e-File Atlas

Republic Bank e-File Product information  

NOTE: Republic Bank has informed us the deadline to transmit RAL Bank product returns is April 20th, 2010.  After that date, any returns received will be processed as ERC or ERD returns depending upon the disbursement method selected.

Important: Recent mystery shop results have revealed that Married Filing Joint RAL applicants are not receiving a yellow sheet explaining Spousal Opt-Out from their tax preparer.  Please don't forget to give ALL Married Filing Joint RAL applicants a copy of the yellow tear-off sheet explaining Spousal Opt-Out.  Simply explaining the Spousal Opt-Out is not enough.  A supply of these yellow tear-off sheets entitled "Attention Joint-Filer" was included in your supply shipment and more can be ordered online.

NEW for TY09

Republic Bank now requires an RBIN (Republic Bank Identification Number) to be assigned to each bank product return that is prepared. This is an eight digit combination of letters and numbers that is entered in Screen 4.5 directly below the application date in the Lacerte program.

Please refer to Page 6 of the TY09 Republic Bank SIM Manual for the steps required to obtain your RBIN.  The RBIN can only be obtained from Republic Bank after completion of training and is not your EFIN, PTIN or EIN firm number.  Failure to enter a valid RBIN number will cause an application reject by Republic Bank.

Note: Refund checks are not printed in the Lacerte program. Please print checks using the Republic Bank TRS website www.republicrefund.com . Refer to the “Printing Checks” section of the Tax Refund Solutions “User’s Guide” or contact Republic Bank support for assistance.

Republic Refund homepage

ERO Support Options page

How A RAL works

Product Publications and Manuals

FAQ's

Q: Why doesn’t Republic Bank have my client’s files?

A: The number one reason that the bank does not have the client files is because the bank software is pointed to the wrong directory. For example, if the Republic Bank application is pointed to C:\Lacerte\09Tax\Idata\Refundsn and your Lacerte clients are on F:\Lacerte\09Tax\Idata  the bank software will not see the tax return or acknowledgment. You MUST verify in the bank settings that the data paths match.

NOTE: It is not necessary to add REFUNDSN to the data path in the Lacerte program. This is done by our software automatically. To view the Lacerte datapath in the program click Settings, Options, Setup. In most instances, changing the bank File Transfer settings to match the tax program data path settings rather than the other way around is the easiest and quickest way to resolve the issue.

A: The second reason that the bank does not have the files is that  you have created and e-filed the federal return and chosen to create the state return with no bank products, then e-filed and saved the state return. When the Federal Acknowledgement file is received by the Lacerte software, the software will view the state return that was last done for that tax payer, and NOT SEE that a bank product was chosen. It will then place the Acknowledgement file in a directory that is not made available to your Tax Product Software.