12/2/2019 – The Puerto Rico practice exercises have been updated to 2019.

• Please note current Practice Exercise answers may not reflect some 2019 changes as the application will continue to receive updates as final forms/instructions are released to software vendors. We will work to update the 2019 Practice Exercises as much as possible on a as-needed basis.

11/27/2019 – All Practice Exercises have been updated to 2019 except the Puerto Rico Exercises.

• Please note current Practice Exercise answers may not reflect some 2019 changes as the application will continue to receive updates as final forms/instructions are released to software vendors. We will work to update the 2019 Practice Exercises as much as possible on a as-needed basis.

To help set expectations in the field, the practice exercises under Section 6 of the Practice Lab will be updated to 2019 the week of Thanksgiving. We wanted to provide extra time for additional updates to be applied to the 2019 software before updating the exercises. This time of year both the IRS and State Departments are continually releasing and finalizing forms, schedules, and instructions to software vendors. Regular updates will be implemented into the software as information is released/provided to software vendors. At this time, the practice exercises are still based on the 2018 application.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Monday, November 25th to release the below software updates.

1040-NR, FORM 8843

• Update the requirement to provide either the “Academic Institution” or “Director of Program” information based on if the Nonresident Alien is a Student or Teacher (Issue 2280)

1099-MISC

• Reactivate EIN database with new 1099-MISC layout update

DEPENDENT/QUALIFYING RELATIVE

• Update text from $4,150 to $4,200 (Issue 3887)

REVIEW RETURNS MENU

• At the Group Level, add an “Office” column so reviewers know which office the returns came from (Enhancement)

*Click here to download a PDF of our Cumulative Release Notes & Program Enhancements.

11/21/2019 7:15 pm ET:  The service has been resolved.  If you are getting a blank page, or experiencing slowness going to the Practice Lab or your site, you should open a new browser (not just a new browser tab) and try again.  Our engineers are continuing to investigate to determine the reason for the service errors.

11/21/2019  6:34 pm ET: We are aware some users are receiving run time errors when attempting to access the Practice Lab and/or their site. We are currently investigating.

11/21/19 – 10:42am ET: The service has been resolved.

11/21/19 – 10:39am ET: We are aware some users are receiving run time errors when attempting to access the Practice Lab and/or their site. We are currently investigating.

The site will be placed in scheduled maintenance this evening, Tuesday, November 19th beginning at 7:30pm ET. Scheduled maintenance should last until 10:00pm ET. During the maintenance window, access to the Practice Lab and TaxSlayer Pro Online will be unavailable.

On Wednesday, November 20th, TaxSlayer VITA/TCE support will be available from 8am-11am ET. We will be closing at 11am ET for a company-wide event.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Tuesday, November 19th to release the below software updates.

Schedule C Grid

• Correct an issue where the Schedule C grid reflects $0 income when no expenses are reported

VITA/TCE Springboard

• Updating the TaxSlayer Pro Online & Desktop user guides for the upcoming filing season

*Click here to download a PDF of our Cumulative Release Notes & Program Enhancements.

Returns will be placed in maintenance on Thursday, November 14th to release the below software updates.

1099-INT, PRIVATE ACTIVITY BOND INTEREST

• Correct an issue where Private Activity Bond Interest reported on the 1099-INT was not carrying to F6251 (Issue 3841)

FORM 8379

• Correct a print issue where indicating a refund check issued only in one name is showing as issuing in both names (Issue 3823)

*Click here to download a PDF of our Cumulative Release Notes & Program Enhancements.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Tuesday, November 12th to release the below software updates.

1040-NR

• Correct an issue where accessing the Schedule NEC menu throws an error (Issue 3788)

FORM 8919 – UNCOLLECTED SOCIAL SECURITY and MEDICARE TAX

• Update to only require “IRS Determination/Correspondence Date” when Codes A or C reasons are selected (Issue 3573)

NEW JERSEY (2017)

• Correct a return specific issue where a 2017 NJ return showed a refund and amount owed (Issue 3867)

SCHEDULE A

• Correct the issue where the Medical and Dental itemized entries (supporting statements) are not working (Issue 3885)

SCHEDULE C

• Correct alignment issue on the Schedule C grid page
• Correct the issue where the itemized General Expense entries (supporting statements) are not working (Issue 3885)

VIRGINIA (2016)

• Correct a return specific issue where a dependent exemption was not carrying to a Nonresident VA return (Issue 3882)

*Click here to download a PDF of our Cumulative Release Notes & Program Enhancements.