|
|
TaxWise Training provided through E-file training class
is based on "Train the Trainer" how to train users, which is a 3 full
day program provided by UTS. It
teaches recommended ways to enter data and use TaxWise. Training
is geared towards rapid
filling of tax forms for high volume production, and the
preparer undergoes long hours of TaxWise training.
The situation is different for volunteers at VITA sites.
Volunteers are generally only available during times scheduled for helping the public,
and generally unable to spend too much additional time on TaxWise
training. The comments here are based on practices that work
well at some sites, and are offered in the spirit of sharing. Check back often; more hints will be added as time
goes on.
- The magic right mouse click!
- While important to remember what each function key on the computer does,
for those not using TaxWise full time, the right mouse click
displays a menu of possible actions to choose from.
The right mouse click is a standard Windows convention, which has
been used by TaxWise to provide fingertip help. So rather than
trying to remember what each function key does, just do
a right-click, and in most cases,
you get to choose an answer.
-
- Take care of the worksheets and the return will
take care of itself!
- In most situations, when you link to schedules and worksheets, and fill them out, the numbers will flow
to the right place in the tax returns. It should not be
necessary to override entries in the main forms, except under very
rare and special circumstances. This means starting off for
the main forms and linking your way through to each of the
schedules, worksheets and scratchpad.
-
- Keep the calculator at home!
- When adding many numbers, if you enter
them
in a worksheet or scratchpad, you can easily check that they were
entered correctly by printing them out. No wondering if you
had punched in wrong numbers when you get different totals for
the same amount at different times. You can be sure that the total is correct if
the numbers entered are correct.
-
- Avoid those overrides!
- Using overrides may seem a quick way of
filling forms; however, it means that you are doing all the checking
rather than letting TaxWise do it for you. If your Site
Coordinator or Transmitter reads the
Additional TaxWise Tips & Tricks you may find the override
capability missing!
-
- Keep those hands away from Printer!
- Standing next to the printer and examining
the pages leaving the printer may seem efficient, but it actually slows down the process. The pages
generally come out in the right order, but if they are removed one at a
time, they get mixed up, and rearranging them is time-consuming, and
may change the
order.
-
- Generate the DCN Early!
- Generating the DCN early working
with 8879 forms means it is printed on those forms, so it is
not necessary to enter it by hand. Your site coordinator or
transmitter will thank you for making their lives simpler.
However, if your site coordinator or transmitter does not trust you
enough to let you generate the e-files, then they deserve to do the
extra work of matching up forms with paperwork. Be a good
volunteer and point them to
Additional TaxWise Tips & Tricks.
-
- Fill the 1040 and the 1040A or 1040EZ will take
care of itself!
- While Tax Law training teaches the conditions
under which different versions of the 1040 form should be used, it
is useful (and suggested by TaxWise) to start filling the return as if it were a
1040, and then at the end, using one of the simpler forms if
appropriate. At one site, the returns are filed at 1040s even
if they could be filed as 1040A or 1040EZ. One less decision to make or consider!
And it doesn't work the computers very much harder!
-
- Set the Site Name, SIDN and EFIN on
the Tax Forms Default Page AND Forget!
- In site visits year after year, a
lot of time is spent establishing if the Site Name, address, SIDN,
EFIN and correctly entered on each generated return. It
is a waste of volunteer time trying to remember this information
each time and entering it. If you find yourself doing this for
multiple returns, point your site coordinator or e-file transmitter
to
Additional TaxWise Tips & Tricks so that they can set the
Tax Forms Default once, and forget about it. That way, the
computer can take care of remembering it, and you can spend more
time preparing the returns.
|
