Below are bullet points from our opening presentation of the All Partner Call before opening up for Q&A from the field.

E-file opening Day 2/12

• We received over 1,400 e-files during our controlled launch window
  • Transmitted and received acks for 101 returns
  • The rest will be submitted to the IRS on Friday
• We will monitor IRS volumes and turn on 2020 e-file late morning (ET) on the 12^th.
• You will have to open returns created prior to the 12^th in order to electronically file them

FSA URLs

• E-files submitted by the taxpayers will be sent to the IRS on the 12^th

Scanned Docs

• We have turned on the scanned document feature for all orders we have received
• If your site is not turned on, please reach out to your SPEC RM
• Scanned Document mini guide under VITA/TCE User guides and on the Practice Lab (section 6)
• Video on the Practice Lab

Trending Rejects

• Name/SSN Mismatch
• EIN/Company name mismatch
• EFIN not active
• Biggest is IPPIN
  • IRS opened up for anyone to apply for get an IP PIN
  • May not understand they need to give it to their preparer
  • May not understand it changes every year

Customer Service Opportunities

• Monday – Friday 8am – midnight ET
• Saturday/Sunday – 8am – 8 pm ET
• Phone
• Email
• Chat
• Phone number and email address is located on the VITA/TCE Springboard

When will Phase II of 8915-E be implemented?

• There is not a specific ETA for Phase II, however, as additional F8915-E updates are released, they will be included in Release Notes.

Do you need to use both the 8915-E and 5329 to remove an early distribution penalty?

• No, if the early distribution is COVID-19 related, electing to use Form 8915-E will remove the early distribution penalty (up to $100,000).

Can you edit existing security templates to use scanned documents?

• Yes, if your site is using Scanned Documents, you can edit existing Security Templates to allow scanned document feature access.

What will be included in additional 8915-E updates?

• Additional updates will include, but not limited to:
  • Election to NOT spread the taxable amount over 3 years (Line 9 checkbox)
  • The option to utilize Form 8915-E for any 1099-R distribution and not just for early distributions as it is currently

Form 8915-E and withholdings: Do withholdings from the 1099-R get spread over 3 years?

• Form 8915-E instructions do not specifically mention how 1099-R withholdings should be (or could be) handled if electing to use Form 8915-E. Any 1099-R withholdings reported appear to be counted in the first year as they normally would be. We recommend consulting with your SPEC Relationship Manager for further guidance.

Below are bullet points from our opening presentation of the All Partner Call before opening up for Q&A from the field.

• Important Dates
  • IRS E-file opens on February 12^th
    • We will turn on e-file around mid-day on the 12th
    • State Only E-files
      • ETA = Monday, February 15^th
    • Prior year (2019 and 2018)
      • ETA = Monday, February 15th
    • Preparers will be required to open all returns created prior to 2/12 before electronically filing them.
• Reporting Issues
  • VITA/TCE Support (email, chat or phone)
    • Support will need to return information for return exhibiting behavior (EFIN and last 4 SSN)
    • Support will reproduce and write up an any applicable issue
    • Volunteer will be provided with issue #
    • Volunteer will receive notification when issue has been resolved
  • Do not put support issues in the Suggestion Box
  • State issues should also come directly to VITA/TCE Support and not to state departments
• Blog
  • Release Notes
    • Title contains state abbreviations and other quick glance titles
  • FSA Kiosk URL posts do not apply to Pro Online users
    • Lookback using 2019 is still in the works
    • For 1040NR returns, there are instructions on how to report prior year state and local refunds. You basically navigate to Other Income, select Other Income not reported elsewhere and enter the value along with a description of Prior Year state and local income
      • If you think these items may impact the taxpayer using the FSA URL, you can send them a tip in the email when you send them the URL or if you have the URL behind a secured login, you could use that portal to post an announcement.
• Left Navigation Panel – lots of resources
  • Release Notes – goes directly to the release notes on the blog
  • VITA/TCE publications and User Guides – 13 different guides available for download
  • Quick access to the VITA/TCE Blog
  • VITA/TCE Suggestion Box
    • Open year round
    • Not for issues
  • COVID19 Information – Quick access to the IRS Coronavirus page (New)
• COVID19 Relief Section
  • Currently another way to enter RRC and 7202
  • It will contain other forms that specifically relate to COVID19 relief
  • Form 8915-E (coming soon)
• Support Hours
  • Monday – Friday 8 am – Midnight ET
  • Sat/Sunday 10 am – 4 ET (prior to efile starting)
  • Sat/Sunday 8-8 ET after efile starts
• On the Horizon
  • Entering email address in Personal Information
  • Adding Notes in the e-file section

Where is the COVID-19 Relief menu found in Pro Online?

• It can be accessed from the left-hand navigation menu inside the Federal Section.

Are we able to prepare EIP tax returns for 2020?

• The IRS has not released information yet regarding EIP returns and if they will be applicable for 2020.

What are the customer support hours?

• Customer support hours are listed in the bullet points above.

Is the 2019 prior year lookback automatic (will it choose the better of the two)?

• If the 2019 earned income has been provided, yes, the software will choose the better of the two so the taxpayer receives the greater benefit.

Is Recovery Rebate Credit available in the FSA software?

• Yes.

Will incorrect Recovery Rebate Credit values cause a rejected return?

• The IRS has not released any information about this to date.

Will the 2019 earned income lookup auto-fill from prior year, if applicable?

• No, must be manually entered by the preparer.

(FSA SOFTWARE) How does a taxpayer enter 2019 Earned Income for EITC and CTC calculation purposes?

• Navigate to Basic Information > Personal Information > Additional Personal Information. Check the box for “[Taxpayer Name] was affected by a natural disaster during the current tax year“. Enter “COVID-19” as the disaster event, then provide the prior year earned income amount.

VITA/TCA Volunteer Tax Alert

VTA 2021-01 Certification Testing and Using Practice Lab

Purpose

Volunteers should use caution when completing their certification tests using the Practice Lab.

Identified Issues

The Practice Lab has not incorporated all 2020 tax law changes. Additionally, it does not include the 2020 draft versions of all the forms or schedules. This may cause users to make inadvertent errors when taking their certification tests.

Please note that certain calculations could change as the IRS continues to finalize instructions for tax year 2020. TaxSlayer is working diligently with the IRS and state agencies to incorporate updates as they receive them.

The 1040 View in the Practice Lab still reflects 2019 Form 1040. It is recommended that volunteers generate the tax return PDF from the Client List or Summary/Print menu to see the return on a tax year 2020 draft Form 1040.

Message to Volunteers

Unless you have an immediate training need to certify for tax year 2020, volunteers should wait to take the 2020 VITA/TCE certification tests when the final forms are available in the Practice Lab.

The identified issue in the Practice Lab may affect your answers for any certification or practice return preparation scenarios that include:

• Form 1099-NEC
• The deduction for charitable contributions
• The recovery rebate credit
• Credits for sick and family leave for certain self-employed individuals
• The deferred payment of 50% of Social Security tax for certain individuals
• The inclusion of coronavirus-related distributions in income ratably over a 3-year period, and repayments of those distributions

Other tax provisions may also be affected.

The IRS anticipates that Form 1040 will be finalized in mid-December. TaxSlayer will then begin to update the Practice Lab with the final 2020 form at that time. Again, volunteers not having an immediate need to certify should wait until the Practice Lab is updated. Volunteers who have a need to certify early may discuss the impact and possible workarounds with their SPEC relationship manager.

Use caution when completing the following test scenarios

• Basic Scenario 6

  • Name of charitable organization and date of contribution not provided. Enter the name of any charitable organization and date in tax year 2020.
  • The screen to input direct deposit information is not available.

• Basic Scenario 7

  • Name of charitable organization and date of contribution not provided. Enter the name of any charitable organization and date in tax year 2020.
  • The EIN on Form W-2 auto-populates with a different name and address. Type over the data with information shown on Form W-2.

• Basic Scenario 8

  • The form used to request a split of refund is not in the first TaxSlayer software release in the Practice Lab.
  • The EIN for the daycare provider auto-populates with a different name and address. Type over the data with the information shown on the statement.

• Advanced Scenario 6

  • In the Interview Notes, between the first and second sentence of the seventh bullet, add “He received a scholarship and the terms require that it be used to pay tuition.”
  • The recovery rebate credit does not calculate in the first TaxSlayer software release in the Practice Lab. Completion of the tax return is not needed to respond correctly. Refer to the information in Publication 4491 and/or Publication 4012.
  • The screen to input direct deposit information is not available in the Practice Lab.

• Advanced Scenario 7

  • The sale date of stock is indicated as 12/1/2020 on Form 1099-B. If you are taking the test prior to 12/1/2020, enter a date in tax year 2020 prior to this date.

• Advanced Scenario 8

  • In the Interview Notes, third sub-bullet of the seventh bullet, replace 3/15/2020 with 4/15/2020.
  • Form 1099-NEC is not in the first TaxSlayer software release in the Practice Lab. Enter the information in Box 7 on the Form 1099-MISC screen.
  • The new Part III of Schedule SE does not calculate the deferral of self-employment tax payments. Completion of the tax return is not needed to respond correctly. Refer to the information in Publication 4491 and/or Publication 4012.

• Military Scenario 5

  • In the Interview Notes, on the Social Security card for Joseph Stevens, replace 959 with 659.

• Federal Income Tax Updates for Circular 230 Professionals Return Preparation Scenario 5

  • Name of charitable organization and date of contribution not provided. Enter the name of any charitable organization and date in tax year 2020.
  • The screen to claim a recovery rebate credit is not available in the first TaxSlayer software release in the Practice Lab. This does not affect the answer to any test question.

Resources

For specific information refer to the following resources:

• TaxSlayer VITA/TCE Blog
• Draft 2020 Form 1040
• Draft 2020 Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR

For additional questions, please talk to your site coordinator, partner or IRS SPEC relationship manager.

Thank you for volunteering and for your dedication to top QUALITY service!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of the selfless volunteers who give your time to service the needs of their taxpayers.  This year’s celebration looks a lot different than last year with this year’s new term “Social Distancing”.  We recognize that many of you are no longer able to service your taxpayer’s today because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, we want to commend you on the 1.8+ Million taxpayers you have provided services for since January 15th.  We raise our Shamrock glasses to you and celebrate your hours of service on this St. Patrick’s Day 2020.

The conference begins at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on March 12, 2020; you may join the conference 5 minutes prior.

Dial-in: 888-251-2949 or 215-861-0694
Access Code: 5384539#

Below are bullet points from our opening presentation of the All Partner Call before opening up for Q&A from the field.

• E-file volume remains up by approximately 2% year over year for the VITA/TCE Program
• We have some outstanding CA acks.  Our development team is working with CA on this (Issue 4550)
• Changes to the Kiddie Tax have been deployed for TS 2019
  • Taxpayers can now choose to elect to use their Parents Tax Rate when calculating the Kiddie Tax
• We do not have a deliverable date on when the retroactive extenders will be added to the prior year application
• MO acks were delayed earlier this week, but should be resolved now
  • Check the blog for this type of information
• We launched the new FSA Kiosk landing page this morning for those on the call with Fusion and Stand Alone URLs
  • If you start from the URL we sent you, this page displays and allows you to more easily use bookmarking and creating desktop shortcuts
  • If your taxpayer does not see this page, then you are starting from the wrong URL
  • Put the Best Practices guide and other FSA guides on the blog and under User Guides on the left navigation panel when you are logged into TaxSlayer
• Updated the 1042-S to the 2019 form
• Updated the User Interface on some of the pages outside of the return, but did not change the functionality

Q1: Any update on Strike Benefits and how to report in the software properly?

• Software vendors are still waiting for additional guidance from the IRS to ensure there are no issues in the MeF (electronic submission) sent to the IRS.

Q2: Kiddie Tax ready for 2019?

• Yes, the extender update for Form 8615 was delivered to the 2019 software this morning.

Q3: Will preparers be notified of when kiddie tax may be applicable in a tax return?

• Currently, no warning is prompted. We do have a suggestion logged for this to assist the preparer when Form 8615 may be applicable.

Q4: Is there still an e-file block for Kiddie Tax?

• No, the e-file block has been removed.

Q5: Is there a way to assign a preparer to multiple returns at one time?

• No, there is not. However, with the intent of filtering Client List so your preparers no longer see accepted returns, they can select “Do Not Show Accepted Returns” from Client List menu.

Q6: Has Alimony Paid always required the Recipients SSN? What if no SSN is available?

• Yes, to deduct Alimony Paid, the SSN for the recipient is required. If no SSN is available, use 111-XX-1111 (X=0) and be sure to paper file the return. Also include a statement with the paper filed return to support why no SSN was available.

How do we file a MFS return when we don’t know spouse SSN?

• If no SSN is available, use 111-XX-1111 (X=0) and be sure to paper file the return. Also include a statement with the paper filed return to support why no SSN was available.

When will extenders be applied to 2018 program?

• Prior year extender work is captured in our backlogs, but we do not have an ETA when these items will be available in the prior year programs.

The conference begins at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on February 27, 2020; you may join the conference 5 minutes prior.

Dial-in: 888-251-2949 or 215-861-0694
Access Code: 2364004#

This an opportunity to hear from TaxSlayer about the software and the filing season.  Participants will have an opportunity to ask general software questions.  Keep in mind that TaxSlayer cannot answer tax return or site specific questions on this call.   TaxSlayer VITA/TCE Support is available to handle return and site specific questions.