New (tax) year, new help!

Fixed Assets and UltraTax CS 2023 help is now on Help and Support. We're still moving articles, but you can find most content for the 2023 tax year there. Continue using the Help & How-To Center for tax years 2022 and older.

To accommodate a security mandate from most state tax agencies, you will be prevented from transmitting an electronic file that was created in an outdated version of an UltraTax CS state product if more than ten business days have passed since the current version was released. This is most likely to impact customers who create electronic files in batches early in the filing season and then transmit them to the taxing authorities at a later date.

The Federation of Tax Administrators recommendation for 2018 tax returns adopted by these states mandates that "users of this product who attempt to e-file 10 or more business days after a production release will be required to download and apply the product update." This is also known as the 10 day business rule.

CS Connect behavior

CS Connect will automatically reject any transmitted electronic files if ten business days have passed since a newer software update was released. This rejection indicates that you must install the latest version of the applicable state software, re-create the electronic file, and transmit the e-file to Thomson Reuters. 

Identifying and resolving "stale" e-files

Before transmitting state electronic files, review the Electronic Filing tab in the Utilities > CS Connect dialog. This tab displays the word "STALE" in red text alongside any state e-files that were created in an outdated version of the software. You can also create electronic filing status reports via the Utilities > Client Listing Reports dialog if you prefer a printable list. 

To fix e-files listed as "STALE" in the Utilities > CS Connect dialog, complete these steps. 

1. Install the latest version of the applicable state application (such as UltraTax/1040-MI).
2. Suppress the federal and any additional state returns to ensure only the stale e-file is created.
3. Re-create the electronic files for the affected returns.
4. Transmit the new e-file to Thomson Reuters via CS Connect. 

Recommendations

We recommend the following: 

• To avoid possible delays when e-filing, we strongly encourage you to keep your UltraTax CS products up-to-date via automatic download from CS Connect Background Services. This feature is enabled by default, and you can verify it is enabled by choosing Setup > System Configuration, clicking the CS Connect tab, and confirming that the Enable CS Connect Background Services checkbox is marked. You can also manually install UltraTax CS updates via CS Connect.
• When creating e-files, consider transmitting those e-files as frequently as possible rather than letting them accumulate in the queue and transmitting later. 
• You can verify your software version by choosing Help > About UltraTax CS, or by clicking the UltraTax CS Home Page  button, clicking the Product Information link on the left side of the screen, and then clicking the appropriate entity tab (such as 1040). On the entity tab, click the link for a state to view the installed version of that product.  

Was this article helpful?

Yes No

Submit