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Now mine looks boring compared to that one https://images.app.goo.gl/RbQrATCyqPLTQXxh9

Well, I like it, but...would the style lead a customer to expect maybe a 19th century saloon inside? Maybe okay though since lots of my office equipment is from that era (but I did junk the Comptometer - wasn't twain-compliant). Very catchy layout. Unsure whether or not to tout "college-educated" (went to a cow college here-not a sprig of ivy anywhere). But overall it's tasteful, price is right, and it carries a little sense of pleasant adventure (unusual for our profession). Nice find.

Thank you to all who responded!! I just got back from 2 weeks in Alaska and have just now revisited the board. Ringers

Patrick, If you go the Drake Software main website, then click on "Service and Learning", then click on the last selection on the dropdown list, "Videos", you will find a lot of short videos that will give you a brief introduction to many different parts and aspects of the software.

You can't be that tired because you are correct, calendar year trusts are due 9/30, 5 1/2 months after original due date.

My approach is about the same as this. Of course, in the 1098 case described in my previous post there was no choice or "maybe" about it, but I still think the house flip is a judgment call to be determined by your above factors. Regarding your experience of "In 27 years, I have only undergone 3 audits, all over 20 years ago." - that very closely resembles my track record.

Actually my decision making process in a gray area like this is based on: 1. Discussing the issues/risks with my client. 2. Evaluating my client's level of risk taking or risk aversion. 3. Asking myself whether this is a "red flag" potential audit triggering issue. In 27 years, I have only undergone 3 audits, all over 20 years ago. One was for representation work on a return for a commission salesman prepared by H & R Block. One was limited scope, only involving whether my client had basis to deduct his large S Corp losses. The third was an audit of bank account deposits looking for unreported income. The auditor did find several deposits of totaling $ 3,000 or $4,000 from the sale of used equipment that my client didn't tell me about. To my surprise, the auditor closed the audit without assessing my client any additional tax ??? I will admit to being too lax in several areas. This year as I am easing into semi-retirement I have been tightening up on my client's compliance in those areas.

I've lost clients, too. Whole families. But, I gain clients. Whole families. I have more work than I can handle and would prefer to be losing clients by attrition to ease into retirement. I have enough trouble sleeping with an achy knee and those sit-bolt-upright-asking-myself-if-I-remembered-to-do-X-on-a-tax-return moments. I'm not going to add I-wish-I-hadn't-given-in-to-that-client moments. They can trust my expertise or I WANT them to leave.

I do too, but I'm not fine with it (Unisom helps with the sleep). Low audit odds and lax enforcement seems to be stacking these up during the last few years - a perception is being created that we don't (pick one): get in out of the rain/ know as much about taxes as the big-box people. Aw, okay; so you guys aren't buying the ethically-challenged approach. I guess I'm still smarting from a last-season loss: long-time client questioned about a second 1098 she wanted to deduct and finally admits it's on a (never-before listed) rent house, but says "We don't make anything off it; it only makes the payment" (bet you've heard that before). I rejected, she left, took three relatives' cases with her, and was at Block's down the street an hour later. Oh well; I have my ethics courses (if I can keep affording them) to keep me warm. Hey - client joke: COP: Where did you get these drugs? PERP: Some dude ran by and gave them to me. COP: One of these days I'll arrest a guy named "Some Dude" and the judge is gonna throw the book at him!

I tend to oversimplify taxes and overcomplicate everything else. If you buy an asset thinking you'll sell it when it appreciates without you working on it, you're an investor (Sch D). If you buy a house to fix up and you think your work (including the work you do to hire the other people who work) will lead to income, you're a dealer (Sch C). Yeah, I lose a few clients being like this, too. Not many, but I'm fine with it. The last one qualified for EITC whether I used Sch C or Sch D, but I hope she had an investment gain that knocked her right out of it the next time she fixed up a house, and the guy who amended my return lost sleep over it. What to do, what to do... Yeah, I know, he didn't, but still...