State fiduciary form error: electronic filing information dcn has too many characters

[mk30]

I am filing an estate return. Submitted 1041 successfully then moved to state (MI).

When I click "transmit return" I get a message that there is one more thing to check

I click "continue" and then get the message "electronic filing information dcn has too many characters" and the general information form comes up. I see nothing in that form to change and don't know what to do.

Instructions say I must e-file and, therefore I am blocked from filing my return.

Can you tell me what I should do?

Thanks.

[Anonymous_ · Accepted solution]

See https://www.michigan.gov/documents/taxes/MI-1041Book_744836_7.pdf

E-file, it appears, is only mandatory for tax preparers who complete 11 or more fiduciary tax returns.

[mk30]

Thank you for your reply. 

In this document (Fiduciary Tax (michigan.gov) it states "To optimize operational efficiency and improve customer service, Treasury mandated e-filing of individual income tax (IIT) returns.  Fiduciary returns are included in the IIT e-file mandate"  This seems to supersede the document you reference.

Note: within the TurboTax State Fiduciary return I cannot select file by mail and am told I must efile. This file-by-mail prohibition with the TurboTax seems to confirm the link I provided.

And so, I remain blocked.  TurboTax will not let me file by mail and when I go to efile, I get the error mentioned in the original post.  

Is there something I can do? Or is this a bug that needs to be fixed?

Thanks.

[Anonymous_]

You can try contacting Support on Monday.

What is the TurboTax phone number? (intuit.com)

[SFRIEDY]

MY NY STATE ELECTRONIC FILING WILLNOT TRANSMITT.

MESSAGE "DCN "NUMBER HAS TO MANY CHARACTERS.

THIS MUST BE A BUG BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE HAS THE SAME PROBLEM.

PLEASE EMAIL ANSWER TO [email address removed]

[Anonymous_]

Again, you will have to contact Support:

What is the TurboTax phone number? (intuit.com)

@SFRIEDY 

[mk30]

I agree SFREIEDY that this feels like a bug and thank you for posting. 

I am going to heed the advice (what else can I do? ha, ha!) and call support on Monday. I will post back here what I find.

[mk30]

@Anonymous_ and @SFRIEDY  I talked to support for 90 minutes today and this is what I came away with.

1. Back office says the Michigan form for fiduciary return needs updating but hasn't been updated and this is causing the error
2. I can wait and see if the form gets updated or print and mail

I am going to contact State of Michigan directly and see if they will accept a mailed-in return given that TT cannot make the e-file work.

Was also provide a link to this thread that talks about state of Michigan form availability.  

Seems like Michigan got the cart before the horse on this e-file mandate,

[jimamster]

I am in NJ and trying to efile my business return. I also get the error "DCN has too many characters". Help! How do I overcome this?

[mk30]

@jimamster This is strictly my opinion, I have no evidence to back it up:  I believe it's a bug and when enough people report it, it will be corrected. So far, we have MI, NJ and NY reporting the same issue.  

I talked to TurboTax support and they said it was a problem with the forms provided by State of Michigan.

I talked to the State of Michigan (side note, they were very, very helpful) and they said they would contact TurboTax directly because they (TurboTax) are required to provide e-filing for all products they support for Michigan.

In the meantime, I asked the State of Michigan folks if I could file by mail and they said "yes" so I am going to wait a week and see if the issue gets fixed by TurboTax and, if it doesn't, I will e-file.

Best of luck to you!

[Your Friendly Product Specialist]

If you are filing your state business taxes separately from your Federal returns(and they have already been accepted), this may be what's causing the issue.

In some cases, certain business tax forms filed may not be supported by TurboTax for electronic filing.

Check this link for state forms availability for your specific state and business entity type: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/forms/help/s[product key removed]ability-table-for-turbotax-busine...

Hope this helps! 🙂

[NJ999]

I am also having the same problem trying to transmit Form NJ-1065.  This is clearly a bug with the TurboTax State forms for certain states.  I'm on the phone now with TurboTax support as I type this.  I have asked to escalate.

I have 3 1065 returns to file in the next couple of days.  If they can't fix it I will ask for a refund of the State download for NJ.

[Heliiix]

Having the same issue in DE

[anthony1111]

I'm also running into the same error with Delaware. I would be very grateful for a rough idea when this apparent bug will be fixed if any support could find the answer

[NJ999]

I would try calling their support line directly, I don't think that they read these forums.  I was on the phone with them for over an hour, but when they tried to escalate to someone else the call got disconnected. I didn't have the time to call back.