Level 2

Question

Federal tax payments delays

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
April 15, 2026
8 replies
19 views

Has anyone had issues with their clients' federal tax payments not being paid electronically or paid late.

Lacerte Tax

S

strongsilence

Level 10

For me no one has mentioned it.

First, I suggest asking the client to practice patience.

Next, I suggest asking the client for proof of a delay.

Maybe you call LC support if you know that it should have been paid. They can verify that the payments were set up and processed. This is only if you have time and are not sure the ES were done correctly by you.

Good luck!

sjrcpa

Level 15

One of my hyper clients was concerned payment was not withdrawn on 4/15. efiled and accepted 4/11. I told her to be patient. Payment withdrawn today 4/17.

The more I know the more I don’t know.

Kathi_at_Intuit

Moderator

Hello! Thanks for posting in the Community about the delay in Federal tax payments. As @strongsilence and others have stated on the Community, patience is needed. Delays can be normal and it is advised to wait 7-10 days after the return has been accepted. If after this time, payments are still delayed, you would need to reach out to the appropriate taxing authority. Also, as @BobKamman mentioned you could check with the bank to see if they see anything pending. Please note that Lacerte doesn't have records of whether or not electronic payments are being withdrawn.

**Click the 👍Thumbs up icon to say thanks on a post, and click Best Answer to mark the post that answered your question.

L

Lababs

Level 2

Yes concerning. 3 still as of 17th have not hit. State of CA did and estimates made through direct pay did. Just not through auto pay.

Checked boxes, accounts and date for withdrawal multiple times. All correct

Same account as prior year so that is not the issue.

Any suggestions anyone?

BobKamman

Level 15

Why is it always assumed this is an IRS problem? Has anyone checked with the bank? I often make payments online for which I get immediate credit, but that don't show up in my account for a day or two.

C

CCPAAuthor

Level 2

I am not assuming it is an IRS problem. When I called the IRS Payment Inquiry number, they did not have any information for up to four days. And when I talked to an agent, she said that it can take the IRS up to 7-10 days. This is a problem as clients are then concerned that they will get charged by the IRS for late payments, albeit the return was filed on time. It is a problem, because the tax preparer has to be the front person answering questions when they would like to take a day off.

IRonMaN

Level 15

Thought for the day. How often did clients call you when the check they mailed to the IRS didn't clear fast enough? Sometimes the "old days" of using paper checks weren't all that bad.

Slava Ukraini!

D

davidmeyercpa

Level 2

I've had 6 clients reach out to me about delayed federal payments (state cleared). I reached out to my former firm — they're having similar issues with CCH Axcess federal payments. They called the bank about one client and confirmed there are no issues at the bank. I checked one payment — still hasn't cleared as of this morning.

BobKamman

Level 15

The Treasury publishes a daily report of receipts by category, one of which is “Non-Withheld Ind/SECA Electronic”. These show collections this year are ahead of last year. (I think the numbers are in millions.)

April 15 Monthly Year

105,893 240,488 2026
99,163 208,364 2025

I wonder if there is a limit to the number of transactions that can be processed each day, so larger payments are processed before smaller ones. No one here is posting the amounts involved.

Last year, the April 16 amount was $59,916. This year it was $66,137.

So the money is flowing at the same rate to Treasury.

R

rservercpa

Level 2

I don't know how we can be a week after the deadline and payments submitted through Lacerte still have not processed yet anything I submitted separately through IRS DirectPay processed the very next day.

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strongsilence

Level 10

Hi rservercpa,

The answer is intuitive to me. You seem worried.

George4Tacks

Level 15

My Tuesday April 14 evening filing for April 15 had direct debit of payment and estimate. Both finally were processed by the bank on Monday April 20.

Answers are easy. Questions are hard!

BobKamman

Level 15

As we were saying last year, about how this happens every year . . .

https://accountants.intuit.com/community/proseries-tax-discussions/discussion/2024-federal-tax-payment-not-withdrawn-from-bank-account/00/328826

IRonMaN

Level 15

But I do have to admit that it is nice to see posts that don't involve overtime or tips. 😁

Slava Ukraini!

K

Karl

Intuit Community Champion

I personally haven't had any clients reach out about this, and I have a decent amount that were set for auto-debit on the 15th.

Some recommendations for the future:

Put in your (auto-)messaging that these transactions are ACH, which doesn't happen instantly. Taxpayers should not panic if it takes a couple of days to show on their bank side.
Clarify to clients that the IRS and states are like bickering step-siblings. What one does is unconnected from what the other does. The fact that a state withdrew funds (or sent a refund, for that matter), while the IRS didn't/hasn't yet, is an irrelevant data point.
Make sure your EL clarifies that your liability ends with submission of e-file. As long as you've verified the bank info is accurate on the front end, then it's on the bank/IRS/state. Of course it doesn't stop clients from calling and expecting you to solve it, but IF there is a bank/IRS/state failure to process in some way, that will help a lot in limiting your liability if any penalties are incurred and non-abateable.
Keep a list of all these clients raising a panic. Either fire them, or tell them that next year, auto-debits need to be set 10 days early to avoid this.

*If this (or another answer/reply) solves your problem, please click "Accept as Solution" to get this post out of the "Unanswered" queue of posts.*

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