Officials with the Internal Revenue Service have announced that e-file availability for some 2005 tax forms has been delayed because of changes in tax law.

The forms will be unavailable for e-file until the end of January. Affected taxpayers can file on paper, but the IRS announcement noted that waiting until the end of the month to e-file will still generally result in a faster refund. The affected forms are:

• Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness;
• Form 3468, Investment Credit;
• Form 3800, General Business Credit;
• From 5884-A, Credits for Employers Affected by Hurricane Katrina, Rita, or Wilma;
• Form 8271, Investor Reporting of Tax Shelter Registration Number;
• Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation;
• Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs;
• Form 8611, Recapture of Low Income Housing Credit;
• Form 8863, Education Credits (Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits);
• Form 8864, Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Fuels Credit;
• Form 8886, Reportable Transaction Disclosure Statement;
• Form 8896, Low Sulphur Diesel Fuel Production Credit; and
• Form 8915, Qualified Hurricane Retirement Plan Distributions and Repayments.