May 15 due date change for storm disaster affected counties

[lisaFTC]

Lacerte sent an Alert on 1/17/2023 re: CA and IRS deadline extended to May 15 for certain counties related to the storm disaster.

Today, is 1/20/2023 and Lacerte has not sent another alert stating how the program will be treating the due date of May 15 on their instruction letters and estimated tax payments.

I called the  Lacerte rep today and she stated Lacerte will NOT be changing the due dates on the instruction letter or estimated tax payments nor will Lacerte be offering a checkbox for the option to change the due date. She stated the government agencies, IRS and FTB, will look at the zip code and determine if the taxpayer resides in, or the business is in, an affected county. If the taxpayer's zip code is in an affected county and the taxpayer files their return and makes their payments on May 15, then no penalties or interest will be assessed.

Hopefully, Lacerte will send an alert as soon as possible to inform everyone how their program will be handling this new due date for instruction letter purposes.

[abctax55]

Thanks, Jeff... I decide to pull my punches & go home for the day 🙂

[CMcCullough]

Will Lacerte be taking into consideration the revised deadline when it comes to underpayment penalties?  Especially for those who chose to not pay the 4th quarter payment and will pay it with the return.  

[lisaFTC]

Good question.  I did not ask the Lacerte representative.  Please call Lacerte and ask them. 

The rep was under the impression penalties would be waived by IRS and FTB when each agency sees the zip code. 

[Strongsilence-CPA]

" NOT be changing the due dates on the instruction letter or estimated tax payments nor will Lacerte be offering a checkbox for the option to change the due date. "

This is very poor.  Due dates are how we live and die.  You can't get a new due date in your software? That is just lazy.

I urge California preparers to voice their opinions.

"Will Lacerte be taking into consideration the revised deadline when it comes to underpayment penalties?  Especially for those who chose to not pay the 4th quarter payment and will pay it with the return. "

This revision is essential.

[Strongsilence-CPA]

 VOTE!  See the lightbulb near the top, on the right?  Mothers, apple pies and democracy depend on it!

[SFSTaxPrep]

Lacerte has 83 days until the April 18th Nationwide deadline to figure this out and make adjustments to their software.  But they really should resolve things by March 31, giving them 65 days.

Further, it appears the change could be applied to S-Corporations & Partnerships, which are due on March 15, so the fix for those needs to be done even earlier.

In terms of the 4th Quarter Estimates, which technically were due 8 days ago, the Underpayment Penalty has to somehow be fixed right away.  Anyone who is Underpaid for the 4th Quarter, should not be penalized, if they live in one of the counties on the list.

It would be completely Irresponsible for Lacerte not to put in some sort of a fix.  We pay good money for the software.  At the very least, if they want to put determining the eligibility on the Preparer, put a check box so we can mark whether a Taxpayer qualifies.  And add a Diagnostic for all Tax Returns with a CA address, indicating that the Taxpayer may be eligible for this relief.

An interesting side note.  If the Tax Preparer is located in one of the listed counties, then ALL of their clients are eligible.  This is how the official IRS Notice reads.  It impacts any Tax Records which would be located in one of the counties.  However, this would not be automatic, and the client would have to request relief, as the IRS is only going by the county on the Return for the automatic exception.

[Strongsilence-CPA]

"if they want to put determining the eligibility on the Preparer, put a check box so we can mark whether a Taxpayer qualifies.  And add a Diagnostic for all Tax Returns with a CA address, indicating that the Taxpayer may be eligible for this relief."

This is brilliant and it gets to the heart of the matter which is that Intuit/LC wants to avoid liability. There is a non-zero chance that they list a May 15 deadline for the wrong taxpayer in error, and I understand that. But @SFSTaxPrep has solved it for you Intuit!  

Be better @intuit!!  Now 82 days!

[lmscpa]

I know that we, as preparers, can change the filing date listed in the instruction letter. I don't want to provide my clients with an instruction letter that is not correct. That makes us look like we don't know the current laws.

My bigger question is - if the client wants his/her tax payments and estimated tax payments to be withdrawn from their bank account on the due date, which date will that be? April 18 or May 15? It looks like we can change the tax due payment date by overriding it on Screen 3 but I don't see anywhere in the program to override the first estimated tax payment date.

I sincerely hope that Lacerte will come through with the changes that we need to prepare an accurate return for our clients. As far as I'm concerned, that's their only job.

[SFSTaxPrep]

Imscpa,

The Due Date for the impacted counties, will now be May 15.

Unless Lacerte makes a change, you cannot actually override it on Screen 3, to be later than April 18.  It will not allow you to enter a date later than the Due Date of the Return, and won't take any Extension into account.  You can see that if you attempt to enter a date later than 4/18/23 for the payment to be made.

[lmscpa]

Thank you SFSTaxPrep.

I've been using Lacerte for many years and I've never had to use that override so I was not aware of that limitation. I guess I would have found out that I can't do it eventually. Now I know in advance that I can't and I thank you for that.

I'm very disappointed in Intuit if they do not provide us with a tax program that is correct.