ACA. Check sum augmentation number calculation

Question

I am working on ACA forms submission project and util today everything has been in the mode "business as usual", but today everything has changed.

I've started to get following error back from IRS status service on all my submissions:

<ns3:FormBCTransmitterSubmissionDtl xmlns="urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:ext:aca:air:ty16" xmlns:ns2="urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:common" xmlns:ns3="urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:msg:form1094-1095BCtransmittermessage">
    <ACATransmitterSubmissionDetail>
        <TransmitterErrorDetailGrp>
            <ns2:ErrorMessageDetail>
                <ns2:ErrorMessageCd>MANIFEST-025</ns2:ErrorMessageCd>
                <ns2:ErrorMessageTxt>Manifest 'ChecksumAugmentationNum' must match the IRS-calculated 'ChecksumAugmentationNum' value of the transmission</ns2:ErrorMessageTxt>
            </ns2:ErrorMessageDetail>
        </TransmitterErrorDetailGrp>
    </ACATransmitterSubmissionDetail>
</ns3:FormBCTransmitterSubmissionDtl>

Which is kinda odd, because I was able to submit successfully many times before. And I did not change check sum calculating algorithm in any way. Did anyone stumble upon such issue? Had IRS changed the way they calculate data file check sum?

Answer 1

I had the same issue. In my situation the issue was due to the case value of the checksum. Example 214527e7bfa3c7924b871679c82e1600 vs. 214527E7BFA3C7924B871679C82E1600. Lower case was accepted. I have read articles stating that checksum values are not case sensitive so this was surprising to me.

**Update - Received this from the IRS this morning.

MANIFEST-025 is setting in error. A fix for this error will be installed during the January 8, 2017, maintenance window. Please resubmit your Transmissions on January 9, 2017.

Please let us know if you are able to successfully file on January 9, 2017.