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

CALIFORNIA

• Correct an issue where an entry within the CA Itemized Deduction menu (Additions – Gifts by cash or check field) was not saving entries (Issue 2734)

KANSAS

• Correct a print issue where Schedule S was being generated in the PDF when not applicable (Issue 2743)

MARYLAND

• Correct a display issue where “2018” was showing instead of “2019” for next year’s estimated payment vouchers (Issue 2733)

NEW JERSEY

• Corrected a page validation issue where the NJ Property Tax Deduction/Credit drop-down was not allowing a “NO” entry (Issue 2764)

OHIO RITA LOCALITY

• Add the ability to source Schedule C and Schedule E income to the RITA locality (Issue 2687)

PENNSYLVANIA

• Correct an issue where MFJ Federal returns were electing to file MFS PA returns but the MFS selection was not being saved in the PA program (Issue 2746)

REVIEW RETURNS

• Correct an issue inside the Review Returns menu where the print icon was only providing the “Print Return” option instead of also showing custom print sets (Issue 2774)

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

The site will be placed in maintenance on Monday, February 18th to release the below software updates.

FILING STATUS

• Adding back the MFS question regarding the period during the year the spouses lived together (Issue 2480)

MINNESOTA

• Correct a display issue where M1-LTI, Line 3 was not showing applicable values from Schedule M1SA, Line 4 (Issue 2542)

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

The Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) reminds taxpayers the process to claim tax credits for public schools, Qualifying Charitable Organizations (QCOs) and Qualifying Foster Care Charitable Organizations (QFCOs) has changed.

Public Schools

An individual may claim a nonrefundable tax credit for making contributions or paying fees directly to a public school in this state for support of extracurricular activities. The public school tax credit is claimed on Form 322.

For the purpose of claiming Arizona’s tax credit for contributions made or certain fees paid to a public school, ADOR now requires taxpayers report the school’s County Code, Type Code, District Code and Site Number (CTDS) on Form 322, which is included with the Arizona income tax return. 

The CTDS is a nine (9) digit number that the Arizona Department of Education uses to identify Arizona public and charter schools. Taxpayers must enter the school code and not the district code. To find the CTDS number for a public school in Arizona, please visit the ADOR website at https://azdor.gov/tax-credits/public-school-tax-credit.

Qualifying Charitable Organizations and Qualifying Foster Care Charitable Organizations

Arizona provides two separate tax credits for individuals who make contributions to charitable organizations: one for donations to Qualifying Charitable Organizations and the second for donations to Qualifying Foster Care Charitable Organizations. Individuals making cash donations to these charities may claim the tax credits on their Arizona Personal Income Tax returns.

Effective in 2018, the Arizona Department of Revenue assigned a five (5) digit code to identify each QCO and QFCO for Arizona tax credit purposes on Form 321 and Form 352, which is included with the Arizona income tax return. Taxpayers must use the “QCO Code” or “QFCO Code” of certified organizations to claim the tax credits for contributions to QCOs or QFCOs.

The department maintains the lists of qualifying charities and assigned code for each organization. A taxpayer can only claim a tax credit for donations made to certified charities. Please note: QFCOs are currently going through the re-certification process for 2019 contributions and not all 2018 certified QFCOs are certified for 2019.

To confirm certified qualifying charities and more information on QCO and QFCO tax credits, see https://azdor.gov/tax-credits/contributions-qcos-and-qfcos. 

The site will be placed in maintenance on Friday, February 15th to release the below software updates.

2015 TAX PROGRAM

• Corrected an issue where sites preparing 2015 returns were unable to access the E-file/Submission screens (Issue 2705)

EDUCATION CREDIT E-FILE BLOCK 

• Change the current E-file Block when Form 8863 is present on a return but did not list an EIN (from F1098-T) to a warning instead. This will allow sites to still access the e-file menu to appropriately mark impacted returns as “Paper Returns”. IRS implemented a new MeF business rule that will reject electronically filed returns that do not have an EIN reported with a F8863 present. In situations where a taxpayer may qualify for an Education Credit but was not issued a 1098-T, these returns must be paper filed. (Issue 2451)

KANSAS

• Update text within the Homestead menu (K-40H/PT) inside the blue header to match 2018 income requirements (now $35,000) (Issue 2691)

REPORTING

• Corrected an issue where the “State Return Not Transmitted” report was not populating data (Issue 2613)

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

Below are bullet points from our opening presentation at the beginning of the All Partner call before opening up for Q&A from the field.

• Discussed the challenges we experienced with the software on February 5^th, 11^th and 12^th
• We currently have web reports turned off so we can make sure they are optimized and do not have a negative impact on the system.  We hope to have them up soon, possibly after our maintenance window on Sunday.
• If you do get an unexpected error at any time, we strongly recommend you close the browser (not just the tab) and start a new instance of the browser.
• Watch the blog for state announcements regarding delays in acknowledgements and rejects
• The “Back” button is once again available at the state level, replacing the “Cancel” button
• Still getting some IRS 905 and 202 rejects.  If something changes with your EFIN, you need to notify your SPEC RM and TaxSlayer support rather than just changing it in the software.
• If your site is experiencing slowness loading the list of customers on the Client list page, you can go to Office Setup and lower the number of returns to display from 999 to something lower.  This will change your client search to only display the last 100 returns instead of all returns.
• The error links on the e-file page now take you to the error
• Selecting the Ready to Re-transmit button on the submission page in the e-file section when working rejects will automatically add the return to the transmission list.

The following are questions and corresponding answers that we received on the Partner Call that was held on Thursday, February 1st.  We are posting the ones that are most applicable to all sites.

Q: We are seeing PA Local Return issues with wages not carrying from Federal entry nor performing any calculations.

• We have asked this volunteer this volunteer to e-mail [email protected] with an EFIN and last 4 so we can review.

Q: Do rejected transmissions that are resubmitted stay as rejected until the accepted ack comes back?

• Yes, when rejected returns are resubmitted for processing, their status will not change until a different acknowledgement is returned (an accepted acknowledgement).

Q: How long do transmitted returns that have been stuck take to get their ack once issue is resolved?

• When stuck transmissions become “unstuck”, it can take up to several hours before a site may see acknowledgements because the queue requires time to release the number of returns that may have been stuck.

Q: Recommended browser to use?

• We personally use Google Chrome (Kim and Craig) but we always recommend to volunteers to use the latest version of their preferred Internet browser.

Q: Update on 2015 returns issue when trying to access E-file?

• This is reported as Issue 2705. It is currently being worked and we have asked that the priority be updated with development for a quicker resolution. Once fixed, it will be posted in our Release Notes on the VITA/TCE Blog.

Q: Reject Clients number not lowering when fixing returns?

• As returns listed in the Reject Clients menu are corrected, resubmitted, and accepted by the IRS and/or State, they will be removed from the Reject Clients menu.

Q: ETA on web reports (Management Reports) being turned back on?

• We do not have a specific ETA as our engineers and IT staff continue their investigations, but we are hopeful, web reports will be turned back on soon.

Q: Federal 1099-R information not transferring to MI, Schedule 1?

• We asked this volunteer to e-mail [email protected] with the EFIN and last 4 of a return that we can further review.

Q: When will printing MA returns not include the water mark “Do Not Mail”?

• Each software vendor must have their forms approved by each state for paper filing. Until these approvals are received, vendors must watermark their forms. Once we receive forms approval from MA, the watermark will be removed from the PDF’s.

Q: Issues with Transmissions from Transmission Menu not filing every return marked for e-file?

• This is specific to attempting to file returns using the limited return view per page. We recommend they expand the Transmission menu to show 100 returns per page. We have also opened Issue 2620 to review the root issue.

Q: Why do Print Sets not show EIN for 1099-R?

• We have asked this volunteer to contact support at [email protected] to provide additional information related to their question. We also noted that the Quality Review print set available to all sites includes the 1099-R and also includes the EIN.

Q: Status on Issue 2480 with MFS question being added back to the software?

• Issue 2480 is currently being tested within our pre-production environments. Assuming it passes all levels, the fix could be pushed live as early as Monday, February 18^th (note: not a hard delivery date).

The site will be placed in maintenance on Thursday, February 14th to release the below software updates.

NEW YORK

• Add the ability to adjust Mortgage Interest Paid on the NY return when the Federally reported amount may have been limited (NY still allows full Mortgage Interest Deduction if limited on Federal) (Issue 2659)

REVIEW RETURNS

• Correct an issue where available print set in the Review Returns menu were being cut off, not allowing a user to select the bottom listed print sets (Issue 2670)

STATE RETURNS

• Changing the “CANCEL” buttons to say “BACK” to match behavior in 2017 state returns (Issue 2297)

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

Software vendors received the below messaging from MA DOR.

“Please be advised that reject code F1-1172 which had been incorrectly rejecting some returns has been fixed. F1-1172: The Schedule E-1, line 20, loss amount must equal Schedule E-1, line 23, losses amount for royalties. Any incorrectly rejected returns can now be resubmitted.“

The site will be placed in maintenance on Wednesday, February 13th to release the below software updates.

CHILD TAX CREDIT (APPLIED for ITIN)

• Correct an issue where CTC was being calculated with listed qualifying person(s) were marked as having “Applied for ITIN”. They would still qualify for ODC assuming all other qualifications are met (Issue 2655)
  • Note: A separate issue will be opened to correct the 1040 View so the ODC checkbox is marked instead of CTC checkbox

FORM 3903

• Update the calculated mileage rate to 18 cents (Issue 2517)

VIRGINIA REJECT CODES 760ADJ-020, 763ADJ-073, and 760PYADJ-140

• Impacted VA returns with the above mentioned reject codes can resubmit those returns at this time.

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