What a Fax Confirmation Shows, and What It Does Not

After a fax goes through, the sending machine or service gives you a confirmation, often called a transmission report. People keep it as proof that they sent something. It is a useful record, but it proves less than many people assume. This article explains what the report contains, what it shows, and what it cannot.

What a transmission report contains

Formats vary between machines and services, but most reports have the same lines:

Date and time the transmission ended.
The number dialed.
The remote ID, on some reports: the name or number the receiving machine announces about itself.
Pages sent.
Duration of the call.
Result: usually "OK", or an error such as busy, no answer or a communication error.

Some machines also print a reduced image of the first page, which ties the report to the document.

What "OK" means

Fax machines talk to each other by a standard protocol (ITU-T Recommendation T.30). After each page, the receiving machine sends back a message confirming that it received the page. An "OK" result means the call connected, a fax machine or fax server answered, and every page was confirmed by the receiving end.

That is real evidence. It shows that at a given time a fax device at that number accepted that many pages from you.

What it does not show

Who received it. The report shows a number and a machine, not a person or a department.
Whether anyone read it. Many offices receive faxes into a server and process them later, sometimes much later.
Whether the pages were legible. Pale ink or a dark photo can arrive as gray pages, and the report still says OK.
That the number was the right one. If you dialed a wrong but working fax number, the report looks exactly the same.
What the pages said, unless the report includes an image of them.

When the result is not OK

A report that ends in an error tells you something too. "Busy" and "no answer" mean nothing reached the other side, and the fax can simply be sent again. A communication error partway through means some pages may have arrived and others not. In that case send the whole document again rather than the missing pages alone, so the recipient gets one complete copy, and keep both reports.

For IRS filings

This matters most for tax elections, where a date can decide the outcome.

Form 2553

The IRS accepts Form 2553 by fax. Its instructions also list what the IRS accepts as proof of filing if it later questions whether the form was filed:

a certified or registered mail receipt, timely postmarked, from the U.S. Postal Service;
Form 2553 with an accepted stamp;
Form 2553 with a stamped IRS received date; or
an IRS letter stating that Form 2553 has been accepted.

A fax confirmation is not on the list. So after faxing, keep the report and the signed original, and watch for the IRS's answer. The IRS says a determination should generally come within 60 days. If nothing arrives within 2 months of faxing, or 5 months if box Q1 was checked, the instructions say to call 1-800-829-4933. The acceptance letter, a CP261 notice, is the document to keep for good.

Form 8832

Form 8832 cannot be faxed at all; the IRS lists only mailing addresses for it. Its list of acceptable proof is the same kind: a certified or registered mail receipt, a stamped copy, or an IRS acceptance letter. See where to mail Form 8832.

Other recipients

Outside the IRS, whether a fax confirmation is enough depends on who is asking and the rules that apply to them. An insurer, a court or a landlord may have its own. When it matters, ask the recipient to confirm receipt in writing, or ask what they accept as proof.

How to keep a confirmation useful

Keep it with a copy of exactly what you sent, including the cover page.
Check that the number on the report is the number you meant to dial.
Check that the page count matches your document.
Save it somewhere you will find it in a year: a tax folder, not a downloads folder.

The report we send

Every fax sent through FaxReceipt ends with a transmission report by email: date and time in UTC, the number dialed, pages, duration, the attempt it took and the result. If a fax cannot be delivered, the report says so, and we refund the payment in full.