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As a few of you know, on June 2, I had breast cancer surgery. All is going very well. No margin invasion and no lymph node invasion. Prognosis couldn't be better. I wouldn't normally be writing this other than to remind all of you gals to have your mammograms. Early detection is SO key and that is what saved me. My tumor was only 7 cm. It is gone. I will have no radiation or chemo....only meds. This has been a pretty hectic time for us as my husband and I were both diagnosed with cancer about two weeks apart. Also, my cousin, who became my new assistant this year, was diagnosed before me and had her surgery exactly 4 weeks to the day ahead of me. We are all doing just fine. Am not asking for any sympathy here; just want to make sure that all the gals and wives of guys out there get the message and are as fortunate as I have been.

Goodness, what an update. I'm glad you, your husband, and cousin are all doing well and are getting back to good health.

Cancer should have known better than to pick a fight with Marilyn!!

Copied from the OSEA newsletter: Tax Changes Signed into Law June 29 2015 Tax law changes can be included in any bill sent to the President, or so it seems. Such is the case with the Defending Public Safety Employees' Retirement Act, also known as Public Law 114-26 (formerly known as HR 2146) and the Trade Preference Extension Act of 2015 (TPE 2015), also known as Public Law 114-27 (formerly known as HR 1295). Here are the tax provisions included in these laws signed on June 29, 2015. Form 1099 Penalties effective with returns required to be FILED after December 31, 2015 (i.e., for calendar years 2015 and later). The penalty under Section 6721 for not filing correct information returns increases. (Not filing a required information return is considered not filing a correct information return.)The penalty is $250 per return (an increase from the previous $100 per return penalty).If there is an unintentional delinquency and it is corrected no more than 30 days after the return due date, the penalty is reduced to $50 per return (formerly $30 per return).If there is an unintentional delinquency and it is corrected more than 30 days after the return due date but on or before August 1, the penalty is reduced to $100 per return (formerly $60 per return).The penalties above still have maximum amounts, but of course these maximums increased compared to prior years.The penalty for intentional disregard also increased from $250 per return to $500 per return.The penalty under Section 6722 for not furnishing information returns (i.e., Forms 1099) to payees increases.The penalty is $250 per return (an increase from the previous $100 per return penalty).If there is an unintentional delinquency and it is corrected no more than 30 days after the return due date, the penalty is reduced to $50 per return (formerly $30 per return).If there is an unintentional delinquency and it is corrected more than 30 days after the return due date but on or before August 1, the penalty is reduced to $100 per return (formerly $60 per return).The penalties above still have maximum amounts, but of course these maximums increased compared to prior years.The penalty for intentional disregard also increased from $250 per return to $500 per return.Education institutions are exempt from these penalties for not having TINs of the students on the Form 1098T if the institution complies with the IRS rules on obtaining TINs.The total penalties for a taxpayer who does not prepare a required Form 1099 is now $500 per Form 1099 ($250 for not sending a copy to IRS plus $250 for not giving a copy to the payee). Education Credits and Tuition Deduction Effective with tax years beginning on or after June 29, 2015, no education credit (American Opportunity Credit, Hope Scholarship Credit, or Lifetime Learning Credit) or tuition deduction is allowed unless the taxpayer receives a Form 1098T. A statement received by the dependent is treated as if it was received by the taxpayer. [Since IRS now requires school information on the Form 8863, this change requiring a Form 1098T to exist isn't too surprising. Each of us will have to decide if we want to see the Form 1098T or if we just want to confirm with the taxpayer that it exists.] Child Tax Credit Effective with tax years beginning after December 31, 2014, the refundable portion, if any, of the child tax credit is DENIED for any taxpayer who excludes any amount of gross income using the foreign earned income exclusion [i.e., Form 2555]. The Health Coverage Tax Credit under Section 35 which expired December 31, 2013, is now extended through December 31, 2019. To be eligible for this credit taxpayers must qualify for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) or be an eligible Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) pension recipient. The "Public Safety Employee" exception to the 10% penalty for early distributions from retirement plans is expanded to include Federal employees who are law enforcement officers, customs and border protection officers, firefighters, or air traffic controllers

For him, you are way too cheap!! Add an aggravation factor.

MCB: Congrats on your good prognosis! My wife is a one year survivor, two years from diagnosis. Hope that everything stays well. Have those mammo's, ladies... Although the mammo in my wife's case was clean.... What did they diagnosis your husband with? Rich

How about making your fees for filing them late the same as the IRS penalties?

I wouldn't do it again after 2013. You know the issues that I had. Even if I had the time. New clients every few days; who messed up preparing their own returns.

I think it's about time to fire one of my clients. They are great folks but have an LLC with rental properties some of which they also sell. Year after year the transaction records fail to arrive until about March or April then generate lots of questions which take weeks to answer. As they have member loans and often put money into the LLC and pay themselves from time to time, I never can get the loan interest calculated timely for the 1099 filing. I know they have paid penalties a few times but I don't want to be held responsible when the delay isn't my fault. Are these penalties on me or the client? I can't prepare and file forms when I don't have the data. Hmmmm, retirement....

I volunteered as well. They will probably not ask me to help. I told them I wanted the full working version BEFORE it was released so I could beat it up. Did that for TY 2013, and I think I irritated too many people in the hierarchy of ATX such that my name is "poison" in their ranks. I suppose being a very vocal person to them about the many areas that have been promised to be fixed for four tax years now, that are still a problem, is not the kind of people they want participating.