Drake efile

[zeros]

What Happens If.......?

What happens if you decided to give it up on the 15th (10:00 PM) and sent them in on the 16th? Like a balance due? Penalty for late filing? I had one.

[lenboush]

I received the following e-mail this morning, I assume all Drake users did as well.

__________________________________________________ _______________


On April 15, 2013, around 5 PM EST, we started experiencing intermittent connectivity issues on our e-file servers due to higher-than-expected volume which caused problems with your ability to transmit returns and extensions to Drake. The issue was mostly resolved by 11 PM EST, although high volume continued to cause intermittent success with transmissions. While the IRS was also experiencing some delays, this specific issue was on our side.

We have been communicating with the IRS, and have requested that it allow returns and extensions e-filed or paper filed by Drake preparers on April 16, 2013 to be considered timely filed. We advise that you file any extensions and returns (that you were unable to file on the evening of April 15) on April 16. If you choose to paper file, include a printout of this email with the return or extension. If you choose to e-file, there is no action to take other than to transmit the file on April 16 (the earlier the better). The electronic record will indicate Drake Software as the software provider.

We believe that the returns and extensions you file on April 16 will be considered timely filed; however, please contact us if any of your affected returns that are filed by April 16 are assessed a late-filing penalty.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We will be analyzing the cause of this issue thoroughly and meticulously. It is our utmost priority to ensure the stability of our systems.

Sincerely,

Phil Drake

[John of PA]

Efiled my last 4868 at 11:59pm. Drake got overfloaded. When you get a "unalbe to connect", just try again, it will eventually go through. I wlll post separately a message from Drake. I still like Drake, but Lacete was better at Efile.

[John of PA]

Message from Drake

On April 15, 2013, around 5 PM EST, we started experiencing intermittent connectivity issues on our e-file servers due to higher-than-expected volume which caused problems with your ability to transmit returns and extensions to Drake. The issue was mostly resolved by 11 PM EST, although high volume continued to cause intermittent success with transmissions. While the IRS was also experiencing some delays, this specific issue was on our side.

We have been communicating with the IRS, and have requested that it allow returns and extensions e-filed or paper filed by Drake preparers on April 16, 2013 to be considered timely filed. We advise that you file any extensions and returns (that you were unable to file on the evening of April 15) on April 16. If you choose to paper file, include a printout of this email with the return or extension. If you choose to e-file, there is no action to take other than to transmit the file on April 16 (the earlier the better). The electronic record will indicate Drake Software as the software provider.

We believe that the returns and extensions you file on April 16 will be considered timely filed; however, please contact us if any of your affected returns that are filed by April 16 are assessed a late-filing penalty.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We will be analyzing the cause of this issue thoroughly and meticulously. It is our utmost priority to ensure the stability of our systems.

Sincerely,

Phil Drake

[DTS]

Drake efile

Personally, in two years I've never had one problem with Drake efile until last night.

[thomtax]

Agree with DTS. 15 years and this is first efile problem. Don't know how any other company could do better.

LT

[peggysioux]

Drake Efile

Several years ago Lacerte had a similar problem so it can happen to any of them.

[John of PA]

I just switched from Lacerte to Drake. Lacerte's Efile wizard is much easier to use than Drake, however I overall like Drake and as I get another year or 2 under my belt, I expect things to go more smoothly. Thank you for filling me in that 11th hour Efile has gone smoothly with Drake in prior years, thats very encouraging. Also it really helped that Drake support was taking calls right up to midnight.

[Koss]

Network Overload?

I wonder if...

Were Drake's network connections routing through the Boston area?

Not that anyone on this board would know the answer to that question. Even the IT guys at Drake might not know. It depends on how Drake's servers are connected to the internet backbone. Drake's ISP may not be required to reveal that kind of information. In theory, there should be enough redundancy that it doesn't matter. Drake is in North Carolina. Some tax returns might go from Drake to the IRS by way of Hong Kong.

(Which raises some interesting theoretical questions about Section 7216... but... not really, because presumably the data is encrypted so that no one, anywhere in the world, can read it while it is en route from Drake to the IRS. So tax return data is not being "disclosed" to anyone outside the US.)

At least in theory, it is possible that the problems at Drake were caused, indirectly, by some sort of domino effect, or ripple effect, associated with the events at the Boston Marathon. We know for a fact that cellular networks were overloaded. The events may have had an impact on some fiber optic networks as well.

Possible, but unlikely.

BMK