Self Employment Tax Deferral and Estimated Tax Computation Issue

[sromine]

I am wondering if anyone else has run into this scenario.  I have a Schedule C client for whom I entered the detail for the self employment tax deferral in the 2020 tax return.  However, the client did not qualify for the deferral because his tax refund was too large and there was nothing to defer.  The tax return as originally filed had correctly calculated 2021 suggested estimated tax based on the fact that this deferral was not included.  When I went back to the 2020 file months later during the 2021 filing season, a subsequent update must have triggered the estimated tax calculation to take into account the non-existent deferral.  I noticed that the 2021 estimated tax voucher amounts in the file had decreased by the potential deferred amount.  This seems to be a bug and thankfully only affected one client.  I think that there should be a way to "lock" the file after the tax return has been filed in order to prevent any changes to the file after the fact without manually "unlocking" it.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

You should have opened the 2020 return after you discovered that the deferral wasn't allowed (before transferring it into 2021) and corrected that mistake.  Then transferring it into 2021 the incorrect deferral situation wouldn't have even existed.

[sromine]

That wasn't my issue.  The 2021 estimated tax vouchers were correctly calculated as of the time the original tax return was filed.  Those vouchers did not take into account any deferral and the client correctly made these payments throughout the year.  It was when I reopened the 2020 file later that I noticed a discrepancy between what the client paid and what the software must have recalculated for the vouchers.  The software incorrectly revised the vouchers to incorporate a non-existent deferral.

[sjrcpa]

Annoying perhaps but essentially irrelevant since 2020 return was filed and, as you said, client paid the estimated tax amounts they were given.

Just ignore what changed in 2020 and move on. If it really bugs you, there must be a way to override those payments in the 2020 program.

[sromine]

Yes it is annoying that it was correct and then became incorrect with a subsequent update.  I'm just concerned that if it can happen with this, it can happen with something else.  That is why I would like to see a mechanism to lock the tax file after efiling similar to closing the books so that changes cannot be made to the file inadvertently.  The software that I use to file 5500s has such a mechanism and it would be nice if Proseries could also incorporate this.  I know that there is the "display changes" feature when a change is made to the original file, but that is only if the change affects the tax return itself.  It doesn't seem to be triggered if there is a change to the estimated tax vouchers.  I thought that it might be helpful to alert others to this specific issue. 

[Just-Lisa-Now- · Accepted solution]

You can lock a file once its been accepted and no updates will change it until you unlock it.

Top menu bar Tools > Lock Client

[sromine]

Ok I see it now in the Home Base view under Tools.  Thank you!  I'll do that for the ones that have been efiled.  I'm paranoid that something like this might happen again.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Just be aware, when the return is locked and you open it you may see weird errors that dont make sense and lots of worksheets entry screens wont open...once you unlock it, it will go back to normal.
Theres just lots of weird viewing glitches when theyre locked, so dont panic.

[sromine]

Thank you for the warning because I probably would have panicked lol