Virginia estimated payments must be electronic

[Greta]

If over $2500, Virginia won't accept checks as of July 2021. My elderly clients rebelled, they are not online savvy, are suspicious of online transactions. One 90+ yr old client just got an under-estimated penalty even though she mailed four checks in a timely fashion. Was she charged a penalty because she paid by (over $2500) check? A Form 760C was included in her return to negate an underpayment penalty. Does Proseries have online estimated payments for Virginia that I can do for her?

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

If yu didnt see a place to schedule the ES payment s in the VA ES worksheet, then you're out of luck...you would have had to schedule them at the time of filing anyhow.

CA makes it super easy to schedule payments on their website, does VA have this convenience on theirs?

[BobKamman]

But also as of July 1, 2021, Virginians were allowed to have up to an ounce of marijuana on them and grow up to four cannabis plants in their homes. So just tell your clients to chill out. Can you imagine – something can be perfectly legal in one place, and then go a few miles across a state line and it’s a felony. What a country!

Have you checked the dates that the checks were cashed? How much was still owed when the return was filed? My guess is that something else is going on here – the commonwealth waived the requirement, when it cashed those checks. On the other hand, the new governor may figure he doesn’t need political support from geezers.

[Greta]

$1400 was still owed, but since the prior's year liability was covered, there should not be a penalty. Proseries calculated $0 on Form760C.  I also thought that as long as the post mark was timely, there was no penalty, though this client sent out checks a week early each. I have written a letter, and will see if it garners a response. Virginia is rather aggressive in sending out these underpayment penalties, for any tax return that owes more than a whopping $150.

[Greta]

I live in a county that is bright red, so the new governor has 75% support here. But I agree that our country is getting to be a patchwork of varying state laws, chaotic & confusing.

[BobKamman]

It was a patchwork of state laws back when my ancestors left Fauquier County for a blue state, but that situation was eventually resolved.  Mostly.  

[IRonMaN · Accepted solution]

But all of that patchwork gets straightened out once the Supreme Court gets it.  But then again, a court that rules one day that a state has no right to set laws about guns follows up the next day saying that the state has all the power to set its own rules about a woman's rights, maybe creates its own patchwork.  Justice might be blind but it is evidently very political. 

[BobKamman]

"No matter whether the Constitution follows the flag or not, the Supreme Court follows the election returns".

--Martin J. Dooley, 1901, fictional Irish immigrant bartender created by American journalist and humorist Finley Peter Dunne.  

But of course the election returns don't follow the public opinion polls.  That's a problem when turnout is only 67% of eligible voters.  

[PATAX]

Greta, check to see if they will accept a certified bank check or cashier's check.

[Greta]

My client told me she handed her quarterly $3500 checks to the county Commissioner of Revenue, and they accepted them, gave her stamped receipts.  But the city Commissioner of Revenue refused anything over $2500. I don't think a certified check would be any different. They want it done electronically, period. But being a non-techie senior myself, it's daunting to sign up online; and my list of passwords and PINs is a mile long already. I personally ask that my RMD go totally to cover taxes, and try to nudge my clients somehow away from doing estimated taxes. They are a hassle. But this client has all her income from investments.

[Greta]

I am grieving for our country. This Supreme Court seems to have been fraudulently installed.

[PATAX]

A certified bank check or cashier's check is guaranteed, I.E. the cash funds have been deposited. The last time I checked a Federal Reserve Note states that it is legal tender for all debts public and private.

[Greta]

When I do my own estimated payments I always send a personal check -- to keep track of the fact that it arrived and was cashed and I had proof of that. With a cashier's check I would have no proof that the funds were received.

[PATAX]

I use personal checks too. But some entities will accept certified checks or cashier's checks, in lieu of electronic payment, but will not accept personal checks, and that is why I brought that up. By the way, you can call the bank to see if a certified check or cashier's check was cashed. And since most banks do not send you your canceled personal checks back, or photocopies of it, do you really know who cashed that check?

[BobKamman]

What happens if someone tries to pay $2,000 twice instead of $4,000 once?  Does the clerk have real-time access to all payments made on the account, and for which quarter they were applied?  There once was a time when IRS revenue officers would require monthly ES payments from delinquents with a long history of recidivism.  

How much is the penalty rate in Virginia?  If it's the same as IRS, 3% until recently, your client is a poor investor if she hasn't been making more than that with her own funds.  Right there in Virginia, Altria pays a dividend of more than 6%.  (Yes, I know, that's a pre-tax yield.)  

[Greta]

I too suggested to clients to split up their estimated payments so each check is under $2500, and that worked. Virginia's interest charge is 2% more than IRS's, so it may be 7% now, and Virginia allows a minuscule $150 owed, anything over that is vigilantly penalized.