Cristy222

Well, you think I would have learned.......

I've filed 2 of them in the last 2 days. How long to wait? If 4th Quarter of 2007 was any indication.........we could be waiting a loooooooooong time.

Well, I'm on hold with ATX (again) while I make up words to their jazzy hold music. I've been told that they "see my transmission, but it's 'just sitting there' ". Hmmm sounds like comforting words. I've been on hold while they figure out "where it's going next". Am I on candid camera??? I think that when they got rid of all those people at ATX last year they forgot to replace the guy who owns the In Box. :wacko:

Has anybody tried efiling a 941 for the first quarter of 2008? I efiled one on saturday 4/5 and have not received any status other than validated. Any suggestions? How long should an acceptance take?

According to BRENDA @ ATX Customer Service (1-800-638-8291) at 2:05 on 1/29/08 -- {after being on hold for 45 minutes}

She assured me that the 940's and 941's *HAD* been submitted to the IRS and they were waiting on acknowledgements. I told her: I certainly hope so, because now I'm taking names and numbers and there will be no survivors!

BTW -- I checked a couple of my clients E-services transcripts -- no record of a return filed as of today. Not sure if E-services is "real time" or if there is a lag in updating what they receive.

I dont think I like what was just posted on the bulletin:

Weblog - The Latest ATX News

940, 941, 944 efiles

01/30/08

updated 1-30-08--940, 941, and 944--We have sent these files to IRS and we have acks in-house.

We had some issues posting some of the acks, which development believes they resolved last night. We expect to get these acks posted shortly, as soon as our fix is thoroughly tested.

The returns are due by Jan 31st midnight. If rejected, you have an additional five days to correct them, resubmit, and still be considered timely filed. If the customer made their payments timely, the Jan 31st deadline is extended until Feb 10th.

Not I said the mouse.

Not me, said the flea. Not Carlito, said the burrito.

Still no acceptances this morning AND the 940/941/944 ATX E-File Bulletin is no longer appearing on the E-file Center front page.

My confidence level is steadily going downhill. We are approaching the 31st for 940's and 941's. I do not need my clients to all be receiving NON-FILING notices from the IRS.

Back to the Customer "Service" line.

Chris, thanks for keeping me posted. I'm in the same boat. I wonder if you know how I can "take back" any returns that are sitting with satus "Validated by EFC". I've pretty much given up....Is there a way I "undo" so I can file these returns using another means? Or are they forever stuck in limbo? Thanks.

>>I have never seen a banana "frick."<<

You misunderstand. "Frikkin" is simply a variation of "friggin," a common expletive. It's used because it sounds like a nastier word, but it actually started as a racial slur, "Phrygian."

The Phrygians were a branch of the Macedonians who defended the plains of Troy, first earning the displeasure of western civilization. Since changing their name to Armenians, they've had a long-standing dispute with the rest of Turkey. Hence the epithets.

Now, you normally think of bananas as a tropical fruit, but actually Turkey is one of the leading producers of high quality bananas--they grow them in large greenhouses! They are so delicious the plantations can't keep up with demand, and Turkey exacts a 100% tariff on competing bananas from other countries. So losing a Phrygian banana is no small matter.

I sure hope they find that banana fast!

Nah, he was the black guy on the family show with the wife that was a knockout and the kids who were perfect. Sells jell-o pudding too!

Tom

Lodi, CA

You probably wont believe me...but I REALLY WAS eating a jello-pudding just now!

Heathcliff!! Didn't he just die in NYC???

Oooh you are bad!

Darn it!...this aint funny!....Who stole my frikkin banana!?

I think ATX stole it. You can call support to try and get it back.

I actually attempted this move last year (going into the 2006 tax return filing year). I use CS for write-up and payroll and data management and thought I would move to Ultra Tax (despite my love for ATX). The issue was one of perceived efficiencies. I contracted with them in early October to do the conversion and they said it would take two weeks. I waited until the end of November and then contacted them only to be told that they really did not mean two weeks and they would not be able to convert until the new version of ATX was released. I asked when they were going to bother to communicate this delay to me and they said "oops". Well, I pulled back and now I am in the process of moving away from CS completely. It will take a couple of years to accomplish.

I post this only to make you aware. Good luck!

We've had CS Accounting, UltraTax and Depreciation Solutions for 4 years now. Hang in there with the conversion, as you will see it is worth the effort. We use it for Writeup, payroll and corp/ind taxes. They also have a billing program that we use also. We were using ATX to e-file 940/941's since it's unlimited (what a joke!). Wish I could get JUST ONE to transmit properly! And today is the 26th!!! AAAARRRG (Think I should play the lotto with all my incident #'s? I think I have a better chance at that than getting the program to work properly)

It worked now, thanks a lot.

Have any of your 940's/941's been accepted? I'm stuck at "validated by EFC" for the past 5 hours :unsure:

My returns were "Validated by EFC" 5 hours ago and I keep trying to get acknowldegements but the status doesnt change. Anyone know what might be going on? How long does it take to transmist 940's and 941's and get them approved??

Oh and then for the remaining quarters, you need to make a NEW 941 file. I usually just make a copy of the 941 file, relabel it (ie 941 1Q) change the dates, data and then efile. It worked just fine last year doing it that way.

Thanks...that just how I did it last year too. Only this quarter I have to include the 940 and it doesnt want to create efiles for the two of them together even though both boxes are checked at the top of the EF form. Oh well....guess it's too complicated for ATX to handle more than one thing at a time. I'll separate the 2 into 2 files and it should work. Good think I have this site to rely on for support!

Christy, you have to create separate files for each client --one for 940 and one for 941. Then you should be able to create an efile for each form.

I had no problems -- it was just time consuming to go back into each Form and create the efile.

Thanks, I guess that would be a way around it...but it's rediculous to have to do it twice. Oh well...already weighing my options for next quarter. This process worked fine with the zillion forms program last year. Way after I bought the program this year (read: way after the refund period), I was told that zillionforms no longer supports efiling....Surprise!!!

Mike, I've also "mentioned" to them that I am going to be looking at other options in May, 2008.

It's funny how "ready" they are to accept our renewals. Not sure the early renewal discounts are worth the paper they are printed on. Take the money and run.

When I get my "discount for early renewal" letter, I'm putting it through my shredder and mailing the pieces back to them....oh wait, then I'd have to pay for postage!

Here's another preparer looking very strongly at another software option for 2008. It's unfortunate that ATX Customer Service took a spiral downward -- I like the software. Always have since they were Saber and had limited forms.

But the late availability of the 940/941 E-file was just unacceptable in my book. Shouldn't they have been approved for e-filing long before January 24th? I would think so.

You're not kidding! Now I have the forms, but no support with the status error messages. Are you having trouble creating more than one efile per client? I can create a 941 but get an error on the 940 or vice versa. I get "Rejected by EFC". What's up with these people...whoever they are...ATX? CCH? Taxwise? Kleinrock? Where'd everybody go???