We are currently undergoing e-file testing with the IRS for the 2014 voluntary year. We wanted to go through the 2014 testing process because we believe that the 2015 testing process will go much smoother if we complete the 2014 testing. The 2015 testing begins November 2nd, 2015.
What we have found with the testing process is that the IRS is not prepared to handle the issues that are encountered in an expeditious manner. There is no telephone assistance provided - if you call them, they will tell you to submit your questions via email. And if you send an email, you may wait days before you get a reply which typically says they need more time to research your questions. In some cases we've waited more than a month for a reply to questions.
Here is a reply that I received today. My question was I suspect fairly simple, but obviously, they don't do the easy ones first. Here is their reply:
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Hi John,
Thank you for submitting your inquiry to the AIR Mailbox. Additional research is needed before we can respond to your inquiry. We will provide you with a response within seven business days.
Regards,
AIR Mailbox Team, dab
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The e-file testing is more of the same. If you run into a problem when attempting to submit your XML data, you have to email them and explain the issue you encountered and wait for a reply.
Understandably, this is a completely new e-filing system and there are issues that the IRS needs to resolve in order to make this process smoother. It appears that they may have not have allowed enough time to get transmitters certified before the year-end rush. When you take into account that many companies have not even started to find a solution to meeting these reporting requirements, we are bogged down with trying to finish up the e-filing option in our software and answering many questions regarding the process that we have not been able to get answers to ourselves.
This should all get resolved during the next few months because on January 1, 2016, you can being e-filing.
