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The worst part for software developers is that they now have to spend time rewriting the basics and will have less time to implement real improvements. This is a solution in search of a problem.

Isn't that the best thumbnail ever.

I agree with this and think it's a waste of money. The last I read, the IRS was already estimating that implementing the new law would cost the agency in the $400-500 million range, and I'm not sure if this postcard was factored into that. What's more, this has a cascade of affecting the states too where every form and instruction that picks up entries from the federal forms or references any line numbers will all require revisions. In the end, we will all get used to it and learn where everything is, but it will slow my review of returns down slightly in the beginning, and I expect some clients will not like the subschedules.

To really get a good laugh add the following: 3. What we don't need we will send back.

Isn't that the standard joke? The two-line tax return: What did you make last year? Send it in!

That's why this year when I met with my clients I gave them the heads up that their refund may not be any higher and warned them of the real possibility of it being less because of the change in withholding and tried my best to explain to them that they are receiving their refund now thru larger take home pay. I know there is still going to be some that don't get it, but those are the same people you find explaining the same thing over and over to them.

Wonder if they will like the tax reduction? I suspect many will fail to recognize it, especially if their refund is less than the prior year. That will take some explaining, but I suspect some tax preparers won't bother with the explanation. Some won't explain because they're too busy; others won't explain because they're politically biased.

You wish. Everyone I've ever taken on as a client has never bothered to print out the return, and they ask, 'can't you get a copy?'

If the issue is with something EIN driven, such as payroll taxes, I would say you would need a POA with the EIN on it.

I don't know, maybe I'm being cynical as some people are pushing the postcard size to satisfy their own reasoning to portray simplification, when in reality I think it will cause more complications, more likely for us and the taxpayers than them. I guess we still have to wait as maybe they need to test run this. Let's hope they come up with true simplification or adjustments that make it easy, but I have no faith in them whatsoever.. Couldn't they just leave the 1040 as is and just omit and add what is necessary? Familiarity seems to be what people like, at least for us mature people. No, that would be too logical and sensible, they need to put their approval stamp on it for their egos and for everyone to think a postcard idea (like that is tax reform) is better than a letter size, we shall see.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I just don't get the reasoning, Jack. Most taxpayers are much less 1040-dependent than your average tax preparer who is infatuated with Forms Data Entry. The taxpayer doesn''t have a clue about the layout of the 1040 to begin with. As a matter of fact they are more comfortable with data entry screens than your average ATX-using tax pro. For the most part, they won't make any more errors with the new forms than they did with the old, because they are just answering questions and entering info on a data entry screen just like they did last year. They don't even see a form until they print out their file copy of the already-electronically-transmitted return (assuming they even do that). But I'm willing to admit that maybe I'm missing something big here.

Do both, send both, have both ready when you call. That way, you will be covered for all possibilities.

Get one with the EIN then and make sure the topic line says payroll taxes and a second line says Civil Penalty. Else you could find yourself able to talk about tax issues but not about penalties. They tend to be super-fussy about those trust fund tax issues.

One of the reasons we always highlight the "This is your total tax" line rather than the refund (or balance due) line. We point it out as "this is what they get to keep" because that's the important part. We call refunds "this is the amount you loaned the feds last year" and balance due is "this is what's left to pay" - always focusing on total tax. We almost never have anyone complain about the refund amount. (The few that do are clueless and we had one this year complain about the "smaller refund" that was several thousand HIGHER!)

Baltimore is the closest city that you can compare. Aberdeen is NOT DC metro Area. Even Annapolis is closer to Aberdeen than DC.

It is payroll taxes. Tom Modesto, CA

The 990-N is called a postcard filing and processed electronically. However it is merely informational and for instances where 990-EZ is not required. I don't see a postcard working for a federal individual income tax return.

Thanks very much for posting this, Abby. What a great recap and awesome pictures to boot! Looks like it was a fabulous time.

Hopefully, the AICPA and all the other organizations, along with the tax software companies will fight this ridiculous move. And it's a big deal because we should not have be subject to these changes. As a preparer, I can only see this slowing me down. As a taxpayer, it's a tremendous waste of time.

Am I missing something? Are we not still going to be e-filing these things? And many of the software packages are already schedule driven. I am just failing to see the big deal. The post card idea is nothing more or less than a summary of the tax return information of the supporting schedules, in my opinion.