Efiling 7004 Rejection Number of W2 Employees

[patrickfields]

Why are my 7004s being rejected for not having the number of employee W2s entered?

[taxiowa]

It is something every corporation should know.  After all why would the IRS trust the corporation to file an honest return, let alone an extension if they can't verify how many employees they had.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

I think the point is, why would it need to be included just to file an extension?

[patrickfields]

Obviousy we would know that at time of filing the return. It's always been needed for that. But why would we need it to file an extension and how would i know how many W2s for a client who hasn't provided any information yet? Either you are being obtuse or didn't read the question.

[dascpa]

I previously posted, this year Fed and multiple states require -0- errors before you can file an extension.  It takes a 2-minute deal 20 minutes.  No clue why this changed this year.  Is it P.S. or the government agencies.

It's easier to use the tax agencies website to file extensions.

[IRonMaN]

Just curious, can you ignore that nonsense and still file the extension if you disable error checking?

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

---

@IRonMaN wrote:

Just curious, can you ignore that nonsense and still file the extension if you disable error checking?

---

I asked someone this question over in the PS FB group and they said NO , that doesn't work either.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

---

@patrickfields wrote:

Obviousy we would know that at time of filing the return. It's always been needed for that. But why would we need it to file an extension and how would i know how many W2s for a client who hasn't provided any information yet? Either you are being obtuse or didn't read the question.

---

I dont think that W2 info gets sent with the extension, its just a programming issue that it thinks it needs something in that box.  

I feel like this happened last year too.  I wait till the first week of March to send extensions for my few entity returns, I dont remember it being an issue for me last year....but maybe my memory isnt that good anymore.

[IRonMaN]

I think the issue was there last year too --------- at least for a little while.  I just went to my random number table and picked a number.  Sometimes Intuit puts up walls that really don't need to be there.

[dascpa]

Like the driver's license item.  I honestly don't believe the IRS has ever looked at that item and it's just another added pain.

[rbynaker]

---

@dascpa wrote:

Like the driver's license item.  I honestly don't believe the IRS has ever looked at that item and it's just another added pain.

---

The IRS doesn't use this.  It's mandatory for some states.  In earlier years I had some larger VA refunds held because it wasn't filled out (it was "optional" at the time, but some how "optional" became "optional . . . unless you actually want us to send you your refund.")

[BobKamman]

@dascpa  Still takes only two minutes to mail IRS a single sheet of paper.  And I'm doing my small part to keep down IRS unemployment.  

[patrickfields]

Maybe 2 seconds to mail, plus a stamp, plus an envelope, plus 2 hours responding to the IRS saying your 1120S is late because they don't have your extension on file.....

[BobKamman]

Hasn't happened yet in 45 years, but there's always a first time.  And a response would take 15 minutes.  

And I assume you don't save your acks because you know IRS would never lose them, right?  

[patrickfields]

No way im printing and mailing 950 7004's thats idiotic. Good luck with that.

Yes, we've had paper mailed 7004s and returns get lost, or even delivered and never processed and notices received for late filing, then had to call the IRS and resolve. Definitely not a 2 minute process. 

Must less of a chance of my e-filed extension not going through versus mailed. I feel bad for your admin staff if you mail all your extensions in. Maybe it's not bad if you only do a few tax returns a year.

We are paperless so we save all acks to pdf in the client file with extensions and tax returns. The chance.

[BobKamman]

I feel bad for your admin staff having to contact all those clients just to find out how many employees they have.  

[dascpa]

950 entities that are not complete by 03/15 or 04/15?  Wow, that's a huge number.  Typically the larger firms don't use ProSeries but a more expensive and non-Intuit package.  I'm impressed.

[IRonMaN]

I'm guessing he is related to Jim and probably cranks out 25  a day 😜