UPDATE 5/13/2019 6:50 PM CDT – I finally received the official instructions from CCH on filing certain tax returns with the IRS after the May 15, 2019 deadline within the additional time until May 22, 2019. Those instructions are very long and specific so I have included them on a separate post instead of on this one. You can find those instructions here.
UPDATE: 5/13/2019 11:15 AM CDT – I have started a new post today to document any additional updates and information for the extra time granted by the IRS to complete the returns due 5/15/2019.
UPDATE: 5/11/2019 – CCH has announced that the IRS is granting extra time to file returns due on 5/15/2019. More info here.
UPDATE: 6:45 PM CDT 5/9/2019 – I received a new message from CCH. I put it in a separate post here.
UPDATE: 4:30 PM CDT 5/9/2019 – I heard from my sales rep at CCH again. I had told her I was able to log into the efile system. Her response was:
“That is correct. However, not all firms country wide have this capability. Not until it has been officially communicated and it is available across the country will it be emailed out as an update”.
UPDATE: 3:45 PM CDT 5/9/2019 – I was just able to log into the Wolters Kluwer CCH E-File System for Prosystem fx Tax. This availability appears to have just come online for me within the last 15 minutes.
So, it’s Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 8:30 AM CDT, and I just received an update from my CCH Sales Rep with more information about the malware episode we’ve all been affected by. Since it’s a longish email, I didn’t know the best way to share it to help get out the information. I figured I would copy and paste it here as a blog post so it will be easy to ready on any browser.
This was sent to me on Thursday, May 9, 2019 by my Sales Rep at 8:06 AM:
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Wolters Kluwer Network and Service Interruptions
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your continued patience as we work to fully restore all of our applications and platforms. I am writing to update you on the progress we are making in this regard, as well as provide more context about how this situation originated and how we were able to effectively isolate and contain it before it could have any detrimental effect on customer data.
As previously shared, on May 6th when we started seeing technical anomalies in a number of our applications and platforms, we proactively isolated our systems out of an abundance of caution before any detrimental effects could occur. We have since been working with best-in-class anti-virus and security firms to develop and deploy newly released anti-virus solutions. This process assures a high degree of confidence in the security of our applications and platforms before bringing them back online.
It’s important to clarify that although there was malware on our network, we have seen no evidence that customer data and systems were compromised or that there was a breach of confidentiality of that data.
As you know, Wolters Kluwer delivers a suite of distinct applications in a variety of formats, each of which is designed to serve distinct segments of the tax and accounting ecosystem. We are in the process of scanning, testing, and restoring each service and application, and because they are distinct, they must be brought back online sequentially. We are restoring our applications and platforms in the following order:
- CCH® SureTax® (online)
- CCH Axcess™ (online)
- CCH® AnswerConnect (online)
- CCH® Intelliconnect® (online)
- CCH® Account Research Manager (online)
These following systems are still in process:
- Electronic Filing System (ELF for medium and large firm customers)
- CCH® Global fx
- ATX™ & TaxWise® electronic filing
- TaxWise® Online™
In short, the service interruptions you have experienced are primarily the result of our aggressive, precautionary efforts to ensure the safety of your data. This is why at this time we are confident that we see no indication of data loss or other effects, nor any potential risk to our customers’ data.
As we’ve noted before, we are working diligently around the clock to completely restore service and those efforts are continuing.
If you have any questions, we have established a dedicated customer support line regarding this incident at 800-930-1753 and a live chat capability at taxna.wolterskluwer.com. We appreciate your continued patience and will work to keep you updated as new information becomes available.
The Wolters Kluwer Team
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