Thank you MargauxInDenver.  I've been gathering the documents to send in to the IRS.  Since we can't request first time abatement I will need to request for reasonable cause.  Gathering documentation to show the date the payment was sent, the reject notification, etc.

BTW, has anyone else had QBD crash when trying to access the "Send Payments" tab in the payroll center?  Every payroll client I have in QBD I am unable to access the "send Payments" tab without the program crashing.  Which is another problem because that tab would have shown the rejected payments correct?  It's been months since this started happening.

Sorry, the tab that causes QDT to crash is the E-Payments tab in the payroll center.

I am now going to set November as the date to reset all client EFTPS passwords.  That is if I am still using Intuit QDT payroll.  This is the 2nd year in a row I've gone through this debacle and I really don't want to go through this again.  There should be some other way to notify us within the program that a payment has rejected.  Since the program crashes every time I try to access the "E-Payments" tab I need to physically go to the payment in the check register and drill down to see the "Rejected" message.  I get so many emails that having a rejected email sent to me is not efficient as a method of immediate communication.  It needs to be within the program.  Similar to what we get when Direct Deposits don't go through.

I appreciate you for joining the thread, @dso0216. I'm here to help you with getting access to the E-Payments tab seamlessly.

To fix the common issues with your file specifically to the E-Payments tab, I recommend updating your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) to the latest release to get the latest available features and fixes. You can also get the latest payroll tax table update before sending your payments.

To update QuickBooks:

1. Go to the Help menu, then click on Update QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Go to the Update Now tab. You can select the Reset Update checkbox to clear all previous update downloads.
3. Tap on Get Updates to start the download.
4. When the download finishes, restart QuickBooks.
5. When prompted, accept the option to install the new release.

In case you're getting the same result with selecting the E-Payments tab, I would recommend reaching out to our Support Team for further assistance. A live agent, can look and investigate this behavior further. 

To contact support:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Select Contact Us.
4. Enter a brief description of your issue, then select Let's talk.
5. Choose a way to connect with support.

For more tips about handling electronic payment transactions in QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, you can open this article: Handle an e-payment that has been rejected by the agency.

If you have any other follow-up questions about accessing the E-Payments tab, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm always here to help. Cheers for more success!

I agree, dso0216, that there should be a better way of notifying the clients about rejected payments. I also strongly believe that there should be some kind of reminder within QBDT that it's time to change the password for EFTPS. This is the second year that I've dealt with this issue, and I still haven't seen anything within the program that tells us that this is necessary. I only happened across a post in one of these threads from another user (not even a QuickBooks employee) which told me that this was a requirement for third-party payroll solutions when working with EFTPS. As much as we all pay for these subscriptions, this particular issue should be handled a lot differently; we should have better information from QB about this.

@dso0216 The still open investigation for the issue "QB crashes when accessing the E-payment history tab" is INV-52183.  We have been waiting for a fix for more than 8 months.  Are your clients in Maryland or Virginia?

@JamesBCPA  Even worse than Intuit not telling us, the EFTPS site makes NO mention of this, and it is THEIR requirement.  Incredibly frustrating.

I agree with you JamesBCPA, there should be some notification in QB.  Certainly are enough junk ads pushing their products that pop up.  The EFTPS nightmare has just about cost me a client at this point.  If IRS doesn't agree to waive the Penalty I'll have to pay for that also.  After using Intuit DT payroll since 2000 I think I going to have to switch to something else.  Going to start investigating so I can get all clients moved to another platform in 2022.

Maryland.  I send a crash report every time it happens.  Seems like it's been happening for a while now and no end in sight.  I believe that was one way we could see in the system the payment had rejected without physically going to the check register and drilling down on the liability check.

valprice1 

my understanding is the password change is not an EFTPS requirement but an INTUIT requirement.

@dso0216  Nope that is incorrect.   The IRS decided that there had to be a password change every 13 months for folks paying through 3rd party systems.  It caught us all by surprise late in 2019.  There is a reference to it here:  https://tscpafederal.typepad.com/blog/2019/08/eftps-system-password-update-.html, but the EFTPS website doesn't tell you anything about it.  the extra wrinkle is that for QB Desktop, the password must be EXACTLY 12 digits long.

@dso0216   The crashing was caused by the update to the Maryland UI site (when they switched to Beacon), which meant that e-payments could no longer be sent through the QB system.  It caused all kinds of problems, some of which have subsequently been fixed, but the crashing is still an issue.  The case number is INV-52183 - please do keep reporting it.  No amount of updating QB, rebuilding your file, clean reinstalls, or upgrades will fix it.  The engineers need to deal with it and all the Maryland clients should be SCREAMING.  I believe it may be happening to Virginia folks too, since VA UI just started forcing epayments differently, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

Because you have to do a new password on EFTPS. I have 450 clients on desktop over six different versions. I've not had this problem with any of them. You have to do a new password once a year on EFTPS and it has to be all individual separate letters you cannot have two letters the same, it is very very simple.

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@valprice1 wrote:

@dso0216   The crashing was caused by the update to the Maryland UI site (when they switched to Beacon), which meant that e-payments could no longer be sent through the QB system.  It caused all kinds of problems, some of which have subsequently been fixed, but the crashing is still an issue.  The case number is INV-52183 - please do keep reporting it.  No amount of updating QB, rebuilding your file, clean reinstalls, or upgrades will fix it.  The engineers need to deal with it and all the Maryland clients should be SCREAMING.  I believe it may be happening to Virginia folks too, since VA UI just started forcing epayments differently, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

---

It is a requirement from EFTPS for any third party software to change the password every year.

Hello MargauxInDenver!

Let me answer that question.

IRS implemented the 13-month expiration policy. This means that your password expires after 13 months from the time it was changed. It's advisable to keep your EFTPS password updated to avoid errors with the e-payments.

For the detailed steps on how to change it, please visit this page: Update your EFTPS Internet password.

I've also added some articles. These will discuss what to do about rejected payments in QuickBooks Desktop:

• Handle an e-payment that has been rejected by the agency
• Troubleshoot efile or epay rejection issues

Do you have other concerns? Keep on posting here and we'll help you. Take care!

Thank you AlexV.  Please explain why the E-Payments tab keeps causing the program to crash when you attempt to access?  This has been going on for sometime and is the way I get the status of a payment quickly.

I do know how to change the EFTPS password.  And was able to change it before one payment was late.  However, an older payment was hanging out there I didn't realize never processed..  This caused me to cover a penalty of over $900 for a client, who I lost as a client at the same time.  This is unacceptable.

I've been using Intuit DT payroll for about 20 years.  Not until 2019 did all of this start.  Yes, It is a simple fix to change the password, but that's not really the point.  It comes down to communication.  If Intuit can clutter the screen with various marketing materials why not a simple "you have a rejected FTD"?  Can't be that difficult.  I used to be able to check in the program via the "E-Payments" tab.  Attempting to access that program has consistently caused the program to crash for almost a year now.  Every time it happens I send a bug report and still no update or even acknowledgement the tab isn't working.

Maybe the failure of the password change in EFTPS to update in QB is what caused the payment the first payment I sent in January to reject when another later in the month was accepted.  I think we all need to document this and keep writing to the IRS.  So far they have been unwilling to waive the penalties and interest because of these late payments.

Time to switch.  I'm already out $900 + and 1 client lost because of this mess.  I'm done.

My quarterly reports were off then as well.  Why do I always default to I mess up not QB?

I remember years ago needing to change my EFTPS password for a new bank account.  The rep told me it could actually take a few hours to update in EFTPS. The IRS systems are very antiquated.  Still, this has all been and handled very poorly and I would suggest writing to the IRS and letting you representative know.  The whole situation has been a mess but there will little incentive for them to act unless we all jump up and down.  Unfortunately, that just seems to be the way it goes.  I've spent the last couple days compiling a letter and documentation to send in regarding a rejected payment in early January,  Hoping  the IRS will take pity and allow an abatement..  So between the penalty of $900 I'm out, the loss of billable time, AND the loss of a client this has been a very expensive lesson.  

This response did not address the issue.

This has been an intermittent problem for me as well.  I try to submit a tax payment and the status bar never progresses.  Then the program says it "can't communicate try again later".  If I shut down the program prior to that message it shows a "rejected payment".  Now my program is alerting me that I am "missing a payroll record".  Which, according to threads I have read, means I restored from an "outdated back-up" = NO and I need to restore from a back-up = BIGGER NO.  I don't know when or where this "missing record" occurred and I have 5 staff working in the program daily.  Restoring from a back-up is not an acceptable solution.  Which one?

I have followed all the suggestions in this thread and others to no avail.  It is further frustrating to read the QB tech's responses stating the same thing over and over and over.  We don't need to know how to deal with a rejected payment, how to update the program and download new tax tables.  I am pretty sure we have figured that out by now.  We need a solution to the problem.  You created the feature now maintain it when it fails.  There is enough of a user base using this part of the program that justifies and mandates a fix.  It seems QB tech support has become a "push this button for a generalized response" team which is not the way it used to be.  I have been a QB user for 20 years and I remember when the users mattered.  Hopefully this gets resolved soon but I am not holding my breath for that one.

I guess I will join the league of Old-School and start logging into the EFTPS web site and make my payments that way again....

Yes, I’m having the same problem. My password is current at EFTPS and I have verified that password in QB epay but I keep getting payment rejections because of “ expired password “. 
btw, what is FTD