Message from Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG)

Message from Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG):

REFUND TRANSFER (RT) CHECKS
With the revised funding cycles the IRS has published this year, you can expect check print records to be sent to you more frequently throughout the week. Regardless of when we receive IRS notification of deposits on any given day of the week (more frequently on Tuesdays or Wednesdays this year) and in order to follow bank compliance procedures, we will be releasing check print records each day starting at 3:00 pm PST since we do not receive the actual funds from the IRS until the following day. Please be prepared to print your checks that evening or the following morning for the season.

ACH DISBURSEMENTS
All tax preparer fees and taxpayer disbursements designated to go by ACH direct deposit have an effective date of the next business day, so please keep that in mind when you are expecting a deposit for you or your client. Most banks will post the deposits the same day they receive them, but some post it the following business day.

IRS FUNDING DELAYS FOR RTs
Most accounts are paid as expected according to the IRS refund cycle. Each year however there are accounts that were expected but not paid either fully or partially each week. Please inform your affected clients to be patient with the IRS. As we normally get funding weekly, have them check back the following week as that usually will be the earliest we will see another deposit. (NOTE: For refunds processed through the IRS CADE (Modernized) system, you may see check print records come through sooner than the following week, however, our customer service reps will continue to tell clients to check back next week.)

For assistance with these clients, we have posted a notice call "IRS Refund Delays" under the ‘Downloadable Forms’ link when you log in to our website. This can help you explain to your customer what may have happened.

CHECK PRINTING RECONCILIATION
In order to print checks, you need to place a verification code from your check stock called “Check Layout Version” (it is 4 characters, and it is located on the bottom right of the check stub). This verifies you are printing on current year stock. After you finish printing your checks, try to make sure you connect again with your transmitter to send your check print records back to us as soon as you can do it. This helps reconcile our system to recognize what the check numbers are for check verification purposes. It is important to do this as quickly as possible after printing checks. Also, please remember to inform your clients who have primary and secondary taxpayer names on the check that if they both cannot cash the check at the same time, the primary taxpayer must be the one to cash their check when they go to a check cashing establishment.

COMPLIANCE UPDATE
You should have or will receive a separate email directly from TPG titled “Important Compliance Update for 2012”. Please read through that and the attachments when you receive it as it may impact you directly this tax season. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Team TPG