How do EFINs work at a VITA site ?

However, each EFIN should use only ONE transmitting computer for sending the Tax Returns to the IRS through UTS.   There is no technical restriction that prevents transmitting from multiple computers for the same EFIN.  The restriction comes from the licensing requirements of the software, and the practical logistics of managing transmissions from multiple computers.   UTS/IRS use the EFIN number to send messages, acknowledgements and accept/reject messages when a transmitting computer connects to their server, and then deletes the message from the mailbox.   If two computers A & B transmit with the same EFIN, acknowledgements and messages for E-files transmitted from computer A may go to computer B when computer B connects.  If the same person transmits from Computer A and Computer B, this is not a problem.  Since Computer B may not know about files transmitted from Computer A, the returns show as never being acknowledged on Computer A.  However, if different people transmit from the computers A and B,  computer A transmitter may wonder why the acknowledgements were never received, while computer B transmitter may get acknowledgements and rejections for E-files not sent from Computer B.

On the other hand, one computer can transmit E-Files for multiple EFINs.  This requires changing the EFIN between transmissions.

An electronically filed tax return has a DCN (Document Control Number) that is assigned when the E-File if first created for the return.  Subsequent re-creations of the E-files for that return will retain that DCN.  The DCN includes the EFIN and an additional Sequence Number  (SN) to uniquely identify a tax return.  An EFIN is assigned to each TaxWise installation, and identifies the site where the return was prepared.  However, if the preparer EFIN is different from the transmitting EFIN, the E-File is rejected.  To avoid headaches, and as a practical matter, use the same EFIN for preparing and transmitting a return; otherwise, the EFIN for the E-File needs to be changed on the Transmitting computer.

The DCN is assigned when the E-File is created.   To avoid duplicate SNs, there are several solutions:

1. Create E-Files only on the transmitting computer.   The preparer checks the return, gets signatures, then transfers the return to the transmitting computer by doing a backup and restore.  The problem is that the 8453 generated does not include a DCN number on the signed copy, and the transmitter will subsequently have to fill it in by hand for copy sent to the IRS.
2. Assign different SN starting numbers to each preparing computer, and create E-files on the preparing computer, then transfer the E-file to the transmitting computer.  The starting SN for each computer should be assigned by the transmitter for the EFIN.  A good policy is to assign starting SNs 100 numbers apart.
3. Set up a Networked TaxWise system in which the transmitting computer is also the TaxWise server computer and all returns are stored directly on that computer.  Whenever a new E-File is created, the next number in the sequence is generated automatically.

Special note about DCN behavior during the 2006 filing season.   During the 2006 filing season for 2005 returns, at the beginning of the season, the DCN numbers for the federal and state returns differed by one.  At a later time, the DCN was generated each time the E-file was created, clearly undesired behavior.

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