AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Forms Generator May 21, 2017 – Page 1

Forms Generator

Users Guide – Version 9

Introduction The Forms Generator provides a way to generate forms that can be used to build AARP Foundation Tax-Aide

training scenarios. These forms look similar to the actual IRS Forms.

Important notes will be highlighted as shown here.

Use the TAB key move to the next field on the screen. On the 1095-A form you can use either the TAB key or the

ENTER key to move to the next field.

This note applies to the 1095-A Part III form for the following columns

A Monthly Premium Amount

B Monthly Premium Amount of Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP)

C. Monthly Advance Payment of Premium Tax Credit

To copy the amounts in one of the columns to other fields in the same column:

Select the amount to copy by clicking

Press the F12 key

The amount in the field you selected will be copied to the fields in the same column that are below the field

selected (e.g. if you select the Column A field for April and press F12, the value in that field will be copied to

Column A May through December fields.

Forms that can be generated by the Forms Generator

The font on most forms was increased by 1 point to make then more readable.

Forms that have been added to this version are identified with a red arrow

Existing forms generated by the forms Generator were compared to the 2016 forms from IRS.GOV. Many forms

were altered to change wording, add fields, etc. So many of the forms changed that I didn’t mark them to

indicate which ones changed.

Form Comment TPInfo Name, address, birth date and Social Security No. for Taxpayer 1

and Taxpayer 2Once the information for the taxpayers is entered,

the name, address and social security number can be copied to any of the forms by pressing the arrow on Load TP Info button and choosing Taxpayer 1 or Taxpayer 2.

SocSec Social Security card(s)

DrvLic Driver’s License (see note below regarding change to the driver’s license form)

Check Blank Check for direct deposit/payment information

W2 Wages

W2G Gambling

1099-R Pension Income

1099-MISC Miscellaneous Income

1099-DIV Dividend Income

1099-INT Interest Income

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Form Comment 1099-G Certain Government Payments (e.g. Unemployment)

1099-LTC Long Term Care

1099-A Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property (foreclosure)

1099-C Cancellation of Debt

1099-Q Payments From Qualified Education Programs

1099-B Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions

1098 Mortgage Loan Interest

1098-E Student Loan Interest

1098-T Tuition

SSA-1099 Social Security

RRB-1099 RRB-1099-R

Railroad Social Security Equivalent and Railroad Retirement

CSA-1099R Federal Retirement

CSF-1099R Federal Survivor Death Benefit

Schedule K-1 Partner’s Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc.

1095-A Health Insurance Marketplace Statement (requires two screens)

1095-B Health Coverage

1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage

The forms can be saved and recalled later for update. Press the Save Form of

the Open Form button.

Forms can be printed or copied to the clipboard from where they can be pasted into training documents by pressing the Print Form or the Clip Form button.

The Forms Generator allows you to change the TAX year that appears on the form. Press the button to cycle through the three available tax years

Changes to the content or layout of the form will require a program change.

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Driver’s License Form The Driver’s License form is shown below.

To choose a picture, move the mouse so that it is over the picture you want.

• Press the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON to copy the selected picture to the driver’s license on the left.

• Press the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON to copy the selected picture to the driver’s license on the right.

When you PRINT or CLIP the Driver’s License form, the menu of pictures WILL NOT be included as shown below.

Note: in this version of the forms generator, the pictures for the driver’s licenses are gray-scale instead of color.

This change was made to eliminate issues with printing color pictures in black and white and to reduce the size of

the training document files.

If you open a form that was created and saved with an older version of the Forms Generator, the pictures will be

converted to gray-scale.

Edits • Social Security Number and Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (SSN/ITIN) – – For training

purposes social security numbers can contain numbers and the letter X as shown below:

• 123-45-6789, 123-XX-XXXX, XXX-45-6789, XXX-XX-6789

o 123 will become 123-XX-XXXX, 12345 will become 123-45-XXXX, etc.

o X6789 will become XXX-XX-6789 X456789 will become XXX-45-6789, etc.

• Hyphens are optional. If omitted, they will be added.

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If you hover the mouse over an SSN field the help box show below will be displayed showing acceptable

formats.

• Employer Identification Number (EIN) – For training purposes employer identification numbers can

contain numbers and the letter X as shown below:

• 91-3456789, 91-XXXXXXX, XX-XXX6789, XX-X456789

o 913 will become 91-3XXXXXX, 9134 will become 91-34XXXXX, etc.

o X6789 will become XX-XXX6789, X456789 will become XX-X456789, etc.

• Hyphens are optional. If omitted, they will be added.

If you hover the mouse over an EIN field the help box show below will be displayed showing acceptable

formats.

• SSN/ITIN and EIN Examples Refer to the table below to see how Social Security Numbers or Employer Identification Numbers can be entered.

SSN/ITIN EIN

You Enter SSN becomes You Enter EIN becomes

123 or 123X 123-XX-XXXX 912 or 912X 91-2XXXXXX

1234 or 1234X 123-4X-XXXX 9123 or 9123X 91-23XXXXX

12345 or 12345 123-45-XXXX 91234 or 91234X 91-234XXXX

123456789 or 123-45-6789 123-45-6789 912345678 or 91-2345678 91-2345678

X6789 XXX-XX-6789 X6789 XX-XXX6789

X456789 XXX-45-6789 X456789 XX-X456789

X3456789 XX3-45-6789 X3456789 XX-3456789

Hyphens are optional. If omitted, they will be added as appropriate. • Money – Money fields must be numeric. Money fields can be entered with or without dollar signs, commas

and decimal point. The amount entered will be formatted (i.e. 1,000 becomes $1,000.00; 1000 becomes

$1,000.00; 1000. Becomes $1,000.00; 1000.4 becomes $1,000.40; 1000.45 becomes $1,000.45; 1,000.455

becomes $1,000.46). In boxes on the K-1 where negative amounts are allowed, enter the minus sign

followed by the amount (e.g. -123 will become ($123.00).

• Date – Dates can be entered with or without slashes and with a 2 or 4 digit year (i.e. 01/01/17 or 01012017

or 01/01/17 or 01/01/2017). They will be formatted as mm/dd/yyyy (i.e. 010117 will become 01/01/2017).

• Year – A year can be entered as a 2 or 4 digit year (i.e. 17 or 2017). Four digit years must begin with 20.

• SSA-1099 – Special edits are applied to the Paid by check or Direct Deposit and the Benefits for 2017

fields on the SSA-1099 form. These fields are calculated based on the values you enter in other fields. If

either of these fields become negative, the background and text in Box 3 alternates between red text on

white background and white text on red background as shown below, effectively blinking to attract your

attention, as shown below.

Box 3 Benefits Paid in 2017 Box 3 Benefits Paid in 2017

The background of the NEGATIVE field(s) will become red. Shown on the next page is a portion of the SSA-

1099 form with both the Paid by check or Direct Deposit and the Benefits for 2017 contain a negative

value.

123 = 123-XX-XXXX, X6789 = XXX-XX-6789, 123456789 = 123-45-6789, etc.

914 = 91-4XXXXXX, X6789 = XX-XXX6789, 914234567 = 91-4234567

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The Paid by check or Direct Deposit field is calculated by subtracting the Medicare Part B and

Medicare Part D premiums and the Box 6. Voluntary Federal Income Tax Withheld FROM the amount

in Box 5 Net Benefits Paid for 2017, so check these fields to locate the error.

The Benefits for 2017 field is calculated by subtracting the Benefits for 2017, the Benefits for 2016,

the Benefits for 2015 and the Benefits for 2014 FROM Box 5 Net Benefits Paid in 2017, so check

these fields to locate the error.

If you attempt to SAVE, PRINT or CLIP the SSA-1099 when there is a negative amount in either the Paid by

Check or Direct Deposit or the Benefits for 2017, you will receive and error message and the SAVE, PRINT

or CLIP action will be terminated. Correct the error and try again.

Directory (Folder) Structure The SETUP program creates a folder for saving the tax forms that you create. The folder created by the SETUP

program is “C:\TaxAideForms”. You MUST NOT DELETE or RENAME this folder even if you decide not to use

it. If you delete or rename this folder, the application WILL FAIL immediately on start-up. If it fails after deleting

or renaming the folder you can recreate the folder by running the SETUP again or by creating the folder

manually.

You can choose to save the tax forms in a different folder if you don’t want to use the default folder. Create a

folder on your computer to save the tax forms in. DO NOT DELETE or RENAME the C:\TaxAideForms folder.

You may create sub-folders within either the default folder or the folder you created to organize your tax forms.

For the purpose of this document, assume that tax forms are saved in sub-folders of the C:\TaxAideForms folder. You might want to create sub-folders for each year’s tax form and

for each problem as shown at right:

C:\TaxAideForms

\2016 \Problem1

\Problem2 \2017

\Problem1

\Problem2

Again, you DO NOT have to use the C:\TaxAideForms folder to save your forms or create the sub-folders

shown above. You can create your own folder structure and use it.

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When you open an existing form file, the folder (directory) the file was in is remembered.

When you save a file, the folder (directory) you save the file in is remembered.

For example, if you open a form file from the 2016\Problem 1\ folder and then change the tax year to 2017 and

save the file in the 2017\Problem 2 folder, both the folder the file was in when it was opened and the folder the

file was saved in are remembered.

It is a good idea to give your forms meaningful names so that you can easily identify the file that you want to

open when you need to make a change. Some examples of different file naming ideas are shown above. While

the form type (e.g. W-2 1099R, etc.) is embedded inside the file, it will help you know which file you want to

open if you incorporate the form name in the filename.

The application will suggest file names. The suggest file name consists of:

• Form Name (W2, 1099R, etc.)

• Last Name of the taxpayer

• First Name of the taxpayer

• Other Information (e.g. Employer from W2, Payer from 1099-INT, etc.)

• #Sequence Number (to insure unique file names

• .taxaide file extension (MUST NOT be changed)

File names must be unique. If you use the default file naming method, two W2s for the same problem/person will

get sequence #000 and #001

You can choose any of the following default formats on the Configuration screen. Your choice will be remembered

but can be changed at any time

1. LastName_FirstName_FormName_OtherInformation_SEQ.taxaide

2. FirstName_LastName_FormName_OtherInformation_SEQ.taxaide

3. FormName_LastName_FirstName_OtherInformation_SEQ.taxaide

4. FormName_FirstName_LastName_OtherInformation_SEQ.taxaide

Examples of default file names. Actual format will depend on which of the above options you choose

File Name Opt Comment SOCSEC_JOHN_DOE_JANE_DOE_000.taxaide 4 SS cards for John Doe (could have second person)

DRVLIC_DOE_JOHN_JANE_DOE_000.taxaide 3 Driver Licenses for John Doe (could have second person)

CHECK_JOHN_DOE_JANE_DOE_000.taxaide 4 Blank Check (Can have multiple names)

W2_JOHN_DOE_ABC PLUMBING_000.taxaide 4 1ST W2 for John Doe from ABC Plumbing

W2_JOHN_DOE_ABC PLUMBING_001.taxaide 4 2ND W2 for John Doe from ABC Plumbing

DOE_JOHN_W2_XYZ PAINTING_000.taxaide 1 W2 for John Doe from XYZ Painting

JOHN_DOE_W2G_BIG CASINO_000.taxaide 2 W2G for John Doe from Big Casino

DOE_JOHN_1099R_EDWARD JONES_000.taxaide 1 1ST 1099R for John Doe from Edward Jones

DOE_JOHN_1099R_EDWARD JONES_001.taxaide 1 2ND 1099R for John Doe from Edward Jones

JANE_DOE_1099MISC_TUTORS R US_000.taxaide 2 1099MISC for Jane Doe from Tutors R Us

JANE_DOE_1099INT_USA BANK_001.taxaide 2 1099INT for Jane Doe from USA Bank

These are only suggested file names. You can create your own file naming scheme. If you create or edit a file

and give it the name of an existing file, you will be asked if you want to

• Overwrite the existing file

• Replace existing sequence number with a new unique sequence number (only if you use the default naming

scheme or have added your own sequence number in the form of _nnn).

• Cancel saving the file. You can press the Save Form button again and assign your own unique file name.

There is currently one form (the 1095-A) that requires two screens to capture all the data on the form. The

data is saved in two files. If you choose not to use the suggested file names, be sure to name the files so

that you can properly associate page 1 with page 2 in problems where there are multiple 1095-A forms.

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Starting the Forms Generator To start the Forms Generator, double-click the Forms Generator desktop icon or press the start button and locate

the Forms Generator. The BASE screen is shown below.

The dark gray area (indicated by the blue arrow above) is where the data entry forms are displayed. This area

expands to fit the data entry form as shown below.

The first screen displayed is the Configuration screen, shown below

This screen allows you to:

1. Select the printer you want to use. If you have not previously selected a printer, the initial printer shown

will be your default printer. If you select a different printer, the printer you choose will be saved and will be

the printer shown the next time you display this screen.

2. Review (and change if necessary) the Social Security and Medicare withholding rates. If you made any

changes to this information, when you close the form (or open a new form) you will be asked whether you

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want to save the changes you made. If you choose to save the changes, the data will be edited and if all is

OK, the changes will be saved.

3. Choose the default file name format you want to use.

4. Change the Tax Year. Press the Chg Tax Year button to cycle the three available years (2016, 2017 and

2018). If you change the tax year, the change will apply to all forms you open or create. For example, if

the tax year is 2017 and you open a file that you created for tax year 2016, that form will be updated to

2017 automatically.

Menus, Buttons and Color Legend

The top of the form contains the menus, buttons and legend for the field background color. These are discussed

in the sections that follow

Menus

Menu Purpose

Control Functions Most options are self-explanatory. Most have a

corresponding button.

The Display User Guide option causes the PDF

version of this document to be displayed. Note: If the User Guide DOES NOT display

when you choose this option, wait a few seconds and try again. This only happens when you close the user guide and then

attempt it to display again in just a few seconds. It is because Adobe Acrobat has not completely exited before you try

and start it again.

Identification Forms Allows you to create/modify forms related to taxpayer identification.

W2 Forms Use this menu to create new W2 forms.

1099 Forms Use this menu to create new 1099 forms.

1098 Forms Use this menu to create new 1098 forms.

Menus

Buttons

Legend

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Menu Purpose

SS, RRB and CSA Forms Use this menu to create the forms listed.

Other Forms Use this menu to create the forms listed.

Buttons

Button Purpose

Press this button to OPEN an existing form. You can navigate to the directory (folder) where your tax forms are stored.

Press this button to SAVE the current form. A file name will be suggested. You can change

the file name if you desire.

Press this button to CLEAR the current form. Be sure to save the form before clearing it if you want to save the information.

Press this button to CLOSE the current form. Be sure to save the form before closing it if you want to save the information.

Press this button to PRINT the current form. If you want to include an image of the form in a

document, consider the Clip Form button described below.

Press this button to COPY an image of the form onto the clipboard. It can then be PASTED

into a document.

If you create and save Taxpayer Information (name, address, and social security number), you can copy that information into any of the other forms that require this information. Press this button’s drop down list to COPY saved Taxpayer 1 or Taxpayer 2 information into the current form. Press this arrow to display the Taxpayer option

Press this button to display the Configuration form. You can select 1. Select the printer to use 2. Review and/or update Social Security and Medicare withholding information

3. Update the tax year

Press this button to change the tax year. Each press of the button will cause the tax year to cycle between the three available years. If the current tax year on the form is 2017, the first

press will change it to 2018, the next press will change it to 2016 and if pressed again it will be changed back to 2017. Once changed, it will remain in effect for all forms until it is changed again.

Press this button to close the Forms Generator.

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Field Color Legend

When you tab into or click on a field the background color of the field changes to indicate the type of field. The background color of the various types of fields is shown below.

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Creating a Tax Form Select the form you want to create from one of the menus described earlier in the document. If you choose to

create a W-2, the W-2 form will be displayed is shown below.

Data Entry Considerations Button

1. The first thing to consider when creating a new form is whether you want to change the tax year. While you can change the tax year just before saving the form, it may cause some of the data to become invalid so it is best to change it before data is

entered. If so, press the Chg Tax Year button. Pressing the button will cycle through the three available years.

2. If you have entered and saved taxpayer information, you can copy the name, address

and social security number into the current form using the Load TP Info button and

choosing Taxpayer 1 or Taxpayer 2.

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Data Entry Considerations Button

3. After completing the data entry, you can save the form by pressing the Save Form

button. The applications suggests a file name consisting of the form name, taxpayer’s name and date form was created. The application also adds a sequence number to the

file name.

4. After completing the data entry, you can print the form by pressing the Print Form

button.

After completing the data entry, you can copy the form to the clipboard where it can be

pasted into a document by pressing the Clip Form button. It can be pasted into many

applications such as Word, Works, WordPad, Power Point, the Open Office suite of applications, Email applications, etc.

Open Files and Save Files Form The examples shown below are from Windows 10. Your system might look different, but should provide the same

functions as described below.

This is an example of the OPEN file screen. Use this dropdown list to navigate to an existing

location on your computer.

Press this button to create a new folder.

You can also use this area to navigate.

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This an example of the Save Form File screen.

Navigation works just like it was described for the Open File form above. This area contains a list of all the form files in the

folder. The SUGGESTED file name

is shown here. You can change the

suggested file name if you want. Just be sure it is a unique file name within the folder.

When you save a file, if a

file with the same name already exists in the folder, the screen show on

the right will be displayed. Press this button to overwrite the existing file. If you are using one of the

default file name formats that have a sequence number, and want to

create a new file with the same name press this button to assign a new

sequence number to make the file name unique. If you want to name the file yourself, press this button to go back, then press the Save Form

button again and enter a different file name.

Opening Existing Forms To open an existing form press the Open Form button shown below.

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The Open File form will be displayed showing a list of the existing files in the currently open folder. You can

navigate to a different folder if the file you want to open is not in the current folder. When the file is opened, the

data will be displayed in the proper form (W2, 1099R, etc.)

Click on the file you want to open and press the Open button.

Change the Tax Year The file you chose will open and be displayed in the appropriate form such as the W2 form for Jane Doe shown. When you have opened a form,

you can • Edit the data in the form • Change the tax year by

pressing the Chg Tax Year

button • Save the form by pressing the

Save Form button

• Print the form by pressing the

Print Form button

• Copy the form to the clipboard

by pressing the Clip Form

button

When you change the tax year,

the tax year will change in all the appropriate places on the form. For example on the SSA-1099 form, there are eight places where a year is displayed that changes for each tax year. Those years are

highlighted with a BLUE box around them in the SSA-1099 form shown at right.

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Saving Forms To save a form that you have created or updated, press the Save Form button.

The Save File form will be displayed showing a list of the existing files in the currently open folder and a

SUGGESTED file name. You can navigate to a different folder if the file you want to save the form in a different

folder.

You can change the file name if you want to create your own file names. Once you are satisfied with the file

name, press the Save button.

Reporting Problems There are two kinds of errors you might get.

1. Data entry error – This error occurs when you enter a data that the application considers invalid. In that case

you will be given a message that describes the error (see below) and some information about correcting the

error. This type of error can normally be corrected by changing the data entered.

Press the OK button to acknowledge the error, correct the error and continue.

2. Program error – This is an error that shouldn’t occur but sometimes does. In this case, the error message

that you get contains additional information about how to Email the information about the problem so that it

can be researched (see below).

Follow the instructions in the error message and paste it in an Email to:

FormsGen@Outlook.com

If there is any additional information you can provide about what you were doing when the problem occurred include that information in the Email. Press OK to acknowledge the

error.

New Email Address