Posts by Jack Young

Mark Ramirez11 said:Hey everyone,
I'm looking to get my personal certificate extracted onto a cryptographic device through the IRS.
If I were to submit the application tomorrow, does anyone happen to know how long the turnaround time usually is for picking it up?
Thanks,

right away

mind if I ask, what's the end goal here?

Brian Cruz3 said:Hey,
I need some help here. My company used to outsource all our bookkeeping, but they just cut ties with us, so now I’m stuck handling everything myself. It's a mess. When the government sends us money—like if they overpay us and send back a refund, or if they give us an advance payment for a contract—do I just book that as a customer payment on account 1200? Also, regarding an insurance premium refund, I’m thinking that counts as miscellaneous income under 7855, but am I right? Because let's be real, not every single cent that hits the bank account is actually revenue. How am I supposed to categorize these incoming transfers?

Oof, man, I wish I could give you a better answer, but it sounds like you're missing some of the fundamentals here. Honestly? Grab a good book on accounting firm basics, sign up for an introductory bookkeeping course, and just dive in. You don't really have any other choice...

Samuel Sanders8 said:Does anyone have any idea why I’m having such a hard time signing documents through the Bureau of Labor Statistics website? I have that January extension installed on both Chrome and Mozilla, but nothing seems to work. When I try using Chrome, it just sits there spinning indefinitely like it's processing the signature, and over on Mozilla, once I click sign and the prompt for my password should appear, the dialog box just vanishes entirely, leaving me stuck...

I don't have any issues signing things for the IRS on Internet Explorer, so everything works fine there, but the Census Bureau site won't cooperate even with that browser—it just keeps throwing an error saying, "An error occurred during the signing process."

Does anyone know what else I might be able to try? I've gone through all the official instructions from the Census Bureau and tried every single step they suggested, but I'm still getting nowhere. Thanks in advance!

Just shoot an email to their tech support. Give them your cell number and they'll usually call you back within a few minutes. They can just hop on via TeamViewer and fix the whole thing in a heartbeat.

cosmictinker24 said:Let me jump in on this dilemma regarding the small business owner's W-4.
When I log into IRS Online and click on W-4, I enter the SSN and get a message saying "Taxpayer has no W-4 form or the W-4 is closed".
But when I go to Requests and click on Issuing/modifying a W-4 under that SSN, it pulls up a W-4 right there... which is why I'm so confused.
Either way, I'll list her as a dependent for 10 months on the annual tax return... and maybe I'll request a W-4 change and note under dependents that as of November 1st, she isn't one anymore. At least the Police Department can see everything since she's employed by her dad now and can't qualify for the deduction anymore.

.... if that daughter ends up making more than $5.00 in 2019, then she can't be claimed as a dependent at all, even for those months before she started her job......

cosmictinker24 said:Does anyone happen to know how to pull a tax withholding card through the employer portal for a new hire?
I can't seem to make heads or tails of this IRS site... it's a bit of a mess, I guess.

Thanks

Did the employee's registration with the CDC go through?

It'll just show up in your IRS digital inbox as a withholding certificate. Easy as pie.

neonfalcon99 said:Hi there

Can anyone tell me if I can view my total employment history through the official government portal?
The thing is, whenever I log into the portal using my credentials, everything just freezes on a blank white screen after I enter my password.

I tried yesterday and again today, but it simply won't connect.
Does anyone have any advice?

You definitely can see your service history. You can request an unofficial summary and pretty much all that stuff too.

As for that glitching on the government site, I'm not sure why it's acting up for you... maybe check if your computer is blocking something? Like pop-up blockers or something similar.

Tyler Vaughn5 said:How long does the IRS usually take to send out a confirmation via email?

I actually requested a tax debt confirmation just before the end of the business day, and wouldn't you know it—the very next morning, it was sitting right there in my digital inbox from the IRS.

stormybadger8 said:Well, you'll find out once that IRS certificate of yours expires...
If everything keeps running smoothly, then we're golden.

For Sole Proprietorships, everything—including the IRS stuff—has worked perfectly ever since they introduced e-filing via the NYSE digital ID. It makes total sense since the owner and the business share the same SSN. Even if they desperately want to stop people from doing things or make the IRS bleed small businesses dry, they just can't pull it off...

Now, as for directors or owners of big corporations like LLCs or Inc.'s, God only knows how that works...
You'll be the one to tell us how it goes once your IRS certificate runs out.

-I run my own LLC, I use Chase online banking with their security key, and that covers everything I need for the IRS portal, Social Security stuff, and a few other things...

-I also have clients I do bookkeeping for, so I handle all those same tasks through power of attorney...

-Once a year when I file the GFIA reports, I just pay one lump sum $77 which actually works out to be way less than paying those monthly fees of $250 (62.50x12 months)

Paul Patel23 said:I stumbled upon something pretty much by accident—it turns out I can actually access the IRS portal using just my state ID (via FATCA) and its digital certificate. I even went ahead and filled out and submitted this month’s sales tax return (and the U-RA form) too.

So, basically, having the certificate from my state ID is enough to get into the IRS portal (it has security level 4; which is apparently the same level as the Federal Reserve business certificate that costs $17 monthly plus sales tax).

What's more, I used my state ID to log into the Federal Reserve and register myself in the FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Registry.

Now I'm left wondering how this affects the annual filing of documents based on final accounts (IMF requirements).

I gave the Federal Reserve customer service line a call at 0800 0080 and spoke with a lady who was actually quite nice. She had absolutely no clue that you could access the IRS portal using a state ID. She told me that's a matter for the Department of the Treasury, but that for their purposes (specifically for submitting IMF filings), you're supposed to use the Federal Reserve business certificate. Just to be clear, the Federal Reserve business certificate is security level 4, which is identical to the free certificate on my state ID.

I pointed out to her how ridiculous it feels that I’ve been paying the Federal Reserve $17 plus sales tax every single month (not to mention stamping invoices and filling out all those reports) just so I can spend maybe half an hour once a year submitting documents for the IMF.

She responded by saying there are other ways to submit IMF documents—like on a CD, a USB flash drive, or even hard copies—but if I go that route, I have to pay a publication fee. If I interpreted the Federal Reserve price list correctly, the cost would be $77 (paid upfront, obviously); nobody mentioned sales tax, and it's just a once-a-year thing.

But now I'm sitting here thinking, do I really have to shell out those $77 annually just to file the IMF paperwork?

I mean, I guess the Federal Reserve is within its rights to demand a security level 4 digital certificate, but does it really have the right to insist it must be *their* specific business certificate costing $200 a year plus $50 in sales tax? For that kind of money, I could probably buy a whole new computer every four years! Why shouldn't the free level 4 digital certificate from my state ID be sufficient?

Does anyone else know anything more about this whole mess?

Just ditch the monthly $50.00 + sales tax headache! You can use the electronic portals for taxes and health insurance if you have online banking; most major banks like the Federal Reserve allow you to log in via USB or smart card.

Nathan Kim5 said:Since January 1st, 2018, the responsibility for "issuing" employee tax identification documentation has shifted over to the accountants, so those old-school physical red tax cards that people used to carry from one employer to another simply don't exist anymore...

That's just one way to handle the tax ID issuance... you can actually do it yourself at the IRS, through a digital portal, or have your employer take care of it.

vividscout18 said:Evening, everyone,
Has anyone here dealt with an expired digital certificate for the IRS portal before?
We didn't get any heads-up that the certificate was about to expire. We use the one provided on a security token from our business bank, and I tried logging into the IRS system today only to realize the certificate actually lapsed two days ago.

My bank told me to just reach out to them to sort it out, but I'm stuck wondering about the next step: once they issue the renewal, will I have to go through the whole registration process again for the IRS system, or does everything just sync up automatically once the new certificate is live?

Best,

Just renew the certificate and you're good to go.

Olivia Cruz86 said:I actually went down to the FBI office to ask an advisor, and they told me the scholarship money could be returned to the business account and the tax forms could be voided/corrected..
I'm just not totally sure about the dependency coefficients for kids, so I wanted to pick your brains—does anyone know if a part-time student counts as a "child" or just a "dependent"?? Since he has two kids (so far he’s used a 0.7 coefficient for the first child and 1.00 for the second).. but now, if the daughter is treated as a dependent (0.7), and the son is treated as the first child (also 0.7)..

The FBI advisor didn't have a clue about the child multipliers 👎

A kid counts for the tax break as a child until they land their first full-time job
After that, they're just a dependent (0.70)

Donna Patel3 said:Hi there,

The business registry used to be wide open to everyone, but it looks like they've moved everything behind a login wall. Does anyone know if a local government agency can register for free, or is there still some kind of public search tool tucked away somewhere that I'm just missing?

You can probably check through the Secretary of State's database official site instead.

vividscout18 said:Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here knows when the fiscalization certificate actually expires,
and how the renewal process works. Specifically, once you get the new certificate number, does that need to be manually entered somewhere within the
IRS system? Like, under the business premises data section or something?

Best,

Once those five years are up, you just pay the fee to renew the certificate and then save it directly onto the computer you use to process all your sales receipts.

Morgan Sullivan said:Thanks to you both for the input!

The only "employees" involved were us—my parents and me—depending on who was acting as the owner of the small business at any given time.
They’ve both been retired for over a year and a half now, collecting their full benefits, and all the tax liabilities on their records have been settled. As for me, I’m not retiring, nor am I closing the business.

I could wrap my head around them asking for a year of audits, but demanding twelve years of records now? We spent a fortune paying accountants just to manage those meager monthly statements... everything was paid, and we filed every annual report right on schedule per federal law... it feels like there's no end to this.

Even in retirement, my folks can't catch a break; I suspect they'll still be digging up paperwork even after they pass away. Apparently, the law requires these documents to be kept "permanently." I actually received a notice from Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding this.

But "permanently" doesn't exist in the physical universe—how can anyone draft a law that defies the laws of physics?

Thanks again for the help. I'm curious if anyone else has ever had to justify twelve years of history. I was talking to a client from Germany today, and he mentioned they audited ten years of his business; they had to prep all the files, and an official actually came to his house for three straight days to review everything in person. Has anyone else dealt with something like that?

Hey, just reach out to Medicare. Talk to the specific person who sent the notice and explain the situation to them just like you did to us.

Regarding that twelve-year justification thing... let me tell you about my experience. Back in 2011, I took on a new client, and just a few months later, boom—the exact same kind of notice from Medicare covering 1993 through 2010. Man... I thought there was no way even one year could be off, but seriously, something was missing every single year, and the data just wouldn't match up. The lady who handled their bookkeeping back then didn't have enough billable hours left to fix it all. We worked it out, and I managed to resolve it, but the lady at Medicare was actually a huge help. For instance, for 1993, I couldn't find anything on how payroll was even calculated, and I wasn't even out of high school back then.

Morgan Sullivan said:I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

It’s probably just some of the folks who were on the clock during that stretch finally hitting retirement age. They're likely just trying to get all their paperwork squared away before they head out.

Morgan Sullivan said:I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

Hmm, looks like they don't have them... It’s probably just a case of accounting failing to submit the right paperwork. Back then, we used to file everything using the ID Quote.

Morgan Sullivan said:I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

You can defend yourself by showing that you turned in all your paperwork on time and kept everything organized. You can't just throw money at a problem and expect it to go away. It’s not about whether you paid; it's about making sure the right forms were filed so those payments actually count toward what you owe. Everything has to be documented correctly.

Morgan Sullivan said:I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

If you want my two cents, just reach out to the accounting department directly. Ask them to walk you through it. They’ll know exactly what they filed, what they missed, and why the numbers aren't squaring up. It’s like when a receipt doesn't match your bank statement—sometimes you just have to talk to the person behind the desk to clear up the confusion.

Morgan Sullivan said:I’m looking for some help, advice, or maybe just someone who’s been through this...

We’ve operated as a family business for over 40 years—it’s always been the same grind, just with different sets of regulations thrown at us. My parents eventually consolidated everything into one entity; at various points, they were owners, then partners, while I was an employee, before finally becoming a partner myself as everyone else phased into retirement. Now, I’m the last one standing.

I just received two separate notices—one for each of them depending on when they held ownership—demanding payroll records, salary summaries, and specific tax forms for every single employee. They aren't asking for much, apparently... except for a full 12-year stretch from 2003 all the way to 2015.

Since that was ages ago, I assumed those records should have been properly archived—and that the IRS would have tracked it all back then. We used to hire an accounting firm because we were registered for sales tax, but now that I’m operating under a simplified tax status, I handle the books myself.

...so, I’m wondering if there’s any way to push back against this requirement. Why on earth are they digging through the distant past when everything was paid in full?

Is it "normal" for them to demand this? What am I supposed to do?

To be honest, I don't even fully grasp what these specific documents are, and I don't exactly have the storage space to go hunting through twelve different filing cabinets. We’re talking hundreds of pages—144 pages of payroll alone. I'm honestly a bit shell-shocked...

Basically, those are the numbers showing everyone's wages so they can calculate their Social Security benefits

Alex Foster6 said:I initially posted this question on a different thread, but I feel this might be a more appropriate venue for it...

I’ve been registered at my current job for about two hours now, and I am set to start a new position this coming Monday. My current employer needs to process my termination from the system first. The new firm is requesting that my deregistration take effect by Wednesday so they have enough lead time to finalize all the paperwork. However, my current boss insists on keeping me on the books until Friday. Is it actually possible to file a deregistration with the Social Security Administration on a Wednesday but backdate the effective date to Friday? Would that arrangement be acceptable for the new company starting on Monday? (Also, just to clarify: what should the official end date be if I want zero gap between jobs, considering there is a weekend between Friday and Monday?)

The company I’m currently working for—just ten hours a week—only has one other employee and doesn't use an online payroll portal. The director will likely just tell me to handle the deregistration myself... so, do I simply fill out the standard form from the government website and call it a day? Will I need to provide my employment contract to prove the term has expired, or is there some other documentation required?

Have them offboard you on the 21st, and you're officially on the new job on the 22nd.

The new crew where you start Monday should ideally file your new paperwork before you even walk through the door—meaning by Friday the 19th—but using your actual start date.

Richard Kim9 said:I’m running into some trouble trying to renew a digital certificate online. I’ve been following the instructions to a T, entering my PIN on IRS.gov, but nothing happens after the first attempt. On the second try, I just get a "Login Failed" error message and I'm stuck. I have already tried every single browser available—Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and even Opera Browser—on multiple different computers. I even set up a clean virtual machine and installed everything from scratch based on the official guides, but still no luck. What am I missing here?

I don't usually mess around with this kind of technical stuff, but someone asked me for help because they think they "get it." They've always been pretty tech-savvy, but right now, we are both completely stumped. One clue I did manage to find is that several requests sent to the DocuSign desktop application are failing. When I check the developer console, I see a "status 6" error, but since there isn't any documentation available for that specific code, it doesn't tell me anything useful.

Thanks!

Maybe double-check if the renewal deadline has already passed... if it did, you can't do it online anymore and have to head down to an IRS office in person.

Raymond Anderson81 said:Can anyone weigh in here? I'm looking over my mother's tax records and there's some outstanding debt listed for $167 court fees.

4227 court fee collection

I want to settle this via online banking, but I'm second-guessing if I have the right details:

For payments using revenue codes between 4200 and 4413
taxpayers using payment orders should enter
model number "68" in the "model" field, and then use
the first revenue code being paid as the data for the "approval number" field, along with
the taxpayer's SSN—the one issued by the Department of the Treasury – the Internal Revenue Service.

So, the payment goes to account:

US121001005186300016 (US Treasury)

US68 4227-SSN

I found this information on link.

Does this look right to you? Thanks.

Your payment reference looks fine, but the routing number is off—you're missing the last digit, which is a 0.

US1210010051863000160

briskranger5 said:I have a quick question for those who are a bit more experienced with this process 🙂

Can someone please clarify this requirement for me?

"Proof of relationship for every family member not covered by the applicant's health insurance (photocopy of a marriage certificate or a photocopy of a birth certificate issued within the last 6 months)"

"-A photocopy of a birth certificate issued within the last 6 months (to be submitted by single retirees or individuals without a spouse)."

Let’s say I am the primary applicant and I need to include my parents, my brother, and my sister. What exactly is required here? Do I need to provide marriage certificates for my parents and then birth certificates for my siblings?

Thanks

I'm pretty sure you can't add siblings to your plan, though you usually can add parents... but hey, maybe give us a few more details. Like, what kind of insurance did they have before? Are they currently unemployed?