Quite a surprising article. I am way over 50 and have learned to work with efiling without any problems. Indeed it is the safest thing to do Thank you or your rebuttal
Jay Starkman, CPA, left out the most telling of the reasons to file by paper. Paper returns appear to be manually transcribed and not verified - I have seen a number of paper returns which have been accepted by the IRS when the underlying return would reject electronically but is accepted and processed (case in point - Child Care Credit awarded for a MFS Return).
Several years ago, I assisted a taxpayer paper file his teenage children's returns (3 children, 2 years - 6 returns) ; each child had minimal income and filed as a dependent. The IRS system entered 2 of the 6 paper returns as the child claiming their own exemption. I was entertained by my taxpayer's response: We'll just call the IRS and tell them they made a MISTAKE ! !
I actually amended the 2 returns to show they were dependents on their parents return. We then e-filed the parents return to get the appropriate credits for all the dependent children. In my community, it is a well known fact that a preparer can paper file a return and get away with claiming credits which would be denied if the return were e-filed. My observations: paper returns appear to go through an alternate screening process from e-filed returns. In my experience, there appears to be NO Screening process for paper returns.
I was stunned when I read the article the other day & came away thinking that Starkman was making a veiled argument for further defunding of the IRS.
I love that you countered every single statement with the facts. On point as usual. This Starkman person is living in the stone age.
Quite a surprising article. I am way over 50 and have learned to work with efiling without any problems. Indeed it is the safest thing to do Thank you or your rebuttal
Mr. Starkman is a Luddite.
Thank you! A client sent us the article and we were putting together a response. I agree with all of your points and I’m over 50!
This is great!
Jay Starkman, CPA, left out the most telling of the reasons to file by paper. Paper returns appear to be manually transcribed and not verified - I have seen a number of paper returns which have been accepted by the IRS when the underlying return would reject electronically but is accepted and processed (case in point - Child Care Credit awarded for a MFS Return).
Several years ago, I assisted a taxpayer paper file his teenage children's returns (3 children, 2 years - 6 returns) ; each child had minimal income and filed as a dependent. The IRS system entered 2 of the 6 paper returns as the child claiming their own exemption. I was entertained by my taxpayer's response: We'll just call the IRS and tell them they made a MISTAKE ! !
I actually amended the 2 returns to show they were dependents on their parents return. We then e-filed the parents return to get the appropriate credits for all the dependent children. In my community, it is a well known fact that a preparer can paper file a return and get away with claiming credits which would be denied if the return were e-filed. My observations: paper returns appear to go through an alternate screening process from e-filed returns. In my experience, there appears to be NO Screening process for paper returns.