I watched the President's State of the Union Address tonight. I have been putting off paying taxes due the end of the month. I've been getting calls from one of the Washington State tax agencies. The level of encouragement to file reports and pay the tax has been increasing. Yesterday the voice mail message included the words subpoena. I chose not to consider this a threat, but rather an opportunity to save the State money. Since I never filed the last quarter report (while fully intending to), I knew there was reason to provide encouragement.
Tonight I paid the $45.32 due the State for the currently due quarter. Below is the email exchange and chronicle of my efforts to pay the taxes I am perfectly willing to pay, but reluctant to figure out how to do it each time it's due.
This is only for Unempoyment tax. There are at least two other agencies with similarly complex (but totally separate) rules and websites.
I'm a patient man, but this tries my patience. Here's how it went:
From: [AG]@ESD.WA.GOV
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 9:10 AM
To: [Alan's business]
Subject: ES# xxxxx-00 0 A B
Please call or e-mail me regarding your delinquent 3rd quarter tax report and 4th quarter report due.
Did you have employees?
Do we need to inactivate your account?
[AG]
Tax Specialist
(425) 649-xxxx
---------------------
From: AB
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:36 PM
To: [AG]
Subject: RE: ES# xxxxxx-00 0 [Alan's business]
AG –
I did return your phone call today.
I do have an employee. I do expect to pay the appropriate tax. I would welcome guidance.
Can I schedule an appointment to work through this on the phone?
Thank you.
-- Alan
----------------------------
From: AG@ESD.WA.GOV]
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 6:46 AM
To: Alan
Subject: RE: ES# xxxxxx-00 0 [Alan's business]
Alan,
You can go online and file 3rd and fourth quarter tax reports due preferably today please..
www.esd.wa..gov/uitax
- download the program UIFT to your desktop
- key in the requested information
- submit your reports
if you have trouble filing, e-mail me:
name of the employee
Social Sec No. (if it is [A], we have it)
Number of hours worked during third quarter (july, august, September)
Total gross wages paid
Same information needed for 4th quarters
Thanks,
AG
--------------------------
From: Alan
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 7:20 AM
To: AG
Subject: RE: ES# xxxxxx-00 0 [Alan's business]
Thanks Ana. I will do this tonight. It looks straightforward. If I have problems, I will send you the data for entry tomorrow.
-- Alan
-------------------------------
From: AG@ESD.WA.GOV]
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 7:22 AM
To: Alan
Subject: RE: ES# xxxxxx-00 0 [Alan's business]
Please do.
-----------------
Ana –
I believe I have filed the proper reports online, though not using the process your instructions indicate. I paid the Q409 taxes due and tried to pay the Q309 taxes, but was unsuccessful in making that payment.
I certainly appreciate your offer to enter the total paid and hours worked for the two quarters, and I should have simply quit trying to do it myself and sent you these four pieces of data.
Below is the chronicle of the efforts I went through to pay the $45.35 I owe the State for the fourth quarter as well as my attempt to pay the delinquent third quarter tax.
The link you provided below does not work for me. I’ve tried three different browsers on two different operating systems and I get the responses below using Microft Vista. The warning message displayed on a Macintosh computer is attached.
Please note that the link you provided presents one thing in my email and another destination hidden: http://www.esd.wa..gov/uitax
After a lengthy troubleshooting effort, I have found that the following link provides a page that is actually live.
http://www.esd.wa.gov/uitax/
Only two links were active in the matrix presented:
I clicked the link “File and pay” where I was offerd the choice to “choose the best online filing tool”
I was confused by two links being presented in the matrix: One in the cell “make online payments” under “UIFastTax” download desktop software for filing your taxes” with an “X” and “(using ePay)” I chose the “UIFastTax” since it looked like your “UIFT” direction below. This link led me to another page with much confusing text with a number of links, including a box labeled “Important” with a link labeled “download the reader” and a heading labeled “Vista users” with instructions to “Run as Administrator”. I chose the link “Download full version“ since you included the word “download” in your instructions. I then was presented with another page with more confusing text. I found the item “Go to the setup file and choose "Run" or "Open." and clicked the link. After being presented with the security warning and selecting “run” and being presented with another security warning by Internet Explorer where the warning indicated that “the publisher could not e verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?” and “Unknown Publisher” I selected “Run”. I was then presented with:
I selected “limit” since there was no digital signature. Can you tell me why there is no digital signature and the program is flagged as dangerous?
I then selected “allow” after being notified again that the program was dangerous.
I was then required to accept the following license agreement before proceeding:
End User License Agreement
“Washington State Employment Security Department
End User License Agreement for UIFastTax
NOTICE TO USER:
THIS IS A CONTRACT. BY INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT.
This Washington State Employment Security Department UIFastTax End User License Agreement accompanies the UIFastTax software product and related explanatory written materials ("Software"). The term "Software" shall also include any upgrades, modified versions or updates of the Software. This copy of the Software is provided to you as the end user. You must read this Agreement carefully before installing the software. If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, do not install the Software. The Washington State Employment Security Department grants to you a nonexclusive license to use the Software, provided that you agree to the following:
1. Use of the Software. You may install the Software in a single location on a hard disk or other storage device; install and use the Software on a file server for use on a network for the purpose of permanent installation onto hard disks or other storage devices or use of the Software over such network; and make backup copies of the Software. You may make unlimited copies of the Software and give copies to other persons or entities as long as the copies contain this License Agreement and the same copyright and other proprietary notices that appear on or in the Software.
2. Transfer. You may not rent, lease, or sublicense the Software. You may, however, transfer all your rights to use the Software to another person or entity, provided that you transfer this License Agreement with the Software.
3. Copyright. The Software was created with public funds and is owned by the Washington State Employment Security Department. Its source code is confidential and reverse engineering of this product is prohibited. You agree not to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the Software. Except as stated above, this License Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights to the Software.
4. No Warranty. The Software is being delivered to you AS IS and the Washington State Employment Security Department makes no warranty as to its use or performance. WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT AND ITS SUPPLIERS DO NOT AND CANNOT WARRANT THE PERFORMANCE OR RESULTS YOU MAY OBTAIN BY USING THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION. THE WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST SAVINGS, EVEN IF A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY THIRD PARTY. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or special damages, or the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on how long an implied warranty may last, so the above limitations may not apply to you.
5. Governing Law and General Provisions. This License Agreement will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, U.S.A. This License Agreement will not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the application of which is expressly excluded. If any part of this License Agreement is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the License Agreement, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. You agree that the Software will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country or used in any manner prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act or any other export laws, restrictions or regulations. This License Agreement shall automatically terminate upon failure by you to comply with its terms. This License Agreement may only be modified in writing signed by an authorized officer of the Washington State Employment Security Department.”
which I read and accepted, given that I had no choice and was losing patience at this point.
I was then presented with a series of boxes by the Kaspersky Internet Security software each of which included the word “denied” if I read accurately.
- There is now nothing on my screen that would allow me to proceed with your second step: key in the requested information
I hope you can understand my frustration with not being able to pay the taxes I know I owe and wish to pay but am not provided the opportunity to do so with an online tool.
This is only one of the four or five different State systems I am expected to deal with. Each system has a different login required with a different password which has different “strength” requirements and expires at different time intervals.
There seems to be some confusion at the State between “security” and complexity. I have paid these taxes online previously, but apparently the logins and passwords I used last year don’t work today. After significant further effort, I’ve changed passwords and found a site that I have previously used. I understand that I’m to do this quarterly, and maybe if I time it just right the passwords will only expire every other quarter. This seems draconian.
So, counter to your directions below, and after an hour and a half of trying to pay my taxes, I then selected “EAMS” on the site https://secureaccess.wa.gov/myAccess/saw/select.do where I was led to a site where I could select “
File UI quarterly report
”
This page required an Employment Security (ES) reference number, which I found on one of the many US mail deliveries I am expected to read, as well as the “Federal Identification Number (FEIN): “ which I am familiar with as “EIN” for IRS filings, and the Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number which I am also familiar with. I don’t understand why I should have to look up these numbers every time I log into your system to pay taxes for this business. Perhaps your web page offers to remember these for me, but if so it’s very obscure, relative to the bold and blank fields I must enter numbers into.
So this leads me to another page where the currently due and the overdue last quarter are presented with “Account data” and “Due xx/xx/xxx” are presented as links under the headings “2008” and “2009”. Not knowing what this means, I selected “Due 1/31/2010” This led me to a page listing details about my business and account and offering a “next” button, which then offered a page with the option to select “yes, I have payroll to report. It’s finally looking like I can at least pay the current quarter’s obligations! I get to then fill out a form with questions about corporate officers and stock options, which are all required fields. This looks familiar. It still doesn’t apply to my small company. I again enter zeros in all the fields. Only after entering something in answer to all these question am I allowed to select “next”, which I then do. Again I see a vaguely familiar page which requires that I select between “Import file”, “Copy data”, and “Hand-key”. I’m not importing or copying anything (though I’d love to copy what I entered last time) so I select “Hand-key” and am enabled to select “next” which I do.
I finally see a table where I can enter the wages I’ve paid during the quarter being reported. As you indicated, the system has the employee I paid previously, but I need to look up SSN and other data for that employee and enter it again, along with hours and wages for the quarter. Finally, AFTER TWO HOURS I AM PROVIDED WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER DATA. I am not in a good mood. This form was only completed after selecting next and being presented with “Employee wage items are missing or invalid. Left uncorrected the employer may be charged an incomplete report penalty.” Apparently I didn’t enter the number of hours. I had to go back and enter the hours. No warning before entering “next”. The subsequent page I was presented was even more baffling to me: Total Excess Wages” “The total excess wages represent the amount calculated by the Employment Security Department based on year to date wages reported for this business.” Since I have no idea what this about I leave the box which contains zeros blank and select “Next” where I fill in three boxes with the number of employees I had in each month of the quarter. With only one employee, this was not difficult – only time consuming. Clicking “Next” presents a “Verify Tax Summary” page where the “UI tax due” of $44.89 is one of the line items to verify.
I’m also presented with the “Note: This report is for your records. DO NOT mail or fax paper copies of this report to the Employment Security Department”
Upon clicking “Next” I see:
THIS REPORT HAS NOT YET BEEN SUBMITTED
If after clicking the Submit report button you do not see a screen displaying a confirmation number, the Employment Security Department has not received your file.
Try again or contact Technical Support at 1-800-565-4660 or UIFTSupport@esd.wa.gov.
with an option to click “Submit report” which I then do and see an opportunity to print the confirmation and select “Next” which then presents a page containing: “The filing process has not been completed until both the quarterly report and payment have been received, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.” I again click “Next” and receive the option to “Pay taxes electronically” which I select to see a page with boxes filled with amount, date, and user reference. I select next and am presented with (I can hardly believe it) an option to use the same bank account I paid from previously! I simply accept that the business account I used last time is the same as that presented and select next. Indeed, the State does know a lot more about me and my business than previous forms and I only have to select “Submit payment” and am presented with a page showing the amount of $44.89, other data about my company and my bank account and the following: ” THIS PAYMENT WAS SUCCESSFULLY PROCESSED.”
I believe that there will be no more issues with the previous quarter report which has now been filed on time, and payment submitted. Now, to try to do the same for the last quarter, which is the same (as this quarter I just did as well as the previous quarter, except for total wages I paid my employee).
I click “Return to available services” and again select “file UI quarterly report”. I must again look up SSN and enter data for the same employee. After entering the data and answering the same questions about my company again, I’m presented with the page showing “UI tax due” of $45.32. It shows no penalties or interest, though I understand I’m three months late in filing and paying this $45.32. I moved through the following pages quickly till I saw “pending Payments: $45.89 and the bank account numbers again. I clicked “back” since I expected to see the amount of $45.32 or some reference to penalties if not this amount. I then found myself at the “Select Reporting Period” page again where I was presented with the only link in the row” 3rd quarter” to be under 2008 and labeled: “Account data”. The other cells in the matrix show “Processing” and “Not available” under 2009 and 2010, respectively. Clicking the only active link shows a 2008 report for which I know I have paid the required tax.
I’ve now spent well over two hours since watching the State of the Union address where the President promised to support small businesses. I believe I’ve paid my currently due taxes for your agency and have tried to pay the overdue taxes for the previous quarter without success. I now have to try to invest the same level of effort to pay taxes to at least two other State agencies and the Federal Government. It’s hard for me to believe that my government supports small business.
Please let me know what I still need to do to become current in my reporting, my tax payments, and to avoid the State having to issue a subpoena as you suggested on your phone message yesterday.
-- Alan
It's been really hot here this past week. I was fairly diligent in opening and closing the windows in the studio. And this few minutes of attention morning and night mad a huge difference in the comfort level in the space during the unbearable heat, reaching 98 degrees on Thursday. Yet the indoor temperature never exceeded 77 deg.
We live in an environment where the diurnal temperature swing is nearly always significant. Probably the Puget Sound offers that. We are just east of Lake Washington. Maybe that's a factor.
