We will begin the process of rolling out TaxSlayer Pro Online 2026 the week of November 2nd.  This is a very fluid process, but our goal is to keep your disruption of services to a minimum.

What can you expect once we roll out TaxSlayer Pro Online 2026?

1. The Practice Lab will support 2026 and 2025
2. Your Production site will default to 2026, but you will not be able to “Start A New Return” until a yet to be determined date in January, 2027.
3. You can still prepare 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 returns
4. You can still e-file 2025, 2024, and 2023 returns until the IRS cut-over (December 26, 2026)
5. You will NO longer have access to 2020 returns or reports

Reminder: TaxSlayer 2020 will no longer be available when we roll out our early release of TaxSlayer 2026.  Our tentative date is the first week of November, but we strongly recommend you finish up any outstanding work or reports by October 31st, 2026.

What does this mean? You will no longer have access to 2020 returns or 2020 reports.

 

 

The  FSA (Facilitated Self Assistance) Kiosk URL’s issued for TY2025 will expire on November 2nd.  Existing links will no longer offer free tax prep to the taxpayers nor offer access to prior year applications. As we begin receiving new orders for TY2026, new URL’s will be generated based on the order received from the IRS and emailed to the volunteer site contact in mid-January 2027.

 

Only TaxSlayer verified Federal and State issues with a potentially broad impact listed

FEDERAL ITEMS

 

• Issue 4120: Schedule E loss is allocated to wrong SP on Form 8379
• Issue 3561: Dynamic View of Client List is using incorrect calendar format for filtering the page

 

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STATE ITEMS

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

• Issue 4106: E-file Opt Out form is generating in PDF when IN amended return marked as an e-file return type

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington WFTC

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Scenario:  Getting Invalid_Scope error when trying to open an existing return or create a new return

We will be pushing a fix out at approximately 8:30 EST

Software vendors received the below message from MN DOR. There is nothing for you to do as any previously filed M1PR’s prior to July 15th will be automatically adjusted by MN.

Minnesota Legislation passed a one-time 14.88% increase to 2025 Homestead Credit Refunds (M1PR). Here’s what is expected: Updated M1PR form was posted to our website today.

• New line 17a will be added to the M1PR MeF schema.
• Posting updated schema V4.3 in SES on June 18th.
• Updated schema is backwards compatible with V4.0-2.
• ERC 0123 will be updated to include line 17a into the sum on line 18.
• New Message: “Form M1PR, Line 18 must equal the sum of Line 15, Line 17 and Line 17a.”
• This ERC will also require an amount on line 17a if there is an amount on line 17.

We will begin accepting V4.3 schema version on July 15th. Returns filed prior will be adjusted by the department.

TaxSlayer Pro Online

For post filing season security, all users other than administrator, should be made inactive (or archived if users will not be returning to the site next year). This will ensure no returns are being prepared off-season when the site is closed or prior to the site opening the next filing season.

TaxSlayer Online Closeout Procedures

• Do not deactivate any returns if carryforward tax return data is wanted for the next filing season
• The TaxSlayer server will secure all data and make return carryforward data available for filing season 2027
• From the Preparer Setup in the Configuration Menu, the site administrator or any user with a role that has Add/Edit Preparers permissions has the ability to quickly activate or inactivate a preparer
• Select the volunteer preparers you wish to inactivate while the site is closed
• The “Flip Active Status” will inactivate all users except the user that is logged in at once
• Run various reports (i.e. Federal Returns Not Transmitted, Rejected Returns Report, IRS and State Ack Reports to name a few) to ensure all returns have been filed prior to closing

NOTE: Sites are strongly encouraged to make all preparers except the site administrator (the contact name on the software order) inactive before the site closes.

For additional guidance, follow the procedures outlined on the VITA/TCE Blog or in the Pro Online User Guide for making preparers Active/Inactive.

We added a “View Form” print icon to the Additional Deductions menu when any of the sub-menus have been completed. You can now only generate the Schedule 1-A when you want rather than sifting through the entire return PDF.