Confused: IRS Announces Business Modernized E-file Shutdown

[itonewbie]

According to the latest announcement from Intuit, the IRS is due to shut down e-filing for business returns on Dec 21.  This is many days earlier than the Dec 26 shutdown announced by the IRS earlier this month.  Just did a quick search on the Internet but didn't find anything new...  Perhaps Intuit knows something we don't or have I misunderstood Intuit's announcement this morning?

[IRonMaN]

I was scratching my head over that one too.  Unfortunately, I was using my ACME head scratcher and my head is bleeding profusely as I type this.

[itonewbie]

I'm a bit luckier - but only because I'm the glass-half-full kinda guy.  I scratched my head on this one too this morning and now I see a small bald patch on my head.  Well, at least I'm not bleeding like you. 😆

[itonewbie]

@Intuit_Matt B  Could you please clarify what the announcement this morning is about so that users can get prepared if the shutdown date has indeed changed?  Thanks!

[Intuit_Matt B]

Absolutely! You guys are correct that the official IRS shutdown is on Dec 26th. The communicated date of December 21st is specifically for the ProSeries experience.

This date was likely chosen to adjust for the holidays

[itonewbie]

@Intuit_Matt B Folks will likely want to know why, especially given the short notice, and it would help to clarify the discrepancy as others are probably as confused as us reading the announcement without any context.

[abctax55]

I agree.

The IRS deadline is the *important* one; if Intuit wants us to file earlier than the IRS deadline they need to explain that rationale.  Their attempt to override the IRS date needs to be justified.  Please don't micromanage our practice for us; don't treat us like kids.  We are tax professionals.

[abctax55]

"This date was likely chosen to adjust for the holidays"

@Intuit_Matt B   -  Then *tell* us that; you should realize most all of us get info directly from the IRS Alerts; when Intuit arbitrarily picks a different date it's confusing.

[abctax55]

@IRonMaN - you have plenty of ACME bandages, right?

[itonewbie]

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@abctax55 wrote:

"This date was likely chosen to adjust for the holidays"

@Intuit_Matt B   -  Then *tell* us that; you should realize most all of us get info directly from the IRS Alerts; when Intuit arbitrarily picks a different date it's confusing.

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Since when has holidays gotten in the way of tax filing when push comes to shove?  Never knew holiday was a consideration.  And shouldn't that be a decision to be made by tax pros and their clients?

Interesting also that this will only affect ProSeries users and (thankfully) not those who use Lacerte/PTO.

The announcement without any context and explanation is really confusing.

[TaxGuyBill]

My guess: 

Employees are taking time off for Christmas.  Intuit doesn't want to be responsible if something on their end doesn't work and there aren't any employees around to fix it.

[TaxGuyBill]

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@itonewbie wrote:

Interesting also that this will only affect ProSeries users and (thankfully) not those who use Lacerte/PTO.

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Does Lacerte/PTO have an official Intuit announcement for the cut off date?  Or are you just assuming it is the 26th?

[itonewbie]

@TaxGuyBill  Haven't seen any announcement for Lacerte/PTO.  I'm just going by the statement from @Intuit_Matt B but I may be reading too much into it.

The communicated date of December 21st is specifically for the ProSeries experience.

[TaxGuyBill]

The "communicated date" is for ProSeries.  That just means Intuit hasn't communicated that the 21st is the date for Lacerte and PTO yet.   LOL.  🙂

[IRonMaN]

The early date was selected because of the holiday.  Evidently Intuit was going for the Twelve Days of Christmas, but programming ended up messing up and came up a little short of 12 days.

Never being one to miss out on an excuse to play high quality music here, I'm not going to pass on  this chance eh.  But I do have to run, my ACME bandages seem to make my head bleed worse than before I put them on.  Good day, eh!

Twelve Days of Christmas performed by Bob and Doug McKenzie - YouTube

[Dalip B]

Why would Proseries shut 5 days prior ?

For individual MEF, Proseries stopped accepting returns only 3 hours prior to the IRS deadline.

Are you sure you got the date right ?

Drake sent a note that they will be shutting on Dec 26.

[dkh]

@Intuit_Matt B   It is NOT acceptable for Intuit/ProSeries to cut 5 days from our allotted time to e-file business returns.    I'd love for my time off for the holidays to start on December 21st but the reality is I have a business to run.  I need my tax program to be available to me thru the dates IRS has allowed for e-filing business returns.         

[IntuitAustin]

Hi all, to clear up any confusion, we updated the language on this News & Updates post. 

In preparation for the December 26th IRS Shutdown, ProSeries will stop accepting returns beginning on December 21st, 2020 in order to prepare the system for the upcoming Tax Year 2020 Filing Season. Any TY18 or TY19 returns submitted after 9 A.M. PST will be held in a 'Received by Intuit' status until the IRS re-opens business filing.

[IRonMaN]

I'm kinda thinking the confusion was related to "why that date" rather than  "what is the date".  Personally, I don't care.  I have one return that could possibly be affected, but I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over it.  But for some folks that want to get some returns out the door, that really is mind boggling that Intuit would shut down that early.  Some of us in the trenches do take time off for Christmas but I don't think many of us realized that evidently due to COVID, Christmas had grown from one day to almost one week.  

[abctax55]

Yeah, I'm with Jeff.

An explanation of the *why*  Intuit thinks knocking off five days earlier than the official IRS date is acceptable is what the users (the ones that PAY for it to be available) want to hear.   

[IntuitAustin]

Thank you for your candid feedback about the deadline, we brought your feedback to the engineering team and we've made some modifications to our timeline.

Rather than beginning to hold returns on the 21st, we will begin holding business returns on December 23rd @ 2 P.M. PST, instead. 

[dkh]

@IntuitAustin   - Thank you for listening.  Thank you for the timeline modification.

[IRonMaN]

Candid is my middle name.  Well, actually it is Wiley Ecandid Coyote, but the "E" is silent.

It is pleasantly surprising to have someone at Intuit actually listen to us - thanks!

[rbynaker]

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@TaxGuyBill wrote:

The "communicated date" is for ProSeries.  That just means Intuit hasn't communicated that the 21st is the date for Lacerte and PTO yet.   LOL.  🙂

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Like a lot of things 2020, this is a moving target!  This is now updated to be 12/23/20 2pm PST for all three Intuit tax platforms (ProSeries, Lacerte, PTO).  So it looks like Bill had the best crystal ball answer with "Intuit hasn't communicated that yet."

[itonewbie]

This will be a pleasant surprise (pleasant being silent, I suppose) to Lacerte/PTO users, especially since there's less than one week to go before the shutdown.