"Easy" Electronic Filing

[veritas]

Fire, water, air and earth

and then the fifth element e-file.

[kpangelinan]

I know all the techno-buffs here love EF, but I sure do miss giving clients their two envelopes for the post office and then I was through with 'em.

Guy calls today, direct deposit didn't show up for the second week. I call EF,who says it WAS sent to the bank. Customer's checked three times (including today) -- it isn't there. EF gives us a "problems" number (800-829-0582). We call; a solid one and one-half hours of Mozart later, a clueless, chirpy ("Everybody be happy!") temp grills me for 10 minute about MY pedigree -- never mind facts about the client (what's that 1040 checkbox good for anyway?).

Chatter, chatter, chirp, chirp, canned response, "don't know, don't know, possibly, etc." and, two more holds later, she breaks the news that, while a trace CAN be initiated, ONLY THE CUSTOMER can do it -- not us. This client's old, hard-of-hearing, and gets in out of the rain -- that's about it. After an extended technical conversation with one of those government robots there'd be nothing left of him but his glasses.

Awww, nuts! I swear I'm throwing in the towel after this year to go pick up cans on the roadside.

There's good money in picking up cans....good exercise and little to no overhead. Your COGS is "0".

So if the return had been paper filed with direct deposit instead of e-filed with direct deposit what would be different?

Was my thought as well.

had clients who thought they had not received a tax refund direct deposit when in fact they had.

Possibly this has happened in your clients case.

Happened many times to me as well.

there's a good chance it's the bank, but IRS said the return was pulled for a "random check" (first I've heard of such) and the rep didn't know what-all was involved in that, so I'm wondering if it's not lost somewhere in cyberspace.

This has happened a lot as well......the bank has the issue.

That doesn't seem like an issue with efile versus paper file then. Because you could still have a paper check sent to the taxpayer regardless of whether you efiled or paper filed. And you could have done direct deposit on a paper file return. Does sound annoying though.

My thought as well.

BB on this one client, you have already made the phone calls and spent a lot of time.
Go to the Where's My Refund - Enter the info and then you have a print out of the amount and the deposit date.

I always have my clients also sign and acknowledge a Bank Account Verfirfication form that is provided by my software - so maybe you can also reprint that for the client as well.

give that to the Taxpayer and have him take it to the Bank to research.

Otherwise you will have to go through the next set of steps.

I have had several clients that state they didn't receive, but once I print out "Where's My Refund" they find out that they actually did receive it.

Sandy

This is what I would have started with......but with 100's and 100's of direct deposits each year, I can only remember one incident.....maybe a second...

it's an issue to me. And, yeah, I know I could do paper check or DD either/both ways, but I decided that as long as IRS has mandated EF that I'd just go ahead and jump in with both feet to get in step with everybody else and keep up with the times. So I'm e-filing all clients and sending all refunds (those willing) direct deposit.

Most of my older, solid clients didn't care -- DD or paper -- one way or the other. They've got money, still carry checks instead of debit cards, and aren't in any hurry for their refunds. So, I could send them all paper and it worked fine -- if something went wrong IRS sent a CP and I didn't have to hang on the phone for hours during the rush season.

Anyway, I thought it was a whole lot less stressful, but....everybody to their own preference. I was just venting a bit.

Venting is good this time of year for us!

[Black Bart]

Mystery solved.

BB,
You can check online first, might save you a phone call and hold time

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html

Sandy

[
Client just called. Yesterday after we told him IRS said it was sent to the bank, he went there once again and, irate, confronted the manager who forthwith ordered clerks to get crackin'/start diggin'. Refund was supposed to arrive the 18th, but turns out IRS sent it on the 14th and the clerks never (three times) bothered to look at his account back past the 18th. It was there all the time (guess client doesn't keep track of his balance). Much ticked-off, he's considering closing his accounts (I feel the same way -- if they ever do me that way I'm movin' my overdraft somewhere else right quick).

Anyway, thanks for the link, Sandy. We clicked on it -- it showed sent on the 14th which the same thing the IRS rep told us.

Also, thanx to others for their insights:
Veritas -- right about it being the bank.
KP from Maine where people seldom die, but become better customers when they do.
okie1tax for recommendin' FemIron.
FE for his pro-techno promo -- you may be right about that stuff; IRS told us they could not start a trace on a paper check for six weeks as opposed to only five days for direct deposits (still, why not try livin' dangerously sometime, Duker -- write a check -- or mail sump'n . Shoot, it's a rush!

[FEDUKE404]

Clinging to the past

Strictly speaking, it doesn't have anything to do with it -- I'm merely associating electronic filing with other electronic problems in general and I don't like it.
About half here do.
.
None of my clients has opted for that yet. They prefer to write a check instead of letting anyone debit their bank accounts (call it distrust of government).

We have a very good post office -- it's quite rare to lose a check in the mail here. And I don't have to hang on the phone about it.


Well, I like to write checks. Call it an anomaly.


We're in agreement about that. IRS clerks make errors, but they used to simply write letters to be solved at the client's (and my) convenience.

Interesting method of responding.

Suffice it to say my client base is obviously quite different from your own. I have a large amount of senior citizens (they did not start out that way with me!) as well as numerous young, college-educated clients who are quite techno-savy ("recommends" greatly help that part of my client base).

I really don't think the "quality" of a post office has anything to do with the price of eggs. My clients appreciate their refunds automatically going into their bank account, if for no other reason that they don't have to make an unnecessary trip to the bank. My clients who owe money are pleased that they can file and finalize their tax returns in February/early March, and leave the money for any balance due in the bank until a self-selected debit date in early April. (The same clients are also happy that, if they are actually getting a state refund, that money shows up a lot sooner.) Those who make electronic (federal) estimated tax payments (and there are many!) are pleased that they don't have to "mark their calendar," find a payment coupon, and mail a check to the government four times a year. And, all kidding aside, some of those clients would, in the past, frequently "forget" to make the necessary payments in the first place. Such can happen......

I also find that the incidence of my having to write letters to, or calling, the IRS to "fix things" has decreased greatly since these options (and efiling for virtually everyone) became available in recent years.

The "distrust of government" comment is interesting. There is far more risk at having a piece of paper (likely with your printed name/address, complete bank account information, and signature on it) going through the mail systems than having a debit electronically charged via a secure electronic connection used by an ERO. For this type of reasoning, many of my own clients send me electronically-generated checks ("this payment is sent to you on behalf of John Smith, Account 12345") and the signature line either has "signature on file" or the signature of some unknown bank official.

As for liking checks, I wrote my first paper check in over a year yesterday - took me a while to even find the doggone checkbook.

FE

[FEDUKE404]

The kudo

[
FE for his pro-techno promo -- you may be right about that stuff; IRS told us they could not start a trace on a paper check for six weeks as opposed to only five days for direct deposits (still, why not try livin' dangerously sometime, Duker -- write a check -- or mail sump'n . Shoot, it's a rush!

Our messages crossed....

I think the term "justifiable homicide" was created specifically for bank personnel in general. Well, there is also considerable competition from DMV employees.

FWIW - I'm not quite as "techno" as you might think - the only thing I do with my cell phone (you DO have one? ) is to talk on it, and after repeated urgings from my offspring I now text something every now and then.

As for some of my clients, they consider the use of snail mail and any telephone connected to a wire something akin to prehistoric. Some of those folks are fast approaching sending everything to me in an electronic format.

Enjoy your weekend!

FE

[Davc]

I think the term "justifiable homicide" was created specifically for bank personnel in general.

Disagree. It was coined for the act of removing lawyers.

[FEDUKE404]

Lawyers

Disagree. It was coined for the act of removing lawyers.

Actually, many would likely question their inclusion in the category of "Homo sapiens" in the first place......

FE

[joanmcq]

I don't trace client's deposits; I just send them to 'where's my refund'. My client letter even gives instructions to go there and look.

The interbebs are a great thing once you get used to using all the features available!

On a similar subject: client died last year in between filing an extension and Oct 15. Got a message in Sept to that fact from her daughter, but she never returned my call. Return was never finalized

Finally get a call about 2 weeks ago. Told daughter return had an extension, and I didn't think mom had owed anything. Daughter was distraught because she couldn't find any of her mom's tax docs. "I have them all, that's why". I explain I had been doing mom's taxes for years and knew all of the sources of income. Daughter calls back againg, and says she had gone all though mom's check book and didn't see any payments to IRS or CA. I said that's because I did it by electronic withdrawal for both.

"I just can't see mom doing something like that!" Mom was 98. Ah, I just convinced her how easy it was. She's been efiling for years!

[Black Bart]

And never the twain-compliant shall meet...

"Clinging to the past"

Don't you mean "...to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them"... ?

Okay, FE, since we've exchanged olive branches, I'll accept your assertion that electrons are superior if you'll accept my fig leaf that independence is good.

I know EF's more convenient (people like the fast, direct deposits) but my clients and I don't like depending on government any more than necessary (we're unconvinced our betters know best). The post office served me well for 40 years and there are degrees of competence among government workers (they've never put me on hold for hours to tell me nothing). Quality's important when it's your eggs being priced and I still think it's a bit much to talk of "the risk" of mailing a letter.

Those "numerous young, college-educated clients" you mentioned (I also went to college, but youth's judgment is vastly overrated) are in charge and their smug, pushy (to me) attitude is that the gods and technology of yesterday are not only dead, they stink.

None of this matters because the handwriting's on the wall, so I'm going along peaceably but without enthusiasm. To me it seems there's something....umm....unseemly in lightly abandoning/deriding the icons of one's youth and embracing a New Order with such gusto.

Take another shot if you want, but I'm calling it a draw and quitting here.