IRS and Tax Filing Issues

Ethan Mitchell4 said:I’ll just throw some guesses out there for you to test. Personally, whenever I try to file any kind of form, something always goes wrong; just when I think I've sorted out the IRS stuff, the Treasury site freezes up, but here is what I'm thinking:

1. I have a major headache because my Windows version is 64-bit, while the Treasury software seems to prefer 32-bit, so every single update messes everything up for me. I'm no IT expert, so I'm explaining it this way—anyone who knows tech will understand, but unfortunately, I don't. You might want to look into that direction.

2. The Treasury site only works via Internet Explorer, while the IRS site only works via Firefox. They claim the IRS site works on other browsers too, but it certainly doesn't work for me.

3. Is it possible your digital certificate expired?

That's all that comes to mind right now.

silverbadger said:1. I dealt with the exact same issue, and honestly, I just stopped trying to manually upgrade Java myself. Now, whenever things start acting up, I just give their helpdesks a call and let them sort it out for me.
2. One program is strictly IE, whereas the IRS stuff should work on anything.
3. I actually ran into this once when my certificate expired. My certificate lapsed on the 28th, which was right when I needed to file my forms. Once I rushed over to the provider and renewed it, everything was back up and running within an hour.

Douglas Nguyen30 said:silverbadger, my certificate expires on December 31st. What’s the protocol there—do I just head to the bank?
Thanks so much in advance!

Brenda Chase3;48045832 said:I actually followed their instructions about two weeks ago and didn't run into any issues at all. You just have to stick to the guide.

Thanks so much! 🙂

Henry Edwards33 said:I just got an email today 🤣

They certainly seem quite polished and professional.

Douglas Nguyen30 said:I didn't get an email, so I gave them a call today instead. The representative walked me through the whole process—it was excellent! They are truly helpful and professional. 🙂

George Kern9 said:No matter how you slice it, using the IRS site isn't free... though I don't think it's quite $17 + tax per month.

On the Fidelity website, it says right here:
If you don't want to use Fidelity's online services and instead decide to just use digital certificates on a Fidelity e-card or a USB token solely for electronic signatures, the fees are as follows:

Business digital certificates on a Fidelity e-card or USB token

Issuance of two digital certificates
$130 / annually

Business entity registration*
$27 / one-time fee

Card reader
$30 / one-time fee

Now, if an electronic signature is all you need to file forms through the IRS service, then the price is $130 + tax per year. But then why on earth are they listing the price for two digital certificates? If one certificate is enough, shouldn't the price be $93 + tax per year, according to what's listed here at

Can someone please make sense of this mess for me...
Thanks

Carol Price4 said:I use a Fidelity certificate on a USB stick from my bank for both this and my online banking. I paid $73 and it's good for 2 years, 🤷

George Kern9 said:Yeah, so you have to pay for a digital certificate, which they can load onto a credit card or a specialized USB token from the payment processor or your bank. Honestly, though, I don't think most major banks even offer that kind of setup for individual consumers... they usually just leave it to the big fintech companies.
Devilgirl, which specific bank are you talking about, and would you actually recommend them? Is their service any good or just a total headache?

Nicole Lee6 said:Look, what the IRS told me was that there are two certificates on the USB token because one is used for accessing the IRS portal (logging in), while the second allows for signing (acting as your official seal and signature). Even I wasn't clear on why they were charging me a subscription for two certificates until they explained it... So, I end up paying $390.00 + sales tax every year.

So you didn't buy a certificate through the IRS directly, but rather through your bank (it looks like JP Morgan Chase started offering this around September 2013; I just found out today)? $73 Do you have to pay every single year? And do you have any idea how much they'll charge you to renew it once those 2 years are up?

Now, here is what is really bothering me; I just got a notification on my online banking that my certificate is expiring soon. It said if I have a certificate issued for the IRS after March 11, 2013, I can use the IRS USB token to log into online banking. But since mine was issued before March 11, 2013 (unfortunately), I have two options:

- Take my existing USB token—which I currently use for IRS filings and doesn't expire until January 29, 2015—back to the IRS early so I can use that same stick for both the IRS portal and JP Morgan Chase online banking. Renewing it early costs $80.00 + sales tax now, followed by a $390.00 + sales tax annual subscription, though there wouldn't be an additional renewal fee every 2 years.

- I’m seriously considering canceling my digital tax certificate through the IRS and just asking JP Morgan Chase to issue both certificates at once—one for the IRS portal and one for the online banking on the card I actually use. That would set me back about $150.00 a year including tax. 😲 These certificates are valid for two years, but the folks at JP Morgan Chase can't tell me a damn thing about what the renewal fee will look like after those two years are up. They basically just know there *will* be a charge, but they haven't actually figured out the amount yet . Meanwhile, the IRS warned me that I should double-check exactly how much the bank plans to charge for the renewal down the road. Their logic is that since they don't charge anything themselves, if I move everything to the bank, I might end up paying way more in the long run than I originally thought! 🤔

So now I'm sitting here thinking: if I go ahead and cancel the IRS certificate (which carries a cancellation fee of $27 plus tax) and just order an IRS-compatible certificate from JP Morgan Chase instead , will I still have seamless access to the IRS portal as well as my online banking? Or is there some technical glitch waiting to screw me over?! The price gap is honestly pretty massive (JP Morgan Chase is $150.00 annually, while the IRS option is $487.50 annually) .

To make matters even more frustrating, the bank staff told me that you only need one single certificate for everything—but maybe we had a massive misunderstanding there. Because the IRS is insisting that the card needs two separate certificates: one specifically for logging in and a second one used for digital signatures.

Ethan Mitchell4 said:My certificate at JPMorgan Chase expired last year. It was a complete circus—the manager actually brought my card back and forth to the branch a few times because they were totally lost on what to do with it. Eventually, it clicked for them that there wasn't some grand procedure required; I just used my Fidelity Investments card to log into the JPMorgan Chase portal and everything worked perfectly. You just use the PIN from Fidelity, not the one from JPMorgan Chase.

Looking at these certificate issuance dates now, my digital tax certificate was definitely issued well before March 11, 2013, and I never ran into any issues with it (which is saying something, since I'm constantly dealing with technical glitches otherwise).

Why don't you try taking that Fidelity card down to JPMorgan Chase tomorrow and see if you can log in with it?

Carol Price4 said:Exactly—I didn't go through FIFA; instead, I just got a security key from the Federal Reserve for my online banking that comes with a built-in certificate. Paid $73 the whole thing upfront, and I use it for both my banking and the IRS—it’s all one PIN and works perfectly fine.
Yeah, there are technically two certificates on there—that's what the folks at FIFA say—but honestly, bank tellers don't know the first thing about those technical details; to them, it's just one single certificate, 😁

I'm going to try using it for the Social Security Administration sites soon to see if it works—not totally sure, but since it's an electronic signature, it should be fine.

No clue what the renewal fee will be in two years... and who knows what they'll change by then, so I'm not losing any sleep over it right now. 🤣
I bet the price difference is just because banks get bulk discounts on those certificates—they probably pass some of those savings along to us customers...

Nicole Lee6 said:They told me that all federal services will eventually be accessible through this bank-issued certificate. For users, these government services are supposed to be free; you're essentially just paying for the certificate itself $50 annually, plus the renewal fee every two years.

jadenomad24 said:So, my security certificate from Chase finally expired. The teller let me know, so I went ahead and handed back my card reader and my physical card to Chase. They told me that from now on, when I want to get into their online banking, I’ll just be using my federal digital ID—you know, the stuff used for the IRS and official government filings—all through one single digital token.
Everything seems to be working fine so far,
BUT NOBODY BOTHERED TO MENTION THE COST.

Now I'm sitting here wondering which setup actually makes more sense for my wallet. I've noticed some people seem to access those IRS portals directly through their bank interface instead. 😕

jadenomad24 said:So, my security certificate from Chase finally expired. The teller let me know, so I went ahead and handed back my card reader and my physical card to Chase. They told me that from now on, when I want to get into their online banking, I’ll just be using my federal digital ID—you know, the stuff used for the IRS and official government filings—all through one single digital token.
Everything seems to be working fine so far,
BUT NOBODY BOTHERED TO MENTION THE COST.

Now I'm sitting here wondering which setup actually makes more sense for my wallet. I've noticed some people seem to access those IRS portals directly through their bank interface instead. 😕

David Parker44 said:$50 With Sales Tax, you're looking at the renewal fee plus $21 the monthly service charge for the IRS portal.