EFTPS will require multi-factor Authentication

[PATAX]

@Channell6 I am not sure if they will. It seems like this is an internet electronic transmission issue. I had a broker that would not email to me clients data (client gave them permission) because of security issues, but they did fax it to me via telephone line. So apparently phone lines are more secure.

[PATAX]

@Just-Lisa-Now- you are right, it is getting ridiculous. 

[Jim-from-Ohio]

that is the million dollar question.. can we use our own.. our personal id.me for logging into varous clients eftps with their own pin and password. who wants to set the alarm clock for midnight to test it?

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

This is my one and only payroll client, I think Im just going to have to make him get a payroll company to take over at the beginning of the year, its just becoming too much hassle for me. 

EFTPS already has a PIN they sent by snail mail and a password (that oddly enough they dont make us change every so often like other places do), and you cant use it to fraudulently "get" any money, right?  You only use it to send IRS money, so why all the hassles, I just dont understand.

[dascpa]

Looking at all the posts, questions and comments I am shocked, bewildered and befuddled that OUR government would roll something out like this with no guidance to the businesses or practitioners at all.  Our government is usually SO good at informing us of their changes.  It's just - - weird.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

 I have been checking X/Twitter.. found a thread there but no one has the answer there either.. 

[IRonMaN]

@dascpa  - your sarcasm font doesn't seem to be working today😀

Let's all just plan on mailing checks to the IRS in protest for this nonsense.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

I have to do it for about 30 payroll clients.. I hope i do not need 30 id.me accounts (each client with their own).. if so i may just pay them via phone but i like to email the eftps.gov confrmations to clients so they record it in their system.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN I have had a headache all day. Haven't had one like this in years. These clowns could give a bottle of Tylenol a major headache.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

I am surprised I have not seen this issue brought up at the Tax Professionals of America fb page.  Lisa.. have you seen it there?

[Jim-from-Ohio]

Soon as I made the comment about the fb page I went to fb and see someone just started a thread there on the topic. 

[PATAX]

@Jim-from-Ohio they don't know about it Jim and many of them have taken a few days off after the October 16th deadline. If I did not receive that NSTP email yesterday then I wouldn't have known about it either. When they come back from their vacation and go to EFTPS then they will be in for a surprise. Oh by the way, that is why I try to belong to as many organizations as possible and try to buy as much tax reference material as possible, because there's always something like this when it's well worth the fees.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

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@Jim-from-Ohio wrote:

Soon as I made the comment about the fb page I went to fb and see someone just started a thread there on the topic. 

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That was me and someone else both started threads about it!

[JRC]

I am so glad I have people available besides myself to work on this. ME#1, ME#2, ME#3,Ect...

Without all these ME's, I don't think I would have survived all these changes these past 2-years.

And with all the available instructions to help, guide and teach me, I surely would not have survived.

NOT 😞 

TY

[PATAX]

@JRC Sole Proprietors and small firms have to network now. This is the only way we can keep abreast of everything.

[JRC]

@PATAX; so true I need to do that... I have been relying on all the ME's for too long now and have been biding my time till retirement.  I also need to say NO more often now. It seems the closer I get to Retirement the more Clients I am accumulating under my belt. 

[abctax55]

Yesterday was payroll day in my office; we pushed *hard* to get all deposits done (even the 11.15.23 ones, for monthly depositers.

Almost all FUTA deposits done too, and the ones not yet done technically can even wait until Jan 2024.

So my plan is to check by trying to do a FUTA deposit to see if there's an issue.  

Hopefully, this won't be as bad as it appears it might be.

[PATAX]

@abctax55 thanks a million for reminding us about that FUTA 940. I had a client that owed $497 through the third quarter, so technically he does not have to make the deposit since it is under $500. But I just went in now and made the $497 deposit, and whatever the balance due with the 940 return he can pay with the 940 return since it will be under $500. I also previously made all the October 941 deposits like you. I just have a couple weekly deposits that I'll have to do on Monday, and hopefully by then we'll know what's going on. If I have to telefile then I will. Thanks a lot I appreciate it, Dan.

[abctax55]

Dan, shall I send you a P.M with my banking info for that million 😂 

AND YVW for the reminder - especially since YOU are the one that brought this whole (potential) mess to our collective attention.

I have very few clients that go over the $ 500 FUTA amount, and they usually do it in the 1st or 2nd quarter.   I don't 'like' carrying it over from one quarter to the next (old habits, & all that) but it's OK to do so.... Anna

[dkh]

@Jim-from-Ohio    I talked with another accounting firm today regarding this new MFA for EFTPS.  She brought up an interesting issue - if she, as the owner, has the id.me account that is able to make payments for all her clients but wants employees to make these payments by using her id.me account - this leaves her personal tax information open to their scrutiny.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

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@dkh wrote:

@Jim-from-Ohio    I talked with another accounting firm today regarding this new MFA for EFTPS.  She brought up an interesting issue - if she, as the owner, has the id.me account that is able to make payments for all her clients but wants employees to make these payments by using her id.me account - this leaves her personal tax information open to their scrutiny.

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That MFA code will only be sent to her own phone/email so it would be a hassle to let someone else use it for any purpose and practically impossible for them to use it without your knowledge.

[dkh]

She was going to give them (the employees) her id.me account login for making the payments....   So how will her employees make payroll tax payments for the clients - each has to setup an id.me account?

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

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@dkh wrote:

She was going to give them (the employees) her id.me account login for making the payments....   So how will her employees make payroll tax payments for the clients - each has to setup an id.me account?

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I dont know, this is just going to be such a hassle for companies with employees that make these payments for other businesses, I have to guess theyve thought this through and have some kind of plan in place, they cant make it this hard to give them money!

[TaxGuyBill]

I don't do payroll (well, one client for one paycheck period a year, but that's a different story), but another forum several people said this change doesn't apply to "batch" processing.  I have no idea what that means, but it may be something that preparers should be aware of.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

I woke up about midnight.. i was going to try and log into eftps but I was so tired I just went back to bad.  I literally had dreams about this almost all night.. the dreams included many of the people from this board in the dream.. we were all in a huge room and we were all trying to get into the site.. a lady from the IRS or the EFTPS was there walking up and down the isles trying to help us.  It was really quite vivid and very detailed dream. It is now almost 6 am.  I may try and muster enough fortitude to try and log in but not quite yet. 

[Jim-from-Ohio]

6 am update.. went to efts.gov.. no sign of MFA yet.. was able to log into a client's account like i was going to schedule a tax payment.. logged back out. 

[IRonMaN]

Yup, I was able to log in too.  Maybe they got enough feedback that this wasn't such a great plan after all and have put it on the back burner for awhile.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

I sure hope so.. i quickly looked at the batch provider info and that looks really archaic

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Im going to log in when I get to he office and schedule my clients next 3 monthly payroll deposits, his 2 employees are salaried, so the deposits are always the same amount, just in case things go sideways in the next month!

[abctax55]

I just logged in the 'normal' way at the EFTPS website (all my clients have their own log-in credentials & specific passwords) and made a client's FUTA payment to be deducted on 10.31.23

All seems normal, for now... <w>

[PATAX]

This is one time when everyone will be happy if the IRS/EFTPS is backed up, let's say for about a decade or so.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

I logged in as normal too, scheduled the next 3 months for my one payroll client, his 2 employees are paid weekly the same amount, so it just depends on how many Fridays there are each month, easy enough to figure.   

With only 2 employees, I'll worry about FUTA in January, if all else fails he can send a check with the paper return.

[PATAX]

I just talked with a client on the phone who does her own 941 deposits. She just did a deposit today. She had absolutely no clue about the new MFA requirements coming. She was in shock too just like us, wondering why they plan to do this when we are sending them money.

[dkh]

Well, I think our hopes and dreams that the MFA wouldn't happen are going to be shattered.  I tried logging in to EFTPS at 10:30pm  - site says it's under maintenance.  It's now 12:30am - site says it's under maintenance.  Ughhhhhhh

[Jim-from-Ohio]

it is indeed live. the front page of eftps looks the same but if you click on make a payment the dreaded MFA page pops up.. ugh. i am going to see if i can log onto a client's account.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

Phew! I was able to get into my client's EFTPS using my own id.me.  I logged out and tried to get into  another client's account and I was able to do that also.  This is a really big thing as this makes it so much easier than getting each client their own MFA. 

[PATAX]

@Jim-from-Ohio Thanks Jim. Good luck.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

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@Jim-from-Ohio wrote:

Phew! I was able to get into my client's EFTPS using my own id.me.  I logged out and tried to get into  another client's account and I was able to do that also.  This is a really big thing as this makes it so much easier than getting each client their own MFA. 

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YAY!  Not sure how this make any of it more "secure" but whatever works!

[PATAX]

On another email based forum I received an email from an enrolled agent and he said he was redirected to sign into his ID.me account and then he was directly sent back to the EFTPS account. He said it was ok. But I don't think I have an id.me account, so hopefully that will not be a pain.

[Jim-from-Ohio]

I first got my id.me account for SSA BSO requirement.  It went ok i guess.. I recall having to upload a picture. 

[IRonMaN]

I just setup my own IDME account.  It's stupid, but not difficult.  Based on Rick's earlier post, I was waiting for the need to be waiving my drivers license in front of my computer, but it appears to be functional just using my name, rank, and serial number.

[IRonMaN]

And the client phone calls should start rolling in when they go to do their own EFTPS deposits😱

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN did you go directly to the ID me website to do this? Or did you go first to EFTPS and then redirected to id.me? Thanks.

[IRonMaN]

I went directly to their site.

[Taxtime3]

I assume this does not affect the batch processing application.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN Thanks Iron Man. I guess that's what I'll have to do here when I finish payroll tax returns

[Lisa Johnson]

Have you figured out a way to do your 30 clients?  We do 80 in my company, so I wanted to see how you are going to do this.   

[IRonMaN]

If you go to the EFTPS website, you don't see what you used to.  Instead, you have a choice of methods requiring some type of ID to get into the website.  Once you log in, you are back to seeing the same old EFTPS login screen that apparently allows you to enter you or your client's deposit.

[Lisa Johnson]

When I click on log in it redirects me to the new log in ways.  I do not have the ability to log in using my clients log in's.  How did you set this up?

[Jim-from-Ohio]

after you log in to through the MFA page it automatically directs you back to eftps