When:  January 1, 2018

What:  The password requirements for the Practice Lab will require users to have a 15 character strong password.

How does this impact existing Users?  Existing users will be prompted to change their password to a 15 character strong password the first time they login to the Practice Lab beginning January 1, 2018

How does this impact new users?  New users creating accounts beginning January 1, 2018 will be required to enter a 15 character strong password.

Does this impact my production username and password?  No.  The requirements for your production passwords will not change because you are required to authenticate via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Blog Posted 12/12/2017

Stress Test 1:  December 6, 2017   12:30pm – 2:00 pm eastern

Production Environment Site:  Practice Lab

Prerequisites:

• Username and password established prior to the testing date
• Minimum of five returns created by the user prior to the beginning of the testing period. These returns should reflect the type of returns you prepare at your site during tax season

Testing Groups:

• Each group will have an assigned time to begin the testing process and scenarios
  • Group A: Beginning letter of last name A – G   Begin 12:30 pm
  • Group B: Beginning letter of last name S – Z   Begin 12:40 pm
  • Group C: Beginning letter of last name H – L   Begin 12:50 pm
  • Group D: Beginning letter of last name M – R   Begin 1:00 pm

Make notes of the Practice Lab 2017 behavior as you execute the following instructions – any slowdowns, difficulties opening returns; problems completing inputs, navigation issues, etc.:

Scenarios:

1. Login to Practice Lab 2017
2. Create a new return using Basic (No Profile) that has a minimum of 2 income documents from basic information through creating an e-file. Save and Exit the return
3. Open an existing return, navigate to the Income Section and add an additional income document. Navigate to Summary/Print and select View/Print Return.  Select Print your 2017 Tax Return to render the PDF.  Close the PDF.  Select Save & Exit Return
4. Create a new return using Master Taxpayer Profile that has at least Interest and/or Dividends. Generate the PDF for the Schedule B.  Navigate to Deductions and complete Itemized Deductions.  Generate the PDF for Itemized Deductions. Save and exit the Return
5. Switch years to 2016
6. Create a new return using Basic (No Profile) that has a minimum of 2 income documents from basic information through creating an e-file. Save and Exit the return
7. Switch years back to 2017
8. Select the Quality Review Print Set for a return in the client list and generate the PDF
9. Open an existing return. Navigate to the state section.  Delete any associated state.  Add a state and complete the state return.  Generate a PDF from the Summary/Print page.  Save and exit the return from the Summary/Print page

Communications:  TaxSlayer will be communicating to testers through the VITA/TCE Blog and the message center.

We have released preliminary version of all states.  We wanted to give you an early look at some of the changes we are making to the state programs for TY2017, even though they are NOT finalized.

We are continuing to work on areas that improve the user experience, as well as, update the programs with updated tax law and e-file changes as it is released by the state agencies.

We did not release the localities with this early release.

Are tax calculations in the states finalized?

No, this is a preliminary version of states.  As we receive finalized tax law and e-file changes from the states, we will be updating the state software.  This will be a continual and ongoing process through early January (which is typical of any tax year).

Are all items such as dependents and credits flowing from the federal to the state?

No, this is a preliminary version of the state.   Updating the state software will be a continual and ongoing process through early January.

I am beginning the training process for my volunteers, what year should I use to train on tax software for the purposes of state tax calculations?

You should train your volunteers using the TaxSlayer Pro Online 2016 for the purposes of state calculations.  You can utilize TY2017 states for the purposes of demonstrating how they will navigate through the state portion of the return.

I am receiving an “Unexpected error” message when I click Continue or navigate to the e-file section after loading the state. *RESOLVED 12/5/17*

We are actively working to resolve this error.  You can utilize the left navigation panel to navigate through the return instead of using the “Continue” button to navigate between sections.  If you need to utilize the e-file section, you will need to remove the state from the return until an update resolves this error. *THIS HAS BEEN RESOLVED* You can now access the e-file menu with a state return loaded into your 2017 Practice Lab accounts.

Are the new features requested for the states available with this release?

The majority of the new features have not been released with the preliminary version of the states.  As we finalize testing on these features, they will be updated in the Practice Lab.

Update 12/1/2017:  The W-2 has been updated to 2017 in the print outs.

The print out of the W-2s and 1099-Rs in the Quality review print set reflect 2016 instead of 2017.  These are internal forms and will be updated to reflect 2017 prior to January 8, 2018

Blog Posted 11/15/2017  12:48 PM Eastern

Why do I need to create 5 returns prior to the test?

(a) To load the system up with volunteer generated returns

(b) To ensure that all participants have successfully logged into the system and can successfully create returns prior to the testing date

If I create five returns now, what will I do during the testing period?

We will have a series of 8 to 9 different scenarios that we will be asking the volunteers to complete during the testing period.

The following message was distributed by SPEC this morning:

Background:  TaxSlayer software ordering season began on October 2, 2017.  Due to an IRS system technology issue impacting the procurement of software; IRS has to delay the processing of the 2017 TaxSlayer software orders. We are expecting to have the issue resolved by the end of this week (December 1^st). Please continue to submit your orders. We expect to start processing orders by Tuesday next week.

Until receipt of software, sites still have the ability to complete many site administrative functions, such as verifying site Information, creating security templates, adding preparers, creating/assigning custom questions, etc. VITA/TCE sites should continue to use the Practice Lab for training purposes.

Blog Posted 11/27/2017

The Primary SSN for all practice lab returns should have -00- as the 4th and 5th digit.  If you are working with support on a specific return, they will need the entire Practice SSN to access the return.

During tax season, we only require EFIN and last 4 digits, however, all Practice Lab returns are created under the same EFIN and there are sometimes thousands that end with the same last 4 digits.

We strongly recommend that if you are working with a support agent on a specific Practice Lab return, you change the last name to something unique to ensure that we can access the correct return.

You should never be asked to email or give a full “real” Social Security Number to TaxSlayer support.

Blog posted 11/17/2017  2:17 pm eastern

We are temporarily making all Multi-Site and Relational Admin Accounts inactive until the Tax Year 2017 orders are processed.  As we begin processing the orders and updating the groups based on this year’s orders, we will do one of the following:

1.  Create new Admin Account logins if the group admin has changed
2.  Reactivate the Group Admin Account

Either way, an email notification will be sent once the multi-site and/or Relational Admin accounts are activated for Tax Year 2017.

Blog Posted 11/17/2017  8:02 am Eastern