IRS Help Desk Closures

Information from IRS regarding help desks:

The PPS line, the e-Services Help Desk line and the e-Services, FIRE and AIR system help desks are closed until further notice. Please make IRS.gov your first option for answers to questions. The IRS is temporarily suspending acceptance of new Income Verification Express Services (IVES) requests at this time and is experiencing delays with existing IVES processing as well as CAF number authorizations. Practitioners with e-Services accounts and with client authorization can access the Transcript Delivery System to obtain prior-year transcripts. Taxpayers should use Where’s My Refund? and Get Transcript, both common requests. Additionally, we are unable to answer any questions as yet on stimulus payments. Normal operations will resume as soon as possible. Please check IRS.gov for updates

IRS E-file Blackout Aug 3-5

The IRS MeF (E-filing) Production system will be unavailable due to a system upgrade from Saturday, August 3, 2019, 12:01AM Eastern time through August 5, 2019, 11:59 AM Eastern time.

During these IRS e-filing blackout periods, the Electronic Filing Center (EFC) will continue to receive e-files from customers; however, please note:

• E-files will be held at the EFC during this period. They will transmitted to the IRS when their system comes back online for processing;
• Acknowledgements (acks) for these e-files will not be delivered until after we transmit to the IRS.

E-file Deadline April 15th Midnight EDT

We strongly encourage you to transmit your e-files at least two hours before the midnight (eastern daylight time) deadline.

As the April 15th deadline approaches, the processing volume at the IRS will increase. Both return volume and return size will affect processing time. While you are accustomed to receiving your Federal acknowledgements within a one hour time-frame, that turnaround time will increase as the deadline approaches. You may see your acknowledgements take from 2 to 4 hours, and possibly longer.

This is why we suggest that you send returns periodically throughout the day. This will help spread out the volume and also help eliminate some of the 'deadline rush' which also impacts IRS processing.

Taxpayers have until Monday, April 15, 2019 to file their 2018 returns and pay any taxes due.

Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Tuesday, October 15, 2019 to file.

C-corporation income tax returns (IRS Form 1120) are due on April 15, 2019 for C corporations that operate on a calendar year, extended deadline is October 15, 2019.  The deadline for C corp returns is the 15th day of the fourth month following the end of the corporation's fiscal year if the corporation is on a fiscal rather than a calendar year.

For calendar year Estates and Trusts, file Form 1041 and Schedule(s) K-1 on or before April 15, 2019.  For fiscal year estates, file Form 1041 by the 15th day of the 4th month following the close of the tax year. For example, an estate that has a tax year that ends on June 30, 2019, must file Form 1041 by October 15, 2019. If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, file on the next business day.

Expectations for Agency ACK Response Beginning This Weekend

Beginning this weekend, agencies will begin to actively manage the increasing volume of e-files as we approach the Individual filing deadline. This agency process, known as "throttling," ensures that both federal and state e-filing pipelines continue to flow smoothly while handling the increased volume.

During this period, you can expect some slower ACK responses than are typical for the rest of the season; however, slowed agency responses are normal for this time period.

Common eFile Rejects and Tips to Resolve

Below is a list of the most common e-file rejections, with links to the Knowledge base articles that show you how to resolve them:

IND-031 and IND-032

R0000-500

R0000-503

R0000-504

R0000-507

R0000-902

FW2-502 or 1099R-502

How to Resolve Your Most Common EFC Rejects

Have you received one of the following EFC rejects recently?

- EFC 14 (Bank Application Previously Submitted)

- EFC 38 (Program or Forms Updates Needed)

- EFC 41 (Return Changed after E-File created)

- EFC 90 (Settlement Solutions Agreement has not been accepted)

If so, the following article outlines some of the reasons for these common rejects (and many more), as well as some easy tips (or KB articles) for resolving them:

What are the Electronic Filing Center (EFC) rejection codes for Refunds Today®, or Refunds Today® Online™?

Longer then Normal Hold Times Today

Sorry we are experiencing longer than normal hold times.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.