This past tax filing season I once again used NJWebFile to satisfy my statutory requirement to file all my full-year NJ-1040s “electronically”.
As you know I do not use tax software, and therefore I do not file federal returns electronically, so NJWebFile is the only way I can comply with the requirement. I use NJWebFile because it is free and it can provide my client with faster processing and the option of direct deposit of refunds.
I had very few problems with NJWebFile. It seemed that for some reason this year the processing was a bit smoother. I found that it was easier to enter the correct amount of taxable pension without having to force numbers. Was the window that asked if the pension was 100% taxable new this year – I don’t remember it from last season.
The system continued to, on rare occasion, refuse to accept a perfectly legitimate Social Security Number or Date of Birth. With a few of the taxpayers whose information was rejected last tax season there was no problem this year – the system accepted the information, as if it suddenly became correct.
I still wish that NJWebFile would accept returns that report income from self-employment, including partnership and Sub-S income. If a taxpayer had 376 individual stock trades I could make just one line entry on the NJ Schedule B worksheet – I just have to be ready to submit an analysis of the 376 trades to the Division of Taxation upon request. Why can’t I simply enter a number for net earnings from self-employment (or separate numbers for multiple partnerships and Sub-S cops), knowing that I would have to produce a federal Schedule C or C-EZ or a K-1 to support the entry if requested?
My major complaint with NJWebFile is that it wastes too much of my paper and printer ink! A paper return is usually 3 pages – so I use 6 sheets for copies. The print-out is anywhere from 5 to 8 pages in length – using 10 to 16 sheets. If the system allows for, say, 10 entries of taxable dividends and I make only one entry the print-out includes 10 lines for the category – 1 for the actual entry and 9 with “0”. Why can’t the system be instructed to print only actual entries?
I discovered that every single client, without exception, whose 2005 NJ-1040 NJWebFile submission resulted in a balance due to New Jersey, and who paid this balance due on a timely basis, was re-billed by the Division of Taxation for the amount they had already paid in the fall of 2006 (as it turns out the DOT credited the payments to tax year 2004 and not tax year 2005). So this year I was cautious when using NJWebFile to submit a balance due return. In most cases I prepared the return manually and had the client sign an OPT-OUT form. In several instances the client beat me to it and specifically requested that I did not file their 2006 NJ-1040 online.
While NJWebFile is great for the simpler returns, saving me time, and is beneficial to the client because it speeds up receipt of a refund, I still prefer manual returns. With a handwritten return I feel that I maintain more control, and am more confident that the return’s result is correct.
Do any of you use NJWebFile to electronically submit client returns? How do you find it?
TAFN
As you know I do not use tax software, and therefore I do not file federal returns electronically, so NJWebFile is the only way I can comply with the requirement. I use NJWebFile because it is free and it can provide my client with faster processing and the option of direct deposit of refunds.
I had very few problems with NJWebFile. It seemed that for some reason this year the processing was a bit smoother. I found that it was easier to enter the correct amount of taxable pension without having to force numbers. Was the window that asked if the pension was 100% taxable new this year – I don’t remember it from last season.
The system continued to, on rare occasion, refuse to accept a perfectly legitimate Social Security Number or Date of Birth. With a few of the taxpayers whose information was rejected last tax season there was no problem this year – the system accepted the information, as if it suddenly became correct.
I still wish that NJWebFile would accept returns that report income from self-employment, including partnership and Sub-S income. If a taxpayer had 376 individual stock trades I could make just one line entry on the NJ Schedule B worksheet – I just have to be ready to submit an analysis of the 376 trades to the Division of Taxation upon request. Why can’t I simply enter a number for net earnings from self-employment (or separate numbers for multiple partnerships and Sub-S cops), knowing that I would have to produce a federal Schedule C or C-EZ or a K-1 to support the entry if requested?
My major complaint with NJWebFile is that it wastes too much of my paper and printer ink! A paper return is usually 3 pages – so I use 6 sheets for copies. The print-out is anywhere from 5 to 8 pages in length – using 10 to 16 sheets. If the system allows for, say, 10 entries of taxable dividends and I make only one entry the print-out includes 10 lines for the category – 1 for the actual entry and 9 with “0”. Why can’t the system be instructed to print only actual entries?
I discovered that every single client, without exception, whose 2005 NJ-1040 NJWebFile submission resulted in a balance due to New Jersey, and who paid this balance due on a timely basis, was re-billed by the Division of Taxation for the amount they had already paid in the fall of 2006 (as it turns out the DOT credited the payments to tax year 2004 and not tax year 2005). So this year I was cautious when using NJWebFile to submit a balance due return. In most cases I prepared the return manually and had the client sign an OPT-OUT form. In several instances the client beat me to it and specifically requested that I did not file their 2006 NJ-1040 online.
While NJWebFile is great for the simpler returns, saving me time, and is beneficial to the client because it speeds up receipt of a refund, I still prefer manual returns. With a handwritten return I feel that I maintain more control, and am more confident that the return’s result is correct.
Do any of you use NJWebFile to electronically submit client returns? How do you find it?
TAFN
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