Software vendors have received word from the New York Department of Taxation and Finance that they are experiencing delays in sending acknowledgements. They have also indicated that acknowledgements are not processed over the weekend. If your site(s) have outstanding acknowledgements for New York returns, it is likely an acknowledgement will not be issued until next week. No action is required on your end.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Wednesday, February 12th beginning at 5:00am ET to release the below update. Note that deployments may take up to 3 hours to complete. During this time, access to the program may be limited.

1040 VIEW

• Correct display issue where specific lines are out of alignment (Issue 4020)
• Correct a display issue on what is shown on Line 4b (Issue 4111)
• Correct an alignment issue in the 1040 Header when return is MFS (Issue 4317)

AMERICAN OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT (AOTC)

• Correct an issue specific to the refundable portion of the credit for taxpayers age 18 and over and provided more than half of their own support (Issue 4208)

CALIFORNIA

• Correct a calculation error when the allowed charitable contributions was overstated on Line 11a/b (Issue 4388)

FSA SOFTWARE (1040-NR)

• After beginning a 1040-NR return, returning to the Filing Status page does not show the 1040-NR filing statuses (Issue 4260)

MEDICAID WAIVER PAYMENT – 1099-MISC

• Correct an issue when a 1099-MISC, Box 3 amounts were not being included for EITC when checked as “earned” (Issue 4259)

MICHIGAN

• Correct an issue where Section D of Form 4884 was being completed instead of Section C for a specific return (Issue 4384)

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

The site will be placed in maintenance on Tuesday, February 11th beginning at 5:00am ET to release the below update. Note that deployments may take up to 3 hours to complete. During this time, access to the program may be limited.

CALIFORNIA

• Form 3532, Line B not checking disabled box when applicable (Issue 4358)

FORM W-2

• Under State Area, update link to 2019 School Districts when Ohio selected for state (Issue 4300)

MICHIGAN

• Corrected an issue where a 3rd rental address for MI-1040CR was not populating under “Part 4: Renters” (Issue 4362)

MICHIGAN CITY FORM

• Correct a calculation error where CF-1040, Line 16, Column B amounts should be carried to Column C (Issue 4363)

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

Update: 2/12/2020 – Issue 4208 is now resolved.

Update: 2/11/2020 – Issue 4208 is actively being worked. The update should be released this week. This blog post will be updated once the update is live.

Issue 4208:

Unable to Claim Refundable Portion of American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for Students that provide more than half of their own support.

Workaround to Calculate Refundable Portion of American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC):

In Basic Information, check the box indicating the Taxpayer CAN BE claimed as a dependent on another return but IS NOT claimed as a dependent. Complete the Education Credit menu and answer YES to qualifying for the Refundable Portion of AOTC when asked. Continue to save the entry. Return to the Basic Information page and uncheck that Taxpayer CAN BE claimed as a dependent on another tax return. The Refundable Portion of AOTC will remain calculated on the return as long as the Education Credit menu is not accessed again.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Monday, February 10th beginning at 5:00am ET to release the below update. Note that deployments may take up to 3 hours to complete. During this time, access to the program may be limited.

CONNECTICUT

• Correct a calculation error on Schedule CT-SI, Line 30 (Issue 4302)

LOUISIANA

• Update LA Use Tax rate to 2019 rate (Issue 4339)

MINNESOTA

• Correct an issue resulting in Reject Code 0126 related to Schedule M1REF not being present (Issue 4352)

MISSISSIPPI

• Correct an error on Form 80-401, Line 1 for Long-Term Care Credit (Issue 4336)

MONTANA

• Correct an issue where the entry for “Federal Income Tax for 2018” was not staying saved in the MT program (Issue 4329)

PENNSYLVANIA

• Correct an issue where the Philadelphia BIRT locality return could not be accessed (Issue 4298)

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

Update: 2/12/2020 – Issue 4366 is now resolved.

Update: 2/10/2020 – Issue 4370 has been corrected and is now live. Returns claiming “Tuition and Fees Deduction” can now be electronically filed.

We have two issues reported that we wanted to share on the VITA/TCE Blog. Both are reported as high priority items.

• Issue 4370 – Tuition and Fees Deduction Prompting Erroneous E-file Block: For any returns where the “Tuition and Fees Deduction” is claimed, an e-file block is received requiring that an Educational Institution be added. Educational Institution information is required if claiming the “American Opportunity Credit” or “Lifetime Learning Credit”, but not for the “Tuition and Fees Deduction”. Until Issue 4370 is resolved, returns claiming “Tuition and Fees Deduction” should be held until this is blog post is updated.
• Issue 4366 – Transmission Menu Not Displaying State Return Types: When transmitting returns from the Transmission menu, the “State Type” column may reflect as “No Electronic State” even though a state return type is selected when the e-file was created. As long as an e-file return type is selected in e-file for your state(s) and saved when continuing to Submission page, the state return will be electronically filed as expected.

The site will be placed in maintenance on Friday, February 7th beginning at 5:00am ET to release the below update. Note that deployments may take up to 3 hours to complete. During this time, access to the program may be limited.

1099-MISC

• Update 1099-MISC grid text when income reported in Box 3 (Issue 4197)

DELAWARE

• Correct a print issue where Spouse name was not being displayed on DE Schedule A for MFJ and MFCS returns (Issue 4296)

FORM 1116

• Correct a calculation error on Line 18 (Issue 4282)

GEORGIA

• Correct a calculation error where Federal Capital Gains not being included in Retirement Exclusion calculation (Issue 4322)

ILLINOIS

• Correct an issue where SP W-2 was pulling to IL MFS return prepared for TP (Issue 4303)

MAINE

• Correct an issue where a Federal dependent qualifying for Other Dependent Credit not included on 1040-ME, Line 13a (Issue 4288)

VIRGINIA

• Correct an issue where Form 760-ES is not generating in PDF (Issue 4304)

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

Due to expected Severe Weather in the Southeast, TaxSlayer offices will be closing at 3:00pm ET. Normal support hours are expected to resume on Friday, February 7th at 8:00am ET.