Indiana Form IT-8453OL is the signature declaration you complete when you e-file an Indiana individual income tax return. You sign it, keep it with your tax records, and do not mail it to the Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) unless the agency specifically asks for it. The form ties your identity and the key dollar figures on your return to the electronic data transmitted on your behalf, so the state has a paper trail if it later reviews your filing.
Where to Get the Form
The form is posted on the Indiana Department of Revenue’s tax forms page at in.gov/dor/tax-forms, under individual income tax forms for the current year. In most cases you won’t download it manually. Commercial tax software that supports Indiana e-filing generates IT-8453OL automatically once you authorize electronic submission, and every IRS-approved e-file provider is also approved to e-file Indiana returns.1Indiana Department of Revenue. E-file Options Make sure the version matches the tax year you’re filing.
What Goes on the Form
Have your completed Indiana return in front of you before you start — Form IT-40 for full-year residents or IT-40PNR for part-year residents and nonresidents. The declaration copies specific figures from that return, and a mismatch between the two documents can flag the filing for manual review.
The form has three parts.
Part I — Return Information
This part captures your identifying details (full legal name, Social Security number, mailing address) and the financial figures from your completed return: Indiana adjusted gross income, total tax liability, credits applied, and either your refund amount or balance due. Copy these numbers exactly as they appear on your IT-40 or IT-40PNR. If you chose direct deposit for a refund or authorized an electronic payment for a balance due, your bank’s nine-digit routing number and your account number go here too.
Part II — Taxpayer Declaration
Your signature in Part II authorizes transmission of the return and confirms, under penalties of perjury, that the electronic return matches what you’ve kept on paper. If your software uses a self-selected personal identification number (PIN) instead of a wet signature, that PIN is your legally binding signature. Joint filers both sign or both enter PINs.
Part III — Electronic Return Originator Declaration
If a paid preparer handled your return, they complete Part III. The preparer, called the Electronic Return Originator (ERO), signs and provides identifying information including a Federal Employer Identification Number or their own Social Security number. The signature confirms the ERO reviewed the return and believes it to be correct, and it creates a clear record of who prepared and transmitted the data.
You should also have your withholding statements (W-2s, W-2Gs, 1099s) and Schedule IN-W included with the return itself. Missing withholding documentation can reduce your refund or increase what you owe even if IT-8453OL is filled out correctly.2Indiana Department of Revenue. IT-40 Full Year Resident Individual Income Tax Booklet
Check the Banking Numbers Twice
Direct deposit information is the single most common source of preventable problems on this form. Once the return is transmitted, the routing and account numbers can’t be changed. If the bank rejects the deposit because the account doesn’t exist, the state generally issues a paper check instead, which adds weeks. The worse scenario is when a valid but incorrect account accepts the deposit: at that point you have to work directly with the financial institution to recover the money, and if it can’t or won’t return the funds, the dispute becomes a civil matter between you and whoever owns that account.3TaxSlayer Pro Support. Incorrect Direct Deposit Information on an Electronically Filed Return Verify both numbers against a recent bank statement or voided check before you authorize transmission.
Keep It, Don’t Mail It
This is the step most people get wrong. Unlike most tax documents you sign and send, IT-8453OL stays with you. You keep the original signed form in your records, and your preparer keeps a copy if one was involved. The DOR does not want it in the mail.
Indiana law requires you to retain tax records, including supporting documents like IT-8453OL, for at least three years after the date the final payment on that tax liability was due. If a judicial proceeding or appeal related to the tax is pending, you hold the records until it concludes, even if that runs past three years. There is no time limit on the recordkeeping requirement if you never filed a return for that year or if the DOR suspects fraud.4Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 6 Taxation 6-8.1-5-4
Store the signed form somewhere secure: a fireproof safe, a locked filing cabinet, or an organized digital archive. The IRS does not require any particular recordkeeping format as long as the records clearly support the return, and Indiana follows a similar approach.5Internal Revenue Service. Recordkeeping A high-resolution scan kept with the rest of that year’s tax documents is a practical backup if the paper original is lost.
When the Department of Revenue Asks for It
The DOR can request Form IT-8453OL during an audit, a return review, or any inquiry into your filing. If you receive a written request, you’ll typically submit the signed form by mail or through the DOR’s secure online portal. Failing to produce it can undermine the validity of your electronic return, because the form is the only record connecting your signature to the transmitted data.
Preparers face the same obligation on their side. EROs must retain copies of the declarations for every client and produce them when asked, and Indiana’s penalty structure for failure to keep required books and records can be severe under certain tax categories.6Indiana Department of Revenue. Fines, Fees and Penalties
How It Differs From Federal Form 8453
The names look alike, but the two forms work differently. Federal IRS Form 8453 is a transmittal document that you actually mail to the IRS, and only when you need to attach specific paper documents that can’t be e-filed, such as a Form 8283 for certain noncash charitable contributions or a Form 2848 power of attorney authorizing someone else to sign your return.7Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Individual Income Tax Transmittal for an IRS e-file Return Indiana’s IT-8453OL is purely a signature record. You never mail it unless the DOR asks, and there are no paper attachments to send with it. If your software generates both during filing, the federal one may need to go in the mail while the Indiana one stays in your filing cabinet.