What is ProSeries thinking?

[Dummer19]

Good thing I have hard copy of the returns AS I ORIGINALLY PREPARED AND FILED THEM!!!

So ProSeries has changed my originally prepared returns that involve the $10200 change in taxable unemployment benefits.  How can they do that!  It is not their right to change my clients' returns!  That is my right and responsibility.   I am as angry and outraged as I can be...

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Anytime theres a program update that makes changes to computations, the next time you open that return, you'll see the updated figures.

You should also see in the list of Forms in Use a form titled Original Amts that will show you whats changed.

You can lock your client file after its been Efiled/Accepted to avoid this, but if you ever unlock it the change will occur.

[abctax55]

Lock your returns - that's the whole point.

How else could updates work?  Once the law changes, the software must be changed/updated to reflect the new law.  One can't continue to process current returns using "old" laws.

The issue is caused, mainly, by retroactive tax law changes in the middle of filing season.  

[IRonMaN]

How angry and outraged would you be if they never updated their software for tax law changes?  This is just another reason why folks need to keep a paper or pdf copy of a return once it is finished.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN always a good idea to have a paper copy in addition to flash drive copy... It only takes a couple more minutes and it may come in handy one day...

[IRonMaN]

I'm a paper person.  Other folks can go paperless if they so choose.  But when the next vicious polar polar vortex hits like it did Texas this year, I'll be fine.  I can start burning old tax returns for heat.  What are those poor paperless people going to do when the utilities go dead?  Will they try burning computer hard drives?

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN 👍 a few years ago at a tax seminar the instructor asked the attendees  how many  have a paperless office?... Only a few people raised their hands out of maybe forty or so people... I think it is more prevalent with the larger CPA firms...

[abctax55]

I have paper for the current year, plus the prior two.

I have PDF's for at LEAST 7 years.

I have scanned copies of organizer/workpapers/tax return for at LEAST 7 years.

Three year old stuff gets shredded annually ( we try to make a party out of it... 🙂

Yep, I'm old.

TWICE having "old, really old" stuff in paper or scanned format has been very beneficial to folks in a divorce.

[mdtao31]

You are so right, the irs paid me a house call several years back

and asked to see paper copies of returns filed

thankfully i had themALWAYS KEEP TOTAL COPY of

clients return

regards, LARRY

stay safe

[Dummer19]

Updates to the software should not actually change a return that has already been filed and accepted.

We change returns, ProSeries changes software!  I never have and never will authorize a software provider to change returns that have already been filed.  But they did it anyway.  I do not get it.  What am I missing?

[Dummer19]

Again, updating software is not the same as changing a return that has already been filed.

[dkh]

If a return you prepared is now INCORRECT due to tax law changes why wouldn't you want the software to change the return ?   How do you propose this process work ?  

[Skylane]

"".... is not the same as changing a return that has already been filed."

The software is not the tax return. The software allows you to produce a tax return. Perhaps it would be nice if Intuit automatically produce a copy of the return 'as filed' but they do not.

We fought w/ Intuit for years to get a locking feature and they provided it. Personally, I don't use it.

I change the properties in all my files (generally before each tax season but you can easily do it on an individual basis) to read only.  If there is a software change when you go into the file it you'll see it (and the notification), but can't save it.

edit  As most others, I also save a pdf copy of all returns as filed 

[Dummer19]

I appreciate your response, but it still seems to miss the mark.  Yes, as I stated previously, changing the software should not be the same as changing the tax return, and I said that because that is exactly what ProSeries did, they changed my returns.! It is fine with updating the software, that is part of the $1000's we must pay for it.  We expect updates.  But what I do not expect, and do not want to accept, is ProSeries actually modifying a previously filed and accepted tax return.  I do not see how this is even ethical on their part.  They have no-one's permission to change a return...change the software all you want, but do NOT change my tax returns.  That is what amended returns are for...or so I thought.

I have always kept pdf and paper of all my returns for decades.  Thank goodness, since now I will have to manually override and restore the ProSeries altered returns to their previous "as filed" condition.  Why should I have to spend this extra time undoing what they should not have done in the first place?

[IRonMaN]

Why are you going to go back into the returns and change them?  The IRS is going to change them to those numbers so when the dust all settles you will have returns that agree with what the IRS will eventually have on file.

[PATAX]

@Dummer19 I understand what you are saying my friend... You have paper and PDF copies of the original returns that you prepared so you are okay with that... Like Iron Man said why would you change the returns on your computer that have been updated to what the IRS has?.... The 2021 Pro Series software may need those correct/updated numbers for computations next year.... just my opinion..

[Dummer19]

because I want the return that I originally filed to remain in HomeBase  as filed, unchanged by IRS or by ProSeries or anyone other than me...until I change it and with a new file name.

Thx for your input though!

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

---

@Dummer19 wrote:

because I want the return that I originally filed to remain in HomeBase  as filed, unchanged by IRS or by ProSeries or anyone other than me...until I change it and with a new file name.

Thx for your input though!

---

So LOCK the file after you Efile it, it will remain exactly as you filed it.  BUT if an update made changes to the tax laws, those WILL be implemented once you unlock the return.

[Dummer19]

Thank you, Lisa, but don't you think WE should be the ones to change our returns, actively, by choice, not by ProSeries.

So, to me, all returns should be locked automatically unless WE unlock them.  Thereby allowing ProSeries to change something.

I just do not get the thought process...and never will.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Beating a dead horse here.....Im out.

[Anonymous]

I just got a letter from the IRS that is fining a 990 client a lot of money for filing "late."  Of course I filed an extension on May 7, a week before the May 15 deadline for that company.  But I go back and look at ProSeries to prove it and ... lo and behold, it's not there.  My Electronic Filing Client Status History says the 1st Extension Marked for EF on 5/7.  Then it says "1st Extension Unmarked for EF" on JULY 26.  That is not what I did.  I marked the return for extension and filed the extension and depended on ProSeries not to mess with my tax returns and make things vanish.  This is going to cost me a couple of thousand dollars since I can't prove I filed that extension.   This on top of changing my returns that already recognized the unemployment deduction,  by doubling it.  And I was told it was my own fault because I didn't "lock my returns."  Why do I have to lock my returns away from ProSeries???  

[dkh]

Try doing Update Acknowledgment Status.   If an extension was filed you should be able to retrieve.

Edit to add  -    I print the efiling logs when transmitting and receiving acknowledgments.  Any chance you did ? 

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

I print out the 9325 after I Efile an extension....does the 9325 have the extension box checked?

EDIT: I missed 990 part, no 9325 in there I dont think, sorry.

[PATAX]

They have made a lot of Errors concerning 990 returns... Don't give up...

[IRonMaN]

Whenever an extension or return is accepted, I print a client history report to show that the return was accepted.  I don't trust Intuit, I don't trust the IRS, and most days I don't trust myself, so I print the reports so I can sleep better at night.

[Anonymous]

No 9325 in a 990.   Thanks for trying, though.