Tag: Pro Desktop

IRS  Provides Additional Day to File and Pay for Taxpayers through Wednesday, April 18;

IRS processing systems back online

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it is providing taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes following system issues that surfaced early on the April 17 tax deadline. Individuals and businesses with a filing or payment due date of April 17 will now have until midnight on Wednesday, April 18. Taxpayers do not need to do anything to receive this extra time.

The IRS encountered system issues Tuesday morning. Throughout the system outage, taxpayers were still able to file their tax returns electronically through their software providers and Free File. Taxpayers using paper to file and pay their taxes at the deadline were not affected by the system issue.

“This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers,” said Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter. “The IRS appreciates everyone’s patience during this period. The extra time will help taxpayers affected by this situation.”

The IRS advised taxpayers to continue to file their taxes as normal Tuesday evening – whether electronically or on paper. Automatic six-month extensions are available to taxpayers who need additional time to file can visit https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/extension-of-time-to-file-your-tax-return.

Update 6:11 PM ET

We are working through the backlog of e-files that we received while the IRS MeF system was in the status of non-operational.  We are processing these in First In, First Out order.

It is important to note that we utilize the electronic postmark when we submit the e-files to the IRS.

What does this mean?  It means that we use the date and time that you electronically submit the return to us.

Why is this important?  The MeF system uses the electronic postmark for processing to determine timely filed returns.

Update 4:53 PM ET

The IRS MeF system has concluded testing and is now Operational.  We should have all  of our systems back up and running automatically again within the next 30 minutes.  At that time we will begin sending the backlog of e-files.  Please note that this is going to take hours to process the backlog of e-files we have been holding during the IRS MeF outage.

As all vendors start working through their backlog of returns, there may be additional delays in receiving acks from the IRS due to the load on their system.

Update 3:05 pm ET

The IRS MeF system is still in the status of Non-Operational.  They are diligently working to get their systems operational.  Again, we encourage you to continue to transmit returns to us as normal throughout the day.

This outage is also impacting IRS Direct Pay

Update 1:20 pm ET

Just a reminder that the IRS MeF system is still in the status of Non-Operational.  We strongly recommend that you continue to transmit returns to us as normal throughout the day.  We will transmit the returns once the IRS MeF system has a status of “Operational”.

We anticipate that there will be a significant number of e-files transmitted to the IRS from all software vendors once their site is operational.  They will need time to process through these e-files, as well as, make the state returns available for the states to pick up for processing.

Update 11:00 am ET

The IRS MeF system is still Non-Operational.  This outage is also impacting the following IRS Systems:

• Where’s my Refund
• Transcripts

Original Blog Post

The IRS just issued a notification regarding their MeF system.  They are experiencing an outage and are diligently working to resolve it.

How does this impact you?

This will cause a delay in us having the ability to successfully send e-files to the IRS and will cause a delay in any acknowledgement that we have not received from the IRS.

Once the IRS system is back online, all vendors will be pushing e-files through the system, which may cause a potential backlog in acknowledgements.

Should I continue to send returns?

Yes, we encourage you to send returns throughout the day.  We DO NOT recommend that you hold them until the end of your business day.

The Georgia Department of Revenue sent the below messaging to software vendors this morning.

“The Georgia Department of Revenue is experiencing problems sending the acknowledgements for April 5^th and 6^th returns.  We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing you.  We are working diligently to resolve this issue and will advise you when acknowledgements are sent.”

For any sites with outstanding GA transmitted on April 5th and 6th, please do not resubmit impacted GA returns.

Combat zone tax benefits now available to Armed Forces members who served in the Sinai Peninsula; IRS accepting retroactive tax refund claims back to 2015

IR-2018-95, April 13, 2018

WASHINGTON — U.S. Armed Forces members who served in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt may qualify for combat zone tax benefits retroactive to June 2015, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) enacted in December 2017, members of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Coast Guard who performed services in the Sinai Peninsula can now claim combat zone tax benefits. Eligible service members should review Publication 3, Armed Forces’ Tax Guide, available on IRS.gov.

Among other benefits, eligible service members may be able to exclude part or all of their combat pay from their income for federal income tax purposes. Excluding combat pay from a taxpayer’s income can result in lower tax.

How Armed Services members can claim a refund

Service members who previously paid tax on this income may be due a refund. They may file an amended tax return, Form 1040X, if they already filed a tax return for tax years 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Combat pay received on or after Jan. 1, 2018, will be correctly reported on any W-2 forms issued to any service member who serves in the Sinai Peninsula. Service members who served in the Sinai Peninsula in 2015, 2016, or 2017 can provide documentation of their service to their finance officer and ask for a Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement.

However, an eligible service member who is unable to secure a corrected Form W-2c may still claim the combat pay exclusion by attaching to their Form 1040X copies of official documents showing they served or worked in the Sinai Peninsula. These documents should indicate the area, theater or military operation and the approximate entry date. Acceptable documents include military orders, letters of authorization (civilians), hospital discharge papers, discharge from active duty, official letterhead memorandum from a military department or civilian employer, or a request and authorization for temporary duty travel of Department of Defense personnel (civilians and military).

Amended returns can only be filed on paper (electronic filing is not available) and can take up to 16 weeks to process. Within about three weeks after mailing an amended return, taxpayers can track the status online using Where’s My Amended Return?

For more information about requesting a refund based on service in the Sinai Peninsula, see the Form 1040X instructions, available on IRS.gov.

SPEC released the following information about Closeout/Backup Procedures;

TaxSlayer Online Closeout Procedures:

1. Do not delete or inactivate any returns if carryforward tax return data is desired for the next filing season

2. The TaxSlayer server will secure all data…..

Click here to download PDF

The following PDF is an update on your suggestions (not all 1,000 are on here yet).  This document will be updated periodically with new suggestions and responses.  As we move out of tax season into planning season, it will also be updated with an indicator of the suggestions that will be able to implement for the next filing season.

We tweaked the format a little to allow us to sort by Federal and State.

An example of the status column can be found by Tracking ID 269372 (Ctrl+F allows you search in the document)

What’s Trending:

• Less clicks to enter multiple interest and dividend items
• Increase the size of selection boxes

Don’t see your suggestion…don’t worry…suggestions will be added to the list as we pull them.

Don’t see a response next to your suggestion…we are reviewing each suggestion and will provide a response.

Click here to view PDF

The link will launch a Brainshark video with instructions on how to view the file.

Stay the Course!

With just a little more than two weeks before April 17^th, we are steadily moving towards our 4.0 goal, as reflected in our numbers for the week ending 3/25/2018.  We will stay the course until the job is done!

Kudos to everyone for helping prepare 293,008 returns! Yes, we are a little short of our weekly projection, but compared to last year, this represents a 2.3% increase. As you can see below, we are quickly approaching the 2.5M cumulative mark. Hats off for achieving a 0.1% increase above last year!

Even with the continued weather challenges in some areas, we continue to see increases in our FSA and prior year return preparation numbers, 5.9% and 53.3% respectively.  We’ve also seen a 1.9% increase in our state tax return preparation. Keep it up!

Update 1

Halfway There!

Keep up the good work!

~~~  Original Message ~~~

First, we want to thank each of you for your dedication and commitment to make this a banner year for return production.  SPEC’s goal is not only to reach 4 million returns for Filing Season 2018, but also serve more taxpayers and touch more lives by offering as many free tax preparation options as possible.  We are confident and poised to accomplish great things this filing season with your assistance.

To help track our progress, we have developed weekly projections to determine where we should be in relation to our 4.0 goal.  Each week this message will be updated with our progress and promote SPEC’s theme: SPEC 4.0, Watch us Grow!

For the week ending 3/4/2018, 356,317 returns were projected to be completed.  We reached an actual count of 313,542 and are almost at the 1.5 million mark. Our cumulative return count is 1,468,961.

While the actual count is below the SPEC projection, there is still time to narrow the gap!

If you have any ideas on ways to help this initiative, we would love to hear from you! Some of you may consider extended hours or days.  Every little bit helps!

Thanks for your engagement and all you are doing to provide free tax assistance to the taxpayers in your community!

SPEC Headquarters

Form 13614-C, Intake/Interview & Quality Review Sheet, is required for every tax return prepared. Certified volunteer preparers are required to complete the entire Intake/Interview Process when preparing tax returns. To promote accuracy, this process must include an interview with the taxpayer while reviewing Form 13614-C and all supporting documents.

Click here to download PDF