I tried many times in the past few days to e-file using FFFF(~24 hr return time). I was stymied each and every time by bizarre errors regarding my W-2.

The most common was:
Error Code 0123: On each Form W-2 that is part of return, the following fields are required: Name of Reporting Agent or Employer’s Name (Box c); Employer’s Address (Box c); Employee’s Name (Box e); Employee’s Address (Box f); Employee’s City (Box f); Employee’s State (Box f); Employee’s Zip Code (Box f); and Wages (Box 1).

This makes it sound as though these are the only required fields…I did a poll at work and that seemed to be the consensus.

So, I tried giving the minimum necessary info as above and I got:

Error Code 0123: On each Form W-2 that is part of return, the following fields are required: Name of Reporting Agent or Employer’s Name (Box c); Employer’s Address (Box c); Employee’s Name (Box e); Employee’s Address (Box f); Employee’s City (Box f); Employee’s State (Box f); Employee’s Zip Code (Box f); and Wages (Box 1).

Error Code 0122: On each Form W-2 that is part of return, the Employer Identification Number (Box b) and the Employer’s Name (Box c) must be entered and valid.

Error Code 0103: Form 1040/1040A/1040EZ – Total Federal Income Tax withholding shown on tax form must equal the sum of withholding on Other 1099 and AK Dividend, withholding from Schedule K-1, withholding on Form W-2, and W-2GU withholding on any Form 1099-R and withholding on Form W-2G. Exception: Do not reject when withholdings on the tax form exceed withholdings statements by $5.00 or less. identified as a Stimulus Payment return (special processing literal “ESP” in Form 1040A).

I deleted my stored W-2 and resubmitted a brand, spanking new one. No luck.

After that the program told me to mail in my return – which I am doing tomorrow morning.

Cheers.
Karlo

Sigh – I hate to be beaten – I am computer literate – but I do not think that the programmers of this application are. Maybe I will try again next year.

FFFF2
April 11th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Error code 0290. I found the Free File Fillable Forms relatively easy to use, but I do have a lot of experience with taxes. I did get rejects numerous times for error code 0290 which relates to State abbreviations and zip codes on the 1099-R and related forms. I finally realized that there are 3 separate fields on the Payer’s City, State and zipcode line. If you type in the address in the first field such as “Denver, CO 80202″ the form rejects. It isn’t obvious from the form that there are 3 separate fields. Type in the city, then move the cursor to the middle of the form and click…

( (I say “pretty sure” because I won’t know for sure until the IRS lets me resubmit my forms – they’re still deciding whether to accept or reject my previous submission from earlier today, BEFORE I found the above message and re-did my 1099-R’s once again …)