One Month Down, Two to Go!

Welcome, ExpressIRSFormssIRSForms users! This is the last January blog we have time for now that the first month of the 2015 filing season is drawing to a close. So what does that mean for the typical 1099, W-2, or ACA form filer?

For the Rest of January
Before January is completely behind us, make sure you’ve sent out your recipient forms for your 1099s and W-2s. The deadline to have these forms to your recipients is next Monday, February 1 (since January 31 is a Sunday). It’s a common misconception that your recipient forms only have to be postmarked by the deadline. But according to the IRS’s rules and regulations, you can be fined any time after the January 31 deadline (or, in this case, February 1) if a payee reports that they haven’t received their forms.

That’s why we’re recommending sending out your recipient forms by tomorrow or Friday (if you’re mailing them) to ensure they receive them by Monday.

Coming Up In February
During the month of February, there’s not much to do unless you’re either a) paper filing or b) getting a jump start on other forms due in March.

If you’re paper filing, you’ll need to have your 1099s and W-2s prepared and sent to the IRS by February 29, 2016. Remember if you have more than 250 of either form, however, that the IRS requires you e-file.

Looking Ahead to March
March 31, 2016 is the e-filing deadline for 2015 tax year 1099s and W-2s. March 31, 2016 is also the recipient deadline for 2015 ACA forms 1095-B and 1095-C. Normally, this deadline will be the same as the 1099 and W-2 recipient deadline, so don’t forget to send those out all at the same time next year.

Another deadline to keep in mind in March that you might not have been aware of is the March 15, 2016 Business Extension Form deadline. Form 7004 can be filed through our sister program, ExpressExtension, by businesses for a 5-6 month extension of time to file their tax returns. This is not an extension of time to pay any taxes owed, but it can get you a little more time to get everything in order to file.

If you need any help over the next two months, we’re here for you! Well, we’re here for you all year long, but we’re especially here for you during tax season. Just give us a call (704-839-2270) or send us a live chat Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. Or you can send us an email anytime at support@expressirsforms.com!

Read More »

The 1099 & W-2 Recipient Deadline is Just A Week Away

In the modified words of the late, great Robin Williams: Gooooood morning ExpressIRSFooorms!

Do you know what today is? Other than a Monday, of course. Today marks the start of the last week left to get your 1099s and W-2s to your recipients. The last day to have your recipient copies to your employees or payees is next Monday, February 1st.

The deadline is normally January 31st, but since that’s a Sunday, the deadline gets extended to the next business day.

It’s a common misconception that these forms need to be postmarked by the last day in January when they need to be in the hands of your recipients by that day. It’s important that you get the 1099s and W-2s to your recipients so they can accurately complete their 2015 tax returns by their deadline. If you don’t get your copies to your recipients by February 1st, you can be reported to the IRS and face steep penalties for every form not delivered.

There’s still time to e-file with ExpressIRSForms and have your forms sent to your recipients by our dedicated team. Just log in and file your forms, and from the checkout screen select the Postal Mailing option. But be sure to get your filings in soon: the postal system only works so quickly!

While you’re filing your 1099s and W-2s, why not get started on your ACA forms if you need to file those too? After this year, the recipient copies of Forms 1095-B and 1095-C will be due at the same time as the 1099s and W-2s, so it couldn’t hurt to practice getting them out there sooner rather than later.

If you have questions or need help in the e-filing process, just reach out to our friendly, US-based support team! We’re available by phone (704-839-2270) and live chat Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. We’re also available to take your questions 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »

ExpressIRSForms: The Features

If you’ve already started filing, you’re probably already familiar with some of the excellent features ExpressIRSForms has to offer. But if you’re still window shopping for your perfect 1099, W-2, and ACA e-filing match, allow us to share with you a few reasons why you’ve found the right website:

Live Support & Webinars
At ExpressIRSForms, we want you to have every opportunity to understand exactly what you’re filing with the IRS and why. That’s why we have a plethora of help text, how-to videos, online webinars, and live support options that cover 1099s, W-2s, ACA forms, W-9s, and e-filing in general. You can access our live support by phone (704-839-2270) or live chat Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, or by email 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com.

State Filing
For you 1099 and W-2 filers, we don’t just offer federal filing! If you’re required to file information returns with your state, you can more than likely do so through our program! We offer filing for 34 of the 37 states that require it, and we’re working on getting you those other five. Just enter in your state information and select the Federal and State Filing Package before you transmit, and your forms will be sent everywhere they need to go.

E-sign W-9 Free
Before you file your 1099s, W-2s, or ACA forms, do you need your payee’s tax identification number (TIN)? Lucky for you, ExpressIRSForms has just unveiled free e-signing for Form W-9. Your request will be sent securely via email to your payee(s); they’ll sign it electronically then email it back to you. Save time and paper with this simple process!

Postal Mailing
You decided to e-file for a reason: to not deal with paper forms! Deal with even fewer by selecting ExpressIRSForms’s Postal Mailing package on your checkout screen. Now instead of having to print and mail your recipient copies yourself, we’ll send them out for you by the next business day.

High Volume Filing Capabilities
While we certainly appreciate our small business clients, we want to make e-filing just as easy for the businesses who need to file hundreds or thousands of forms. That’s why we’ve made our program high-volume-filing friendly with features like our Bulk Upload, Postal Mailing, and Bulk Pricing Discounts!

Error Checks
As you’re filing, and before you transmit, with ExpressIRSForms, you’ll encounter a few error checks within the program. We’ve put these in place to make sure your forms are free of common mistakes and filed correctly the first time around.

Read More »

Words of Wisdom from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy MLK Day, ExpressIRSForms users! While a lot of you may be joining us from the comfort of a three-day weekend, the ExpressIRSForms office is up and running today to help you e-file your 1099s, W-2s, and ACA forms. So to honor the good doctor on his day, we’ve brought you some words of wisdom from him to carry you throughout your day and week.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

When you are right, you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable...Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

Whatever your life’s work, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Have a wonderful week ExpressIRSForms readers! For more of your regularly scheduled 1099, W-2, and ACA related blogs, tune back Wednesday. In the meantime, if you need any help with your e-filing, we’re here Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. by phone (704-839-2270) and live chat. We’ve also still got 24/7 email support going at support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »

4 Reasons You May Need to Amend Your 2014 Tax Return

Have you heard from the IRS about your 2014 tax returns? The IRS sent out a Tax Tip a few weeks ago that stated that some taxpayers might have paid more than they were required to pay, and they had a few reasons for why.

Some filers may have miscalculated their individual shared responsibility payment and overpaid, while others may have not been required to pay anything if they were exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirement.

If you didn’t claim an exemption from this requirement but were eligible to, or you overpaid the individual shared responsibility payment when you filed your taxes in 2014, you can fix it by amending your return.

These are the four examples of situations the IRS has given where you might want to seriously consider amending your 2014 return:

• You were exempt from the individual shared responsibility payment because you reported income less than the 2014 tax filing requirement.
• You were not required to make an individual shared responsibility payment because someone else claimed you as a dependent. 
• You reported a greater individual shared responsibility payment than required.
• You made an error in calculating your individual shared responsibility payment.

In some cases, you may be due a refund after your amended return is processed. You can amend your return using Form 1040X and by completing and attaching Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions.

For more tax and e-filing information, be sure to keep up with the ExpressIRSForms blog. And if you need any help in your e-filing, don’t hesitate to reach out to our friendly, expert support team. We’re available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. EST, by phone (704-839-2270) and live chat. We also offer ‘round the clock help at support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »

More on the W-9

The Cinderella story of the December ExpressIRSForms blogs was “E-Sign Form W-9 with ExpressIRSForms.” So since our readers are so interested in this form, we decided why not tell you all a little more about it?

The Process
To have your W-9 forms e-signed by your recipients through ExpressIRSForms is convenient and cost-effective. Simply sign up for your free ExpressIRSForms account, and from your Dashboard click “Request W-9.” Then, enter in all the payer information required (name, EIN, address, contact info) and the name and email address of each of your recipients. Next you’ll send your requests and wait for them to come back to you, completed and e-signed.

When your recipients receive your W-9 request, they’ll have the option to accept it, fill it out, and resubmit it, or reject it. We’ll alert you via email to keep you updated on the status of your requests, and you’ll have the option to choose how often you’d like to be alerted. We’ll either:

• send you an email every time a recipient completes or rejects a W-9 or
• send you an email once a day with a summary of your total, signed, and pending W-9 requests.

So now that we’ve told you a bit about the process, here are a couple of benefits to having your W-9s e-signed...

More Accuracy
Whether you’re filing Form 1099, Form W-2, or ACA forms, or signing a Form W-9, doing so electronically leaves far less room for error. Roughly 10-21% of paper filings are estimated to have common errors, whereas the IRS estimates a 1 in 200 chance for making the same errors when e-filing or e-signing.

E-Signing is FREE with ExpressIRSForms
Need we say more? Not only are you saving on paper and filing cabinet space when you e-sign, you’re saving money too! So what are you waiting for? Give it a try now, while there’s still time to get the information you may still need for your 1099s and W-2s.

And if you need any help, don’t hesitate to reach out to our friendly, expert support team here in Rock Hill, South Carolina. We offer phone (704-839-2270) and live chat support Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, and 24/7 email support through support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »

Welcome ETF Users!

We’ve spoken a lot lately on the ExpressTaxFilings blog about the ETF to EIRSF crossover happening this filing season. But, how rude of us: we have yet to welcome all of the loyal ExpressTaxFilings users to our new ExpressIRSForms site. Welcome, welcome!

Whether you were prepared for the switch or were surprised by logging into your ETF account to find yourself on another site, we want to assure you that ExpressIRSForms is every bit as committed to helping you quickly and easily e-file your information returns (we are the same team, after all).

With ExpressIRSForms, you still have access to Forms 1099-MISC, INT, DIV, & R, W-2 Forms, and the correction and extension forms available through ExpressTaxFilings. But that’s not all: we’ve also added e-filing for the Affordable Care Act forms 1095-B and 1095-C and (FREE) e-signing for Form W-9.

You also still have access to all of the great features that made ETF so user friendly, like the bulk upload, postal mail, and address book features. And remember part up there about us being the same team? With ExpressIRSForms, we offer the same friendly, expert customer service to help you with your e-filing.

We wish you all the best this year, and we’re glad you’re hanging with us as we go through these changes. As the 2015 tax filing season begins, if you find yourself needing help with any of your information returns, give us a call! We’re here Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. by phone at 704-839-2270 and live chat through our website. You can also get help outside of these hours by sending an email to support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »

The Affordable Care Act Forms Are Here!

We’ve talked and talked and talked about them, and they’re finally here! You can now e-file your Affordable Care Act forms through ExpressIRSForms.com!

And even bigger news (for us anyway): ExpressIRSForms is the first e-filing program to be authorized by the IRS for these forms. Although the deadlines for the ACA forms have been extended, you probably won’t want to procrastinate with these things. So why not go ahead and get started with a company you can trust?

To start filing your Affordable Care Act Forms 1095-B or 1095-C, just go to www.ExpressIRSForms.com. Then, click “Sign In” or “Register” to either log into or create your free account. Once you’re at your Dashboard, click “Start New Form,” then the ACA icon. Our program will take you through whichever form you need to file -- first determining that for you if you need! -- before allowing you to transmit your forms directly to the IRS.

And in addition to the ACA forms, we offer e-filing for Form 1099 and Form W-2, their corrections, and Extension Form 8868, as well as FREE e-signing for Form W-9! So what are you waiting for? Get started filing now!

And if you have any questions along the way, our friendly, US-based customer service is here to help! We’re available by phone and live chat Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST at 1-704-839-2270; and we offer 24/7 email support through support@expressirsforms.com.

Read More »