Software Developers,

A few of you have reached out about the state winnings info (box 14) being blank on the W2G for a few different gambling entities in Ohio.  Seeing that the OH-PIT-054 error code has one of the highest error code populations so far this season, we thought we’d share our recommendation with all partners.

When W2Gs have an empty box 14 (state winnings), users should then enter the amount from box #1 (Reportable winnings) in its place.

It appears some of the companies that produce the W2Gs for these Ohio gambling entities may see filling in box 14 as being redundant because the amount is the same as box #1. Similar to situation with 1099Rs when box 16 (state distribution) is blank but boxes 14 (state tax withheld) & 15 (state/payers state #) have information, its recommended the user enter the amount from box 1 (gross distribution).

Please let us know if you have any questions.

With the deployment this morning (February 1st), we delivered an update to the e-file pages where the Preparer Phone Number and E-mail on the right hand side is masked. If you wish to have this information visible, select the “eye” icon.

Note:  If you DO NOT want the volunteer name to show,  we have verified with our SPEC Relationship Manager and SPEC Program Manager that you can use either First Name, Last initial or First Initial, Last Name for their username account.

Scenario: When I look at the assigned questions under Configuration>>Question Templates I see duplicate questions.

Reasons:

• At some point the Group Admin that originally assigned the questions, deleted the questions before unassigning them to your site
• The group that assigned the questions changed them to be year specific

Solution: These cannot be removed from the “Assigned list”. Verify that there are no duplicate questions in the 2022 tax returns.

VITA/TCE support CANNOT remove these.

Send State Only has been activated.  Remember, you must select an e-file option for the Federal Return Type.

You must transmit state only returns from the Submission page.  They WILL NOT show up on the Transmission menu

1/24/2023 – 12:33pm ET: This has been resolved.

We are aware that Louisiana is the only state available.  We are working to make the other states “available”

1/24/2023 – 9:57am ET: This has been resolved.

1/24/2023 – 9:50am ET: We are aware and actively investigating an issue in 2022 where the calc is not working. This post will be updated once resolved.

We have turned on the ability to electronically file current year returns.

We strongly recommend you open and review each return prior to sending it electronically.  All returns sent to us on Friday during the Controlled Launch window have been sent and acknowledged by the IRS.

9:58am ET – This has been resolved.

9:40am ET – We are aware of an issue when attempting to make entries in the state area of the W-2. Our developers are actively investigating. This post will be updated as additional information is available.