IRS and Tax Filing Issues

Has anyone here switched internet providers recently? I’m wondering if it caused any issues with SSL certificates. Like, did they stay intact on my computer or was there some kind of conflict during the transition?

Christian Cruz41 said:Has anyone here switched internet providers recently? I’m wondering if it caused any issues with SSL certificates. Like, did they stay intact on my computer or was there some kind of conflict during the transition?

Ugh, seriously? Those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

IRS portal

If I check the box that says -
Consent to receive documents electronically

Will I actually get an email notification whenever they issue a document to me on the IRS portal, or am I expected to just log in every once in a while to see if there's anything new? Am I legally obligated to keep checking manually??

hollowmoose20 said:IRS portal

If I check the box that says -
Consent to receive documents electronically

Will I actually get an email notification whenever they issue a document to me on the IRS portal, or am I expected to just log in every once in a while to see if there's anything new? Am I legally obligated to keep checking manually??

Also, does anyone know about the tax refund I got back on May 15th? I'm wondering if it hit my protected account or if a garnishment grabbed it first.

Is anyone else running into issues with the new login process for the IRS via the national authentication system?
For my small business tax filings, I usually rely on a USB flash drive containing certificates issued by the Federal Reserve.

I keep getting blocked by this error message:
"Dear user, authentication could not be completed. It is possible you declined the offered certificates or you do not possess the required personal DigiCert."
And sometimes, when I try a different computer or browser, I get this:
"Dear user, to log in via the national authentication system, please select your personal DigiCert."

Every single time, I select the USB flash drive from the Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve level 4); the drive is plugged in and recognized perfectly—the Microsoft Management Console shows all the certificates clearly—so I enter my PIN, and everything seems to be functioning correctly.

In the past, logging into the IRS was a direct process where the browser would communicate straight with the USB flash drive and prompt me for a PIN, whereas for other government services, I’d just use a password (ePass, level 2), which worked fine even on various other computers.

I wonder, is the issue stemming from the fact that an individual and their business share the same SSN, and does this mean I need to set something up differently under these new rules?
With level 2 access (ePass), I can view the IRS portal, but I am completely unable to actually create, sign, or submit any forms.

Give the NYSE certificate a shot 😉
The last time they tried to "fix" the IRS portal, it was a total disaster 😁

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?

Of course you can use your ID for the IRS portal; I've been doing it for about 3 or 4 years now...
It’s just that all these bureaucrats stay quiet and keep their mouths shut about it—not just at the Federal Reserve, but even within the IRS itself...

The digital identity systems are actually damn good, it's just that none of these government employees want people to find out...
Because let's be real: if we all start using everything the system is capable of, they'll probably have to send at least 50% of their staff home. There's zero point in having someone sitting there just to issue birth certificates, land records, or whatever else when everyone can pull them up in two clicks from their living room.

One important thing to note regarding FATCA and using the IRS is that it works for me because I'm a sole proprietor, and my business and I share the same SSN.
So there's basically no difference; ultimately, the IRS tracks sole proprietors as individuals by their name rather than a business name.
That's why it works...

This wouldn't fly with an LLC or a corporation, though, since the company's EIN isn't the same as your personal SSN.

Anyway, a pretty interesting question is what happens with various documents like invoices, quotes, and whatnot...
An ID usually comes with a certificate and a digital signature, which lets you digitally sign any document. You just sign the PDF with that digital signature and there's no doubt it was you.

In fact, logically speaking, a digitally signed document is airtight, whereas a handwritten one isn't even fully secure since anyone could have forged your signature.

The real question is whether a digitally signed document is legally valid without a physical signature. 🤷

stormybadger8,

Thanks for getting back to me. On the IRS portal, specifically because of how the SSN works, it handles things the same way for an LLC (so I assume it's the same for a single-member LLC too). Basically, when I log in, the IRS gives me two different "accounts" to choose from: my personal one and my business account. If I somehow ended up owning 27 companies, I guess the IRS would just present me with 28 different "accounts" to pick from.

The issue isn't actually with the IRS; the headache is coming from the Federal Reserve. It seems to me like the Federal Reserve is demanding something they don't even have the authority to ask for.

Is the Federal Reserve even allowed to reject a valid credential—which, in this case, is an electronic certificate from a driver's license—that the Department of the Treasury already recognizes?

I’m pretty sure the IRS portal won't work for you anymore if you stop paying the Federal Reserve...

It makes perfect sense why it works now—it's because you're the authorized user managing the account via your SSN, as well as those companies linked to your SSN...
So, whether you logged in using a Treasury digital certificate, your personal credentials, or even just a token from your personal online banking...
The bottom line is that they know it's you, by name, and the IRS knows you're the authorized person to manage the IRS portal for both your own SSN and those businesses or individuals...

Basically, even if you have authorization for my small business, it'll work under my SSN, but the second I revoke your access, it definitely won't 😉
And honestly, I suspect that trick won't work for you even if you unlock the Federal Reserve side, because the Federal Reserve issued the certificate to your company, not the Department of the Treasury or the NYSE...

Let's look at an example...
Under my SSN, both my accountant and I have access, but I’m the one with Administrator privileges.
When I log into the IRS portal with my personal ID, I have control over permissions; I can add them or kill them...
I can cut off my accountant's access, but my accountant certainly can't touch me, even though they have access.
Basic logic....

So, go check if you actually have the right to administer the company when you log in personally.
If you don't have access with your personal ID but you *do* have it when using a Federal Reserve certificate, then there's zero chance it'll keep working once you unlock the Federal Reserve side...
It's logical; your company's certificate was issued by the Federal Reserve...

On the flip side, the NYSE is what issued the certificate to you personally—they gave it to you, but not to your companies...
And the IRS is the entity that lets you access everything you're authorized for, because they know it's you and that you have the rights to access specific SSNs 😉

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.

Jack Young,

Honestly, hearing you say that was music to my ears. I cancelled my dealings with the IRS the very second I heard it.

stormybadger8 kind of threw me for a loop, I guess. His way of looking at things doesn't really sit right with me, but who knows, maybe he actually has a point.

Does anyone here happen to know anything more about this??

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.

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)

Look, it’s simple logic. Since your SSN gives you authority over the IRS portal for your LLC, my small business, and whatever else...
on that basis, one SSN can manage up to 15,000 different entities on the IRS website here in the States.

As for my own business, it's straightforward. I handed over a notarized power of attorney to the IRS, so there's zero doubt there...
The only real question is how exactly you gained authorization to manage the specific SSN tied to your LLC 🤷
Is it automatic, like it is for sole proprietorships where the owner and the business share the same SSN?
Or does the IRS just automatically grant access to the LLC owner, or do they give it to the manager without any paperwork at all? 🤷
Or does someone actually have to sign stuff and lug it down to the IRS office? Honestly, I have no clue...
But there has to be some system where Jack Young used her own SSN to get management rights for "Jack Young LLC."

What the Federal Reserve is doing is charging for the same thing multiple times. A certificate is a certificate; there's no point in overcomplicating it.
If you already have one, why bother reinventing the wheel and selling separate certificates for the IRS, for sales tax, for e-Invoices, or for e-this and e-that...

Let's look at a hypothetical.
An LLC gets a certificate for sales tax reporting, so the IRS has that SSN in the system and that's it. They know which firm it is and who has the right to manage that firm's IRS account...
Beyond that, it's just a matter of what the IRS monitors through that account and what's visible within the portal—basically, who is a user and who is the admin...

And if that SSN shows that the person authorized to represent and manage the entity is Jack Young, with SSN 123456789, then that's just a citizen's SSN. Access is granted for free via online portals, internet banking, or a standard username and password for something like USPS, and so on... it's all free, so the Federal Reserve can't charge anything.

So, obviously, it makes sense that it works this way.

The only mystery is how that initial SSN for the LLC got access to the IRS the very first time, and whether that access stays free forever or not.
If the IRS grants it automatically without involving the Federal Reserve, and if it doesn't even need to be renewed every five years, then we can cut them out of the equation entirely...

Jack Young said:-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)

Jack Young for President🎉

By pure coincidence, I happen to use a similar service from a major international organization in the European Union. But man, things work totally differently over there:

- I got the card reader and the card itself for free (if I recall correctly, at the Federal Reserve they charge you for that stuff);
- the certificate stays valid for five years (whereas at the Federal Reserve, it's only good for two);
- using the certification is actually free (while at the Federal Reserve, you're paying $21 every single month!!)

Look, I get it: the Federal Reserve has every right to demand a level 4 certificate, but they shouldn't be forcing us to use THEIR specific certificate, which they charge an absolutely ridiculous amount for.

You actually get a card reader for free from the Department of Homeland Security when you pick up your ID...
I’ve managed to snag three of them so far myself. 😁

Of course, they won't just offer it to you. You have to actually ask for one if you want it...

How long does the IRS usually take to send out a confirmation via email?

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.

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?