On Monday, April 21st, TaxSlayer VITA/TCE support will resume off-season hours of Monday through Friday from 8am-5pm ET. Support will not be available weekends.

• Monday – 8a-5p
• Tuesday – 8a-5p
• Wednesday – 8a-5p
• Thursday – 8a-5p
• Friday – 8a-5p
• Saturday – CLOSED
• Sunday – CLOSED

A deployment is scheduled for the morning of Monday, April 7th to release the below update(s). Access to the program may be limited during a deployment. This is the last scheduled deployment of the filing season. After tomorrow’s deploy, the annual code freeze will be place until after April 15th.

EITC

• EITC calc off by $1 from EIC Table for Single and MFJ specific income ranges (Issue 3266)

MARYLAND

• MFS w Fed MFJ – Worksheet (18B) line 4 not using larger amount from line 1 and 2 (Issue 3271)

A deployment is scheduled for the morning of Monday, March 3rd to release the below update(s). Access to the program may be limited during a deployment.

MANAGEMENT REPORTS

• Update the User Access Report to add a column to show IP Address (Enhancement)

MINNESOTA

• Incorrect e-file block for 1099-MISC for MN indicating the MN State ID must be 7 digits but 7 digits are entered (Issue 3034)

A deployment is scheduled for the morning of Monday, February 24th to release the below update(s). Access to the program may be limited during a deployment.

CONNECTICUT

• Incorrect tax calculated for AGI over $102,000 (Issue 2973)

FORM 1099-R

• When entering $0 in Box 2a and saving then editing, Box 2a populates with amount from Box 1 (Issue 2975)

GEORGIA

• GA Amended – Update Refund Or Balance Due text – change Line “42” to “46” (Issue 2972)

Opening comments by TaxSlayer

• A little over 250,000 returns filed since 1/27
  • Slower states: AL, NY slow in the beginning but resolved
  • OK – delay in acknowledgements
• Top 5 Federal Rejects
  • F8962-070 – Form 1095-A missing (3,517)
  • IND-181 – IPPIN missing (1,421)
  • R0000-500-01 – Primary Name/SSN mismatch (622)
  • F1040-164-01 – Claiming EITC after disallowance without adding F8862 (389)
  • FW2-502 – Employer EIN does not match IRS records (322)
• All states are open for e-file except CO (controlled launch beginning 2/14)
  • Can still transmit CO returns to us
• Practice Lab practice exercises are updated to 2024 as of 1/30
• Subscribe to the blog
• Brad Martin Joins us once again from United Way in Alabama

Question and Answer session

Volunteer 1:  Time outs seems to be happening much quicker than last year.  I have noticed that it seems to be timing out while I am inside of the return moving around when I am actively going from page to page.

Volunteer 2:  I experience the same time out issues in the program, everywhere except the Main Client Menu.

Guest Host:  I have noticed it happening when I am editing the W2.

TaxSlayer:  The timer itself is set to 20 minutes.  If you could send us a detailed email of when this is happening most frequently it will help us get the scenarios to our development team.  The program resets the clock when you click the continue button.  So for example:  If you have a PDF up and it takes you longer than 20 minutes to review the return, the program is going to time out in the background because you are not accessing it.  If you are reviewing the return by going down the left nav bar (completed form) and not clicking continue the program could be timing out.

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Volunteer:  What is the guidance on removing the optional questions from the Program

SPEC:  The IRS is still waiting on guidance from counsel

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Volunteer:  On some of my computers, numbers are automatically populated and it blocks all other information.

TaxSlayer:  That is specific to the browser and not something that TaxSlayer controls

Guest Host:  Chrome and Edge both have auto-fill features.  The one for addresses and more encompasses a lot.  I would recommend urning them off.

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Volunteer:  There are 2 new tax credits for Oklahoma that are not printing in the print sets

TaxSlayer:  We typically have to manually enter those in the print sets.  You can always make a request to support to have them added.

Note:  The credits were added to the prints sets after the call.

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Volunteer:  The message center is not sending messages when a return is marked approved.

TaxSlayer:  Can you send us an email detailing out how it was working vs how it is working now so we can replicate and get in front of our development team.

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Volunteer:  If a client files their return on their own, can we file an amended return for them?

TaxSlayer:  Yes, you will need to recreate the return with the amended changes and then you can electronically file the amended return after completing the amended return menu.

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Volunteer:  Can we do prior year returns?

TaxSlayer:  Yes, we support current year and five prior years.  You can electronically file current year and prior 2 years.

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Volunteer:  We had a problem with a taxpayer not getting their FSA MFA codes.

TaxSlayer:  If you can get us the username or email address we can take a look. 2/10 Update:

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Volunteer:  There are times when I cannot click the Submission button after reviewing a return to mark it approved, without clicking through the other e-file screens.

Guest Host:  I have volunteers in my site with the same issue.  I do not have that issue when navigating with the keyboard

TaxSlayer;  We will look at this.  If nothing else is required, you should be able to go from Return Details to Submission by selecting the button across the top.  I have found that you have to click a certain place…I mainly get it when I click the upper middle of the circle.

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Volunteer:  Can I get an update on Issue 2543

TaxSlayer:  We have verified that our development team is actively working this issue.  We have run into a couple of “snags” but we think we have that figured out.  We will continue to monitor this issue.

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Volunteer:  Can you bring back the more simplified prior year comparison?

TaxSlayer:  No.  We added more comparison items based on feedback and suggestions from the volunteers over the years.  While it appears to be more complex, it renders a lot more useful information for most volunteer sites.

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Volunteer:  Can you explain the difference in an error and a suggestion?  For example:  When I put in a future date and transmit the return, It comes back with a validation error.  I reached out to support and they told me to submit a suggestion and that just doesn’t sound right.

TaxSlayer.  Go ahead and send another email and tell them that I (Craig) want to take another look at this, especially since it is getting a validation error, it sounds more like an issue that  we should be able to resolve programmatically.

A deployment is scheduled for the morning of Monday, January 27th to release the below update(s). Access to the program may be limited during a deployment.

FORM 1040-NR (Rescheduled)

• Schedule OI Current Year Travel Dates – Date Departed U.S. should not be a required entry (Issue 2783)

FORM W-2

• Box 3 for Social Security Wages prefill cap needs updating to $168,600 for TY2024 (Issue 2791)

VIRGINIA

• VA760CG, Page 1 showing “AMENDED” in bottom left when return is not amended (Issue 2788)

Opening Comments by TaxSlayer

• Controlled Launch
  • The IRS MeF team conducts controlled launch with industry anywhere from 5-8 business days before e-file opens.  They do this to get e-files going through their system to validate any programmatic changes they have had to make.
  • We typically choose a day and allow VITA/TCE e-files to come through to make sure all of our processes are in place before opening day.
    • Ability to send
    • Ability to get acks
    • View reject codes in all the appropriate places
    • Run IRS Acknowledgements (which we strongly encourage)
    • Client List status changes appropriately based on where the return is in the process.
  • We sent around 390 e-files
    • 8% reject rate
    • Top rejects:
      • F8962-070: E-file database indicates that someone on the return (TP, SP or Dependent) was enrolled in the ACA Marketplace
      • IND-181-01: Primary taxpayer did not enter a valid IP PIN
      • IND-996:  Dependent/Qualifying person did not enter a valid IP PIN
• E-file opens January 27th
  • We will turn on e-file for VITA/TCE around 11:00am ET for current year 1040 returns
    • We will monitor rejects throughout the day
    • We will post dates on when we will turn on “State Only” and Prior year Returns (Typically towards the middle or end of the week)
• Disaster Designation
  • We have seen a lot of questions about this. We recommend that you go ahead and mark the Disaster box and enter the appropriate disaster code
    • Puts an indicator in the e-file for federally declared disasters
    • https://www.fema.gov/disaster/declarations to get the disaster code associated with the area
• TaxSlayer Application Deploy Schedule
  • Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during season
  • Craig will post release notes on the blog the night before
• Orders from the IRS
  • We are still receiving orders on Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Subscribe to the blog for notifications
  • We have approximately 6,729 subscribers that get automated notifications out of approximately 60,000 users
  • We are aware some people are still getting blank screens when they click on the Blog from the springboard
    • Reach out to support so they can walk you through gathering some data for our development team
• VITA/TCE Support Hours
  • Phone, e-mail and chat support is available Monday-Friday from 8am-11:59pm ET and Saturday and Sunday from 8am-8pm ET
• Special thanks to Brad Martin who volunteered to be a guest “Question answerer” today.

Question and Answer Session

Question: When will Alabama be approved for e-file and what do I need to do for the returns that I prepared earlier when the program still indicated the return would have to be paper filed?

Answer from TaxSlayer: We will check to see if it is approved.  Once we turn on e-file for Alabama, you will just need to open the return and change the state return type to the appropriate e-file.

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Question: Will we receive a schedule of calls and the call-in number earlier next time? I did not receive mine until just a few minutes before the call.

Answer from IRS: Your SPEC Relationship Manager should be reaching out with the call in information.  If you do not have it a week prior to the call, you should reach out to them to get it.

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Question: How do we find out the status of our software order and how do we get notified you have it?

Answer from TaxSlayer: Reach out to VITA/TCE support to see if we have a current year order. If we do not, then you would need to reach out to your SPEC Relationship Manager to see if there were any problems with the order. We receive orders Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You will receive 1 notification via email if you are a returning site and 2 notifications via email if you are a new site.

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Question: If the return is rejected for Form 8962 and the taxpayer is adamant they did not have coverage, will the program still allow you to mark that they don’t have coverage and send the efile back?

Answer from TaxSlayer: The behavior should not have changed. Once the return is rejected, go back through the healthcare menu to mark the applicable box and resubmit.

Feedback from Brad: In Alabama I often find that they really did have marketplace insurance and did not realize it. There are times when I have to get on the phone with the marketplace and typically find that they had the insurance for a short period of time and they just didn’t realize it.

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Question: When will the new 5329 tax on early distribution codes be available in TaxSlayer?

Answer from TaxSlayer: We have an open development item for this that is marked production ready so it should go out either Friday, January 24th or Monday, January 27th.

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Question: Can you check on a couple of places where the EIN is not working; 8863 and the 2441?

Answer from TaxSlayer: We have an active work order to fix the EIN database on the 8863. It worked in 2023 and should be working in 2024. We will have that fixed soon. We will check on the 2441 as we thought it was working.

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Question: Can you also check on the EIN database not working on the 1099-RRB?

Answer from TaxSlayer: We have an open work item on this one too. We will check on it.

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Question for Guest Speaker: Do you have to be with the taxpayer when you call the marketplace?

Answer from Guest Speaker: Yes. I typically call the marketplace and put the taxpayer on the phone with them so they can get authorization for me to talk to them. The authorization is just for this specific day. The whole process takes about 10 minutes. Saturdays are the best, there is typically no hold time.

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Question for Guest Speaker: How do you handle it when the taxpayer is not at the site?

Answer from Guest Speaker: Sometimes we have them come back to the site because it could impact their refund/balance due and we would need a new signature. I have done a 3 way call between me, the taxpayer and the marketplace. Then if something changes on the return, I can  make the return available to the taxpayer via customer portal.

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Question: How do we get in touch with support?

Answer from TaxSlayer: Once you open the VITA/TCE Springboard, scroll to the bottom and all of the support information is listed.

 

You will be prompted to click a box indicating that you are human if you type your password wrong two times.  This is an extra layer of security to ensure the integrity of your user account.  You may be prompted to select it a couple of times if you lock your account due to excessive login attempts during the “change password” process.

 

 

 

 

P.S.  Much better than having to pick out traffic lights in a group of squares!!