IRS and Tax Filing Issues

Raymond Martinez10 said:The IRS doesn't charge a fee to use their online portal

If we're talking about filing forms directly with the FBI, one certificate is all you need—everyone else just needs a power of attorney.

The extra cost per client only kicks in if you end up using Treasury Department services.

Aha, so that's the deal... one of my colleagues uses both the standard IRS portal and advanced accounting software, so she ends up paying an extra fee of $4.25...

Can I ask why a specific company—one that actually owes me money—hasn't posted its 2012 revenue data on the SEC website yet?

Is this just some delay in updating their filings, or what?

Hey there, Vitasica fans and everyone else... thank goodness I'm not blowing up your notifications quite as often lately. But, hey, you can't stay quiet forever! I wanted to pick your brains on something. When dealing with pretty small-scale clients, I used to just hand over the Intel data manually on paper last year. Even with a bit of grumbling from the IRS, they accepted it without much fuss. Now, I'm hearing whispers that this year, everything absolutely has to be submitted via Excel on a digital medium. So, two questions for the group: 1. Is that actually true? 2. If it is, I am completely lost looking at these forms on the IRS website... does anyone here have any insight or perhaps some clarity?
(If you could keep it brief so I don't hog too much of your time)
Best regards!

Thanks!

Raymond Peterson81 said:Can I ask why a specific company—one that actually owes me money—hasn't posted its 2012 revenue data on the SEC website yet?

Is this just some delay in updating their filings, or what?

If you're talking about a public filing, it’s way too early to be looking at the 2012 business data—it just isn't ready yet. Everything depends on when they file with the IRS, and that could push things out as late as June 30th.

I was trying to check my status with the Klan the other day, but nothing shows up for any dates this year. Strangely enough, if I look back at December 31, 2012, everything displays perfectly fine. Is this just some weird glitch caused by their New Year's system updates? Since we didn't have the online tax portal last year, I'm not really sure how this process usually plays out at the start of the year. As of today, my account card is completely blank—not a single contribution code or amount in sight. Is anyone else running into this, or did we mess something up on our end?

Could someone lend me some guidance regarding the tax exemption paperwork? I’ve received the hardware token from the accounting department, and they’ve returned my certification agreement along with the filing for the IRS
. I also dropped off that specific tax exemption form... what's the next step in this process? When the USB token arrived, there wasn't any software CD included in the package.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Sandra Wells5 said:I was trying to check my status with the Klan the other day, but nothing shows up for any dates this year. Strangely enough, if I look back at December 31, 2012, everything displays perfectly fine. Is this just some weird glitch caused by their New Year's system updates? Since we didn't have the online tax portal last year, I'm not really sure how this process usually plays out at the start of the year. As of today, my account card is completely blank—not a single contribution code or amount in sight. Is anyone else running into this, or did we mess something up on our end?

That’s normal
It takes them a little while to migrate the opening balances for the new year.

Adam Stewart8 said:Could someone lend me some guidance regarding the tax exemption paperwork? I’ve received the hardware token from the accounting department, and they’ve returned my certification agreement along with the filing for the IRS
. I also dropped off that specific tax exemption form... what's the next step in this process? When the USB token arrived, there wasn't any software CD included in the package.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Just give Chase a call at their customer service line and let them walk you through it...

Sandra Wells5 said:I was trying to check my status with the Klan the other day, but nothing shows up for any dates this year. Strangely enough, if I look back at December 31, 2012, everything displays perfectly fine. Is this just some weird glitch caused by their New Year's system updates? Since we didn't have the online tax portal last year, I'm not really sure how this process usually plays out at the start of the year. As of today, my account card is completely blank—not a single contribution code or amount in sight. Is anyone else running into this, or did we mess something up on our end?

They don't typically roll over the opening balances into the new fiscal year until around January 20th, so you won't see any actual debt data until then.
It’s pretty much the same routine every single year...

When I’m trying to log in to the IRS portal, it keeps asking me to plug in my smart card so it can load all the credentials. Now, if my digital signature is stored right there on that bank card, does that mean my digital signature is essentially sitting on their computer too?
I mean, honestly, if that’s actually how it works, there is absolutely no way I’m handing over that card! If that's the case, someone could just sit there signing whatever they want in my name.
Could someone please jump in and clear this up for me? I'd love to understand how this tech actually functions.
Thanks a million

I haven't had a chance to read through everything yet, so I just wanted to ask...
Can you handle a power of attorney at the IRS without having one on file with the Treasury? Since I don't need a tax ID for the user, does that change things?

silverbadger said:When I’m trying to log in to the IRS portal, it keeps asking me to plug in my smart card so it can load all the credentials. Now, if my digital signature is stored right there on that bank card, does that mean my digital signature is essentially sitting on their computer too?
I mean, honestly, if that’s actually how it works, there is absolutely no way I’m handing over that card! If that's the case, someone could just sit there signing whatever they want in my name.
Could someone please jump in and clear this up for me? I'd love to understand how this tech actually functions.
Thanks a million

😁 pure paranoia
I'm no expert—I assume the IRS isn't going to start signing stuff using your digital certificate; this is likely just a way to "pair" the certificate with the taxpayer

Christian Cruz41 said:I haven't had a chance to read through everything yet, so I just wanted to ask...
Can you handle a power of attorney at the IRS without having one on file with the Treasury? Since I don't need a tax ID for the user, does that change things?

yes (and then there's no extra fee from the bank)

Kyle Rogers8 said:😁 pure paranoia
I'm no expert—I assume the IRS isn't going to start signing stuff using your digital certificate; this is likely just a way to "pair" the certificate with the taxpayer

yes (and then there's no extra fee from the bank)

Of course it's paranoia! If my certificate is saved right there on their computer, then technically they could use it to sign stuff. Now, whether some clerk at the agency is actually capable of pulling the PIN stored on the card is a whole different story, but I have absolutely no interest in testing those waters. I wouldn't want anyone handing me their debit card just so I could sync up some data. You don't even need the PIN because it can be extracted from the card later on quite easily enough.

Could someone please lend me a hand? My manager over at the accounting firm where I work just handed me a service agreement for certification and this little USB security token—and honestly, I’m feeling a bit lost on where to even begin. I think I’ve successfully installed the IRS portal software, and I can see exactly where to input the owner's details and the business address, but whenever I try to actually submit the request to the IRS, it just fails. It seems I don't have the necessary digital certificate yet... how does one go about installing that? Is it a massive headache? I actually set this up about six months ago for one of our clients who maintains their own separate IRS portal, so I assumed having some experience would make this smoother—but it looks like I'm hitting a wall with these certificates. Should I have received anything else besides the signed agreement and this USB stick? And why a stick this time? For that other client, we used a traditional card reader and a smart card instead. We did receive an email containing a device ID and an encryption code... does anyone know what those are for?

Adam Stewart8 said:Could someone lend me some guidance regarding the tax exemption paperwork? I’ve received the hardware token from the accounting department, and they’ve returned my certification agreement along with the filing for the IRS
. I also dropped off that specific tax exemption form... what's the next step in this process? When the USB token arrived, there wasn't any software CD included in the package.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I am running into the exact same issue—I just received mine. Where does one even begin? I believe I managed to install the IRS online portal software via a website, but I seem to have hit a wall after that...😢

I hate to be that person who keeps asking the same thing, but I really need some clarity: is this single security token I received actually enough to handle everything on the IRS online portal? It feels a bit off to me—everywhere I look in the official guides, they mention needing a specific smart card paired with a card reader... I’m feeling a little lost here. The plan is to set this all up ourselves to manage our own bookkeeping, and then eventually hand over the authorization to our clients. I’ve been scouring Google and reading through various forums, but honestly, the more I dig, the more confused I get! 😢((

It really doesn't matter whether you opt for a USB drive or a smart card. Personally, I find the drive much more practical since you don't have to worry about carrying around a separate card reader. Regarding the IRS online portal, you’ll need to file a power of attorney for yourself as well. Essentially, if you want to access the IRS online portal, you have to take that USB drive—the one you picked up at the Department of the Treasury—down to the IRS office along with a notarized power of attorney (yes, you're essentially authorizing yourself). You only have to deal with this hurdle once. After that initial setup, if you have others authorizing you to use the IRS online portal, you just submit the power of attorney forms (three copies) to the IRS without needing the drive.

If you run into any technical glitches, just give the IRS help desk a call at 1-800-66-9933 or contact the Department of the Treasury at 1-800-00-80. Just follow their directions and everything should go smoothly enough.

Hope your work goes well!

Hannah Harris6 said:Hey there, Vitasica fans and everyone else... thank goodness I'm not blowing up your notifications quite as often lately. But, hey, you can't stay quiet forever! I wanted to pick your brains on something. When dealing with pretty small-scale clients, I used to just hand over the Intel data manually on paper last year. Even with a bit of grumbling from the IRS, they accepted it without much fuss. Now, I'm hearing whispers that this year, everything absolutely has to be submitted via Excel on a digital medium. So, two questions for the group: 1. Is that actually true? 2. If it is, I am completely lost looking at these forms on the IRS website... does anyone here have any insight or perhaps some clarity?
(If you could keep it brief so I don't hog too much of your time)
Best regards!

Thanks!

Hi there.🙂 It’s not Excel; it’s an XML format. First, just ask your local agent at the IRS office. If they won't accept the paperwork by hand, then you can do it this way... If your accounting software doesn't have the option to generate the file automatically, you can go to the official IRS site http://www.irs.gov/e-file...p.asp?id=b03d5 and look under the downloadable files section for the "Intel Form with XML export capability." You can enter all the data manually into that form. It's basically the same info from the individual cards, except it shows one line per employee for the entire year. The form has two tabs: first, you fill out the employee details, and then the taxpayer information (your business or LLC). Once you've entered everything according to the guidelines (take a moment to study the instructions), you create the XML file and save it to a flash drive or whatever works. Just attach a cover sheet and bring it down to the IRS office. You can also download the IP Validator to check your XML file, though it's not strictly necessary. The Validator doesn't check if your data is accurate; it just checks if the file itself is formatted correctly. The IRS verifies the actual accuracy of the data once they input it.

Greetings, everyone. I have a question regarding these digital tax certificates... Up until now, I’ve been filing my sales tax returns once a month
in person at the local IRS office—it's just a quick five-minute walk from my place. Now, I understand that starting January 1st, everything has to be submitted
electronically. For someone like me, who handles all my own bookkeeping and runs a solo operation, this feels like nothing more than an added expense.
I handle all my electronic transfers through JP Morgan Chase, but during a recent visit to the Department of the Treasury, I was told I might also need to pay them $17 monthly just to maintain the
digital credentials. It seems excessive to me to pay a recurring fee just to submit a single monthly return, especially since I am already paying service fees
to JP Morgan Chase. If the certificate can be downloaded directly from the government website, how exactly is this "free" system supposed to work? Does it actually make more financial sense to migrate all my payment processing over to the Department of the Treasury?

Kenneth Bailey6 said:Greetings, everyone. I have a question regarding these digital tax certificates... Up until now, I’ve been filing my sales tax returns once a month
in person at the local IRS office—it's just a quick five-minute walk from my place. Now, I understand that starting January 1st, everything has to be submitted
electronically. For someone like me, who handles all my own bookkeeping and runs a solo operation, this feels like nothing more than an added expense.
I handle all my electronic transfers through JP Morgan Chase, but during a recent visit to the Department of the Treasury, I was told I might also need to pay them $17 monthly just to maintain the
digital credentials. It seems excessive to me to pay a recurring fee just to submit a single monthly return, especially since I am already paying service fees
to JP Morgan Chase. If the certificate can be downloaded directly from the government website, how exactly is this "free" system supposed to work? Does it actually make more financial sense to migrate all my payment processing over to the Department of the Treasury?

Generally speaking, you’re paying for the use of the card or the security token. The Department of the Treasury provides access to services like e-Treasury for submitting annual and quarterly financial and statistical reports, and the DMV for filing various state forms. So, there really is plenty of utility coming from the Department of the Treasury. Once you have that card, access to other services like electronic pension or health insurance filings is absolutely free. In my opinion, that card can be put to very good use, and I think it's worth having it..