Tax-Aide (contact)

Frequently Asked Questions

Activity Reporting Process:

For questions on Activity Reporting, refer to the "Phase 2 Materials" in Manuals, Policy & Procedures.

Technology:

1. How do I change the TrueCrypt password?
2. How do I change the size of a TrueCrypt volume?
3. I am having problems setting up my network

Training:

1. Where can I get a copy of the ERO training modules?

Activity Reporting Process:

1. Should volunteers use last year's site sign-in sheets or the old CAR forms?
No. This is a new process with new pieces of information. If you have any of these old forms, please destroy them as the categories are no longer applicable.

2. Why is the reporting period the last Saturday of the month?
As part of the effort to streamline this process, it was decided that both volunteer self reported and data from alternate sources would be used. In order to make this work correctly, information from the two sources need to be in alignment. TaxWise standard reports are available weekly, and UTS defines a week as ending on a Saturday. As a result, the volunteer self reported information needed to be in the same timeline.

3. Why does the Local Coordinator (LC) and District Coordinator (DC) only have five days to finish?
The WEB screen enables the LC and DC see some critical pieces of data from TaxWise. This information is updated weekly throughout the tax season. Due to the initial system constraints, we are unable to load weekly data for a new reporting period until we "close" the WEB screen for the old reporting period. It is this system limitation that is driving this five day timeline.

4. Why is the WEB only set up for the LC and DC?
The data being reported on surrounds services provided. Each service provided is linked to a site. As currently set up in our national database (VMIS), there are only two positions linked to any individual site: that of LC and that of DC.

5. What if a taxpayer, who receives services on their own return, also asks questions about the return of their grown son or daughter? Is this counted as a separate "Q&A; Only"?
Yes. Remember that the overall intent is to count the total number of taxpayers served. In this type of example, you would first count the taxpayer that had appeared at the site for the services that they received. Then you would also count the questions they had for someone else, as the ultimate recipient of the answer to the question would be the second taxpayer.

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Technology:

1. How do I change the TrueCrypt password?
On the TrueCrypt mail screen; Click on ‘”Volumes” from the Drop down menu. Highlight and click “change Volume Password”. The “Change Volume and Password and Keyfiles” window will come up. You must know the old password in order to change to password.

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2. How do I change the size of a TrueCrypt volume?
As a TrueCrypt volume is effectively a formatted disk drive, there is no way to directly change its size. However, a new volume can be created that is the correct size, and the contents of the "old" volume can be copied to the new one. Assume you originally created the volume TPDATA.TC at 400 MB and now you want to change it to 650 MB. Do this:

  1. Make sure no volumes are mounted.
  2. Locate the file TPDATA.TC and rename it to TPDATA_OLD.TC
  3. Use the TCx2 Start icon to start the TrueCrypt procedure.
  4. The procedure will require that a new TPDATA.TC is created. Go ahead and do it, remembering to make it the size you want. Go ahead and mount the new volume as you have always done - it will be Drive P.
  5. Locate the file TPDATA_OLD.TC and double on the filename. TrueCrypt will start. Highlight a drive letter that is not in use. Click on Mount to mount the "old" TrueCrypt volume. The password will be the same as it always was. Exit from the TrueCrypt program. Now locate this "new" drive letter and copy its entire contents to Drive P.
  6. Once you are satisfied that the new Drive P is working as it should, click on the TC Stop icon to dismount all drives.
  7. Delete the file TPDATA_OLD.TC. Don't forget to do this as the file will be taking up a lot of disk space.
  8. TPDATA_OLD.TC might be too big to fit in the Recycle Bin. However, if it isn't then remember to empty the Recycle Bin.

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3. I am having problems setting up my network?

Frequent Networking Problems and Recommended Solutions:
Change 1, current as of Feb 1, 2008

Issue: Computer User Accounts cause problems allowing connections to server.
Recommended Solution: On AARP computers, there should be a standard username called "volunteer" and a standard password for 2007 on ALL AARP computers. User Accounts should not be changed, but created from scratch (not copied and changed). This is because attributes remain with a copied or changed account. A volunteer account can be added to other laptop as well, be sure you are logged-in as an Administrator to add a user account

Issue: I setup server share according to Tax-Aide Networking Instructions and it does not work.
Recommended Solutions: Review each step and be sure you followed ALL steps. A commonly missed step is to administrative share the TrueCrypt "P" drive and using sharing as P$

Issue: I used these same computers to network last year and this year it does not work.
Recommended Solutions: Be sure to disconnect ALL mapped drive and remove ALL shares from previous years and setup new network settings for the current year. Everything changes and there are no shortcuts to networking.

Issue: I uninstalled last year's TrueCrypt and installed the new version 4.3a but all the old settings appeared and I was not asked to create a new volume.
Recommended Solutions: After uninstalling TrueCrypt from your computer, you must manually delete the TrueCrypt Folder in "Program Files" and delete the TPDATA.TC and TSDATA.TC files from the C:\ drive.

Issue: I cannot get the IRS computer to work as a server.
Recommended Solutions: Do not use the IRS computers as servers. They work better as clients, but have additional layers of security that makes it very difficult to setup as a server. Primary issue seems to be Windows user accounts that are setup on the IRS laptops. "Changing" the accounts to mirror the server does not work since attributes are retained. NEW account should be created that mirrors the server and all is well.

Issue: When mapping the drive on a client, and clicking the server name, it does not open the contents of the server.
Recommended Solutions: Just wait a while, as this can take a minute or two. If it still will not open, try enabling the 'Use simple file sharing' on the 'View' tab of 'Folder Options' in the Control Panel of the server. Then after the mapping is completed the "Simple file sharing' can be disabled.

Issue: After TaxWise 2007 is installed on a client computer on the LAN, an attempt to open TaxWise 2007 results in an error "Database error" or "Database can not be read."
Recommend Solution: On each workstation that gets the error message:

  1. Open UTS07 on the P drive and run dbrepair.exe. This fixes part of the problem.
  2. Go to control panel, region & language options/customize. Make sure the short date format is MM/DD/YYYY (it wasn't on 2 of my computers).
  3. Still in Control Panel, open Internet Options/security/local intranet/sites/advanced. Add "//server" to zone.

Issue: When my server is setup and shared for networking and I try to map the network drive from the client to the UTS07 folder, I get an error message like "Access Violation" or "Access Denied" or "System Error".
Recommended Solutions:

  1. Open Internet Explorer and select Tool > Internet Options.
  2. Click on the Security tab.
  3. Click on Local intranet, then click the Sites button.
  4. Click the Advanced button.
  5. Type Z: (substitute Z with the drive letter TaxWise is on) and click Add
  6. If you get an error at this point, instead of Z: use two slashes followed by the computer name of the SERVER (e.g. \\servercomputername)
  7. Click Close and OK.
  8. Try to open TaxWise again.

If you still get the same error, please call TaxWise Technical Support.

Issue: Cannot connect to the server to map network drive OR to map network printer.
Recommend Solution: When AVG has been removed from the server and a client is being connected to the network that has AVG installed, then the instructions in the Tax-Aide Networking Instruction for AVG no longer apply. Specifically, trying to make the client computer a "Computer in Domain" will not work since the Domain is identified within AVG. Further, the default firewall settings only allow "file and print sharing" while in "Computer in Domain" mode which cannot occur with AVG uninstalled from the server.

Issue: The HP 1022 LaserJet Printer has caused freezing and/or "insufficient system resources" error on various laptops, especially the HP Compaq 6715b when networked or not. This problem seems to be aggravated by using an HP 1022 printer other than the one originally installed in that computer.
Recommended Solution:

  1. A file named ZSHP1020.exe continues to try to execute creating multiple copies of the file and trying up the processor which causes the "insufficient system resource" error or freezing. A search for this file can be done using the search command and all iterations of this file can be deleted. This may have to be done in safe mode.
  2. Printer drivers are updated by HP whenever an issue is identified and reported to HP. The HP 1022 LaserJet drivers on the CD are several years old. Always download the updated printer drivers from http://support.hp.com to ensure that the latest drivers are being used.

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Training:

1. Where can I get a copy of the ERO training modules?
On the Extranet under Training tab.

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