Information Reporting | E-Filing
Filed from the records, with the receipt kept.
The electronic filing threshold is low enough that most businesses filing any volume are inside it. Returns are prepared from the payee records that have been building all year, submitted, and the acknowledgement posts back against the year. The filing and the evidence that it happened end up in the same place.
What the system does
Capability, input, output.
| Capability | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-submission checks | The prepared population | Missing numbers, unmatched names and zero-value forms caught before submission |
| Submission | Approved returns for the year | Filed electronically, with the submission recorded against the filing entity |
| Acknowledgement | The response to a submission | Posted back against the year, so the proof lives with the filing |
| Rejection handling | A rejected submission | The reason surfaced per record, with the affected forms rather than the whole batch |
| Recipient copies | Filed forms | Delivered to payees against the record, with delivery evidenced |
| Corrections | An error found after filing | A corrected return filed and tracked against the original, both retained |
| Multi-entity filing | Several filing entities | Filed separately under each employer identification number |
-
Pre-submission checks
- Input
- The prepared population
- Output
- Missing numbers, unmatched names and zero-value forms caught before submission
-
Submission
- Input
- Approved returns for the year
- Output
- Filed electronically, with the submission recorded against the filing entity
-
Acknowledgement
- Input
- The response to a submission
- Output
- Posted back against the year, so the proof lives with the filing
-
Rejection handling
- Input
- A rejected submission
- Output
- The reason surfaced per record, with the affected forms rather than the whole batch
-
Recipient copies
- Input
- Filed forms
- Output
- Delivered to payees against the record, with delivery evidenced
-
Corrections
- Input
- An error found after filing
- Output
- A corrected return filed and tracked against the original, both retained
-
Multi-entity filing
- Input
- Several filing entities
- Output
- Filed separately under each employer identification number
E-Filing FAQ
What buyers ask.
Are we required to file electronically?
Probably, and the threshold is lower than most people assume. It was lowered substantially in recent years, and it counts information returns in aggregate rather than by form type, so businesses that were comfortably under it before are now over it. Your advisor will confirm the current figure; we deliberately do not print it, because this is precisely the number that has moved.
What gets caught in the pre-submission check?
The things that cause rejections and payee queries: a missing taxpayer number, a name that does not match the number, an address that will not deliver, a form with a zero total that should not exist, and a payee appearing twice under two spellings. Each of these is cheap to fix before submission and expensive after.
What happens if the submission is rejected?
The reason is surfaced per record rather than as a batch status, so you are correcting a handful of forms rather than re-examining the whole population. Batch-level pass or fail is the usual failure mode of filing tools and it converts a small problem into a full review.
We file through our accountant. Does this still fit?
Yes, and a good number of customers do exactly that. The population, the checks and the evidence are the valuable part; who presses submit is not. Where the filing is made elsewhere, the confirmation is recorded back against the year so the record is complete either way.
How are corrections handled?
As corrections, tracked against the original, with both retained. A corrected information return is a specific thing with its own handling, and a system that simply overwrites the original leaves you unable to show what was filed first, which is the question that gets asked.
See what your filing population would look like today.
Connect your books, free. Forms are prepared from your payee records, and the pre-submission checks run against them before anything is sent.