How to find non-ascii characters in a file?

May 3rd, 2017 No comments

The IRS only likes ASCII characters.  ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The first 128 characters are all the characters from your keyboard.  The lower and upper case letters, digits and extra characters like !@#$% and so on.  Examples of non-ascii characters are é, ö or ĉ and more.  Anything with an accent […]

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ACA: How to code section 16 for employees who did not enroll in coverage

February 21st, 2017 No comments

The key to coding section 16 is understanding that it is directly related to the codes that reside in section 14 (Offer of coverage). If you use the code 1A in section 14 as your offer of coverage, you are reporting to the IRS that you are offering coverage that is affordable because it is […]

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ACA: How can I efile tax year 2015 data in tax year 2016?

February 20th, 2017 No comments

We are currently in tax year 2016. Many clients have approached us to efile tax year 2015 originals and corrections. This is more challenging then I originally expected but the process is easy in hindsight.  We called and emailed the IRS to attain the below steps and I have successfully efiled tax year 2015 data […]

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ACA Software: Can I delete a file which has been Accepted or Accepted With Errors?

February 20th, 2017 No comments

No, there is not a way at this time to delete accepted ACA transmissions.  You can efile a correction.

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Form 1098-T for 2016 : Student’s Taxpayer Identification Number

January 18th, 2017 No comments

Colleges and universities use IRS Form 1098-T to report amounts relating to qualified tuition and related expenses. The IRS imposes a penalty per record for incorrect or a missing taxpayer identification number for every tax form except IRS Form 1098-T. The new law reads: “No penalty shall be imposed under section 6721 or 6722 solely […]

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Social Security Number (SSN) Masking

January 6th, 2017 No comments

Social Security Number (SSN) masking is encouraged and one of the best ideas the IRS has come up with. Filers can replace the first 5 digits of a Taxpayer Identification Number or TIN with an X or *. An example would be ***-**-1234 or XXX-XX-1234 You can mask social security numbers (SSN), employer identification numbers […]

1099 Software: Other than the presentation of the number on the actual form mailed out, does the hyphenation of the TIN number matter when filing?

January 5th, 2017 No comments

Yes.  The TIN and TIN TYPE are efiled to the IRS.  If the TIN has 1-hyphen or dash, then its an EIN and that TIN TYPE is transmitted along with the TIN.  If the TIN has 2-hyphens, then the TYPE is SSN.  And if the TIN has no hyphens, the TIN TYPE is unknown.

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1099 Software: How can I print multiple lines for a name or an address?

November 25th, 2016 5 comments

The vertical pipe or | represents carriage return. Lets consider this example: National Software Incorporated DBA 1099FIRE 7 North Pinckney Street, Suite 240 If you type or import: National Software Incorporated DBA 1099FIRE 7 North Pinckney Street, Suite 240 The name and address will print as National Software Incorporated DBA 1099FIRE 7 North Pinckney Street […]

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1099 Software: How can I convert to PDF?

November 25th, 2016 No comments

You need a PDF print driver in order to convert to PDF.  There are lots and lots of free PDF print drivers on the web.  Download and install one.  In the 1099 software, import in your data and go to File/Print.  Select the pages you want to print and hit Ok.  Then a box will […]

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1099 Software: How can I print Form 1096?

November 25th, 2016 6 comments

There are 3 ways where you can print Form 1096. File/Print.  Import in your data from excel or type in your data.  Go to File/Print or Print Preview and you should see this: Put a check in Form 1096 and hit Ok and try printing.  The software will automatically calculate the totals and number of […]

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