Instructions | Pre-Printed Form Converter (PPFC)

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Instructions

Updated: 12/06/2021 11:03 AM

These instructions are meant to be very descriptive and forward about how this process works and how the data is used and deleted. Some parts of these instructions will have fairly technical terms used for those that wish to fully understand our process and how we handle the data that is sent to be converted.

For those that need a basic step by step guide to just get your file converted, please see the PPFC's main documentation page.

The decision to move our 'Xps Converter' (now named Pre-Printed Form Converter (PPFC)) online was done for multiple reasons but the main reason is accessibility. Not everyone has an IT Department that allows software to be installed onto their machines without their approval or changing of security systems. Since this application is meant to be used for one or two exports from your accounting software, it made more sense to have it online for easy access. This easy access however does not diminish the security that we have put in place to protect any data that our system touches.

For this system particularly, we set out with the goal that, just like the old application that was downloaded onto your computer, this application must not have access to any of the files that you sent through it after it has completed the task of converting the files. Our programmers have worked to make sure all data that goes through this process is discarded and never saved to the server the application runs on. The data is loaded in, converted, and then the original data is discarded. The generated '.src' file is then given to you (the user that requested the conversion) directly with a download button. This download is temporarily held but not saved for you to be able to retrieve. This download will expire if you navigate to another page, you download the file, or if you leave the download un-retrieved for longer than 30 min. Our team has no access to these converted files nor can our IT Department or Programmers access the data that was sent through this process at any point. For more information on our processes and security, please view our SOC 2 Type 1.

Start by selecting the '.pdf' file that you exported from your accounting software.

There are many different accounting software and not all export the same way. For more information on your specific accounting software and exporting or printing to IRS Red forms (Pre-Printed Forms) please visit their website or search your accounting software's name with 'printing on pre-printed forms' or something to this effect. If all is well, you should be able to find some documentation on the accounting software's website about how to do this export/print.

Select the Tax Year format that the '.pdf' is in. More information about selecting the correct tax year can be found in the documentation titled 'Tax Year'.

Select the Form Type that the '.pdf' was exported as. More information about selecting the form type can be found in the 'Form Type' documentation.

Accept the reCAPTCHA. The reCAPTCHA is used to verify that the request is done intentionally by a person and not by a bot. This is a Google addon that we utilize in different places on our site to better make sure that the data being sent to us on a given page is coming from a person and not a robot.

Agree to our Terms of Use.

Click 'Generate SRC' button.

At this point, the data file ('.pdf') will be sent to our server and verified as this type of file. We validate all files sent to use as an 'Accepted File Type'. If the file type is not in this list, it is rejected immediately. The PPFC only accepts '.pdf' file types and these files are not opened as normal PDFs are. They are opened and scanned for text only, any other data that is held within the given pdf, is not read.

After the '.pdf' is verified, the Tax Year and Form Type that was entered is verified to make sure that the given form is available to be converted with that year. If it is not, all data is discarded from the request and a message is sent back stating that the form and year are not available.

Once all validation is completed, the text is striped out of the '.pdf' and held as the specific box that it was stripped out of. When all text is stripped from the '.pdf', the pdf is closed and discarded. That data is no longer accessible by the system. The text that was stripped and held, is now put into the proper format of the '.src'. Once all data is put into the proper format, the server returns you a page to download the new '.src' file. If an error occurs while this process is going on, the system will log the error for us to be able to investigate (the errors have no data and are just a message of what happened and does not contain any of your data), the data will be discarded, and you will more than likely get an error message that says '0x11110083'. Please read the linked page about what this error is and how you may possibly fix the issue.

If all is well you will be greeted with a download button, then click 'Download' and you will get a '.zip' file that contains your '.src' file. Please save this file as you will have to do the process over if you do not save the file because, as stated above, once the download is done, the last bit of data is discarded and cannot be accessed again by the system.

This documentation hopefully explains the process in enough detail that you feel confident using this tool. If there are any problems or concerns, feel free to call us so we may help you.