We have processed all orders submitted to us by the IRS prior to the government shut down.  The IRS and TaxSlayer has put an interim plan in place for sites that have not been activated for TY2018.

Non AARP/TCE Site instructions

1. Send an email to VITA/TCE  Support      [email protected]
2. Subject must be:  Site Activation Request
3. The body of the email must include:  EFIN, Site Name and SIDN

TaxSlayer will perform its agreed upon due diligence with the limited IRS staff and correspond back with the sender.  If multiple sites are impacted, you may include them in a single email.

Note:  If this is a new site, we will need additional information as they  have to go through additional due diligence:

• Site contact Name
• Site Physical Address
• Site Shipping Address
• Telephone number
• Email address

AARP/TCE sites

Any AARP/TCE sites will need to reach out to AARP Foundation via your existing ticketing system

Update 1/23  2:52 PM EST:  We sent and received close to 300 e-files.  Thanks to all who participated.  We will be turning e-file off again until Monday, January 28th

Updated 1/23  1:18 PM EST  The state columns on the Transmission page are not currently populating the correct information.  This will be corrected in a future update

Update 1/23 12:27 PM EST  We have not started picking up and processing acknowledgements yet.

Update 1/23  11:32 AM EST:  You can now send your electronic files for TY2018.  We will be sending them to the IRS.  The states will be made available once the IRS opens on the 28th and the states begin picking up their respective e-files.

Update 1/23:  We have turned this on and are seeing the following when trying to transmit from the Transmission page and from inside the return.

Error Page

We are investigating this.

The IRS is moving into week two of controlled launch.  We are Tentatively planning to open e-file for TY2018 returns for a short period of time on Wednesday, January 23rd from 10 am – 3 pm EST.

During this period, we will send VITA/TCE returns to the IRS and receive acknowledgements.

This date and time is subject to change

Scenario:  An existing Pro Online site from 2017 now has a new Site Admin for 2018

Question:  How does the new site admin gain access to the site if they do not already have a login?

Solution:  Send an email to vita support ([email protected]) with the following information and subject line:

Subject Line :  New Site Admin

Body:  I am the new site admin for the following site and need the link sent that allows me to create my admin credentials

EFIN: {Enter six digit EFIN}

Site Name: {Enter Site Name}

Site Admin Name: {Enter your name as the new site administrator}

Site Admin Phone: {Enter your phone number)

Site Admin Email: {this is the email address the link will be sent to}

Ad Hoc Site Scenario:

Site has a “main” site and also has one or more “ad hoc” site .

• The main site has an EFIN and SIDN (Snnnnnnn01)
• Ad Hoc site #1 has its own SIDN (Snnnnnnn02) because the IRS wants the returns prepared at the ad hoc site to report under the correct SIDN.
• Ad Hoc Site #2 has its own SIDN (Snnnnnn03)

Instructions for Setting up in TaxSlayer Pro Online:

• Create separate Preparers for the volunteers who work at the ad hoc site.
• Enter the SIDN of the Ad hoc site in the Preparer Setup. (The SIDN on the Preparer record is the one that carries to the PTIN field on Form 1040 and is captured in the e-file for reporting purposes)
• Best Practice: Use something in the user name to indicate the site where they will be preparing returns.  For example:  KrisMain for preparing returns at the main site and then KrisAdhoc1 for preparing returns at the ad hoc site.

Note:  If a volunteer prepares returns at the main site and each ad hoc site, they will need a username for each to ensure the correct SIDN is in the e-file.  The preparer can use the same email address in this circumstance.

Click here to download a PDF of complete instructions

We will be turning on the Start New Return feature on Tuesday, January 15th after 10:00 am EST

What returns should I complete at my site?

We strongly recommend that you only complete production returns in your site (actual taxpayer returns).  The Practice Lab is a Super Site in the same production environment.  If you need to conduct training or just try out a scenario, you should continue to utilize the Practice Lab.

Have all forms been finalized?

No.  All software vendors are still waiting to receive final forms and instructions for several forms. This includes Federal and/or state forms.

Can I electronically file returns?

No.  We are currently scheduled to turn on electronic filing on January 28th when the IRS MeF opens.

What happens to the returns I have created if the IRS issues form changes prior to e-file opening?

We strongly recommend that you open each return and exit through the Submission screen of E-file by clicking the Save and Exit return button. This allows the most recent forms/calculations to be saved with the return.

You can then navigate to Client Status for the return by selecting Client Status from the Tools menu on the Client List.

Compare the AGI and Refund calculated today with the last time you were in the return before sending the file electronically (January 28th).

Update 1:20 pm EST:  PDF rendering issue has been resolved.

Update 12:19 PM EST:  Our engineers are still working to determine why printing will not render the PDF.

We have opened an escalated IT ticket to determine why the PDF is not being generated.  We are working to get this resolved.

We have not received an approved date for turning on Start a New Return for 2018 at the site level.  We are in daily communications with the limited staff at SPEC headquarters.  Historically they have not turned this on until mid-January (last year it was January 16th).  As we learn more, we will keep this blog post updated.

We have processed all orders submitted to us by the IRS prior to the government shut down.  We have received a significant number of inquiries this week about software that we have not received orders for.  We are in daily contact with the limited IRS staff to get the status on outstanding orders.  Please know they are working diligently to recall the appropriate staff members needed to get the orders submitted for processing.   Once we receive the orders from the IRS, we are prepared to get the orders processed within a few hours.

In preparation for turning on the Start New Return feature, sites that have an outstanding order for TaxSlayer 2018 are flagged as inactive.  As soon as we receive an order from the IRS, the site will be marked with an active status.  The Practice Lab is available for all volunteers to create practice returns.  Below is an example message of a site that is marked as inactive