Agi and pin reject

[BOB W]

I was filing a return for client that did not file 14 or 15. 14 had to be paper filed, of course, but when I tried to efile 15 it was rejected because the 14 return was not on record. IRS is now checking prior year AGI and Pin #. Had to file 15 on paper..............?????????

Next year there will be no PIN??????????????

[spanel]

I was filing a return for client that did not file 14 or 15. 14 had to be paper filed, of course, but when I tried to efile 15 it was rejected because the 14 return was not on record. IRS is now checking prior year AGI and Pin #. Had to file 15 on paper..............?????????

Next year there will be no PIN??????????????

How are you filing this?!? Most of use self select PINs. I only am aware of this when filing online/turbo tax that you would have this problem.

Chris

[David1980]

Self-select PIN

I actually like the idea of the self-select PIN, though I don't personally use it. From publication 1345 for the self-select PIN method "This method may be completely paperless if the taxpayers enter their own PINs directly into the electronic return record using key strokes after reviewing the completed return."

Where as with practitioner PIN method "Practitioner PIN is the other method and it does not require the taxpayer to provide their prior year AGI amount or prior year PIN. When using this method, taxpayers must always appropriately sign a completed signature authorization form (see IRS e-file Signature Authorization below)."

So you could get out of needing a signature on 8879 if you used self-select PIN method. The down side of course being you have to have a match on prior year AGI or prior year PIN.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

I was filing a return for client that did not file 14 or 15. 14 had to be paper filed, of course, but when I tried to efile 15 it was rejected because the 14 return was not on record. IRS is now checking prior year AGI and Pin #. Had to file 15 on paper..............?????????

Next year there will be no PIN??????????????

Why did 2014 have to be filed on paper?

[BOB W]

WOW.............. Didn't know old 1040 returns could be e-filed. I will check with software.............

[Lion]

Current plus prior two years accepted via e-file by the IRS for a few years. Your state may vary. Your software may vary. Most states and professional software comply with federal by now, though.

[taxea]

I'm still waiting for them to allow us to efile amended returns. What's the holdup?

[Rapid Robert]

efile 1040X

I'm still waiting for them to allow us to efile amended returns. What's the holdup?

Well, for starters, would it be cost-effective? It seems like every 1040X is going to need human review anyway, so does the time it takes to keypunch a few numbers really add much to the overall processing cost? It's not like there are 130 million 1040X forms being filed every year. Plus, at most only the last two tax years would be eligible, again limiting any savings from efiling. People forget MeF has only been in place what, 3 or 4 years now? And especially people don't realize how expensive it is to design, code, test, and implement new software (not only the IRS, but the software vendors). No one could efile 1040X under the old system, so how could MeF suddenly make this added feature available at no cost?

Another point: I imagine some non-trivial percent of amended returns submitted are sent back, unaccepted, because they are incomplete or outright garbage. What would be the point of "accepting" those returns into a holding queue for weeks or months until a reviewer OKs them for processing?

[David1980]

Well, for starters, would it be cost-effective? It seems like every 1040X is going to need human review anyway, so does the time it takes to keypunch a few numbers really add much to the overall processing cost? It's not like there are 130 million 1040X forms being filed every year. Plus, at most only the last two tax years would be eligible, again limiting any savings from efiling. People forget MeF has only been in place what, 3 or 4 years now? And especially people don't realize how expensive it is to design, code, test, and implement new software (not only the IRS, but the software vendors). No one could efile 1040X under the old system, so how could MeF suddenly make this added feature available at no cost?

Another point: I imagine some non-trivial percent of amended returns submitted are sent back, unaccepted, because they are incomplete or outright garbage. What would be the point of "accepting" those returns into a holding queue for weeks or months until a reviewer OKs them for processing?

I would think of it like the imperfect return indicator (for dependent SSN/name rejections). It would ultimately get reviewed by a human, but e-filing would let me click a button in my software instead of telling the taxpayer to mail it. As far as the cost, probably the cheapest short-term solution would be to accept it as a PDF. That is, the software would generate a PDF of the 1040-X and send in the PDF. Not ideal when you want to automate processes - you'd rather just the data be sent in a format the system recognizes. For an amended return that's going to need a human to look at it anyway less of an issue. And it could be done transparently to the end user (you and I wouldn't have any reason to know it was sending a PDF of the 1040-X as opposed to just e-file data.)

MEF does have an advantage if they went that route over the legacy e-file system in that MEF already can handle PDF files. They'd just need to expand it to deal with potentially multiple 1040-X filings in addition to the original return.

[Rapid Robert]

1040X efile

As far as the cost, probably the cheapest short-term solution would be to accept it as a PDF. That is, the software would generate a PDF of the 1040-X and send in the PDF.[...]

I agree, it would be handy to just transmit a PDF of the 1040X and attached forms/schedules/worksheets/statements.

One big sticking point might be how do you handle the PIN/e-sign process? One can use the PIN method to sign an efiled 1040 because the dollar amounts being signed off are right there on the Form 8879 and in the return, which are all transmitted in the XML datafile. But it's probably harder than it might seem to do the same when all the tax data is inside a PDF instead.

I've never checked, I wonder in general if self-preparing software (TurboTax, H&R at Home, etc) allow attachment of PDFs, or is it only EROs that can use that feature? Even if EROs (paid preparers) could do it somehow, would the IRS be able to extend the same capability to DIYers, and if not, would that cause some kind of political blowback?