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.

[SFSTaxPrep]

Nothing but excuses.  Lacerte could make the changes if they wanted to.  When the IRS instituted changes during the Covid pandemic, they put check boxes to apply certain provisions to the Tax Returns.

The IRS is specifically allowing Extensions to be filed by MILLIONS of Californians, on or before May 15, yet Lacerte won't adjust their software to account for this fact?  This, in itself is a joke, and combined with all the other issues including Penalties which will continue to be reflected, and the requirement to have payments made by April 18th, when the IRS & CA have both stated they can be made until May 15, is going to now create blowback from my clients, who I have told they had until May 15 to pay any Balance(s) Due.

[IntuitGabi]

Thanks for your insights @lisaFTC I'm sure your comment will be helpful to others. 

@CMcCullough @SFSTaxPrep 
I'm reviewing these comments, thanks for taking the time to share your concerns as I'm sure others have the same questions as you. I'll let you know if I get anymore feedback. 

[SFSTaxPrep]

I find it difficult to believe, that with all the technology and programming that goes into the Lacerte software, it is not possible to have a fix or work around present, so that the Preparer can indicate those Taxpayers who qualify for the relief, and have it provided.  We're not talking about a few Taxpayers, we're talking about Every Taxpayer in GIANT counties like Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Marin, San Diego, Riverside, Sacramento, etc.

If the IRS took it upon themselves to grant this Automatic 1 Month Filing Extension, to so many, they should have planned on making adjustments to their E-Filing system, to be able to process Extensions filed between April 19th & May 15th, as provided by their own Notice.  It is utterly irresponsible to put out a news release saying that these Millions of Taxpayers can file an Extension until May 15, and then when those Taxpayers rely on that advice, they'll be met with a system that won't allow such a LEGAL & TIMELY Filing.

I'm just a lowly CPA, but here is how I would have resolved the problem, if I were a technician at Lacerte:

1. Resolve the Underpayment Penalty issue associated with missing the January 17th Estimate.

2. Resolve the March 15 Due Date & Extension issue associated with S-Corporations & Partnerships.

3. Resolve the Tax Returns Electronic Payment issue associated with S-Corps & Partnerships.

4. Resolve the Tax Returns Electronic Payment issue associated with Individuals, to allow payments to be withdrawn up until May 15.

5. Resolve the 1st Quarter 2023 Estimates issue, to allow payments to be withdrawn up until May 15.

6. Resolve the Extension issue associated with Individuals, Corporations & Trusts to allow Extensions E-Filing until May 15.

7. Resolve the Penalty & Interest issue associated with S-Corps, Partnerships, Individuals, Corporations & Trusts, to assess No Late Penalties/Interest for Returns filed by May 15.

Yes, a lot of work to undertake, but we're talking about Millions of Taxpayers in the most populous state in America.  40 Million People, making up 12% of America's population, and a large majority of them fall under these provisions.

[abctax55]

"....who I have told they had until May 15 to pay any Balance(s) Due."

AND so has every single news source in the State of CA.   It's not like the clients are in the dark about it.  

So, our choice is to spend a lot of time overriding (I haven't tried to yet, but I'm sure it's a PITA/time consuming process), or to blame it on the software.  Which tends to lead to doubt about our competency, or the accuracy of the software in the eyes of our clients.  

NOT a professional *look*, and I'm pretty sure the cost of Lacerte is in the "professional" cost category.  One reason I could never switch to Drake is the presentations are third rate (in my eyes anyway).

[SFSTaxPrep]

One other thing.  I have plenty of clients who like to wait until the last minute before filing their Taxes, and the last second before making payments due on their Taxes.  Now that they are aware that they have until May 15 to file an Extension, or to make a Payment, you can rest assured that many of them are going to want to take full advantage of that, and not let the IRS have their money 1 day before they are required to.

They are not going to appreciate me telling them that they have to pay the $5,000 they owe, by April 18, simply because my software or the IRS system, is not advanced enough to allow payment until the actual May 15 due date.  And since the whole idea of using Lacerte software, is to make things easier on me, I shouldn't have to make a note of several Returns that I need to manually make payments for via the IRS/CA websites on May 15th, because the software won't allow it.

[sfmeliss]

Lacerte needs to change this because electronically paying past original April deadline is not possible.  

[Strongsilence-CPA]

I'd be stunned but this is the company that did paid $141 million in fines.

And so a smaller amount, maybe 50K?, for programming and developer time and costs to change to May 15 isn't viewed as an investment by Intuit. It's disappointing but not unexpected.

Intuit to pay $141 mln to settle TurboTax deception claims

FTC Sues Intuit for Its Deceptive TurboTax “free” Filing Campaign

[Holly_Webb_CPA]

As far as the letter, what you do is go into screen 5.1 and enter your own override on due date of return and state due date. Still trying to figure out if I can update letter to say that IRA contributions are also not due until May 15, but honestly these agencies are doing such a bad job at their regular work I plan to file by the normal due date, if possible. 

[amec]

That does not solve the problem of having the amount withdrawn from the client's account for a balance due return. If it isn't due until May 15 and the client doesn't want to pay until May 15, we shouldn't have to hold a return to e-file it on May 15 to have the withdrawal date be correct.

[SFSTaxPrep]

I believe the IRS Online Payment site will allow you to schedule a payment for a specific future date.  But again, it shouldn't fall to the preparer to have that extra step, when Lacerte could put in a patch to allow it.