Name Change and Implications for Filing Your Federal Income Tax

Changing our name to Augusta University requires us to change the name associated with our official tax identification number. In general, it takes the IRS no more than 60 days after the initial notification to complete the name change in official records. The approval by the IRS is just a formality, but it is an important part of the process. The Controller’s Office and our General Counsel’s Office have consulted with a number of tax experts as well as with representatives of the IRS about how to best handle this change.

Based on the advice we received, we took two actions:

• We notified the IRS in early January that our name has changed to Augusta University, and they verified that they received this notification on January 7.
• The decision was then made to use Augusta University on all documents related to the 2015 tax year. That means ALL FEDERAL tax documents will be issued by Augusta University and not Georgia Regents University.

Because our tax identification number will be associated with the name Georgia Regents University until the IRS officially makes the name change, any employee who files a tax return prior to that time may experience a delay in receiving a refund. The IRS staff indicated that the 60-day processing period for the name change is a worst-case scenario and the name change is likely to be completed more quickly.

Thank you for your continued patience as we work through the details of our name change. If you have any questions about this specific issue, please contact Corrina Warner in the Controller’s Office at 706-721-2161.