IRS and Tax Filing Issues

Jack Young said:Man, there have been so many headaches this year dealing with the IRS digital portals and all those online filing systems... I started tackling this stuff last year and honestly, it was a breeze—it felt like my IT guy and I were totally in sync.

I actually have a quick question for you all. A friend of mine has some clients who aren't registered for sales tax, so they don't file any sales tax returns and haven't even set up an online portal with the government. Do you think she can just mail in their annual income tax forms and other paperwork from 2012 on paper, or is having that digital account mandatory for everything now? What’s your take?

Paperwork is fine.😉
It's just the ones in the VAT system that have to go through the IRS portal.

Richard Mitchell19 said:If anyone else is still fighting with Sales Tax issues
I got this reply via email and it actually works 🙂
"...please try opening the XML file for the form you're submitting in the IRS app, then just type a single dash "-" (a hyphen or minus sign, don't use quotes) into the 'Notes' field."

"If you run into the same error again, just hit us back by replying to this email..."

Wait, how do you even find the "Notes" field? I tried exporting the XML and opening it, but I couldn't find any "Notes" section anywhere. This is honestly driving me a little crazy. It feels like I'm stuck in a loop. If you wouldn't mind, could you maybe walk me through the steps like I'm five?

Does one single certificate cover both the IRS portal and the point-of-sale fiscalization requirements, or am I going to have to shell out for two separate ones?

Nicole Lee6 said:Does one single certificate cover both the IRS portal and the point-of-sale fiscalization requirements, or am I going to have to shell out for two separate ones?

You'll need two—they serve completely different purposes.

I actually did it myself, so I have to brag a little. I finally filed my VAT.

Quick question though—what happens if you enter some info but leave stuff out? Like, say I forget the email address, or I accidentally put my own name instead of my LLC's legal name (honestly, I'm just playing around with the settings right now).

It shouldn't be a huge deal, right? Since everything is tied to one digital certificate and the taxpayer ID is the part that actually matters? Or did I totally screw that part up? 😬

Sam Wells5 said:Wait, how do you even find the "Notes" field? I tried exporting the XML and opening it, but I couldn't find any "Notes" section anywhere. This is honestly driving me a little crazy. It feels like I'm stuck in a loop. If you wouldn't mind, could you maybe walk me through the steps like I'm five?

Okay, let's say we've got the IRS site open and we just clicked on the VAT forms.
You get the VAT form where there's a menu with buttons on the left, and the data we're sending is on the right.

Here’s what I do.
1. Hit the "Import" button (it warns you it'll wipe the current form—just click "in line").
2. Once that happens, the file path pops up.
3. Click "Browse" and pick the form you already saved as an XML file.
4. Hit "Load"—the form loads right into the IRS system.
5. In the "Notes" field, I just type a dash "-" without any quotes. That Notes field is located
down at the bottom right on the main VAT page (the header), and it's actually the biggest input box in the whole doc.
Right under it is the button to "Convert to VAT-k 2013".

6. After that, hit "Verify" (you should see "Form data is correct" in a green box at the top).
7. Hit "Sign," and a confirmation box will pop up at the bottom that you need to click.
8. Hit "Sign Form"—you should see "Form is signed and cannot be edited" at the top.
9. Hit "Submit."
And that's basically it.
Then the IRS sends back a receipt which I open by hitting "Export," then "download pdf".

Tried sending it again today without that little dash and it totally failed.
Once I followed my steps, it went through perfectly.
I even tried filling out the form manually instead of steps 1-4, but it still wouldn't work without that dash.
No clue why it's being so picky, but it works now.

I just started working on my VAT filing. Since they should have already received everything from the first month at the IRS, I probably don't need to include it.

The first thing tripping me up is the business activity code—specifically for an attorney.

I searched online and found that it should be 74.11, but that code isn't showing up anywhere in the drop-down menu...

And the input field below won't even let me type in a decimal point.

Does anyone know what's going on?

amberbadger17 said:I actually did it myself, so I have to brag a little. I finally filed my VAT.

Quick question though—what happens if you enter some info but leave stuff out? Like, say I forget the email address, or I accidentally put my own name instead of my LLC's legal name (honestly, I'm just playing around with the settings right now).

It shouldn't be a huge deal, right? Since everything is tied to one digital certificate and the taxpayer ID is the part that actually matters? Or did I totally screw that part up? 😬

Well, I’ve actually used my own first and last name instead of my LLC's legal name when filing my VAT before, and I did it that way previously too. 🤷 Is it actually mandatory to put the official business name in the taxpayer field?

The folks over at the IRS are asking me to include my business name right next to my own name on the forms, instead of just leaving it as my personal name.

Richard Mitchell19 said:Okay, let's say we've got the IRS site open and we just clicked on the VAT forms.
You get the VAT form where there's a menu with buttons on the left, and the data we're sending is on the right.

Here’s what I do.
1. Hit the "Import" button (it warns you it'll wipe the current form—just click "in line").
2. Once that happens, the file path pops up.
3. Click "Browse" and pick the form you already saved as an XML file.
4. Hit "Load"—the form loads right into the IRS system.
5. In the "Notes" field, I just type a dash "-" without any quotes. That Notes field is located
down at the bottom right on the main VAT page (the header), and it's actually the biggest input box in the whole doc.
Right under it is the button to "Convert to VAT-k 2013".

6. After that, hit "Verify" (you should see "Form data is correct" in a green box at the top).
7. Hit "Sign," and a confirmation box will pop up at the bottom that you need to click.
8. Hit "Sign Form"—you should see "Form is signed and cannot be edited" at the top.
9. Hit "Submit."
And that's basically it.
Then the IRS sends back a receipt which I open by hitting "Export," then "download pdf".

Tried sending it again today without that little dash and it totally failed.
Once I followed my steps, it went through perfectly.
I even tried filling out the form manually instead of steps 1-4, but it still wouldn't work without that dash.
No clue why it's being so picky, but it works now.

Thanks! I'm going to go make myself a coffee (to calm my nerves a bit) and then I'll give it a shot.

Sam Wells5 said:The folks over at the IRS are asking me to include my business name right next to my own name on the forms, instead of just leaving it as my personal name.

Does this mean I have to use the full legal entity name, or is a shortened version of the business name actually acceptable?

It’s actually pretty wild how much a single little dash can change things—the whole form just went through without any hiccups this time. Honestly, the biggest mystery for me was even finding where that "Notes" field was tucked away in the first place. 😂
Anyway, thanks again, really.

Nicole Lee6 said:Does this mean I have to use the full legal entity name, or is a shortened version of the business name actually acceptable?

An abbreviation should be fine.

I did the same thing—just used the owner's first initial and last name.

Totally slipped my mind this time; I must have messed up the auto-fill settings or something. I’m going back to the old way with the next sales tax filing. Honestly, the IRS isn't even that strict about it, so at least now everything is clearly documented on paper.

@Nicole Lee6—you planning on ditching the sales tax info along with the name, or what?

amberbadger17 said:I did the same thing—just used the owner's first initial and last name.

Totally slipped my mind this time; I must have messed up the auto-fill settings or something. I’m going back to the old way with the next sales tax filing. Honestly, the IRS isn't even that strict about it, so at least now everything is clearly documented on paper.

@Nicole Lee6—you planning on ditching the sales tax info along with the name, or what?

Look, I already submitted the February filing that way, 😂 and to make matters worse, when I was scrolling through QuickBooks, it only showed the owner's full name anyway, and nobody ever breathed a word of complaint to me. 😂

Henry Edwards33 said:Paperwork is fine.😉
It's just the ones in the VAT system that have to go through the IRS portal.

thanks

On line 39, there’s this parenthetical note (items 4-26+35) suggesting that the loss should be offset by items 5 through 25. If item 4 is larger than that deduction, the result ought to be a positive number—but the system won't allow it.
Once I manually entered a "-" sign, it finally went through.
Their math is completely broken.😛

Sam Wells5 said:The folks over at the IRS are asking me to include my business name right next to my own name on the forms, instead of just leaving it as my personal name.

Look, a sole proprietorship is just an individual—there's zero need to register a separate business name.
All legal headaches (like some unpaid fine from the Department of Justice, for instance) hit your personal Social Security number directly, regardless of whether they actually relate to the business itself.

And look, just like I noted in the accounting PDF—even if the taxpayer ended up with a loss, you can't just leave the advance payment field blank for the next tax period. You have to enter a non-zero value, so go with 0.01 🙂
It’s what happens when IT guys try to get "creative" with the code

Raymond Martinez10 said:Look, a sole proprietorship is just an individual—there's zero need to register a separate business name.
All legal headaches (like some unpaid fine from the Department of Justice, for instance) hit your personal Social Security number directly, regardless of whether they actually relate to the business itself.

Look, Raymond Martinez10, I totally get what you're saying, but honestly, when the lady at the IRS tells me exactly how to fill out my paperwork, I just don't have the nerve to argue or do it any other way.🙄