet received by the signing officer. 

[itonewbie]

The signature line on F.1120 is on page 1 and it does not require the TIN of the signing officer.  There should also be no diagnostic, either informational or critical, that would prevent you from e-filing the return.  Have you tried and what error message did you receive?

[gn]

The signing officers name, address & ITIN are required to efile Form 1120 which goes on detail section form 2. With one of the items missing the efile will be rejected for all Form 1120's. You may be confusing with a different form or in looking at Form 1120 you would be correct its no where to be seen but its required for efiling.  I'm trying to see if anyone can efile without an officer ITIN which is in process or if this has to be paper filed, or if I turn off the diagnostics and efile will it be accepted? 

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

There's no Form 2.  Are you referring to F.1125-E?  If so, choosing "Applied For" will get rid of the critical diagnostic.

[itonewbie]

Btw, is that foreign officer an NRA?  If so, he should have applied for an ITIN instead of SSN.

[gn]

Yes I should have stated ITIN not an SS#. But I'm filing form 1120 and if you look on the detail screen or input screen#2 on the 1120 form you will see the required officer info. I disabled the efile diagnostics and efiled I will let you know if its accepted or if I have to file a paper return. 

[itonewbie]

OK, you're referring to Screen 2.  Like I said, it's not required.  If you had tried entering "Applied For" like I suggested, that would have eliminated the critical diagnostic.  In fact, after you entered "Applied For", even if you were to then remove that entry, the critical diagnostic will still not come back.  I just tried that myself to be sure.

[KDodd]

Did it work? Was it accepted?

[Cenk Tukel]

Hi @gn 

Was it efiled? Did it work?

[gn]

yes however each state has its own rules so applied for worked to efile the federal return, but some states applied for was rejected. I had to call and they required something different like all 9's to accept an efile. Lacerte helpline wasn't helpful on this topic the community responses were very helpful and calling the state help line directly was helpful to find the efile workaround since some states have different requirements when the tax id is not yet received by the signing officer.