Adding a 941 Electronic Authorized Signer and Requesting PIN

Note:  There can only be one active authorized signer for an organization; if needed, deactivate the current authorized signer before adding a new one by completing all the steps for inactivating a 941 electronic authorized signer.  Also, keep in mind, a PIN is assigned specifically to an organization (federal ID), so if a person works at multiple organizations, he/she must be added as an authorized signer at each organization and request a separate PIN for each.

1. From the Payroll screen, select the Government Reporting menu, Quarterly 941s, and 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests.

2. At the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests screen, verify there is not already an authorized signer in the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers List with the Active field selected.  If there is another authorized signer listed with the Active field selected, deactivate the current authorized signer at this time by completing all the steps for inactivating a 941 electronic authorized signer, and then continue with the steps below.

3. Click the Add New Authorized Signer button.

4. The Submit PIN Requests to IRS screen will appear; complete the screen as follows:

Employer Information section:

• The name of your organization appears in the Employer Name field and cannot be changed.  Initially, the name of your organization as entered in the System File appears by default, but thereafter, the default will be the name from the last generated 941.

• The address, city, state, zip code, and federal ID for your organization (as entered in the System File) appear in the Address 1 and 2, City, State, Zip Code, and Employer Identification Number fields and cannot be changed.  If needed, make changes in the System File to update the information in these fields.

• Enter the name of the person who should be contacted with questions for the PIN request in the Contact Name field.  The name can be up to 30 characters long.

• Enter the title for the job description of the person who should be contacted with questions for the PIN request in the Contact Title field.  The title can be up to 40 characters long.

• Enter the phone number (without hyphens) for the contact person in the Contact Phone Number field.  The phone number must be 10 digits long.

Authorized Signer Information section:

• Enter the name of the authorized signer in the Name field.  The name can be up to 30 characters long.

• Enter the title for the job description of the authorized signer in the Title field.  The title can be up to 40 characters long.

• Enter the 9-digit social security number for the authorized signer in the Social Security Number field.  The system will automatically add the dashes, using the format of ### - ## - ####.

• Enter the email address for the authorized signer in the Email Address field.  The email address can be up to 40 characters long and must follow the proper format of "username@example.com".

5. Click the Submit Authorized Signer PIN Request to IRS button.

6. A message will appear in the status bar stating the 941 online PIN registration has been sent.

7. Click the X in the upper right-hand corner to close the Submit PIN Requests to IRS screen.

8. The newly added authorized signer will appear in the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers List on the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests screen.  The name, title, and email address for the authorized signer will appear, along with the date/time of the PIN request submission and Submitted as the Submission Status.

Tip:  If desired, click the View Details button to see the details for the authorized signer, including the employer information and name, title, social security number, and email address for the authorized signer.  (Note:  The Social Security Number field may not appear if your user rights to the Social Security Number field were overridden within the User Security option to have no access.)

9. The IRS will process the submission for the PIN request, and once the results are ready, an alert will appear on the main Payroll screen stating:  941 Signer PIN Request Accepted by IRS or 941 Signer PIN Request Needs Corrections.

Note:  The processing time for the PIN request typically takes several minutes.  In order to see a new alert, the Payroll screen must be refreshed by closing the screen and then re-opening it, or clicking the Refresh Screen icon in the lower right-hand corner of the Payroll screen.

• If the alert for 941 Signer PIN Request Accepted by IRS appears, the PIN request was processed successfully without any errors.  To view the details for the accepted PIN request submission, click the alert which will open the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests screen, and then click the View Details button for the accepted submission for the recently added authorized signer in the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers List.  The recently added authorized signer appears in the list with Accepted as the Submission Status.  No further action is needed until the PIN is received via mail (see Step 10 below).  The alert will no longer display after closing the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests screen and refreshing the Payroll screen, or after 30 days if either the alert or the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests option is not selected.

• If the alert for 941 Signer PIN Request Needs Corrections appears, there were errors found with the submission by the IRS and corrections need to be made and the PIN request resubmitted.  To view the errors for the rejected PIN request submission, click the alert which will open the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests screen, and click once on the rejected submission for the recently added authorized signer in the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers List.  The recently added authorized signer appears in the list with Rejected as the Submission Status.  The information for the errors for the selected (rejected) submission appears in the PIN Request Error Messages List, showing the Error Category, Error Message, Rule Number, and Severity Code.  To view additional details for the authorized signer, click the View Details button (in the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers List) for the rejected submission for the recently added authorized signer.  Make the appropriate changes to resolve the errors, and then complete the steps to resubmit a PIN request for the authorized signer.  The alert will no longer display after resubmitting the PIN request and refreshing the Payroll screen, or after 90 days if the request is not resubmitted.

Steps to Resubmit a PIN Request for a 941 Electronic Authorized Signer

10. Once a PIN request has been accepted by the IRS, the IRS will mail the PIN to the authorized signer, which can take up to 45 days to receive.  After the PIN is received, sign the statement of receipt and return it within 10 business days from the date of the letter; and then activate the authorized signer within the 941 Electronic Authorized Signers/PIN Requests option (by selecting the Active field).

Steps to Activate a 941 Electronic Authorized Signer (After Receiving PIN)

11. After completing these steps, the 941 Form can then be electronically submitted.

Steps to Submit the Quarterly 941 Electronically