The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 added due diligence requirements for the head of household filing status. Beginning with 2018 returns, as part of those due diligence requirements paid tax preparers are required to complete and submit Form 8867 with any return claiming head of household filing status.
If any of your client’s returns had head of household filing status selected but did NOT contain the earned income credit, child tax credit, and/or American opportunity credit, you may have filed the returns without Form 8867. The IRS has explained that no further action is required, as they are not requesting preparers attempt to refile the return or separately mail Form 8867. However, you can open the return in TaxAct 2018 Professional, complete Form 8867, and keep it as a record with the return.
If any of your client’s return had head of household filing status selected and contained the earned income credit, child tax credit, and/or American opportunity credit, Form 8867 would have been automatically created and sent to the IRS with the returns. As part of the TaxAct Professional Version 1.10 update on March 29, 2019, an alert has been added to ensure tax preparers are including Form 8867 in this situation.