Need help with IRS Direct Pay for estimated taxes

[socca]

... I tried to pay her federal estimate using IRS direct pay and could not do it. ...

The same thing happened to me earlier in the year when I tried to make a Direct Pay payment related to a relative's 2021 federal income tax - couldn't get past authentication despite multiple attempts using various strategies. I gave up and mailed in a check.

The EFTPS website claims one week to deliver a PIN via USPS after you get past the (weak) EFTPS authentication. I recently opened a EFTPS account for a relative so we'll see if the PIN arrives promptly as promised. EFTPS authentication may be weak because crooks haven't (yet) figured out how to make money by paying someone else's taxes.

 

[Tadpole]

Getting a PIN from EFTPS might take your lifetime. We were using my husband's SS number for EFTPS scheduling. He died in July. Thinking I was trying to avoid any problems, I decided to transfer the account to my SS. I canceled the Sept and Jan schedule under his and then tried to set up mine. EFTPS said they would send a PIN. They didn't so I tried again and again they said they would send a PIN. Instead, they sent a request that my SS and bank account be notarized by someone at the bank I was using. (Thank goodness I had a bank account at a bank that actually had nearby brick and mortar facilities.) I sent the notarized paperwork back and have been waiting for that illusive PIN (knowing that when I get it there will be some reason it fails). So, as we creep up on the September deadline for quarterly estimates, I don't know what is best. I am tempted to see if my deceased husband's account can still be used for the Sept withdrawal.

I talked to someone at EFTPS and she said this probably happened when I used the same bank account for my own taxes that my husband had used. Therefore, they wanted a verification that I was allowed to use the account, thus the bank notary requirement instead of any notary. It has been over a month now that I have been trying to set up my own EFTPS account. I really have no confidence that the notarized form with produce a mail item with a PIN that works and, if it does, when.

 

[cathy63]

They at least should have a number to call to talk to a human being, figure out why there is not a match and help you fix it. But they don't. I can see why people object to giving the IRS more money, because they appear to be a pack of screwups who don't care about people who actually pay the taxes.

They do have a number you can call. It's 800-555-4477. From the help link on the Direct Pay site:

Feature	Direct Pay	EFTPS
Live telephone customer service	Limited; call EFTPS number for help locating a lost payment or verifying your identity	Yes; live operator always available for help making payments (24/7)

-and-

Your identity information is not accepted or you get asked for it again. Since Direct Pay works without a login, you will need to verify your identity each time you revisit Direct Pay after closing it. Make sure you enter your name and address exactly as they appear on the tax return you are using for verification. If your name or address have changed, try selecting a prior or later year for verification and enter the information from that year.

So there are two possible solutions that might allow harllee to use Direct Pay. Call EFTPS support, which is available 24/7 or try using a different tax return, which is what I suggest, because I prefer to avoid making phone calls to bureaucracies if there's any other option.

I did have to call EFTPS once because phone is the only way you can cancel a payment you scheduled while e-filing your return, and on that occasion I found them to be very helpful and the wait time was not even horribly long.

 

[Gumby]

They do have a number you can call. It's 800-555-4477. From the help link on the Direct Pay site:



-and-



So there are two possible solutions that might allow harllee to use Direct Pay. Call EFTPS support, which is available 24/7 or try using a different tax return, which is what I suggest, because I prefer to avoid making phone calls to bureaucracies if there's any other option.

I did have to call EFTPS once because phone is the only way you can cancel a payment you scheduled while e-filing your return, and on that occasion I found them to be very helpful and the wait time was not even horribly long.

I called the number in their rejection letter. The byzantine phone menu offers no choice to get help with EFTPS. I found one number for EFTPS in the instructions, but the recording says it is not for individual taxpayers. Maybe if I stayed on the line, they would have helped me anyway.

I don't know what the problem is with them. I am the only one who prepares my tax returns and I have a copy of every single one going back to 1976. I am very precise when it comes to things like this. If they have transposed some number in entering data from my prior paper filings, there is no way for me to guess what that transposition might be.

 

[harllee]

OP here--I cannot believe how hard it is to pay a person's taxes! I have given up on Direct Pay, I tried different tax years, still did not work. I have tried to set up EFTPS for mother, we will see if she ever gets the PIN. For calling the help number, I will have to be a mother's house (I live an hour and a half away) and get her on the phone, she is hard of hearing so I don't know if that will work. At this point I will either have to pay using her credit card or get her to write a check (which is what I was trying to avoid). I am just trying to pay her taxes!

 

[TheWizard]

Easiest way to pay taxes is simply to set up withholding, which I do on each of my various income streams.

I have additionally done an EFTPS payment at the end of the year after doing a December Roth conversion the past few years. I may be done with that now that I've started RMDs.

I've not written a paper check to the IRS in over a decade...

 

[harllee]

Easiest way to pay taxes is simply to set up withholding, which I do on each of my various income streams.

I have additionally done an EFTPS payment at the end of the year after doing a December Roth conversion the past few years. I may be done with that now that I've started RMDs.

I've not written a paper check to the IRS in over a decade...

I am trying to do this for mother. The only income she has is SS (I guess it is possible to do withholding on that) and dividends and interest. I am trying to set up the EFTPS, I will see if the PIN number ever comes and will report back.

 

[harllee]

OP here with an update. Gave up on Direct Pay so I ordered mother an EFTPS PIN. The Pin actually came in a week. I was able to open an EFTPS account today for mother and set up her estimated tax payments. Thanks for all the help!!

 

[Tadpole]

Our EFTPS account was under my husband's SS number. He died last month and I decided to set up the estimated taxes under my SS to avoid problems down the road. I started the process and they said they would send me a PIN but what they sent me was a form to fill out and get notarized at the bank our account is in. This was because they already had someone using that account number. They wanted to make sure the bank recognized me as an account user too. I did so and waited for my PIN. When it did not arrive, I checked EFTPS thinking maybe they would finish the processing. They didn't and when I logged in as my husband, lo and behold, my husband's EFTPS account had been updated to include my name under his SS number. Hopefully the September and January 2022 will process under his SS without a problem. BoA told me to hold off reporting his death, and it seems to have been good advice. I guess SS doesn't tell the IRS when they retire a SS number. I don't know if EFTPS will simply convert the account to my SS if they do get a notice to retire his SS number.

 

[harllee]

Tadpole, so sorry to hear about your husband's death and now you are having to deal with the IRS, etc. I can't understand why Bank Of America would tell you not to report your husband's death to the IRS. Did you not have to get a tax number for his estate? In any event when you file your tax return the IRS will be notified of his death. Seems better to me to go ahead and notify the IRS now and get it straightened out.

 

[audreyh1]

I believe you will be filing jointly for this year anyway. So next year is when you will need to have your own EFTPS account.

 

[Tadpole]

Tadpole, so sorry to hear about your husband's death and now you are having to deal with the IRS, etc. I can't understand why Bank Of America would tell you not to report your husband's death to the IRS. Did you not have to get a tax number for his estate? In any event when you file your tax return the IRS will be notified of his death. Seems better to me to go ahead and notify the IRS now and get it straightened out.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. No BoA didn't tell me not to report to IRS, they wanted me to not report to BoA for a period fearing unintended consequences that quick removal of his joint ownership might encounter. I assumed when SS was notified his SS number would be retired (his account at SS did disappear) and Medicare, IRS, VA, etc. would be notified. But it looks like the only one SS notifies is Medicare. I reported one by one so far. No, my mistake was trying to have my own account which it seems would have been OK if I used a different bank account than was used to withdraw under his SS number. BoA was right. I need his name on the bank account now.

Also, I don't have anything yet from filing our community property agreement. The lawyer is doing this. I don't know if I will get any estate numbers if I manage to avoid probate.

 

[Tadpole]

I believe you will be filing jointly for this year anyway. So next year is when you will need to have your own EFTPS account.

Thanks, I only recently found that out. What did people do before search engines and Internet forums?

 

[socaldonnan]

I just log onto the IRS website and clicked “make a payment.” As I file jointly with hubby, his ss # is used. Yesterday I entered third and fourth quarter payments for September and early January 2023 dates. I’ve been doing it this way for years. I don’t have a pin and have never had a problem filing it this way. Sounds like having a pin makes filing a bit more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[COcheesehead]

I just log onto the IRS website and clicked “make a payment.” As I file jointly with hubby, his ss # is used. Yesterday I entered third and fourth quarter payments for September and early January 2023 dates. I’ve been doing it this way for years. I don’t have a pin and have never had a problem filing it this way. Sounds like having a pin makes filing a bit more complicated than it needs to be.

Different systems.

I use IRS Direct Pay too. I find it simple and no need for a PIN.

 

[JBTX]

Has anyone had any experience paying Federal taxes by credit card? Mother has a cash back credit card. I know there is a 2% fee for using a credit card for paying federal taxes but she gets about that in cash back so it could be a wash.

I’ve always used direct pay. Don’t recall any problems. I think I usually use prior year return data for verification. I always pay with credit card. The fee is something like 1.87% so a 2% cash back card will more than cover it. Usually I will use estimated payments as a way make expenditures on new card with opening bonuses.

 

[harllee]

OP here, using direct pay is the easiest, I use that for my own taxes. But I could not use direct pay for DM because I could never get past the identity verification page. So I had to go the PIN route and use EFTPS, which is a little more complicated but did work.

 

[imnontrad]

I just send a check. That way there is no service charge.

 

[harllee]

I just send a check. That way there is no service charge.

There is no service charge for Direct Pay or EFTPS. I am the OP and the point of this tread was to help my 90 year old mother not to have to write checks. Besides I don't think the USPS is reliable. I have recently had several pieces of mail "lost" and one was stolen, which was a heck of a mess to straighten out.

 

[Ole Red 29]

I used Direct Pay for the first year I retired, which was very easy. However I set up an EFTPS account after that to allow me to schedule my quarterly payments for the year in advance (I schedule the first 3 and then adjust the 4th payment based on my refined income estimate). Both systems are easy, but I prefer EFTPS for its payment scheduling ability.

 

[mickeyd]

EFTPS fan here. Quick/easy. online payment right out of my checking account.

 

[UpQuark]

I tried using both Safari and Firefox browsers, no success. I also tried my iPad, no success.

Any suggestions?

If you are using a desktop/laptop you could try Chrome because the IRS Direct Pay is tested on the Chrome browser a lot.

But if the SSN is not matching a taxpayer record in the IRS database then getting the webpage to work will not be any help. But maybe it just didn't match a taxpayer record because the page messed up the SSN entry.

If IRS Direct Pay doesn't work for you, did you try on the IRS.gov site to use the 'Sign in to your account' option then create an account? I don't know how it works (whether it will require waiting for any kind of PIN or not) but that is a third method to make an online payment, I believe it is rather newer than either IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS.

This thread is making me miss my old job, I retired in March '22 and my job was testing IRS Direct Pay and EFTPS! But mostly I just regression tested after OS upgrades and things, but in prior years I did actual functional testing for those sites. Sad if the newer generation of testers isn't keeping the software working.

 

[UpQuark]

Adding info, I just tried using the irs.gov 'Sign in to your account' option involving creating an ID.me thing, which failed to verify my identity, BUT...let me have a video call with a real human who had me hold up my IDs (I'd already attached pics of them in order to start the video call) and I got validated.

But then it looks like the online account doesn't allow scheduling payments in the future (or if it does I didn't see how).

Any of you who are using EFTPS because of the ability to schedule payments in the future, if you would rather use IRS Direct Pay they added the ability for future payments to the IRS Direct Pay method a year or two ago.

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t see why I would switch from EFTPS which works very well for me.

 

[harllee]

If you are using a desktop/laptop you could try Chrome because the IRS Direct Pay is tested on the Chrome browser a lot.

But if the SSN is not matching a taxpayer record in the IRS database then getting the webpage to work will not be any help. But maybe it just didn't match a taxpayer record because the page messed up the SSN entry.

If IRS Direct Pay doesn't work for you, did you try on the IRS.gov site to use the 'Sign in to your account' option then create an account? I don't know how it works (whether it will require waiting for any kind of PIN or not) but that is a third method to make an online payment, I believe it is rather newer than either IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS.

This thread is making me miss my old job, I retired in March '22 and my job was testing IRS Direct Pay and EFTPS! But mostly I just regression tested after OS upgrades and things, but in prior years I did actual functional testing for those sites. Sad if the newer generation of testers isn't keeping the software working.

Thanks, since IRS Direct Pay never worked I did the EFTPS and it worked fine. I have now set up mother's estimates for payment.