Any luck e-filing 941s for Q1 ?

[RJM]

Has anyone been filing Q1 941's electronically yet? Could you let me know if you are getting ACKs back?

I was planning on paper filing for this quarter, but if the e-filing appears to be going well I will try e-filing again. Last quarter was a real adventure !

[taxit]

We have efiled 15 so far and have received 11 acks.

[RJM]

Thanks taxit... maybe I will try it then.

[Chrisbry]

Good News RJM -- I have efiled and received acks on all mine. I have 3 left to go. My last one, I efiled yesterday and had the ACK back same day.

There is hope.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

On the other hand, I still have an outstanding 941 from Feb. 18 for 4th qtr and a first qtr from April 18 hanging in validated. This is the same client and others have been quickly accepted.

The plus side is, after 6 phone calls between Mar. 5 and April 22 and only a single email from William before his departure, I actually received not one, but two, email responses from cs. Maybe, be still my heart, they are finally responding...

[RJM]

That's good news Chris... I needed some, because my ATX accounting program just told me I am locked out of it in 30 days. Good thing I have been converting all my accounts to another accounting package, Quickbooks Premier for Accountants. Don't like QB much, but the Accountants version does allow me to override all the "black box" payroll entries without a problem. And the package is less expensive than the new CCH/ATX accounting package, which was written for HRB offices.

Margaret, good luck ! One thing I learned from a poster on this board was to go to the IRS efile site and look up the return status. This helped me figure out which Q4 returns really did get filed. CCH did manage to lose 2 of my 940 returns which were timely filed last quarter, and I had to re-transmit them in March. I paid the late filing penalties cuz it was not worth the effort to seek reimbursement from CCH. If ATX cannot locate your original 941, it's possibly lost, and you may need to re-transmit just to get it over with.

[lsowers]

I too decided to go to QB for my write-up. I bought the ATX full tax & acctg package last year and was disappointed with the writeup. I also decided to buy the Enhanced PR for Accts from QB for the after the fact payroll. I efiled a 941 through it this quarter and received the ack within 2 hrs.

My 940s (sent thru ATX) from 4th qtr were finally accepted 4/3/08. Have not received any letters yet. I am going to fight if I do.

[RJM]

lsowers- I too bought the useless CCH/ATX writeup package, and then later bought QB with the enhanced PR. I have been pleasantly surprised with this package.

I was under the impression that to e-file 941s thru QB it was necessary to file as the "Employer", with the longer efiling ID number. So I was planning on using the ATX package at least for this quarter, because I am registered as a "Reporting Agent" for these clients, with the shorter efile ID number. Did you find a way to efile the 941s as a reporting agent? or have you been using client ID numbers for these anyway?

Good luck with your fight on the 940 penalties. They are relatively small penalties, but if you are going to fight, have FUN, and let us know if CCH coughs up the penalty. -Bob

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Margaret, good luck ! One thing I learned from a poster on this board was to go to the IRS efile site and look up the return status. This helped me figure out which Q4 returns really did get filed. CCH did manage to lose 2 of my 940 returns which were timely filed last quarter, and I had to re-transmit them in March. I paid the late filing penalties cuz it was not worth the effort to seek reimbursement from CCH. If ATX cannot locate your original 941, it's possibly lost, and you may need to re-transmit just to get it over with.

[lsowers]

lsowers- I too bought the useless CCH/ATX writeup package, and then later bought QB with the enhanced PR. I have been pleasantly surprised with this package.

I was under the impression that to e-file 941s thru QB it was necessary to file as the "Employer", with the longer efiling ID number. So I was planning on using the ATX package at least for this quarter, because I am registered as a "Reporting Agent" for these clients, with the shorter efile ID number. Did you find a way to efile the 941s as a reporting agent? or have you been using client ID numbers for these anyway?

Good luck with your fight on the 940 penalties. They are relatively small penalties, but if you are going to fight, have FUN, and let us know if CCH coughs up the penalty. -Bob

RJM-

I submitted the 941 with the employer #, not as reporting agent, so I can't help you there, but it must be somewhere. QB just walked me through the efile process, it was pretty straight forward.

I called the IRS today about my 940s. They were nice and waived the penalties since these clients have a good filing history. So now I don't have to fight CCH. I am strongly considering a very lengthy letter to CCH if only I could find the name of a board member or corporate officer.

[Chrisbry]

Hello, can you tell me exactly how to do that? I have registered with e-services and don't see where to get that information. I also don't see where to get a business return status on the IRS efile site. I clearly am looking in all the wrong places!

Margaret,

You just need to login to E-services and get an Account Transcipt for your client. You will have to have an 8655 or 2848 on file in order to do that. If it's the 8655, you click on to REPORTING AGENT from the left menu. If it's 2848, then you do a normal Transcript Delivery.

It will show that the form was received, the tax assessed and payment. I still have one ACK outstanding but the IRS shows the form received and the payment applied, so I'm not going to worry about it.

If you e-file Form 941 or 940 for your clients, you should have a Form 8655 on file to CYA.

One additional note -- if one is using the E-Services site of IRS and you haven't sat in on one of their phone forums on how to use the site, you should. It's free and you get one CPE.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks for the response. I thought I was just the ERO as I did not prepare the 941 or sign it, just efiled it. The 8655 authorizes the reporting agent to sign and file. I took it literally with the words "sign and" not just file. I will have the clients complete both 8655 and 2848. Would you suggest that the period covered on the 8655 go back to the first date? I use the client's IRS number, by the way. Dates for 2848 are easy as they cover years.

Thanks again!

[Chrisbry]

Margaret, on the Form 8655, you should put in the first date you started e-filing 941/940 for those clients -- for obviously reasons if you should need to go back and view the client's account for those periods then you will be recognized in your CAF file. You do not need to complete a Form 2848. The Form 8655 is in effect for all future years until revoked in writing by you or the client.

I'm confused when you say you use the Client's IRS number ??? Are you referring to their EIN or the IRS assigned PIN number? I would not e-file under the client's PIN. You will not be afforded any kind of protection of being authorized by the client to e-file their 941/940's.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks again, Chrisbry. I will bring that up to date. I did use client IRS PIN because, as I said, I did not prepare the forms or sign, just Electronically Originated the Return. We all learn things everyday.....and I thought I was reasonably understanding all this! Thanks again for your help and for all on this board!