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I, also, did the online IRS ACA webinar and just finished attending two days of accredited IRS Tax Learning. A great deal of time and effort was spent on ACA and the consensus of the IRS reps is that this will be the most difficult tax prep year EVER! In truth, they aren't even sure that they understand it and there will be no telephone assistance available. You either learn it or find the answers online. They don't want phone calls and have heavily reduced the numbers of their employees. They want you to use their website; which leaves many of us in a terrible predicament. If it were not for this Community board; we would be lost in never-never land. Thank you so much Eric. Thank you to all participants who ask and answer the right questions. FWIW, I have earned my AFSP designation until someone chooses to file a lawsuit and shoot that down. I am intending and hoping to address each client on a one by one basis in regard to the ACA. There are so many ifs, ands and buts; I don't see any other way to do it. I have plenty of reference material now, unless there are indeed changes before filing begins. The IRS is also projecting that to be some time in February (tentatively). This entire system leaves us all on very thin ice. Without each other, we would surely fall through.

I must admit I've been ignoring it, under the heading that here in MA we've had a mandate for some years so I didn't think it would affect me much. No questions from ANY client - individual or corporate - on the law. A couple of folks who either get MA-subsidized coverage or who skip it (really can't afford it) and we appeal the penalty each year and win. I do have CPE scheduled on this -- maybe even this weekend. Hmm... I had better check my calendar on that! Rita - am with you on repeal. Jack - am with you on the unlikelihood of that. It was a stupid decision back in the 40's to give businesses a tax break for providing insurance to employees; it caused the whole industry to grow up around this employer-sponsored model, back when most folks (=men, mostly) worked for ONE employer their whole lives, retired at 65 and died by 67. Plus the exemption from the Sherman-Clayton Acts in the medical field as a whole, and we end up decades later with a government-sourced mess. Blech.

Most of the solid information I received came from the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums 2013 & 2014. Classes were done by IRS people in those departments. Money well spent, for me anyway.

I don't think you can guarantee no problems with any system configuration given the state of the software over the past couple tax seasons.   Jack feels pretty strongly about Windows 8, but I believe it's entirely due to the new user interface elements, and not the performance of the system or software issues.  The full screen start menu, the "charms" bar that appears when you move your cursor to the right, etc. That's the stuff that people are complaining about.   As far as how the software will run, I don't think you would see any difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

/s Sorry, I keep forgetting to do that.

Yes. You are. I can't wait for the %^&*$% thing to be repealed. Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber bragging about deceiving the American people. I think we paid him about $400,000 to do it, too:

A lot of confusion about the ACA hinges on ignorance of one critical fact: It does not apply to employers with less than 50 employees. So if a small business employer wants to help his 10 employees out with the cost of their health insurance, it goes in Box 1 of their W2 as earned income. They can deduct the full cost of their insurance on Sch A if they exceed the 10% haircut. No one is doing anything wrong.

Any payment made to an employee in lieu of health insurance must be considered Box 1, 3 & 5 taxable income. The employee may deduct premiums he pays on Sch. A. These payments do NOT nor CANNOT be considered as healthcare insurance provided by the employer.

The AICPA is trying to get the IRS to change the $500 to $2,500 and get rid of the adjustments to the prior depreciation schedule, because of the hardship to small clients. I hope that it works.

There was a lot more a year ago. But, this "retroactive" part didn't sink in until I took more classes this year (or paid more attention in classes this year). I was more focused on the fact that we now have some dollar amounts that we never had before; i.e. $500, and that roof repairs are really repairs and maybe the IRS won't try to call them replacements any more. I signed up for the NATP webinar. I think I'm going to put a LOT of my clients on extension to have time to think about each item on their depreciation schedule vs. new regs. And, forget the old regs; need to wipe them out of my mind. I am going to charge big for this!

For those of you in the greater NY area, the NY/CT-ATP's November dinner meeting is 2 CEs on ACA by a speaker that I've heard and liked and learned from before on other topics. Here's a link: http://nyctatp.org/event/2014-november-dinner-meeting/ Dinner at 6 p.m. in Danbury, CT, off I-84; education program at 7 p.m. or a little earlier start. This is my favorite group. I'm newly on the education committee. Feel free to poke around the website or ask me any questions. The dues are only $60 or so. We're having a great two-day seminar December 4-5 (including 1 CE NY and 1 CE CT; 2 CE ethics was during our October seminar) and a January last-minute up-date, also.

Now thru Nov 21st- continue efiling individual returns for 2013, 2012, and 2011 tax years o when IRS opens 1040 efile in 2015, returns for 2014, 2013, and 2012 can be sent. No official start date for efile has been announced. · Now thru Dec 23rd – continue efiling business returns for 2013, 2012, and 2011 tax years o when IRS opens business efile in 2015, returns for 2014, 2013, and 2012 can be sent. · Nov 21st- 1040 efile ends o EFC stops sending 1040 efiles to IRS at 6pm Friday Nov 21st to allow ample time for state return processing and ack retrieval. o IRS shuts down individual efile at noon Saturday Nov 22nd and we will continue requesting acks until noon. o Acks not received by the ERO will become available again when efile opens in 2015 FINALLY!!!