12:15 PM: This concludes our TaxSlayer 2018 stress test. Thank you so much for sharing part of your day with us. You and everyone that participated in the first stress test, earned your “I made a difference” virtual button.
Please take a moment and share our experience with us. Stress Test 2 Survey
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12:10 PM: We are now moving into the 5 minute stretch….Stay Calm and Stress On
12:00 PM: Update on return volume created in the past hour:
Returns = 2,334
Shout Out to Philadelphia — #2 Stresser City at noon
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11:55 AM: We are back up to 1,500 users…New York City and taken back 2nd in the number of stressers participating today.
11:50 AM: We are down tot he final 25 minutes of our Stress Test. We really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to participate today and in our first stress test. We will be posting a survey link at the conclusion of our stress event.
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11:45 AM: Woo hoo!!! Los Angeles…you rock with 80 Slayit Stressers….
Worcester…you are running in second place now
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11:39 AM: If you complete the scenarios below, we welcome you to stay on board with us until the conclusion of the Stress Test at 12:15 PM Eastern. If you have worked through all of the scenarios below, be creative and complete the most complex return you can think of.
Update on Numbers: Down to 1400 concurrent users
Up to 2,151 returns created since 11:00 am Eastern
We have also had 156 new Practice lab Accounts created since 11:00 am
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11:35 AM: Friendly stressing competition between New York City and Los Angeles. Los Angeles just took over the number 1 slot for users. Come on New York…10 more people will move you back to the leader board……TaxSlayer’s friendly stress competition…
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11:33 AM — Los Angeles just moved up to our number 2 “Stressing with us” city this morning. We are currently at 1,572 concurrent users…
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11:31 AM –– Top 5 Stressing cities are:
New York
Albuquerque
Corpus Christi
Fort Myers
Virginia Beach
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11:28 AM – – Shout out our VITA sites in Puerto Rico for taking the time to stress with us this morning
11:23 AM — Awesome job, you all have created 1,533 returns in the past 23 minutes
11:18: We are up to 1,503 concurrent users. Give a shout out to all of your volunteers friends and family. Our goal is to simulate peak hour which runs between 8,000 and 10,000 concurrent users. This allows potential issues to identify themselves now and not on the first Saturday in February….Stress, Stress, Stress away today, so we don’t have to stress another day
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11:15 am: Group 4 may begin your test scenarios — We are currently at 1,352 users and have completed 1,100 returns
11:10 am: Group 3 may begin your test scenarios — We are currently at 1,150 users and have completed 1,000 returns
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11:05 am Group 2 may begin your test scenarios — We are currently at 833 users
11:00 am Group 1 may begin your test scenarios
We will begin in 5 minutes;
Each group will have an assigned time to begin the testing process and scenarios
- Group A: Beginning character of Practice Lab Username: Any number or character – D Begin 11;00 am Eastern
- This includes users that have not established a username yet.
- Group B: Beginning letter of Practice Lab Username: E – J Begin 11:05 am Eastern
- Group C: Beginning letter of Practice Lab Username K – R Begin 11:10 am Eastern
- Group D: Beginning letter of Practice Lab Username S – Z Begin 11:15 am Eastern
Make notes of the Practice Lab 2018 behavior as you execute the following instructions – any slowdowns, difficulties opening returns; problems completing inputs, navigation issues, etc.:
Scenarios:
- Login to Practice Lab 2018
- 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
- 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 2018 Tax Return to render the PDF.
- Close the PDF.
- Select Save & Exit Return
- Switch years to Practice Lab 2017
- Create a new return using Basic (No Profile) that has a minimum of 2 income documents.
- Add a State (even if you don’t typically do state returns).
- At a minimum, open Additions and Subtractions to Income menus, enter data and continue. This will kick off calculations within the state menu (new from last year’s stress test).
- Generate the PDF of the state when you return to the state summary page.
- Switch years back to Practice Lab 2018
- 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
- Select the Quality Review Print Set for a return in the client list.
- Generate the PDF
- Close the PDF
- Continue moving around within returns as you would experience at your site during tax season. We want to keep as many volunteers active through entire stress test time period at 12:15 PM EST.
Practice Socials and EIN Guidance: The Practice Lab automatically enforces 00 as the 4th and 5th digit of the taxpayer SSN when starting a return. Even though this is a secured, practice environment, we recommend you use 00 as the 4th and 5th digit of any SSN in the return. We also recommend that you use 00 as the 3rd and 4th digit of any EIN you are using.
Communications: TaxSlayer will be communicating to testers through the VITA/TCE Blog and the message center.
Feedback: We will post a link to a survey that will allow you to share your experiences with us.