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I've personally found the online, webinar or self-study to require more "concentration" than going to a live event. I've gone to many live CPE classes offered by the well known course providers, including CPA Societies. Many of the individuals who attend these live events are either doing personal work or surfing the Internet. At least self-study requires some type of validation, either through a test of some means of substantiating your participation. Anyone who wants to simply "buy" their CPE will do so whether they attend in person or purchase self-study.

Exactly. I've been to seminars where I didn't learn a thing and I've been to ones where I learned a lot. I prefer the low cost of online courses, plus I use the course materials for reference materials. Online schooling is the way of the future. Even live seminars should be done online to save travel costs, pollution, spread of the flu, etc., and I've done a few live online seminars. They pop up a 'test' to make sure you're still there. Bathroom breaks need to be timed carefully, though.

It does not matter how decedent used the property. For example in Marx(5 TC 173) court determined a yacht willed from husband to wife was investment property where wife put it up for sale after death of husband and was loss was allowed. The fact that she never used it for personal use proved her profit motive under section 165(c)(2). In another case, Watkins (TC MEMO 1973-167) husband was willed personal residence from wife. The court ruled property was held for investment since heir / husband decided to put it up for sale within a week of wife's death. Therefore he proved his profit motive per section 165(c)(2). It did not matter that the house had been his residence while wife was alive. It also did not matter that he lived in it for a short period of time after it was bequeathed to him. What mattered was that he was able to prove his intent was to sale it and was allowed to deduct loss. So in the case of your client, it appears his thought was "heck I might as well sale this junk and make a little money off of it". There is your profit motive per section 165(c)(2).

Mainly people "buy" a certain number of hours but they are required to take courses and take exams to get those hours. Without doing that, the money was wasted and there are no hours to show for it. I've sat through mind-numbingly BORING live seminars, fallen asleep at times (hey, there's - or was - a picture of Jack crashed out at a seminar somewhere, I recall; it was very funny), and been aggravated at pathetically slow pace on others. Some online classes have been stupid, some fabulous. Some self-study has been not worth the effort to click through it, and some has been terrific. I have not found good classes, that appeal to me, on the new law as applied to corp's and p-ships. I want some, and figured I'd ask. The worth to ME is in what I learn - and I don't much give a hoot as to the style (self, webinar, live, trapeze), as long as it's well-done.

When I go to live seminaries, the first thing I do is to find out what's for lunch while I get some coffee and "continental" breakfast. The next thing I remember is that I am sleeping after drinking my coffee. Then it is lunch time, I normally eat a lot so a nap is in order. After my nap, I go and sign my name on the attendance list and voila... the organizers are happy because they got my money, I am happy that I got 8 CPE credits and the IRS is happy because I am studying. I guess I agree with Jack, seminaries make everybody happy. I know Jack... I should request a refund because I didn't learn anything... but then again, why will I risk my 8 CPE credits? I have used www.webce.com/ (apluscpe.com) some years and some other years I have attended Bob Jennings of TaxSpeaker seminars, I have taken live seminars and on line courses from www.natptax.com and I have taken live courses from the Maryland Society of Accounting and Tax Professionals. All of them have some good stuff but Taxspeaker seminars are a bit expensive and again you will get 8 credits as long as you keep your chair warm.

I do my required hours in a quick / cheap manner right after tax season. Many outlets sell the CE, not the training itself so if you don't need the CE credits, it's free. The IRS itself gives away a TON of free stuff if you don't need to get the CE credits. Our local bar association, CPA firms and university do the same thing. University of Missouri puts on a farm / tax seminar. Everyone is sleeping after lunch and they have a break half way through the afternoon where you are handed out your little CE sheet and announced you are given the credit. More than half the participants skiped the last 90 minutes the one year I attended.

I have rarely found the IRS to be wrong about estimates, whether the client says he sent them all and didn't or says he didn't remember sending any but did. I have a client whose installment agreement request was efiled with the return but was never instituted. When I called IRS, they said they sent him three notices that they were having a problem setting up the direct debit, even gave me the dates the notices were mailed. Whatever their weaknesses, they do seem to keep good records for individual accounts. Definitely check with the client to confirm how much was debited.

Way back when I worked at Block, we had a text with required assignments, a bunch of practice problems, and then you went to class every week and discussed the material and did more practice sets. You were immersed in the material and the result is that you learned it. (even before they had required exams that you had to pass with 80% or better). Now that I take CPEs through live seminars and some online courses, I definitely see the difference. The seminars sponsored by the state accountancy boards are often filled with people who have to be there and whose employers are paying. They spend most of the day reading the newspaper or fiddling on their laptops, never ask a question or share an experience. The people who attend the professional association seminars (NAEA, NATP) are more likely to be self-employed and really do pay attention and share. I find that after the seminar I cement what I learned by going back over the handouts (if they even have them anymore) and taking notes, just like I was studying for a college course. I find that webinars generally go too fast or don't go into enough depth and two hours later I'm hard-pressed to relate what (if anything) I learned. With the radical changes in the TCJA, I plan to take as many live courses and webinars as I can. I feel that I have to be immersed in the topic, no matter how it's presented, to digest it. How I long for an old-fashioned Block course with a text and problem sets so I can immediately apply what I read/heard.

He is really Kreskin disguised as a tax pro.

Thanks to everyone for the support. My client inherited some land or lot, if you will from his father, on that land or lot is some rusted out worthless equipment that an agreement is being reached with a scrap dealer to remove it at scrap prices minus a removal fee. No, this has never been used by anyone who inherited it for any purpose. The land was not investment property nor was the left over scrap equipment used for anything other than personal use by his father. The scrap equipment was not itemized in the will. Only the lot/land was part of the estate. No values for the scrap equipment had every been established. Please provide references to the case law you mention so I can see if this fits. I do agree with your statement if it was a residence that was never rental property or anything else. If that property was sold, then FMV is basis at date of death Any gains are taxable to the heir(s) Loss is deductible if the property was never converted to personal use by the heirs before they sold it. In my case, I still don't believe a loss is allowed. I think to do so, these items would have to listed as an inheritance and FMV determined. Then maybe. As far as I can tell, the FMV established of the land this junk is on was included the value of the land only. I will still be interested to see the case law and how this maybe determined to be investment type property. On another note, I just received a phone call from a gentleman in the US from the Comcast fraud division that has escalated my case, says I need to do nothing else and that upon completion of the investigation all three CB's will notified to reverse the entries and clear up any damage this may have caused me. He also stated that in his position he could see the notes from the other fraud agents that I had spoken with, listened to the recorded conversations and those employees will be "coached" as they handled it completely wrong. HIs words not mine. However, there was no disagreement or sympathy from me. He was also interested in the fact the credit was granted without proving the identity of the person applying for the credit was actually me when an extended fraud alert was placed on my credit. They will be looking for the employee who was involved in that transaction and correct that problem. Now, do I believe all of this????? I want to so I can rest better but I will remain skeptical. When I get the final results in black and white, my credit restored, and the collection dogs called off, then I will finally rest. I thought it was really bizarre that every time I called the fraud division, they asked if I was a subscriber and if not would I want to be. Are you kidding me???? Burn me, rake me through the coals so I will over jump through every hoop possible to get your services. NOT!!!!! Thanks again to all for listening. You guys are indeed the best!

I suspect if we routinely took our CPE in a classroom setting we wouldn't wonder about these things. We'd also just "know".

I wouldn't reach any conclusions until I had my client check to see how much was debited from their checking account.

In a live course, the line for the women's room during a break is around the block!

Super easy. It takes a short while to perform the initial encryption, depending on drive size and speed, but you basically just turn it on and give it a nice long password and you're all set. Make sure you save your recovery key someplace safe.

This is why I no longer do EFT payments. It gets you stuck in the middle and spending time on something you are doing gratis. It is bad enough when an EFT is set up for an installment agreement and the client is constantly calling you to know when it is going to be set up and why haven't they gotten the IRS letter confirming the date of withdrawal.

Right after a pop-up test. I've never seen two in less than five minutes' time.

I'm not sure when you have had the computer for a while. It was easy for me because I encrypted my whole disk (Drive C) and my 2nd disk (Drive E) when I first got the computer before I put anything on it.

I use VOIPO, It cost $36 per year, 500 minutes incoming/outgoing faxes per month. You receive your faxes via email. You send your faxes by scanning your documents and save the file to your pc. Log into your VOIPO account and upload the file from your pc. You can port your number for free. I've used them for 7 years and had no problems. The service is their cloud voip service and their website is voipo.com

I have used RingCentral for years. They are reliable and only cost about $12.99 per month. I think I started using them in 2007 and have had no reason to change. In case you're interested, they also have VOIP phone services. My business line is part of my package with Verizon so for $9.95 per month, I can't beat it. I know some folks hate links but here is a link to their site. https://www.ringcentral.com/sem/fax.html?BMID=GGECUSEP&CID=sem&RCCN=Google_US_Search_Brand_Exact&RCAG=AAA_Brand_High_Volume_Fax_[Exact]&RCKW=ring central fax&RCMT=e&AD=247353180181&gclid=CjwKCAjw5ZPcBRBkEiwA-avvk_8I5SREPNOQyDcg1Wn62-A4yu_1lDkuYtJ5PVAJ7jAZRPBSxdUDiBoCy-kQAvD_BwE

Finally back in! Got my new letter yesterday. For security purposes, every time you log in the IRS sends a text to your cellphone with a code you have to enter, to make sure it's you. Works for me! I have similar two-factor security set up with financial institutions and Google.

When I got my latest computer (W10), I called Symantec to see if they were up to date. They saw my version/build number and said their Encryption software was not yet ready for my computer. So I used BitLocker. I do have the Symantec software program though. I use it to shred individual files, especially on flashdrives and external HDs.

Umm! Jack, you do know that people learn by different means. You do know that, Jack, don't you.? There are four primary types of learning - visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. (the last one we can leave out). Some people do better with one than with another. Obviously, you do best with seminars. Others do better by other means. And a lot of people can not afford the time or expense of a seminar. I, for one, prefer self study to seminars. Seminars try to cover to much information so, that at the end, I doubt that anyone clearly remembers 20% of what was presented. With self-study you can go at your own pace. You can go over material until it is fully understood and you can save it for a reference. Now the initial question here, was about a course for TCJA. Jack do you really believe that if someone is interested in that subject, they are just doing it to "buy" credits? Are you serious? Did you even think about what you wrote, before you set yourself up as judge and jury? If someone wanted to buy credits they would take courses they had taken before and just retake them every year. The TCJA has to be studied and learned, so no "buying" here. The SequioaCPA isn't chosen for price. It was chosen because I think it is superior to several others I've tried. For example one company had a course on real estate and dedicated over 30 pages to history of RE tax legislation going back to the 1970's and other outdated material. They had other courses like that and I wrote them scathing reviews. Don't know if they ever changed. I'll leave it at that for now.

This is the off-season Terry, so things sometimes get hashed out in unusual ways. Sometimes the twists and turns help someone else out, and other times they are completely irrelevant. Sorry you're having trouble with the credit bureaus and ID theft. That has to be maddening. Personally, I'd at least run this by a lawyer to see if there's some sort of opportunity to get some satisfaction. Just remember, if it can't kill you and eat you for dinner, you can probably deal with it.