§10.5.3

Sections and Grouped Fields

Fields under a printed heading—when do they get a section?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §10.5.3 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

A printed heading that names a group of fields opens a section. Only a printed grouping MAY get a parent: fields MUST NOT be wrapped in a section or group the form does not print.

When it applies

A printed grouping takes one of two shapes, depending on its size.

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

The point, in a small example

Only the printed CONTACT and PAYMENT headings create groups. The output keeps each field sequence inside its actual section. These pages are made up to isolate the rule.

✅ SampleConstructedThe rule applies

Lettered and numbered sections do not interleave

The page prints two distinct section headings. Complete CONTACT’s A/B sequence, then PAYMENT’s 1/2 sequence. Do not produce A, 1, B, 2 or invent a common wrapper around the sections.

Source page

Expected output

Markdown

### CONTACT

- \[A\] **Name:** Ada
- \[B\] **City:** Dover

### PAYMENT

- \[1\] **Amount:** 12.50
- \[2\] **Code:** 007

Form grouping and the document outline

The Markdown headings of this rule delimit local form groups. They do not make every form label a section of the document: a form's section labels are form content and MUST NOT be added to the containing page's outline — least of all inside an embedded screenshot of a form. See Recognising Ambiguous Headings (§6.7) for form furniture and real document titles.

Band or part headings become Markdown headings

A bold or boxed caption in the margin or spanning the page — Part I, Filing Status, POLICY INFORMATION, Sign Here — MUST be rendered as a ### heading, and every field printed under or beside it MUST follow that heading.

The heading is in addition to the field labels inside it; both MUST be kept.

Where a printed designator sits beside a descriptive title, the designator is the id and the title is the heading text:

### \[Part II\] Information About the Partner

- \[E\] **Partner's SSN or TIN (Do not use TIN of a disregarded entity. See inst.)**: 38-7714902
- \[I1\] **What type of entity is this partner?**: CORPORATION

Bands with no printed ids work the same way:

### POLICY INFORMATION

- **PROPOSED EFF DATE**: 08/23/2026
- **PROPOSED EXP DATE**: 08/23/2027
- **PAYMENT PLAN**: MONTHLY
- **MINIMUM PREMIUM**: [blank]
- **POLICY PREMIUM**: 34,259.95

A section almost never holds a single field. One field under a heading usually means the heading was invented.

Small captioned boxes become nested list items

A printed box whose label groups a few entries MUST be rendered as a parent list item with its entries nested one level beneath it:

- \[e\]
  - **Employee's first name and initial**: Joan Jackson
  - **Last name**: [blank]
  - **Suff.**: [blank]
- \[12a\]
  - **Code**: D
  - 1,500.00
- \[15\]
  - **State**: SC
  - **Employer's state ID number**: 00-0000056

The 12a amount slot prints no label, so it is the bare value; an unlabelled empty entry would be a bare [blank] — see Fill-Ins (§10.4.4).

Repeating groups without labels

Field groups that repeat without a printed heading are anonymous groups in printed order, separated by blank lines, with no invented Vehicle 1 heading — see Repeated and Unlabelled Fields (§10.2).

Never invent a wrapper

The W-2 is almost entirely flat. It prints no Identification or Employer grouping, so neither appears in the output. Inventing one is the same failure as inventing a table header: it adds structure the page does not have.

Rule id forms-sections-and-grouped-fields · forms