Trying to determine whether this is an issue on my end or if AFR is offline
I carried forward a T2 return this afternoon and clicked on T2 Auto-fill. I got the pop-up as usual, and tried to initiate the download session but the little wheel keeps spinning and eventually times out with the error message “TaxCycle was unable to complete the download”. I tried a couple more times but the same issue. If I hit cancel TaxCycle seems to completely freeze up.
I then tried to AFR a T1 return and received the same communication error.
I can’t remember the last time I had an issue with AFR or T2 AFR so before I start pulling things apart I was wondering if AFR is working for others.
CRA replied that they had a power outage at one of their buildings causing a break in any process that had to retrieve data from servers in that building. Things should return to normal shortly.
I am trying to do a T1 2020 AFR and get the following message:
TaxCycle was unable to complete the download.
The service returned: INVALID REQUEST (201) The request for tax data is not structured properly.
Does this have to do with 2 step validation which I had to turn on several days ago?
CRA also just had me complete the 2 step validation two days ago. After reading your message, @obhorst, I decided to try the AFR just now on a file I’m currently working on. I was able to use the AFR on this file on October 1st, but it won’t activate at all this evening. The selected web browser fails to open. I get the following message:
Considering that the web browser doesn’t even open, I’m wondering if this is a TaxCycle issue relating to the newest TaxCycle release ( 10.2.44806.0 ) considering the AFR worked fine with the previous version. This version just got pushed and installed on my computer yesterday or the day before??? Are others having this same issue?
That is the exact message i got when using Chrome. I talked with Christian at TaxCycle and he suggested I use a different browser - so I used Avast and it worked. He was on my screen so he saw/experienced the issue himself. We know that it will be fixed
Interesting that using the Avast web browser worked for you, @obhorst.
I downloaded and installed it, but no luck. Still get the same error message.
Interestingly, the Opera web browser does not show up as an option.
To further review this AFR issue, I backed up the relevant TaxCycle data (ie: files in the AppData folder), then fully uninstalled TaxCycle, including deleting all residual files in the Program Files(x86) folder, the Program Data folder, and the AppData folder. Rebooted, and then re-installed the previous TaxCycle release (Sept. 2, 2021 version 10.2.44507.0). Entered my TaxCycle license info, manually entered my CRA e-file credentials and business info, then opened a client file and once again tried the AFR on this new TaxCycle install. Once again received this exact same AFR message.
So, perhaps this is a CRA issue after all since I was able to reproduce it on a clean TaxCycle install of a previous version of TaxCycle.
We’ll see if TaxCycle has any comments on this issue on Monday.
I should have thought to check CRA’s e-file website to see if there were any messages about being offline. I’m surprised I didn’t receive any email updates from them, but was able to find the update on their website after reading your message. Thank you.
