Tax XML

Tax XML is a family of related formats introduced for use in electronically filing U.S. federal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and now also used in some form by a number of other tax agencies (U.S. states, and also adaptations for other countries such as the United Kingdom) for filing of various tax forms and reports.

The format is XML-based, and electronic submission is commonly done via the SOAP protocol.

The specific elements used in the format have varied to meet the needs of different sorts of tax forms for different authorities.

Agencies using the format will generally have a certification process for software vendors creating systems which submit data electronically for the purpose of filing tax returns.

Documentation at particular agencies/jurisdictions

 * California specs for XML filings of employer withholding info
 * Illinois guide to employment tax e-filing implementation
 * Louisiana e-filing handbook

Other links

 * TIGERS: working group developing electronic tax formats
 * Tax XML development info
 * XML Markup Languages for Tax Information