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The IRS Announces: No More Paper Coupons It’s Time to Learn How To Use EFTPS
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Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
It’s time for those taxpayers who are fighting the electronic age to step it up. The IRS today issued proposed Regs to discontinue the use of paper coupons as early as next year. If you try to send in a paper coupon after December 31, 2010, there wont be anyone at the Treasury Department to process it. More information about the proposed Regs is presented below:
Proposed Regulations Expand the Use of Electronic Payment System and Discontinue Paper Coupons Next Year
Consistent with a Financial Management Service initiative announced in April of this year, the IRS today issued proposed regulations to significantly increase the number of electronic transactions between taxpayers and the federal government.
The proposed regulations (REG 153340-09) would eliminate the rules for making federal tax deposits by paper coupon because the paper coupon system will no longer be maintained by the Treasury Department after Dec. 31, 2010. The proposed regulations generally maintain existing rules for depositing federal taxes through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).
Using EFTPS to make federal tax deposits provides substantial benefits to both taxpayers and the government. EFTPS users can make tax payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home or the office.
Deposits can be made online with a computer or by telephone. EFTPS also significantly reduces payment-related errors that could result in a penalty. The system helps taxpayers schedule dates to make payments even when they are out of town or on vacation when a payment is due. EFTPS business users can schedule payments up to 120 days in advance of the desired payment date.
Information on EFTPS, including how to enroll, can be found at EFTPS website or by calling EFTPS Customer Service at 1-800-555-4477.
Some businesses paying a minimal amount of tax may make their payments with the related tax return, instead of using EFTPS. More details regarding taxes required to be deposited using EFTPS, dollar thresholds and other specific requirements are in the proposed regulations.
Additional Information:
- Publication 4132, which explains the process of enrolling and paying via the Internet
- Publication 966, The Secure Way to Pay Your Federal Taxes for Businesses and Individuals
- Publication 4169, Tax Professional Guide to Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
- Publication 4320, EFTPS Toolkit, which contains PDF(s) and descriptions of EFTPS educational materials and their intended target audience, and is for use by tax professionals and financial institutions to assist in educating their clients on the benefits of EFTPS.
- Publication 4275, Express Enrollment for New Businesses
Electronic Payment Options Home Page
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Preparer Terror – It’s Real – How to Prevent It
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By Stacie Clifford Kitts CPA
A phenomenon affecting tax return preparers often proceeded by recurrent nightmares centered around tax return preparation. People experiencing Preparer Terror may exhibit the following symptoms:
- Extreme anxiety and temporary inability to remember simple tasks such as how to spell your name
- Being jolted from sleep accompanied by an overriding desire to run to the office
- Weight gain or if you’re lucky weight loss
- Constant fear that you are forgetting something – like what return was I working on, where did I put that piece of paper, who am I – ya know stuff like that.
Ways to prevent Preparer Terror:
- Set the proper level of client expectations.
Let your clients know the drop dead due date for receiving 100% of their tax documents. If I receive tax documents after my due date, I let the client know that I might not be able to file the return on time. I will try my best. I’ll even stay up all night. But there are only so many hours in a day. If your stuff arrives late so might your tax return.
- Evaluate your level of staffing.
If you have a tax practice, the notion is that you have some idea how long it takes to prepare a tax return. Um maybe not. Sometimes partners are so far removed from the daily prep grind that they have NO idea how long it should take a staff to prepare a return. The general rule for me is if I can prepare a return in 8 hours, a new staff may take 3 to 4 times that amount of time. So partners, listen to your staff when evaluating your staffing levels.
- Be organized.
Well duh, you say. Well ya this is a duh moment. When your mind isn’t working and you are on the verge of losing it, knowing how and where to find the information you need might save you. So if your administrative staff is responsible for filing stuff away, you had better make darn sure your processes, and procedures are being followed like their lives depend on it!
- Set clear expectations of your staff.
The other day I was visiting a CPA firm, it was pretty late at night, and there were partners and staff in the office working away. Then an extraordinary thing happened, the staff up and left before the partners.
In my day, leaving the office before the partners created a clear and present career danger. It just wasn’t done. I am all about work life balance, heck my kids grew up in my office. However, if you want to have some sort of lasting career in this industry – might I suggest that you get permission before leaving the office during busy time?
Making sure your staff understands what it really means to OWN a project and take responsibility for its completion is an important part of not only managing your firm but also helping to prevent Preparer Terror.
Related Articles
- National Society of Accountants Opposes Any Tax Preparer Exemptions from Proposed IRS Rules (eon.businesswire.com)
- New Rule Strengthens Tax Preparer Enforcement (eon.businesswire.com)
Stacie's Tax Stuff 