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There is a new PPS number that goes directly to the ACS unit people. Just learned about it today. 800-829-7650.

Universities... I literally just got off the phone with one of our kids, as he just received news he was accepted into his undergrad school's medical school! There is hope - since this proves a "normal" person can, through hard work, do something which exceeds GPA competition or legacy $.

Yup. Not surprised. They are so backed up it's crazy. Your clients will eventually get the refunds with interest... interest that will be taxable income next year, of course. If not for the huge back log, I would suggest calling the Practitioner Priority Line, but this is happening everywhere to everyone. I wouldn't waste my time.

wasting time just track the carryforward

Copied from Accounting Today: "You hear from taxpayers and congressional offices all the time, but my understanding is that there have been days where if you calculated by looking at the number of calls that were answered and divide it by the number of calls that came in, the level of service was 2 to 3 percent,” said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights and the former National Taxpayer Advocate, during a webinar last week hosted by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “Even by the IRS’s own calculation, where it does the number of calls that are answered, divided by the number of calls that aren’t routed automatically, it’s at 15 percent. With all the attention on enforcement, you can’t have that level of customer service and think that in any way, you’re having a successful filing season."

Let me grumble some more - When will they take away the university's roll in determining net amounts billed and paid for college?!?!?!?!? What a disaster - year after year. And since the billing account is under the child's name - god forbid the parent have access to it - it is a tail-chasing run-around to get the info from the student.

Your kids must be extra-special. Plus they have a clue, having grown up around accounting and tax.

@Lion EA mentioned my above (as did Judy) so here is what I learned: The error message is because the IRS instructions say to attach a copy of the court appointment. They do NOT specifically state that the court appointment paperwork can be attached as a pdf. Nor do they state that is not acceptable. So some software companies (Drake among them) refuse to allow e-filing with the court appointed person. What I did was to check Box C and attach the court appointment pdf. It sailed through. As Lion said, *anything* to keep it from spending a year in a trailer. This particular one was a big refund, too. And I'm explaining to all my older clients (and their POA kids, if any) why it's a good idea to always owe a little bit.

No, there's no solution, in general. They are still hand-processing millions of these returns with refunds. About the only thing you can do is ask the clients if they got ANY letters from the IRS about them. Some people won't open IRS letters, or don't understand them. I had one client where the service wanted him to call to verify identity, and he never read the letter through. Brought it to me saying "I don't know what they want" and once he called (and got through - another story) he was able to verify and they released the refund. That still took another six weeks.

Whatever works to make it e-file and not sit with 30 million unprocessed returns. As long as you're comfortable that she is a Rep/can sign and receive refund, do whatever it takes not to paper file. (Like answering NO to the cryptocurrency question even though your client DID "...receive...otherwise acquire..." crypto.)

I don't believe the IRS tracks carry forwards, as crazy as that sounds. And I agree to just correct the return in ATX but not amend. The your rollovers will be correct.

Something similar to me. But I hadn't efiled it yet. The fed exclusion was already there. I added it back to Ky when they made their decision. But ATX had not yet updated for Ky. When I went to efile, I had to recreate the efile because it was several days. I opened the return and ATX had updated for KY and added UI back to Ky so I had it added twice. I saw the increased amount owed and found the reason. I had to delete my original add back and all was well. Like Abby, I make pdf copies for my file so I'll have a record of what I did. I also don't have to open the program up to look at someone's return later when a question comes up.

I ran into the same problem and then had to override it back out to create the amendment. I am not good at checking the completed box. I have learned my lesson.

If you don't save the return when you close it, it will still be the way you filed it. This was one of the main reasons I printed so many pages of each return to a PDF. It gives me a snapshot of what the return looked like, should anything ever change.

Life lessons are fun!

I just love when I try to get financial statement and parent tells me kid has no clue. Same with getting a kids 1099G, kid lost all forms of verification, we’re doomed.

Yes, after I e file a return I check the completed box in return manager.

Boo! Didn't Catherine have some success e-filing this, posted in a previous thread?

And this "shifting" is only allowed if the terms of the scholarship or grant allow it. Scholarships that are restricted to paying only tuition and other qualified expenses cannot be shifted to income. (Pell grants are unrestricted - many scholarships are not). Even though the income goes on line 1, it is considered unearned for most purposes and could result in the student being subject to the kiddie tax. But for purposes of the filing requirement, the scholarship is considered earned income, and if the student's income is less that the filing requirement, you needn't report it at all.

They need to implement several different phone numbers so all the people calling about when they'll get their refund can tie up the main number, but those with actual tax or account problems can call different numbers. Just like with software support, there are those that call at the drop of a hat about things that could be better handled by email and people who actually need immediate support are left to wait on hold.

He may not have kept copies, but he had the information to input into his software. He should be able to give you names of payors, EIN's, and addresses from his electronic records. In ATX, you could print copies of the input screens.

I agree with you, Terry. Just a few miles south, I believe SC still recognizes common law marriage. My (very simple, country born and bread) Daddy, John, lived with Myrtle... for a little too long, and she declared them married... Bought herself a very lovely wedding ring set, and so it was. It passed every Common Law rule. She was thrilled.... Daddy cried for a while... then she fried some more chicken, slapped some biscuits together, and he felt better about it. Truth.