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I am a big believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it. All of our work computers are on Win 7 and it works. I ain't messing with it. Especially right before tax season!

I will send out my document checklist (instead of an organizer) and engagement letter as soon as they are ready to go (i.e., printed and collated). I hope by the end of this week. Have already had one phone call and one drop-off for 1099's for clients' vendors. I am SO not ready for this...

http://tinyurl.com/q3wvohx I have never been as happy to receive ANYTHING as this bird is to have a paper towel.

Yes, I've read those, but put more trust in a review from "our" POV. So that Accounting Today article really made me more interested.

Is that what you would call an April 15th dance?

My opinion is that anyone who says the HATE 8, has not spent a month working with it. It's far superior to 7, but not so different that you can't switch back and forth. If you're a heavy menu user (I'm not), then install an add-on menu. I just have my main programs pinned to my taskbar and usually start them with WinKey+#, where # is the number of the icon (1,2,...). Secondary programs are in the Quick Launch toolbar (Yes, it's still there. Let me know if you can't find how to add it to your taskbar.) Any my desktop is still covered with well organized icons.

This year we won't be dancing until after April 18. Tax season just gets longer and longer.

Maybe April 16th, after the madness has gone on hiatus and some sleep has been obtained.

Mine go out today. My engagement letter is based on AICPA verbiage and printed on my letterhead so I don't use the ATX one. I do like their content, however. It is very similar. I print out the basic questionnaire to include as well as information about Use Tax (clients really don't like to be reminded of this), and for a few I print out some pages for rentals or Sch. C with the prior year data and list of assets. Most folks don't complete them but I think they are good guides. I would love to get back the signed letters right away but more and more folks are waiting to include with their documents so planning it a bit tougher. And then I wonder about the one or two who just drop off. Fortunately that doesn't happen often but I think it would be nice, after several years, to receive at least an email stating that they won't be back. Just so I know - and I promise not to badger as I am not unhappy having some attrition naturally.

The Surface Pro 3 was definitely a learning curve for me, but once I "got" it, I was off and running. I had never dealt with Win 8 or 8.1 prior to that. I absolutely love it, particularly for traveling. My personal advice is that if you are going to indulge yourself with something that expensive, go the extra mile and get the keyboard. Have someone (I used my Grandson) come in and show you the basics of getting around in Win 10 and it will get to feel like home and I have no issues switching back and forth to 7. The Surface was a "something for me" purchase and just having it gives me the warm fuzzies. The size is perfect for moving around. Both of my laptops are 17" and would never think of using them on my lap. Good luck whichever way you decide.

Installment sale by father, installment purchase by the son. Is there a rate of interest stated in the note? If not, you still have to account for unstated interest as part of the payments, and son's total basis in the property being purchased doesn't include the interest, only the principal paid.

I received a notice from my tax software vendor that warned that Accuwage is incompatible with the Edge browser that came with Windows 10. SSA is recommending using IE 9.0 or higher, Chrome or Firefox.

I would not change existing computers, either. But if getting a new one, best to go with the 10 I think.

I got an email from Drake recommending either Firefox or IE; that notice said Chrome was also incompatible (as well as Edge).

That sounds like me, Marilyn. And, thanx for the article, KC. I've been reading reviews from CNET and other sources.

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accounting-technology/remarks-the-surface-pro-3-is-a-winner-76323-1.html?utm_medium=email&ET=webcpa:e5485084:2457290a:&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=first%20look%20smart%20list-nov%206%202015&st=email Related Articles The Writing Is on the Wall New Products -- January Re:Marks Case Studies: Tools for Connecting Boomer’s Blueprint Other areas of interest Accounting Technology Re:Marks: The Surface Pro 3 Is a Winner

He filed 2010 in 2011 so he is past the 3 year mark there also.

I think you ladies are correct, he is out of luck. He is coming by to pick up his stuff. I will NOT do business with him again.

Rule # 2:

Yeah, my work desktop and work laptop -- very powerful but very heavy laptop -- are 7 Pro. A Surface would be for a lighter weight computer when I need QB and Excel at a biz client's site or to travel with instead of just my iPhone for email and a little research. (Was just at my kids/granddaughter's out of state when a church member passed away, so my music director hubby and I as liturgical assistant were putting the funeral together long distance with our part-time priest and part-time church secretary at home with their young kids on school vacation. Would've liked a bigger keyboard than my iPhone. Hubby had his iPad Air.) So, I can learn 10 gradually and be ready when I next upgrade work computers or am forced to update OS to 10. But, it's definitely 7 through this tax season for tax purposes. Maybe I'll order a Surface...

I am too. Give it time, maybe the notice will still come. Why are you asking about joint venture since you said this was an SMLLC owned by the husband, meaning he files one Sch C for this business? LLCs are state entities, and a single member LLC owned by an individual is a disregarded entity that reports on one Sch C. For LLCs owned by husband AND wife, reporting depends on whether or not the state is a community property state or not. If not a comm property state, it defaults to a partnership unless it elects to be a C or S corp, and it can NOT elect to be a qualified joint venture. The rev proc mentioned on the IRS page I linked to has special rules for state law entities created in community property states, and it looks like those special rules state that the IRS will go along with H-W LLCs to report as either partnerships or disregarded entities. See the last section on this IRS page and the Rev Proc here. Unless you have an LLC that is truly owned by both the husband and the wife, I don't think you can make a case for the wife having a contributions to the 401K if the LLC is solely owned by the husband and she doesn't have some sort of earned income from the business.

Oh I do not wonder AT ALL, Jack. Nor do you wonder why I delay upgrading until the bitter end (I upgraded to W7 less than a month before support for XP was to end).

The spouse must have a business relationship with the business in order to contribute to the solo 401k. It can be as wages as an employee, a joint venture reported on Sch C, a partnership, LLC, C or S corp. The financial advisors are probably saying what they did because they are giving general guidance, because it is possible for a spouse to contribute IF.... With the SMLLC, I think you'd have to look to state law to make sure you don't create problems there. If this is truly a single member LLC in the husband's name only, it is reported on his Sch C alone. If you have a husband-wife LLC, each being members, the reporting would default to a partnership for unless you are in a community property state. Why didn't the husband simply give her a paycheck to solve the problem?

I have manually scanned/printed and filed all documents as PDFs for about 13 years. Every 'file cabinet' software I've looked at does not let you access your PDFs without using their software. I don't like that, and I've yet to find any problem that file cabinet software can solve, or any efficiency I could gain.

With my developer hat on: Cloud removes some very nasty headaches. No support for installation, maintenance, updates, backing up data, etc. Factoring in support for just these issues is a HUGE part of software cost. Like it or not, modern computer users are insulated from having to know how computers function, and expect software vendors to train them if needed. This is not a bad thing, as it means more can use the wonderful tool, it is just different. (Imagine if GM had to teach me how to drive, give directions, make repairs, fill the gas tank, etc., all for free, because I bought a GM vehicle.) Much more easily to handle proper licensing as one can monitor exact access and cut it off as needed. Costs go up as one has to charge enough to cover customers being online 24/7 and moving large amounts of data. But, those costs get passed on, and if the customer is not all that active, I might make more money. (I would not want to have to run a meter and bill for access.) Unless I am sloppy and do something incorrectly, I have zero liability for lost data, so no new risk there. The bad is all on the customer. Outages. Intuit has suffered them, as has Amazon. If these two, expecially Amazon, cannot keep up 100% of the time, then how can anyone else? Intuit's online payroll was unavailable for more than 24 HOURS not too long ago... Amazon is the back end for MANY cloud services, so it is safe to say they are the best, and yet they cannot be perfect. If data is lost, the customer has likely trusted they did not need an online backup and are in bad shape. Slower data entry is almost a given, and a bad thing for even a lousy keyboarder. For safe data, each entry must be stored and added, slowing down entry. Well, unless you live in a Google fiber area and your cloud service is in the same loop... (For example, I am writing this using a remote connection to my main computer, and even at slow typing, I have to "wait" a few ms for the remote software to send the keystrokes to the main computer, update the display, and send the restults back to me and update my display. This is a very fair comparison to cloud or even network based software speed.) So for now, we remain softare installed on the customer's computer and do not require internet access at all. We continue to consider a cloud offering, but nothing on the horizon.