CA RRF-1 Federal attachment error in exempt organization module

[KevinRRiley]

Issue: Paper forms not printing when they should be printing in spite of proper settings

I sent an email to Lacerte support on this issue on 2/1.  I consider this to be an error because the software does NOT print out REQUIRED attachments to forms when it should.  Lacerte sent me an email back that this issue is better resolved by calling Lacerte.  So I called Lacerte support and Grayson (Tier 2 agent) suggested that I just print out the required form and that I should suggest a program improvement through this "lacerte tax idea change" site.  Personally, I feel that this has been punted and ignored.  However, following is the issue that MUST be resolved because it results in erroneous omissions of required paper filed documents.

The California Form RRF-1 is filed with the Attorney General's office and must have a complete copy of the Form 990 attached to it when the 990 is required for 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) organizations. There is a setting under Tax return | California options for "Form RRF-1 to be applied" and we have selected when applicable.  There is also a setting under Items to print | Federal Form Copies for State Filing and we have selected when applicable.  In spite of these settings, Lacerte will not print the Form 990 attachment to the RRF-1 when we print out the government filing copy nor when we print the complete return when you select the print option to only "E-file forms in complete return".  The REQUIRED attachments to paper filed documents DISAPPEAR. 

What is the point of this setting?  Shouldn't the printing be automatic to print what is required, when it is required?  We use the government form print settings to select the specific documents that are either signed and/or mailed to the government agency.   Why would selecting this option result in paper filed documents that are required to be mailed to be omitted from the printing process?  

This error has been going on for years.  This is really really frustrating. In our firm, we are trying to electronically file as many returns as possible and we print the efile forms and the complete copies of all the filed returns in the client copy.  However, to my knowledge California Form RRF-1 filed with the California Attorney General's office must be filed on paper. I need the return printing process to be foolproof and I must be able to trust the software to perform with expected results. I do not like to keep a short list of things Lacerte can't do correctly and remember all of these items. I need administrative staff to be able to hit the print button and the things that we think should print based on the settings will actually print. Can you fix this omission? Please?

[sjrcpa]

I understand the frustration, but how long does it take to print a 990 to attach?

Each of our returns have a Collating Instruction sheet/document. Note on it - Attach copy of 990 to RRF-1. Guess you don't have any that need financial statements attached. Lacerte can't do that.

[KevinRRiley]

For me, printing a single 990 is not the problem.  When it is administrative staff doing the printing and assembling, I would prefer that the printing comes out accurately and the list of exception items are small. It is an easy fix that should be resolved in my opinion.  Back when you could train someone to be around for multiple tax seasons, maybe it was acceptable to have a few dozen exception items, however nowadays, I would simply prefer the number of exceptions be minimized. 

I would like to develop systemic efficiency and eliminate error points when possible.