Blog Detail

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

• Discussed the challenges we experienced with the software on February 5^th, 11^th and 12^th
• We currently have web reports turned off so we can make sure they are optimized and do not have a negative impact on the system.  We hope to have them up soon, possibly after our maintenance window on Sunday.
• If you do get an unexpected error at any time, we strongly recommend you close the browser (not just the tab) and start a new instance of the browser.
• Watch the blog for state announcements regarding delays in acknowledgements and rejects
• The “Back” button is once again available at the state level, replacing the “Cancel” button
• Still getting some IRS 905 and 202 rejects.  If something changes with your EFIN, you need to notify your SPEC RM and TaxSlayer support rather than just changing it in the software.
• If your site is experiencing slowness loading the list of customers on the Client list page, you can go to Office Setup and lower the number of returns to display from 999 to something lower.  This will change your client search to only display the last 100 returns instead of all returns.
• The error links on the e-file page now take you to the error
• Selecting the Ready to Re-transmit button on the submission page in the e-file section when working rejects will automatically add the return to the transmission list.

The following are questions and corresponding answers that we received on the Partner Call that was held on Thursday, February 1st.  We are posting the ones that are most applicable to all sites.

Q: We are seeing PA Local Return issues with wages not carrying from Federal entry nor performing any calculations.

• We have asked this volunteer this volunteer to e-mail [email protected] with an EFIN and last 4 so we can review.

Q: Do rejected transmissions that are resubmitted stay as rejected until the accepted ack comes back?

• Yes, when rejected returns are resubmitted for processing, their status will not change until a different acknowledgement is returned (an accepted acknowledgement).

Q: How long do transmitted returns that have been stuck take to get their ack once issue is resolved?

• When stuck transmissions become “unstuck”, it can take up to several hours before a site may see acknowledgements because the queue requires time to release the number of returns that may have been stuck.

Q: Recommended browser to use?

• We personally use Google Chrome (Kim and Craig) but we always recommend to volunteers to use the latest version of their preferred Internet browser.

Q: Update on 2015 returns issue when trying to access E-file?

• This is reported as Issue 2705. It is currently being worked and we have asked that the priority be updated with development for a quicker resolution. Once fixed, it will be posted in our Release Notes on the VITA/TCE Blog.

Q: Reject Clients number not lowering when fixing returns?

• As returns listed in the Reject Clients menu are corrected, resubmitted, and accepted by the IRS and/or State, they will be removed from the Reject Clients menu.

Q: ETA on web reports (Management Reports) being turned back on?

• We do not have a specific ETA as our engineers and IT staff continue their investigations, but we are hopeful, web reports will be turned back on soon.

Q: Federal 1099-R information not transferring to MI, Schedule 1?

• We asked this volunteer to e-mail [email protected] with the EFIN and last 4 of a return that we can further review.

Q: When will printing MA returns not include the water mark “Do Not Mail”?

• Each software vendor must have their forms approved by each state for paper filing. Until these approvals are received, vendors must watermark their forms. Once we receive forms approval from MA, the watermark will be removed from the PDF’s.

Q: Issues with Transmissions from Transmission Menu not filing every return marked for e-file?

• This is specific to attempting to file returns using the limited return view per page. We recommend they expand the Transmission menu to show 100 returns per page. We have also opened Issue 2620 to review the root issue.

Q: Why do Print Sets not show EIN for 1099-R?

• We have asked this volunteer to contact support at [email protected] to provide additional information related to their question. We also noted that the Quality Review print set available to all sites includes the 1099-R and also includes the EIN.

Q: Status on Issue 2480 with MFS question being added back to the software?

• Issue 2480 is currently being tested within our pre-production environments. Assuming it passes all levels, the fix could be pushed live as early as Monday, February 18^th (note: not a hard delivery date).