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Horrible year personally but the work was OK. Everything is worked on and out. I try to aim for around the 10th or 12th to get most done and give myself a cushion of time. I have one client meeting today for pickup, and then I'm waiting on signature forms for the rest. I will have only 3 extensions, all for one client for his personal and 2 little partnerships. I took yesterday off! I've been taking care of mom full-time for the last 5 years with increasing demands the last year or so. Now at 96+ yrs old, early dementia and was still living at home until a fall in late March. She was unhurt, but it landed her in rehab. Three days in she, I, and my husband all got a nasty GI virus circulating in that facility. I was completely down for a few days and feeling sick most of a week. Then a second hospital trip with her last weekend and another night with no sleep because rehab made a bad call on when in actuality she had lower rib and hip pain radiating. After all night in the ER told me to give her some extra strength Tylenol and that transport would be another 6-7 wait. No way! I drove home for her van and took her back to rehab myself at 4-something in the morning! In the next few weeks I have to find permanent placement for her somewhere and begin to clean out the family home that she has lived in for more than 70 years. Because of mom's needs, I haven't taken any new clients in these last 5 years and most of my business clients got old, retired, and/or sold their businesses. My workload is much lighter than it should be now when I should have been building my practice and couldn't. That is some of the reason I've had some extra time in the past few years to answer lots of questions here, away from the office and the internet to fill up time. Husband is doing well with fighting the bladder cancer, the prostate cancer is treated and gone, and other issues were fixed in '21 that were heart ablation and AAA repair. When a SIL passed suddenly last June, I started walking with my brother in the very early morning and have gotten more fit again. I'd walk anywhere from 3-5 miles every morning until the time changed and everything fell apart with mom. I wanted to walk last week but in the turmoil I ended up with a twisted or sprained ankle that I'm babying at the moment. I don't know how that happened but it's getting better. Also thanks to two brothers, my husband and I have taken up shooting sporting clays, or some may still call them clay pigeons. They are all excellent marksmen, so I have lots to learn and catch up on. I love the outdoors and all kinds of activities, and this is the latest and one I never dreamed of trying. I bought a shotgun of my own. We took advantage of yesterday's beautiful weather, went shooting, and got away from all the pressure for the afternoon. I'm slowly improving and was pleased with my progress on a more difficult and new-to-us course. If you made it through all of that, thanks for reading!

"TikTok is one of the many social media platforms that have attracted people seeking free financial advice. This tax season, the hashtag “#taxes” has received increased engagement on TikTok, and according to the platform’s analytics has over 500 million views and 44,000 posts. Posters on TikTok range from CPAs and other tax practitioners to scammers, and while there is quality advice available on TikTok, scams, hacks, and “secret techniques” are being posted, promising higher returns or fewer taxes owed, which may appeal to lower income taxpayers and those who cannot consult a credentialed paid tax preparer or expert." I guess our client's barbers and hairdressers have more competition

You mean like on this board? Just kidding.... This is a social media platform and we do give each other free advice. Our advice just happens to be good advice most of the time. Tom Longview, TX

What, they found mistakes in QB? I'm shocked, shocked!

That's the nice thing about being on the auto payment plan. It just happens.

Free advise often costs more than what you paid for it.

I email the jpeg file to myself and open Kofax Standard PDF. You can just drag the jpeg file from the email to Kofax and it will automatically convert the image to a PDF. Usually works, just a few extra steps.

Sorry to hear your news. I went thru that with my Mom. She's been gone nine years now. Her situation wasn't nearly as bad as yours though.

Target practice is great fun. Teaching my Gkids to shoot bb guns to start with. We set up two armies with the old green army men. Then we take turns picking each ones guys off. Last man standing wins. I still call them clay pigeons !! Been a trying year here too. We will probably have 30 extensions by next Tuesday. But last year we had over 50, so thats progress. We did away with sit down appointments when covid hit and never looked back. We have our lobby open for clients to drop off and pick up, but zero sit downs. That alone has made things more efficient. A 20 minute tax return would take 1 1/2 hours because clients would want to visit and talk about everything under the sun. And by going to no appointments we only lost 2 clients. One was a really pain in the arse client, the other older and set in their ways. But its works for us.

Thanks. I called Drake after my earlier post. They weren't sure but they got me pointed in the right direction. After a few minutes of fiddling around, I found it. I wonder how many hours I spent over the past 8 years doing what could have been done automatically. Maybe God will give me back those hours if I ask nicely.

They stayed up until 3:00am doing that??? May be time to move on from them. :-)

Just made my contribution to this invaluable board. Can't believe I waited this late in the season. Sorry, Eric. If anyone else is behind, don't hesitate to join me in the 'better late than never' group.

The “I don’t really care” is strong with this one. 2/3 of my clients are CA and get automatic extensions. 3 more live abroad. The rest? I guess I’ve got to get to work finishing…

Great for you, Tom! Either you have a new extension and way more billable hours, or you are about to get rid of royal PITA clients whose work you need the way you need in infestation of boils. One way or 'tother, you win.

Just what I do! Target shooting, either pistol or rifle. Very calming.

Poof. New owner, new basis. Start from scratch. You will have some depreciation if it is continued as a rental. Tom Longview, TX

I take a day off but I don't like to plan a regular vacation immediately after the tax season. A few weeks later or a month or two later for me.

My backups were good (I did not count, but I have at least 4 sources, with multiple options withing each source, so likely 50+ backups I could try). The issue is the Windows "repair", which should have just repaired Windows, DELETES any not installed with Windows apps in the program file folders. This is a BAD thing. Why? Any problems in those folders can be handled via console mode, rather than just wiping them out. If MS was concerned a non windows app was the issue, they could just remove/clean the STARTUP items, so no non win app starts automatically... Windows suggests what is best for MS, not what is best for the computer user. It is the reason I have been installing my app in a root folder, as there are things MS does which was wiping out my customer's data, which my customers expected me to fix. System restore was one of the problems, and now I see Windows recover is as well (had not looked since it was already solved for my app). It is nearing the time I will have to force customers to make backups, as their skill level is dropping as computers are now appliances, and it seems many assume all software is sending data to the "cloud" for them with no interaction. ("I paid for the software, it should protect me from me") I am just old, or old school, I guess. Reinstalling or recovering the OS should NOT delete apps. Period. My fault, as it has been at least a decade since I had to repair from a fat finger error. I borked the registry, and could not boot. I was up and running in 30 minutes with major items, and the rest have been resolved within a day. My backup machine would have been fine to use as well. My point is, unless apps are installed in a non MS controlled folder (NOT program file folders), those folders need to be backed up. This goes against the old advice of backing up data, and reinstalling software. Why? Because there is DATA (mostly configuration, INI type stuff, but not always) in those folders which MS wipes on recover!!! These are the two folders ("suggested for app installation by MS") which are wiped when using the Windows recovery tool in the advanced options. Nothing criminal, but there are better options for the user, but it must be MS decided to just wipe them, so Windows will boot, then they can say "we fixed Windows, you are on your own for the apps we deleted "for" you". Instead of allowing installation into the above folders, I am using a folder I created. In addition to the better recovery from non boot, I can backup the other apps folder in total, without backing up all the things Windows re installs on its own. Noe, if I have to reinstall Windows, I can leave existing data, with zero data loss via the recovery.

New clients this year. Trying to get them done by the deadline. Just got this email from them, this is the first line: Hi Tom, Sara and I stayed up until 3 am this morning and found quite a few miscategorized transactions in QBO. Which is great because we have new numbers for you. Great for who? Tom Longview, TX

What is old is not always wrong... Yet another in the long line of self caused problems had me using the advanced options to reinstall Windows (was unable to boot properly). The Windows reinstall was fine, BUT one of the things it does "for you" is to remove everything and everything you have installed into one of the Program Files folders. (These are the folders Windows suggests apps install to, which many developers blindly follow. In my case, my own software does NOT do this, as we install into a folder of our own making in the root.) While this can help some, who may have an issue caused by faulty outside software, it means a real time loss reinstalling software after an OS error. In my case, it was a bad key press while editing the registry, it was not something an update did! So for me, and those who ask me, I am even more sticking with the old way of not letting Windows manage locations, and my apps are going into a folder of my own making, such as "Outside Apps", rather than one of the program file folders Windows defaults to. This will better isolate the OS from the non OS Apps, in case of a repair, since MS has elected to wipe things with no backup made during the windows repair process. The other huge advantage is for backups, as one can backup their outside apps folder (not for the apps, but for their configuration and data!), rather than blindly backing up the program file folders, which contain a large amount of Windows apps which do not normally need to be backed up. Granted, I am an outlier, as I test and use my backups at least a couple times of year, not only for safety, but for changing computers (main and a spare). I backup on 4 different local devices (in case one fails), and send copies to two different secure online locations I directly control (which means two servers/machines, plus auto backups of each server which resides on other servers). Thank goodness my backup software (Cobian Reflector) allows multiple backup lists, so my usual is restoring from my special hand crafted list of ini, cfg, and data files for my day to day stuff. Funny thing, I had no backup of my Cobian backup sets, since I tend to make new sets after each restore/computer change.

You delete both the sent email and the received email so the jpeg isn't sitting on some server out there forever. If you get a Google voice number, the text will go right to your computer with no need to email it to yourself.

If they have no other assets, I could see MFS being a good route to take. Otherwise I think the debt is going to have to be paid from assets of the estate.

Stock gets basis stepped up as of date of death (in normal cases). It's gifts where the basis travels to the new owner, @Pacun.

Thanks, Judy @jklcpa - I usually wet-sign with just my initials, but this is a good trick to know.

That's what I thought, but could not find specific confirmation. Thanks, Tom!

Good Discussion in The Tax Advisor: https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2009/apr/scorporationtaxyearrules.html

Printed return with Federal Client Letter, with Federal Estimates, State Client Letter and State Estimates combined. Client wants to pay estimates via Direct Debit. On the State Estimated Letter it says: There is no payment due for the 1st through 4th installments. Yet coupons are attached with payments and on the E-file tab all looks correct. Changing to mail option, the State Client Estimated letter is correctly spelled out. Federal estimates print correctly with Direct Debit: The first payment in the amount of $XXXX is due on April 18, 2023 (electronic payment). Is there a check box somewhere that I am missing for State?

I used to use zip drives, tapes (and glued many back in their spool, the light and the two little holes near the end failed when the drive was dusty), CD/DVD/Floppy, etc. I only tried imaging a few times, IIRC, is may have been Peter Norton's offering (pre Symmantec). I have done low level file recovery. For me, I rarely have to "repair". My issues are like most, changing computers, or trying to undo/reverse human error (such as getting a file back I deleted or changed). I cannot think of any time I want to restore an entire image. If I were deploying setups, I would use images for certain. I cannot afford (too lazy) to redo more than an hour's work (sometimes 15 minutes) so I backup every hour during my work hours. I also have a backup computer always ready to go, kept within a week current with my data. Likely an outlier as most do not, cannot, or don't think about such a system. For me, I am too smart/experienced/lazy (and stupidly have had more than one self caused issue over the decades) to rely only on a local daily backup. Don't backup the OS. System must be able to restore just one file, just one folder, or all of my data, quickly and easily. Must be able to have multiple backups, such as weekly, daily, and hourly. Also must allow manual trigger. I prefer 5 incremental, and then a full, for each group. Must be able to backup locally, as well as to send the result via SFTP. Must not use any secret or proprietary encoding, so something like 7 zip is free, reliable, and reasonably secure. I use my own encoding on the zip files for added security (since I have that ability). I locally backup onto a portable hard drive, SD, and USB. Also onto my spare computer. I send those results to two different secure servers, which are also backed up (imaged) regularly, and they have in place auto dups which come online if the main server fail. In this case, my backups were fine, and my backup computer was fine. Had I installed my apps in a non OS controlled location, I would have been back within minutes. The problem is, I had to dig through many files (or manually recreate) some of my "preferences" for those apps, and reinstall them, which is annoying to me. Plus, if I had installed outside of the OS folders, there would have been NO ISSUE at all with letting the OS rebuild/recover, other than the few minutes for that process. I really don't like the OS wiping files outside of those it needs/creates. I understand, MS is trying to get the computer functioning and the user our of their support loop ASAP, but the means is not good - I would say it is destructive and costly to the user. It is the same as a well known fix it chain who has a policy of making some sort of proprietary backup/image on DVD's, wiping the computer, and letting their customer figure out how to restore. I have to deal with that company weekly (at least) as my customers contact me asking how to undo what they PAID someone else to "fix". I should have known better, since this is related/similar to the original system restore issues created decades ago (why my app installs in a custom folder - with zero option for the user to select another location). But the result is fine, it is making me rework my backup/recover system again, and it will be improved yet again. The point of the post was to suggest others consider taking more control over their computer, and not use either of the program file folders again.

When all else fails, just type whatever you want in the letter. Just don't save it for all future returns.

I have had more problems with the letters this year than ever before. If I check they are paying over the internet, the letter says they are paying by installment agreement. Payment or refund amounts don’t show. I would just check the mail payments.

I hate it when clients have half-*** S Corporations with rinky-dink bookkeeping and huge distributions in excess of basis that I can't prove up using the balance sheet. Turtle Poop. I'm irritated.

I feel your pain. I just enter it on the appropriate line on the Schedule F or 4835, but why they don't have an entry screen for it is beyond me. I guess maybe it's because for many of the boxes on the 1099-PATR, there is analysis necessary to determine what's taxable (outside of box 1) and what might already be counted in grain sales, etc? I got nuttin', really.

And to make matters worse, my Apple Watch just buzzed my arm with a notification that says 'tracking is the most important part of weight loss ... don't give up'. I'm not tracking/using any type of weight loss app. My watch just decided I need to slim down. Turtle poop, Cow flop, Donkey dung, and all the rest!!

Click the "Setup" drop down menu on the top toolbar, then select "Preparer(s)". From there, choose the preparer that shows your PTIN, not the administrator. When the dialog box comes up, look on the righthand side under Return Signature Options: make sure you have entered your 5-digit pin and check both boxes for "8879 PIN signature" and "Alternative Electronic Signature" . That will place your typed signature on the Federal forms and 8879 and any states that allow it wtihout making a separate selection within Drake. Read on - Also, be sure to check your state options for any states that you prepare. Some within Drake will require that you make that same election for the electronic signature on a state-by-state basis. For example, PA and NJ are two that I prepare that require another checkbox be marked, and isn't an available option for my home state of DE at all, so I still sign those manually. Those state-by-state choices are found in the "Setup" drop down, then choose the first item "Options". Then from the next dialog box that appears, choose the "state" tab and then use the drop down selection for each state that you prepare. If the state requires you to check a box separate from the Federal option, you should see a checkbox that again says "Alternative Electronic Signature". Example, that is what I see for PA and NJ. MD isn't necessary as it follows the federal option. Hope that helps.

I sign, because my clients ask if they think my wet signature is missing! But I have my software set to print my signature, so it's always there and legal, if I forget to wet sign. The last time I checked, the IRS and all the states I prepare, accept the printed-by-software signature.

That would be extremely helpful! If not, I'll tell my clients to go to IRS.gov.

I amended a 2021 return last month, e-filed with direct debit. There were no diagnostic errors which, also in ATX must be cleared before e-filing, the return payment form was included in the e-filed forms, the returns (federal and state) were accepted with no messages. I did not ask the clients if the payments were actually debited on March 23 as indicated but will do so this afternoon.

This is something I really like about Drake. All of the diagnostic errors have to be cleared before you can create an efile.

Have you tried creating an e-file on it? A filing error might not show up until then--this happened when I tried direct deposit on an amended return earlier in the year (I believe this is now fixed). If you don't get a filing error, it should be okay but with an April 18 payment date...I think I'd rather have them use Direct Pay at irs.gov

You "step into the shoes" of the decedent for assets producing income in respect of the decedent, IRD. IRD includes such items as: installment notes receivable, IRA accounts,....... investments in annuities.

The stock market has been pretty volatile, there is an equal chance of significant price changes.

Hello Teresa, you would report it as like any other stock sale but you need to go back to date of death and look up the value of the stocks. That would be your cost basis, there is a chance the stock didn’t appreciate in value between DOD and when your client sold them.

Leaving for Kauai on April 17th for 2 weeks

I hate to post too, not bad things for me. But I've been doing a group hiking thing the past few years, one weekend a month. I started out skipping the first 3 months of the year. Their final group in April is usually after the tax due date. Then I started going for the January weekend, I was not too busy. Then added February. Then the past few years, going in March. It was tough to take a weekend off in March. This year they threw me a curve and no hikes after the tax due date but I went anyway in April, this past weekend April 1-2. I was working even longer the past few weeks to get ahead of the game. It felt refreshing to take the weekend off this late in the tax season. I've been trying to cut back the past few years but it seems I've been busier than normal. I have been cutting back the past few years after the due date. Fridays off, shorter hours the other four days.

NECPA, that's a very heavy load that you are carrying. When you can take deep breath, exhale slowly and give yourself a few minutes of piece and quiet.

I am sorry for you. I am afraid that I will have to file more extensions than last year. My clients seem to have more tax strange issues than normal and are missing more information than normal. I'm not doing great. I have had two cousins die, 4 clients pass this year already, my husband is really failing physically and mentally. I know that I am depressed, but don't have time to deal with it. Thank God I'm retiring from this 12/31/24! I need to try to get caught around the house so that we can move in a couple of years