Leaderboard

I believe they do yes, because you can search your e-files by social using the tool on their site. Even if the entire e-file is not stored there, the main things hackers would be interested are accessible without much digging; socials and bank info. As forthcoming as WK has NOT been during all this, I am guessing it will be weeks or more before they admit that any information we gave them was compromised. That being said, I have trouble believing hackers would go to all this trouble just to extract a ransom . . . the information they could pull off that platform (socials and bank accounts) is MUCH more valuable on the black market than a ransom would be (and from what I read most companies don't pay it anyway).

The is not the worst idea you ever had.

Why don't we have a long Mother's Day weekend and reconnoiter on Monday.

I just got acknowledgement of my one outstanding e-file from ATX, a good sign!

As of right now I am able to e-file again. I cannot tell you for sure that my info is not being sent straight to Russia but at least SOMEONE is taking my e-files now.

I was just now able to transmit three returns.

Presumably they opened up CCH Axcess for folks late yesterday (although some reports suggest it was then shut down again). I am mainly concerned about the 990 deadline next Wednesday and this monster backlog of e-file ready returns I am sitting on . . . as most of you know, the IRS requires us to transmit returns within three days of receiving the signed 8879 so I am officially out of compliance today. To be frank, I will be surprised if they open e-filing up again before next Monday but I think if they do NOT have the EFC open by Wednesday 5/15 (and we all have to paper file extensions) they will lose so many customers that they would have been better off paying the ransom. I for one was on the bubble about renewing after my software was incorrectly calculating Montana tax for most of March - after this I will likely be moving on. Eventually, if you strip all the resources from a division, this kind of thing happens and although this season was rough for all tax preparation software providers I have not heard of anyone who had it worse than us ATX users.

Have you/client tried the Taxpayer Advocate? Friendly, local Congressperson? Maybe even a tax attorney, depending on the issue(s). I think the form letters are generated by a computer, and you won't get a real person involved, certainly not the level of person you need.

have you tried working with a taxpayer advocate?

Prior to my leaving ATX, they did ,because they offered backup copies of all our efiled returns for $ 99.00. I definitely remember ATX doing that for 2016 & 2015 tax returns and possibly 2014.

An interesting question, since you do have the option to paper file ?

Sorry Edsel, but I vote for stupid. Love you man, but you are voicing frustrations, not practical tax solutions. You cannot ethically sign a tax return that contains a position that you know to be incorrect. The taxpayer did not make estimated payments during the year, and to tell the IRS they did is to falsify the tax return. Agree with the rest that the TPA is the best first route. Then explore your options in court. Get some help if you need it, from someone you trust. Good Luck Tom Modesto, CA

Could you give some detail? How did the IRS botch those returns? That might just create another letter and another problem, besides an inaccurate tax return.

Taxpayer advocates are for everyone. That is my recommendation as well.

Information on Wolters Kluwer Network and Service Interruptions Dear Customer, As you have noticed, certain Wolters Kluwer platforms and applications have been experiencing service interruptions since Monday. We want to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Through this email, we want to inform you about what happened. On Monday May 6, we started seeing technical anomalies in a number of our platforms and applications. Our team immediately started investigating and discovered the installation of malware. As a precaution, in parallel, we decided to take a broader range of platforms and applications offline. With this action, we aimed to quickly limit the impact this malware could have had, giving us the opportunity to investigate the issue with assistance from third-party forensics consultants and work on a solution. Unfortunately, this impacted our communication channels and limited our ability to share updates. On May 7, we were able to restore service to a number of applications and platforms. While taking our services offline was precautionary, we wanted to act quickly to protect our applications. We regret any inconvenience and that we were unable to share more information initially, as our focus was on investigation and restoring services as quickly as possible for our customers. We have seen no evidence that customer data was taken or that there was a breach of confidentiality of that data. Also, there is no reason to believe that our customers have been infected through our platforms and applications. Our investigation is ongoing. We understand that you may have additional questions or remarks. Please feel free to contact your account manager, check the Wolters Kluwer News page for updates or contact Support at 800-930-1753. The Wolters Kluwer Team

How long do they plan to be down? I have over 40 extensions which I need to get done. Is anyone planning to switch to a new program? This is not good. What tax programs are still up and running?

ATX is poor at communicating. They tell me they make too many changes to communicate all of them. They already have a release notes page. Just have some low level person post as many updates as they can every day. I spend half of tax season discovering new features, sometimes by accident, and I wonder what else is there that I've missed.