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Prior Year E-file (2022 and 2021) Hold returns with a 1099-R

18 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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Please hold all PRIOR year (2022 and 2021) returns that have a 1099-R.  There has been a schema change that we need to incorporate into the application.  This IMPACTS 2022 and 2021 returns.  We recommend you using a return tag to easily identify these returns.

DTF-948-O Notice from New York: What you need to know

12 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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Your clients may receive or have already received a DTF-948-O, Request for Information, from the New York State (NYS) Department of Taxation and Finance requesting additional information regarding your 2023 New York City (NYC) residency. Their electronically filed NYS return indicated they may be a NYC resident, but NYC tax was not computed. This is because the questions related to being a NYC resident in our software were not completed and NYC tax was not charged.

If they receive the DTF-948-O and are a full year NYC resident, respond circling yes to the NYC question. NYS will compute the correct amount of full year NYC tax due. This may result in an adjusted refund being issued or they may receive a bill. If they do not respond in the time frame indicated, NYS will automatically make the adjustments to their tax return computing NYC resident tax for all of 2023.

For income tax purposes, New York City includes the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. If they were not a NYC resident for all of tax year 2023 and they received the notification, they should respond promptly to the notice with the documentation requested so that NYS can make the correct adjustments to their return.

You do not need to file a NYS amended return at this time.

What returns can be electronically filed?

12 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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Just a quick reminder, as we move into the final month of e-file on what types of returns can be electronically filed through TaxSlayer.

Federal 1040 (including 1040-SR, 1040-NR & 1040-SS) and State returns

  • Current Year (TaxSlayer 2023)
  • Prior Year (TaxSlayer 2022 and 2021)

Federal Amended Returns (1040X)

  • Current Year (TaxSlayer 2023)
  • Prior Year (TaxSlayer 2022 and 2021)

State Amended Returns

  • All years of state amended returns must be paper filed

 

 

Frequently Submitted Suggestion: Add an IP PIN Warning when return is carried forward

12 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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If Prior Year Carryforward is used and anyone in the return had an IP PIN in the prior year and does not have one in the current year, a warning is displayed to the preparer at e-file:

March 8th All Partner Call Notes

12 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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All Partner Call Notes – 3/7/2024

  • As of Monday the 4th, 1 million returns have been transmitted
  • E-filing warning related to missing 1095-A – fix will be deployed Friday
  • Reject Code 8962-070 – IRS says someone on the return had marketplace health insurance
  • State direct deposit and direct debit details recently added to Client Forms Listing Summary page
  • Subscribe to the blog – 6,628 subscribers as of this morning
  • Housekeeping reminders: One question at a time. Multiple questions get back in the queue. Keep questions general and not return/state specific

Q:  What is the status of Issue 1664?  We do everything via the portal and this is a problem when they cannot sign their return

A:  This was resolved by our IT team on Friday, March 9th

Q:  We are looking for a way to put in estimated costs in the invoice form.

A:  Go to Configuration>> Fees Setup to add in prices for forms.  This will automatically calculate the fees for you (will not be deducted from the return), but allows you to run reports and share with the taxpayer how much they saved by coming to a VITA site

Q:  Can you clarify the new warning pop up.

A:  The feature is designed to display a warning for the taxpayer’s that had 1095-A in the prior year and not on their current year if carry forward is used with the return.  It is currently displaying the warning for all accepted returns (Note:  This was resolved with Friday’s deploy)

Q:  I had a situation where a taxpayer brought in 3 separate gambling winning documents and we could not enter 3 separate items.

A:  We verified that the program allows you to enter multiple W-2Gs in the return

Q: I created a return and when it opened, we just got a blank screen.

A:  We have seen this happen occasionally and it is typically when carry forward is used and there is a deactivated return on our system with the same SSN.  At the point you get this, the only thing to do is to deactivate the return and start it fresh (do not select Reactivate)

Q:  Why would a FSA Kiosk user see a fee in their account:

A:  There are a couple of scenarios which will cause this.  (1) They did not login for the very first time this year with the correct URL.  For example:  If they went straight to www.taxslayer.com and logged in for the first time and then went to a Kiosk URL, they would be charged because when they logged into our commercial site, it set their flag as “commercial).  (2)  They did not create their account with the valid URL.  If they do not, their token does not get set.  Deactivate their tax return…start from the correct URL

Q:  When I click to print the return and I get 3 or 4 returns.

A: Reach out to support so we can try to replicate it on our end.

Q:    After we send the documents to the taxpayer via customer portal, can they save and/or print them

A:  Yes, they can open the PDF to print it and they can save it and/or print it.

Q:  Basic info page of the MI return has a place for special notes.  Do those notes get included in the e-file to Michigan.

A:  Yes those notes do get included in the Michigan e-file.

Q:  I have a specific form that keeps printing even though it is set to 0.

A:  Reach out to support so we can look at it.

Q:  How can I check on the status of suggestions that I have submitted.  I feel like the suggestion box is a black hole

A:  You can reach out to support with the tracking IDs and they can check on the status for you.  We review all of the suggestions and create requirements based on many of them each year.  There is a lot taken into consideration before a suggestion can be implemented, but for TY2023, we implemented 80+ items that came directly from the suggestion box.

Q:  Do preparer notes carry forward

A:  The “sticky” notes made do carry forward, but the notes entered under the Miscellaneous section do not because they are return specific and are attached to the e-file

Q:  Question on the portal:  Does the taxpayer see a you tube video?

A:  No, but the customer portal training on the Practice Lab is broken into a Preparer section and a taxpayer section which can be sent to the taxpayer.  However, that is a great suggestion.

Q:  3rd party designee section:  Can enter is specific for the federal, same for IA and WI.  Cannot do that for a MN return.

A:  If it is something the state offers, then we can look at adding it.  Yes there is an option at the bottom of the first page…will use the same 3rd party as the federal.  Can you reach back out to support with an example and ask them to forward to Kim or Craig

Q: Has the problem with excessive contributions been fixed?

A:  Need EFIN and last 4 so we can look at the return

Q:  Will you have video chat with TaxSlayer support?

A:  No, for a variety of reasons.

Q:   We are still getting rejects for prior year federal withholding.

A:  We adjusted the program based on IRS guidance.  However, we will reach back out and see if they have made additional changes that could be triggering the reject.

2023 TaxSlayer Pro Online: What we Know – Updated 3/11/2024

11 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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Only TaxSlayer verified Federal and State issues with a potentially broad impact listed

FEDERAL ITEMS

  • Issue 2178: Prior year Federal Reject Code F1040-034-07
  • Issue 2029: A specific RTN number not being accepted in e-file
  • Issue 1811: Add left-nav paperclip when “1099-B Transactions with no Adjustments” has a value
  • Issue 1804: Clicking “File Extension” in Federal return causing calc to break
  • Issue 390: EIN Database not working for 1099-R in 2022
  • Issue 254: Remove exception code 22 from F5329 menu
  • Issue 96: E-file block for gambling winning losses more than winnings not showing when applicable

STATE ITEMS

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

  • Issue 2165: SSN entry when MFS on Amended Return not saving in application

Massachusetts

Michigan

  • Issue 2174: Add Worksheet 2 as a print set form selection

Minnesota

Mississippi

  • Issue 2156: SP wages on Form 80-105 not matching SP wages on Form 80-107

Missouri

  • Issue 2153: Line 2 on Page 2 of MO-PTC duplicating RRB-1099-R entry

Montana

Nebraska

  • Issue 2003: NE Schedule II not generating in custom print sets

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

  • Issue 2167: Direct Deposit details not displaying on PIT-1

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington WFTC

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Volunteer Spotlight: In Rancho Cucamonga, a Team of Teenage Tax Slayers Helps Adults

07 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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Link to New York Times article

At a high school in California, students help run a tax-return clinic. They get academic credit, breakfast burritos and life lessons.

On Saturdays at Rancho Cucamonga High School, the indoor-outdoor campus can resemble a community carnival.

Last week at 7:30 a.m., teams of spandex-clad, color-guard flag bearers warmed up for a competition on whatever patch of concrete was available. Setup was beginning for a Black cultural celebration.

And on a lower level, in a classroom sandwiched by a “Cash for College” meeting and a study session for students in A.P. Chinese, a group of teenagers filled out tax returns for anyone who had heard about their free clinic.

Three generations of one family came, having heard about the clinic from the fourth — the great-grandmother. They brought along a brand-new dependent: a 2-month-old baby. A boy in a Spider-Man suit watched Spider-Man videos while his grandparents received help. Two retirees — one a Harley enthusiast and another who arrived on a spiffy electric bicycle — checked in as well.

That anyone would trust high school students to prepare their returns is the doing of a little-known service called VITA, which stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. It is an Internal Revenue Service program that trains people to help their neighbors with the annual task.

To participate, the students must plow through a kind of Income Tax 101 curriculum and then take tests drawn from Form 6744. (The I.R.S. has a form or publication for basically everything.)

At Rancho, as everyone refers to the school, the students work under the tutelage of Chris Van Duin, who has taught accounting there for 22 years. Each January, he starts showing up just after sunrise on Saturdays with breakfast burritos for his students.

On the day I was there, soft jazz was playing. At his desk, one screen displayed information on the clinic’s clients while another had the Manchester United-Fulham soccer match on mute. His cellphone rang every so often, because clinic clients have his personal number.

The students trickled in. Calob Chavez, 17, wants to be an investment banker. Destiny Linda, 17, hopes to get a doctorate in business someday. Many of them now look over their parents’ shoulders to make sure they file their tax returns on time and get every deduction.

There is no predicting who might turn up on any given Saturday. One victim of identity theft was trying to use a special PIN to file her taxes. Someone else was doing his taxes for the first time in seven years. He sat with seven neat stacks of paper in front of him. It looked like he would owe over $10,000.

“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy,” said Nicholas Rosales, a 16-year-old junior who took his first accounting class a year ago and is now Mr. Van Duin’s teaching assistant.

Every tax return tells a story. Where do you live? What do you do? What kind of income does that yield? Whom are you raising, housing and helping — and how?

Reading even one return — let alone the 250 or so that the Rancho students put their hands on last year — is a kind of object lesson in personal finance. Ask the right questions of the person behind the numbers and you can learn a lot about how the world works and the paths to making your way in it.

When I first met with the students, they were perplexed by someone who was scheduled to come in the next day. She had five jobs in 2023. “How do people balance that many?” Nicholas asked.

On Saturday morning, Abigail Jimenez, 27, presented herself and explained. She had started the year as a salon-supply store manager. After a brief stint as a part-time receptionist, a competitor of the salon-supply store offered her a job and she jumped.

Then, she decided on a career change. Around the same time, she and her boyfriend moved, and she took a new job at a leasing company. Finally, as her professional interests shifted to numbers, she found work at an accounting firm, albeit one where they don’t file returns until later in the year, including those of their employees.

She wanted her refund, if any, as soon as possible, so she came to the clinic.

By 10 a.m., there were so many clients that there were no students left to help them. Groups huddled around computer screens, putting basic information into TaxSlayer, a software program. The guy with the seven returns was still there, walking in and out of the room every so often to talk on the phone.

Would he like to comment? “Hoooooo,” he said, tipping his head back before declining to say anything else.

The work winds down by noon each Saturday. In class, the students finish returns that they did not complete during the Saturday rush.

This year, Nicholas did his own taxes for the first time. “I work at Taco Bell,” he said. “I got an $8 refund. Which is $8 I can buy more candy with.”

But those refunds can get bigger over time if you know what to look for. “There are people who don’t have that knowledge,” Destiny said. “They lose out on a lot of opportunities.”

IRS Reject F8962-070

01 Mar 24
Kim Manuel
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3/1/2024 – Recycling this blog post. See below on how to handle this Federal reject related to 1095-A’s.


3/4/2022 – If you have a rejected Federal return at your site specific to missing Form 8962 or a binary statement not attached, you can now resubmit these returns electronically if they have not already been paper filed. For impacted returns, go back to the Health Insurance menu and on the first page, you will see two “No” options. Choose the option that is applicable to the taxpayers return. You can now resubmit the return and the appropriate statement will be included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


This is a new reject for TY 2021

The e-file database indicates that Form 8962 or a binary attachment with description containing “ACA Explanation” must be present in the return

  • It was added so returns may be corrected and avoid being kicked into error resolution, which could cause significant delays in the funding of the tax refund
  • This is the IRS top reject across all software vendors
  • If the return is rejected, the IRS has information that the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent has Marketplace insurance, and/or received an advance payment for marketplace insurance
  • These returns should have the 8962 or PDF attachment with their “ACA Calculations”
  • These taxpayers will receive a 1095-A, which providers are required to file by January 31, 2022.

Note:  The IRS has not issued guidance on the PDF attachment, or how to incorporate it into the software.  You would only need this attachment to show that the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent did not receive premium tax credit payments for TY2021.

If the taxpayer, spouse, or dependent received premium tax credit payments for medical insurance (even for 1 month), complete form 8962 using Form 1095-A

For additional information and to get help locating the documents needed to file a complete, correct tax return visit Healthcare.gov