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PIA is not that new. They've been around a long time. PIA has been criticized by the security community for keeping "logs" but for general non-illegal uses it is probably fine. To add to the other comment about the FBI person saying use a VPN - for PIA that would be pointless for true anonymity because you use a credit card to sign up and instead of the ISP having all your browsing habits, if the VPN keeps logs - they have all your browsing data. Do you trust your ISP more or your VPN provider? That's the question you have to ask. Suffice to say I think it makes sense to rotate and use multiple VPN providers. I use RingCentral and I have no problem using for example Surfshark VPN to access my RingCentral administration. An alternative to VPN would be to use a third party solution like AnyDesk or another remote desktop option to simply access a computer remotely or virtual instance. I personally use an Unraid server at home that's plugged into business class fiber internet. High quality VPN shouldn't slow you down at all. I am in Asia right now as we speak, working on ATX at home remotely through a VPN with no slow down. For kicks I did a speed test. I'm getting 130 Mbps download and 15 Mbps Upload. This is more than sufficient for 99% of us. For what it's worth, if I need to upload huge files - I'm not doing it through VPN anyway if the network I'm using is that insecure.

When I filed my mother's inventory with the state years ago, the attorney told me that she was the only decedent she'd ever encountered who had cash in her possession!

I doubt that any of us even question clients about these lesser gifts. I've filed lots of gift tax returns but have never asked if they also gave their offspring $25 with a birthday card, bought them a sweater for Christmas, or took them out for lunch last Sunday. Nor has any client volunteered this info. Should I be asking? Would the IRS actually ask about this? The only ones I can think of who would care would be the states if the giver eventually applied for Medicaid. Christian, Pub 550 contains detailed information and an example of how to report previously taxed interest. Essentially you report the amount on the 1099INT when the bond is cased (which will be all the interest the bond earned since purchased), the enter on another line "U.S. Savings Bond Interest Previously Reported” as a negative number. This will include the accrued interest her dad reported when he transferred the bond and the accrued interest she was required to report each year after that. Since most savings bonds are online now, and this one will be when transferred, do advise your clients to create an inventory at treasurydirect.gov. You enter the bond purchase date, face amount, and serial number, and you can update it each year. While treasurydirect will give you the accrued interest each year, only the inventory gives you the lifetime amounts as well. This way when the bond is cashed you have a clear record of how much accrued interest was already taxed. (I once complained to treasurydirect that I couldn't find the total accrued interest, and they told me to use the inventory feature.)