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I agree. And I feel this way about anybody skating on debts they owe. It's a real kick in the teeth for people who do what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it. Someone pays for those who don't. Every time.

That is ALWAYS the bugaboo. I have never, ever, had a balance sheet balance out properly without (sometimes a LOT) of massaging beyond the "normal" book-to-tax differences and timing differences. OTOH, it has also led me to unearth some serious errors in what my clients have reported to me, that in a Sch C would never have been noticed. It usually ends up revolving around personal loans made to the company, to get them through a cash-flow hump (or vice-versa), that is later forgotten about.

Robin Williams once said (actually, he probably said it many times, but only once in the show I saw) that baby poo is one-half toxic waste and one-half velcro.

And that "somebody" is those of us who do pay.

This is exactly why I'm always a bit apprehensive doing those Sch Cs where you just get a sheet of paper with sales and expense totals. And many times the taxpayer might be missing deductions.

Called eServices and they know about the printing problem. A windows update caused it and we have to wait for microsoft to fix. The workaround is to select all, copy and paste into a text document. It now says that at the top of the login page.

The enforcement period is 6 years but there are facts and circumstances exceptions. https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-012-001.html#d0e61 Also, until the taxpayer signs a return, whether actual return or SFR, the statute of limitations on assessments does not begin to run (scroll down to SFR). In other words, that year is still open. Substitute for Return (SFR) The Service has authority to prepare and process a tax return when a person fails to file a required return or files a false or fraudulent return under authority of IRC Section 6020(b). If the Service processes a tax return prepared under the authority of IRC Section 6020(b), the assessment date will start the period for the statute of limitations for collection per IRC Section 6502(a)(1), but does not start the period of limitations for assessment. If the taxpayer signs a SFR return prepared from income information received from the taxpayer, it becomes the taxpayer’s return per IRC Section 6020(a) and starts the assessment period of limitations.

NATP has self-study classes available; check them out. They have 8-cpe-hour classes on C corps and S corps (plus partnerships). They are basic level classes geared exactly to your situation: sole-prop clients "moving up" in complexity of business structure. They may also have webinars and guided classes; I always prefer self-study. Take a look at their offerings here: https://www.natptax.com/EventsAndEducation/Pages/course-list-self-study.aspx

I have used the Chrome pdf printer to save to pdf, then print to paper from that if I want/need. I have also used my pdf "printer" installed on my machine. I admit readily that the e-services "print" function does not work very well at all; you are not the only one to have a problem with them! It has never worked for me; I always use CTRL-P on my browser and go from there.

I agree with Tom in this one. Get a POA that covers all the years - and make sure it includes provisions to discuss civil penalties - and call. May take more than one call, if you get a clueless newbie or a real hard-nose on your first try. Find out the situation, get a list of exactly what they want, transcripts, and go from there. And get paid up-front for this one; I never take a back-taxes case without payment up front. I use up the payment and there's more to do - more money, and work ceases until paid (and the check clears).

I respectfully disagree with SaraEA. You should call the IRS and let them know what the situation is. They will probably take a look at his record and see if they have any open years on their books. They will tell you how many years they want you to file. I had two of these types of clients, one they wanted 10 years because they had open items that far back, in the other, they wanted 7 years because they had no earnings records at all for the client. After you get the IRS to tell you what you want, you can buy some time to get the returns prepared and filed. Then you can pull the transcripts and see what the IRS has for W2s and 1099s for the client. Just filing the open years will get the refunds if there are any, but those other years are still open for audit because the statute does not start running until the return is filed. You need to protect your client from that audit exposure. Still love you SaraEA, and I think you are very smart. I would just take a different approach to the situation. Tom Newark, CA