Information Return System shuts down when accessing e-file transmit Form/Returns

This article will help explain what to do if the IRS program shuts down when accessing the Form/Returns Selection display, or when selecting the Form/Return Type from Electronic Filing, and the transmission file isn't created. An incorrectly formatted transmission file in the data directory usually causes this problem.

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Close the Information Return System.
2. From File Explorer, go to the directory where the company data is stored. The default is C:\IRS20YY\DATA.
3. Search for W-2 transmission files *.TW2 and for 1099 e-file(s) *.TA. The file format is YYXXXXXX.TW2 where YY is the program year, XXXXXX is the 6-digit company ID (3-digit ID's will have leading zeros), a period, and the file type (TA or TW2).
4. Look for files with 2 periods. For example, 18000100..TW2 or 18000200..TA.
5. Delete these files and leave the correctly formatted ones.
6. Go back into the program and access Electronic Filing > Transmit Forms/Returns.
7. You should be able to create the e-file now.

If you can't locate files from Step 4 with the double periods, follow these steps:

1.  Cut and paste the *.TA or *.TW2 files to a new folder.  Don't use copy and paste.
2.  Now, copy and paste the files back to the original data folder.

If neither of these procedures work:

1. Delete the .TA or .TW2 files.
2. Go back through the steps to create new transmission and e-files.