Discussion:Forgot to efile the ded gummed return!!
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Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 1 May 2008 |
| Two questions, one how to you keep up with efiles when you're looking at dozens of returns in a day, and two, what do you offer when you forgot an efile in the pile? It's a brand new client, right after they wrote me about how wonderful and quick I was and how easy I made the return process and stuff and I looked, and lo and behold, I didn't efile the return, what a heel right? At least there won't be any penalties or interest, at least so far I haven't seen an issue where if a return is late that they tack on interest or penalties, sheesh. | |
| May 1, 2008 | |
| Hoping they have a refund, doesn't matter.
I do two things basically. On my list of clients I have many checkboxes going across each name on important stuff to never forget. The last three are efile boxes. First is whether I've received the signed efile form? Two is whether I transmitted. And three is acceptance. BUT, about 2-3 weeks before deadline, I start watching that pending efile list in ProSeries and calling, emailing and generally haranguing folks to get their forms back. Ultimately, that list is accurate, and I watch it closely the last couple days and between glasses of champagne on the 15th. Of course, by then, I've memorized who's out and waiting for the fax to ring. | |
| May 1, 2008 | |
| Last year I missed the extension efile deadline (10/15) on THREE returns, none of which were getting refunds... and of course its impossible to efile after that deadline. I informed the clients, wrote a nice letter explaining my mistake to the IRS, and had the clients mail the returns with the letters by 10/20. The IRS accepted the returns and did not penalize me or the clients. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 1 May 2008 |
| I'm more worried about how to save face than penalties, I told the client that I'd be more than happy to discount down the return for this year or do a discount on next year's return. | |
| May 2, 2008 | |
| Sounds like a moot issue; if client owed money and paid it in by the 4/15 due date per your instructions, then they were not late in paying. Just late in filing. And since they were fully paid in by 4/15, no penalties, no interest. If they owed no money and got a refund, then their refund would be delayed a few days. I probably wouldn't even tell the client.....unless they called to ask where their refund was. | |
David19080 (talk|edits) said: | 2 May 2008 |
| I keep a list. Returns stay on the list until they have an acceptance (or until mailed if they get rejected and it can't be fixed for efile.) | |
| 2 May 2008 | |
| As people sign we put the file in a seperate bin and then I e-file that stack. In Lacerte I click on the view for e-file and I sort it by fed-e-file status at the end of every day. That way, I can easily see who is under the "passed validation" status. On 4/15 I make sure that no one is under that status. Once a week during tax season I print out a list of who is under "passed validation" and I have the secretary make sure that everyone on that list is either a return waiting to be picked up or in the waiting on signature stack. I do that every Tuesday to make sure that all those with refunds will go in the batch for Thursday acceptance. I'm not sure what tax program you're using but in Lacerte I think it's pretty full proof because if I have printed the return out it will be in the passed validation status, and on 4/15 it's very easy to make sure that no one is left in that status. | |
| 2 May 2008 | |
| I physically separate tax return file folders on a shelf containing a label that makes it clear that the return has yet to be transmitted or extended.
The files are close-ended with the name of the client on the end of the folder, so that they can be put on the shelf alphabetically. By the due date, I want the shelf to be empty, or know the reason why. This method has worked perfectly - any file still left on the shelf needs to be dealt with & I don't need to keep a separate list that I'm bound to screw up. But, I only file a couple of hundred returns - this method may not work for those who are more productive than me. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 2 May 2008 |
| I think I need a bigger office. | |
| 2 May 2008 | |
| You got it, Donnie - the totally necessary part of my system is my investment in 3 large metal storage cabinets with doors. I sure can't be looking at all of these queued up uncompleted files all day or I'd lose my mind. | |
| 2 May 2008 | |
| Do you file the returns as soon as they are prepared?
I like Smokeytax's method. I used to have an office where we processed 1500 returns a season. Now granted, most of these returns were W-2's, 2 dependents and maybe a 1098/1099 or two but the basic process was the same. All returns were efiled. No paper. Just didn't have time for it. The returns would be prepared and when completed (and paid for), the returns would be placed in a bin. "To be reviewed/transmitted". One by one, they would be reviewed and the electronic file would be saved on another separate folder on the network, filename was that day's date. All returns, once reviewed, were batch transmitted to the IRS (or third party transmitter) and the physical files were placed in another bin labeled "Awaiting Acknowledgement". They would either be acknowledged accepted or rejected. If accepted, we would print the confirmation, place it in the file and file them away. If rejected, they would go back in the que to be fixed and re-transmitted. We wouldn't forget any that way. | |
Donniecastleman (talk|edits) said: | 5 May 2008 |
| Yep, one thing about Drake is that the Efile tracking system is totally screwed, there's no master list and there are classification errors, I still have some sitting there that show transmitted that my clients got back months ago, so it's been a war against the software, right now the best I'm doing is keeping a manual list, checking efile status when I mail out returns and when i receive payments to make sure it's what it's supposed to be, I worked it out with the client that I'll discount her return a bit next year, which is a winning situation for both of us. | |
| 5 May 2008 | |
| Hmmm - this is something that puzzles me a little. If the client has a penalty (for late filing or whatever) and the preparer offsets that penalty by reducing the tax preparation fees, in the current year or the next, isn't that in effect taking a deduction in taxable income for something that is not tax-deductible? | |
Marezidotes (talk|edits) said: | 5 May 2008 |
| Donnie, Drake has an option in setup to remove the print file after the return has been e-filed. This works nicely for us since if the return has not been transmitted, we can still see it without recalculating, and this is our clue that maybe we need to check on it or send it or whatever. Once the return is transmitted and we have the P ack, the print file is gone. If we need to recalculate the return to view it, the Ack code then reads "Ack" or whatever it is supposed to be at that time, and we know that it has already gone so we don't send it again. If it has already been accepted, it gives an error message any way, so we don't send it again. This works for us because we e-file most returns. The ones we can't, we remove them from the print files through file maintenance so we don't have a lot of unnecessary files on the view/print files list. | |
| 6 May 2008 | |
| I had 3 of those happen this year. Got calls from the client each time, after they should have received their refund and hadn't. So, I apologized and refunded about 5% of the fee. That's one of my improvements that I have in place for next year - a checklist outside of ProSeries, to be the absolute picture of where I am on everyone. These 3 all happened and got e-filed before 4/15, but it made me nervous going into the 15th, so that I spent a lot of time checking and re-checking my files in those last 3-4 days before the season ended. | |
| 6 May 2008 | |
| I had a couple that slipped through my time schedule which is to send them as soon as authorization was received. TaxAct's manager was pretty good on this after I tweaked it to meet my needs, and none were late.
The only one that almost got me was when the client called on the 16th to say she didn't make her IRA deposit. Upon review of the return I sent in for her, I had left off the IRA by mistake. I figure I must've had a psychic moment amongst my many tax season psychotic episodes. ;P | |
Lmcdon9822 (talk|edits) said: | 7 May 2008 |
| TaxAct has a efile manager where it shows the status of the returns that were efiled. All my clients were efiled except 2. I only have 34 clients so I guess I won't see the problem you have. I don't give my clients a choice to efile if they are receiving a refund. Only folks who owes will not get efiled.
I don't efile unless payment is made. Once payment is made and soon as the client leaves, I efile. Doesn't matter what I am doing. EFILE! It only takes 1-2 minutes. Once it is submitted, I receive email from TaxAct on the status of the efile. Then every other day, I run the "Download Efile Status" on TaxAct software to update all the efile status of my clients. So far so good.... | |
