Automatically generating interest and penalties as default

[jerry]

I've had a couple of extension filers get letters informing them of interest and penalties due.

They owed more than $1000 ($500 California), and I discovered that Lacerte does not automatically calculate interest and penalties on late payment unless a "1" is inserted in the fields for Late Return Penalty and Interest on Screen 8.   This is true even if a filing date is entered on Screen 8.

Is there a way to make this the automatic default in Settings?  I know I will occasionally forget to insert these 1's.

[IRonMaN]

ProSeries doesn't have that feature that I know of, but even if it did, I wouldn't use it.  Why have the client pay in up front?  Maybe the IRS will forget or decide it's too small to mess with and the client won't have to pay.  I would just tell the clients that they might be billed later just so they aren't surprised if a notice shows up in their mailbox.

[abctax55]

I wish Lacerte did automate this.  I think there's a reminder info diagnostic tho about putting in the date if a penalty applies?

If the penalty is small - I use Jeff's CAGMC philosophy.  Let the IRS find it - altho I will let the client know to expect the possibility.  I do a lot of annualizing to mitigate penalties so it's more on my radar to de the "1" & "1" two-step to get the amounts to populate.