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By John Kaschak, CPA, CGMA, CISA

The personal income tax filing season begins Feb. 12, 2021, and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue is encouraging tax professionals to take advantage of its new, state-only filing option available at mypath.pa.gov.

The myPATH portal allows tax professionals to seamlessly file their clients’ Pennsylvania income tax return (PA-40) and make income tax payments, in addition to other services. This new online filing option replaces the department’s PA Direct File system on Nov. 30, 2020.

The launch of personal income tax services in myPATH is something our department has been working toward for many years. We’re extremely excited to offer this user-friendly option to our customers, which includes PICPA members.

Here are some important benefits to keep in mind:

• You don’t need to create a username or password to perform many functions in myPATH. That includes filing a PA-40 or making a return payment.
  – You will need to provide the taxpayer’s Social Security number and either the tax liability for a previous tax year or their birth date and Pennsylvania driver’s license/photo ID number and expiration date.
  – You can include attachments with the submission of the taxpayer’s PA-40.
  – Prior to starting the PA-40, there is a list of schedules and income types that myPATH can handle.
• Tax professionals can use the “Where's My Refund?" system to track the status of a refund.
• There is a detailed list of instructions for myPATH available in the myPATH User Guide.

Delays for Some State Returns, Refunds

Keep in mind that some delays may occur this tax season for the processing of personal income tax returns and refunds if you are using tax preparation software to simultaneously file your clients’ state and federal returns.

Because the IRS established Feb. 12 as the date for the opening of the filing season, returns that are filed using tax preparation software will be held by the IRS until the agency officially opens tax season. At that point, the IRS will route state returns to departments of revenue, allowing for the processing of these returns and refunds to commence. To get a jump on Pennsylvania returns, we encourage tax professionals to use myPATH.

Service and Assistance

If you need assistance leading up to the April 15, 2021, tax filing deadline, help is available through the department's online customer service center or call (717) 787-8201 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The department also offers its Schedule a Call service, which allows tax professionals to make an appointment for the department to place a call to you at a time that is convenient.

We will be working hard this tax season to make sure returns and refunds are processed as quickly as possible and that our customers have all the information they need.

John Kaschak, CPA, CGMA, CISA, is executive deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. He is a member of PICPA Council and PICPA’s Government Accounting and Auditing Committee.

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