Eftps

[kaimana]

How many of you refer your clients to EFTPS for on-line payments?

[erchess]

Eftps

I don't know how to use that program so I would not refer a client to it unless I thought they were very technically savvy. I do actually have one client who meets that description but most don't. If I tell this guy that there exists a program of a certain name he can use a search engine to find it and his computer skills to figure out how to use it. He can also network with people like himself to see if doing so is wise rather than relying on my recommendation. In contrast some of my other clients don't even own computers or at the very least if they are going to do something tax related for themselves they want written instructions from me.

[nalawson]

I have set myself and three of my clients up on EFTPS. It is very easy to set up and then I show them how to use it the first couple of times.

[JohnH]

I have a few clients who chose to use it on their own but I don't recommend that anyone do so. I have a problem recommending that someone sign up for something that they can't withdraw from if they find they don't like it. When it comes to dealing with the government, I think it's really bad policy to make any sort of irrevocable choice, no matter how convenient it may first appear.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Love EFTPS

I love EFTPS. My husband wears a shirt that I got several years ago at the IRS Forum that advertises EFTPS. He wore at the beach one year and one of our young friends saw and started laughing. She knew what EFTPS was and thought that his shirt was so cool.

Seriously, I set up all my bookkeeping clients on EFTPS. I have some that do their own transfer each month and I do it for others. It is quick, easy and I know that they have made their payroll deposit for the month. Makes quarterly reports much easier to do.

It is not irreversible. If you don't want to keep doing it, you just stop.

Linda

[kaimana]

JohnH...I think your are mistaken...everything from the site to the US Treasury or IRS is coded and by transcription on line. They don't end up with a paper transaction.

[Black Bart]

Are you sure?

...It is not irreversible. If you don't want to keep doing it, you just stop.

Linda

I was also under the impression that if a taxpayer signed up and did not like it, then they were not allowed to go back to using the form 8109 paper coupons (I think that's what John was referring to).

[JohnH]

Bart: You are right - that was what I was referring to in my previous post.

However, after doing a little more reading it appears that I have been wrong about this for a long time. Anyone who VOLUNTARILY signs up for EFTPS can return to using 8109's without penalty.

The only employers required to stick with EFTPS are those who are initially required to use it and then they later fall below the threshhold (over $200K in tax deposits). They cannot begin using the 8109 even if they want to.

https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/helpinfo/helpFAQSmallBusiness.do

Looks like I learned something today in spite of my best efforts to avoid doing so.

[BHoffman]

I shudder at the whole notion of clients preparing their own payroll. They manage to screw it up every time EFTPS or not. There's a guy I've known for years. He prepares payroll and that is all he does. He does a great job, never makes a mistake. He's so cheap I can't believe it.

I don't prepare any payroll because I used to and feel I have suffered enough. Only quarterlies and the end of year stuff. Every year it's messy. They click the wrong button and apply payments to the wrong form or they send in the coupon and it's posted to the wrong quarter. Or they manage somehow to mess up Quickbooks.

Humph There are some things I don't want to know. But I hurt all over from crouching over my desk for the last few months and my office looks like a frat house after a big party.

[kaimana]

Clients doing own payroll

BH I didn't mean to imply that clients should do their own payroll. The majority of them can't even handle simple records keeping. I do think, however, that if one can handle online banking they should be able to handle making IA, estimated and tax liability payments.

[oceanlovin'ea]

my clients

The clients that I have set up on EFTPS are all s corps with one person on payroll. I have told them how much to write their checks for. They pay themselves either weekly or every other week.
I confirm with them how many payroll checks they have written. Then I do their payroll tax deposit on EFTPS. One client does her own but it is the same every month.
There is not a lot of room for error with this system.
If you had people whose payroll was different every pay period, I would not want to trust them either.
It is such a pain to have to change payroll tax information.

Linda

[Black Bart]

Hmm...me too..

...it appears that I have been wrong about this for a long time. Anyone who VOLUNTARILY signs up for EFTPS can return to using 8109's without penalty...

A bitter pill to swallow, eh? Oh well, I can still not like it. Anyway, it sounds funny and I can't pronounce it -- "F-T-PAHS" (or sump'n like that). Now what could that a word like that possibly mean? I looked it up -- it's not a disease, it's "Electronic Federal Tax Payment System."

You watch -- next thing, they'll do away with carbon paper.

[JohnH]

I still won't recommend it, but if the client wants to use it they're free to do so. It seems to me that those who use it make about the same number of mistakes as those who still use 8109's. I've been wrong about the details of the opt-out since EFTPS first showed up, but I wish I could say that's the biggest mistake I've made in the last 10-15 years.

Incidentally, I have several clients who prepare their own payroll and my experience is like everyone else's - they are incredibly creative in how they find ways to screw things up at times. One thing I try to get them to do is use a separate payroll account. I tell them to transfer the gross payroll plus the payroll taxes (usually 10-11% of the gross, depending upon the state SUTA rate) into the payroll account and then write the net checks out of that account. If they follow that procedure, then they always have the money set aside to pay the FTD's, state withholding, SUTA, FUTA, etc. No surprises this way. And if they do make a mistake on a tax deposit, the penalty abatement request can always contain the phrase that we can demonstrate via bank records that there was no point at which payroll taxes were diverted for other business purposes because all trust fund taxes were segregated. That has come in pretty handy on a few occasions.