Instructions for Form 720 (01/2012)

Purpose of Form

Use Form 720 and attachments to report liability by IRS No. and pay the excise taxes listed on the form.

Who Must File

You must file Form 720 if:

you were liable for, or responsible for collecting, any of the federal excise taxes listed in Parts I and II of Form 720 for a prior quarter and you have not filed a final return; or
you are liable for, or responsible for collecting, any of the federal excise taxes listed in Parts I and II of Form 720 for the current quarter.

See How To File for more information.

When To File

You must file a return for each quarter of the calendar year as follows:

Quarter covered	Due by
Jan., Feb., Mar.	April 30
Apr., May, June	July 31
July, Aug., Sept.	October 31
Oct., Nov., Dec.	January 31

If any due date for filing a return falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, you may file the return on the next business day.

Send your return to the IRS using the U.S. Postal Service or a designated private delivery service to meet the “timely mailing as timely filing/paying” rule. See Private Delivery Services on page 2.

Floor stocks tax. Report the floor stocks tax on ozone-depleting chemicals (ODCs), IRS No. 20, on the return due by July 31 of each year. The tax payment is due by June 30. See Floor Stocks Tax on page 8.

Where To File

Send Form 720 to:

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Cincinnati, OH 45999-0009

How To File

If you are not reporting a tax that you normally report, enter a zero on the appropriate line in Part I or II (Form 720). Also, if you have no tax to report, write “None” on line 3, Part III; sign and date the return.

If you have adjustments to liabilities reported for prior quarters, see Form 720X, Amended Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return. Do not enter adjustments on
Form 720.

If you attach additional sheets, write your name and EIN on each sheet.

Final Return

File a final return if you have been filing Form 720 and you:

Go out of business, or
Will not owe excise taxes that are reportable on Form 720 in future quarters.

If you are only filing to report zero tax and you will not owe excise tax in future quarters, check the final return box above Part I of Form 720.

Recordkeeping

Keep copies of your tax return, records, and accounts of all transactions to show that the correct tax has been paid. Keep records to support all claims and all exemptions at least 4 years from the latest of the date:

The tax became due,
You paid the tax, or
You filed a claim.

Penalties and Interest

Avoid penalties and interest by filing returns and depositing and paying taxes when due. The law provides penalties for filing a return late; depositing taxes late; paying taxes late; willfully failing to collect and pay tax or file a return; negligence; and fraud. These penalties are in addition to the interest charged on late payments. The penalty for filing a return late will not be imposed if you can show that the failure to file a timely return is due to reasonable cause. Those filing after the due date must attach an explanation to the return to show reasonable cause.

Trust fund recovery penalty. If communications, air transportation, and indoor tanning taxes are collected but not paid to the United States Treasury or are willfully not collected, the trust fund recovery penalty may apply. The penalty is the full amount of the unpaid tax.

The trust fund recovery penalty may be imposed on all persons who are determined by the IRS to be responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over these taxes, and who acted willfully in not doing so.

A responsible person can be an officer or employee of a corporation, a partner or employee of a partnership, an employee of a sole proprietorship, an accountant, or a volunteer director/trustee. A responsible person may also include one who signs checks for the business or otherwise has authority to cause the spending of business funds.

Willfully means voluntarily, consciously, and intentionally. A responsible person acts willfully if he or she knows the required actions are not taking place.

Additional Information

You may find the following products helpful when preparing Form 720 and any attachments.

Pub. 510, Excise Taxes, contains definitions and examples that will help you prepare Form 720. Pub. 510 also contains information on fuel tax credits and refunds.
Pub. 509, Tax Calendars, has deposit and payment due dates for all federal excise taxes.
Notice 2005-4. You can find Notice 2005-4 on page 289 of Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) 2005-2 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb05-02.pdf.
Notice 2005-24. You can find Notice 2005-24 on page 757 of IRB 2005-12 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb05-12.pdf.
Notice 2005-62. You can find Notice 2005-62 on page 443 of IRB 2005-35 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb05-35.pdf.
Notice 2005-80. You can find Notice 2005-80 on page 953 of IRB 2005-46 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb05-46.pdf.
Notice 2006-50. You can find Notice 2006-50 on page 1141 of IRB 2006-25 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-25.pdf.
Notice 2006-92. You can find Notice 2006-92 on page 774 of IRB 2006-43 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-43.pdf.
Notice 2007-11. You can find Notice 2007-11 on page 405 of IRB 2007-5 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb07-05.pdf.
Notice 2007-37. You can find Notice 2007-37 on page 1002 of IRB 2007-17 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb07-17.pdf.
Notice 2007-97. You can find Notice 2007-97 on page 1092 of IRB 2007-49 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb07-49.pdf.
Notice 2008-110. You can find Notice 2008-110 on page 1298 of IRB 2008-51 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb08-51.pdf.
Notice 2009-6. You can find Notice 2009-6 on page 311 of IRB 2009-3 at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb09-03.pdf.
Notice 2011-10. You can find Notice 2011-10 on page 463 of IRB 2011-6 at
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb11-06.pdf.

You may also call the business and specialty tax line at 1-800-829-4933 with your excise tax questions. The hours of operation are Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time.

Private Delivery Services

You can use certain private delivery services designated by the IRS to meet the “timely mailing as timely filing/paying” rule for tax returns and payments. These private delivery services include only the following:

Federal Express (FedEx): FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day, FedEx International Priority, and FedEx International First.
United Parcel Service (UPS): UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS Worldwide Express Plus, and UPS Worldwide Express.
DHL Express (DHL): DHL Same Day Service.

The private delivery service can tell you how to get written proof of the mailing date.

Private delivery services cannot deliver items to P.O. boxes. You must use the U.S. Postal Service to mail any item to an IRS P.O. box address.

Photographs of Missing Children

The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may appear in instructions on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.

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