We have received a couple reports from the field of a validation issue specific to State Direct Debit payments (shown in the below screenshot). The issue is not widespread and seems to only sometimes impact a State Return Type where “E-file: Direct Debit” is selected. When a user attempts to save the E-file page to continue to the Submission page, they may see the below validation message shown in the screenshot. If your taxpayer wishes to have their state balance paid via Direct Debit and the direct debit validation is received, follow the steps below.

If the Direct Debit Date validation is presented (shown below) related to state direct debit payments, change the State Return Type to “E-file: Mail Payment”, save the entry by continuing to Submission page. Return to E-file and change State Return Type back to “E-file: Direct Debit” and re-enter banking information, if necessary. Continue to the Submission page to complete the e-file process.

Today was the last all partner call for this filing season. Thank you to each and every one of you that made this filing season a success! We know local taxpayers in your community champion your efforts in providing a valuable and vital resource to them.

We didn’t have very many updates to cover today other than reminding everyone we are currently in a “code freeze” until after April 15th. This just means that we will not have any program deployments from April 10th (yesterday) through April 15th. We also mentioned the Suggestion Box and strongly encouraged volunteers to enter any and all suggestions to continue to enhance the software for you. Also, regarding the Suggestion Box, as a reminder the Suggestion Box is to report enhancements you’d like to see but not to report items you feel are defects with the software. Any potential defects need to be reported directly to customer support so they can be addressed quickly.

Below are the questions and answers recorded from the All Partner Call on Thursday, April 11th. There were only two questions asked.

Q: More of a suggestion but a volunteer asked if the 1040-NR program can be updated to allow for an entry to support a departure date prior to an arrival date for the Schedule OI. This would specifically benefit students that go home in May and return to school in August or September.

• We asked this item be reported to the Suggestion Box for further review. One item that needs to be reviewed is if the 1040-NR schema would support this type of entry via electronic submission.

Q: This was a question presented to IRS representatives on the call. How to handle a 1099-MISC with Box 7 income when the income should have been reported in Box 3?

• Advisement from the IRS was to “key it how you see it” but ultimately the taxpayer should be referred back to the payer to have a corrected 1099-MISC.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Wednesday, April 10th to release the below software updates. This will be the final deployment for this filing season. After tomorrow morning, we are implementing a code freeze until after April 15th.

1040-NR

• Correct a print issue where the incorrect tax treaty article number was carrying to Line J-1 of Schedule OI (Issue 3434)

KENTUCKY (PART-YEAR)

• Add a field inside the Income Subject to Tax Menu to allocate additional wages earned outside KY while a resident of KY (Issue 2860)

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

The site will be placed in maintenance on Tuesday, April 8th to release the below software updates.

CONNECTICUT

• Remove the preparer name from printing on the CT-1040X when checked to hide preparer info in Office Setup (Issue 2664)

E-FILE STATE DIRECT DEBIT

• Add a page validation to not allow a user to enter a date prior to the current date for Direct Debit (Issue 3292)

NEW YORK

• Corrected an issue where the disabled checkbox, when marked on F2441, was not carrying to NY IT-216 (Issue 2813)

OREGON

• Correct an issue where the Total Medical Expenses from Schedule OR-A, Line 1 were not carrying to Line 2 of the Special Oregon Medical Subtraction Worksheet (Issue 3477)

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

The site will be placed in maintenance on Friday, April 5th to release the below software updates.

1040 VIEW

• Corrected a display issue where the ODC checkbox was not being marked for the 2nd dependent when more than one dependent had “Applied for ITIN” (Issue 2904)

MARYLAND

• Correct a print issue where the Preparer Name/Phone number were showing on Form HTC (Issue 3338)

REPORTING

• Correct an issue where the Pro Web Return – Detailed Return Report was showing an error when attempting to run (Issue 3443)

VERMONT

• Removed an incorrect E-file Block for Schedule HS-122 when income level was higher than qualifying household income threshold (Issue 3435)

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

The site will be placed in maintenance on Thursday, April 4th to release the below software updates.

ARIZONA

• Correct a print issue on AZ Form 203 where it was not indicating a joint return was being filed for Question 4 under Part 1 (Issue 3348)

CALIFORNIA

• Correct an issue within the CA program where certain adjustment to income entries are breaking the print (Issue 3389)

COLORADO

• Correct an issue where Line 15 was not calculating on Form 0204 (Issue 3367)

FEDERAL RETURN

• Correct a print issue on the Standard Deduction Worksheet for Dependent – Line 8 PDF where the SP was incorrectly being marked as blind (Issue 3361)

FORM 1040-NR

• No longer require SP information in the Basic Information section of the Federal program for Nonresident Aliens (Issue 3239)
• Add the “Taxes You Paid” menu to the Itemized Deduction menu for Nonresident Aliens (Issue 3191)

DEPENDENT MENU

• Add the prompt to indicate a signed F8332 when months lived in home shows “Divorced/Separated” (currently prompts when 0 months listed) (Issue 3369)

GENERAL SALES TAX WORKSHEET – NJ

• Correct a print issue where the NJ tax rate was displaying incorrectly based on zip code (calculation is correct) (Issue 3405)

MARYLAND

• Add a missing question within the Nonresident MD menu to indicate if a TP was a full-year resident of another state (Issue 3350)
• Correct an issue where the YES drop-down selection was not staying saved within the 502-E menu to the MD extension to file personal income tax returns (Issue 3403)

MICHIGAN

• Correct a calculation issue on the 1040-CR where the nursing home portion of the credit was not being included in the overall credit amount when TP was a homeowner and SP lived in nursing home (Issue 3428)

MONTANA

• Correct an issue where the MT Medical Savings Account Deduction was being limited to $3,500 for TP and SP (Issue 3343)

PENNSYLVANIA LOCAL

• Correct a print issue on the Employment Worksheet Statement where the incorrect dates were displaying (Issue 3366)

SCHEDULE C-EZ

• Correct a print issue where the supporting statement was generating twice from Summary/Print (Issue 3390)

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

This is always a good time of the tax season where the need of an amended return tends to come into play. Taxpayers received a late form they weren’t expecting or had forgotten about (W-2, 1099, etc.) and they now need to prepare and file an amended return. For this reason, we wanted to share the 2018 Amended Return User Guide as a refresher for volunteers. Please click here to download the user guide on how to prepare an amended tax return using TaxSlayer Pro Online.

4/4/2019 – The fix was deployed this morning.

4/3/2019 – Issue 3389 was not deployed this morning as the scheduled deployment was postponed until Thursday, 4/4.

Late last week, Issue 3389 was opened to look into sporadic reports of returns not being able to generate a PDF. Further investigation found that returns with CA added as the state were experiencing sporadic issues generating a PDF from the Summary/Print menu and other print areas inside and outside of the return. The underlying issue causing the print issue specific to CA returns was related to CA returns that reported certain adjustments to CA income. The underlying issue has been resolved by development and the fix will be pushed live with our next deployment (scheduled for Wednesday, April 3rd).