There are many occasions when TaxSlayer Pro communicates with our servers over the internet, e.g., when transmitting a return and receiving acknowledgements, getting program updates, and getting fees and other bank product information.
If you use a virtual private network (VPN), TaxSlayer Pro may occasionally be unable to communicate with our servers if the IP address the VPN provider is using for you has been blocked by our security software. When that happens, you will typically see an error message such as this one:
Unable to set Contracted Transmission Fees from Server.
The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.
You might also get a large window headed An Error Has Occurred with technical details about the error but including this phrase:
System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.
You may find that you also get an error code 1020 when attempting to go to taxslayerpro.com in your web browser.
Its possible the 403 error is temporary and outside of your control, but an error such as this is typically resolved by disabling the VPN.
Ultimately, if the error persists and you are committed to using a VPN, you may need to (a) change VPN providers, (b) see if an exception can be made for TaxSlayer Pro communication, and/or (c) consider temporarily disabling the VPN when performing some action that involves the program communicating with our servers.