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Quick answer is "no." Long answer is also "no." After that, the response is "no, and please leave."

Unless you are a cyber security professional, it's impossible to know what is secure anymore. All of the large businesses and government agencies that were hacked this month failed to keep their software updated. They were all using an outdated version of some File Transfer Software called MoveIt which allowed the Russian Hacker Group to access their important data. Even then they should have had multiple layers of encryption. Just because the software you're using hasn't been hacked yet doesn't mean it's secure.

Agree with mcbreck's response. I'd document the dates, times, conversations, and advice given.

What claim would there be? I'm not responsible for their penalty and I certainly wouldn't make a claim for $350.

New client this year. Partnership that wants to elect S-Corp status. So far so good. I prepared the 2022 1065, K-1's etc and personal returns. They commended my on the job I did and want me to be their accountant/tax pro from now on. Okay, I'm still good. Last week they called and are trying to qualify to buy a new home but the lender wants to see they were making enough money being self-employed and asked me to write a letter stating they made more income than what was reported on their tax returns. No I'm not making this up. After recovering from the stupid question syndrome, I said excuse me but absolutely not!!! They tried to persuade me again with some BS logic and I quickly replied NO!! I wonder what kind of lender would accept a crap document like that??? I wanted to kindly say go to hell and go away. But instead I seized the moment they said they were okay with my answer but still wanted my assistance with the 2553 form. I told them I would email then with what they needed and what the fee would be to do so. $800.00 to $1500.00 apparently blew them away. Its been a week now and no replies. I mean really, what do some people think? What a good way to get disbarred and ruin a career.

I would have just said that my professional liability insurance carrier won't let me write comfort letters.

Sales commissions are not a COGS, they are an operating expense and included on line 10. Now if they paid a percentage of revenue to a clearing firm, I consider that a COGS. For example if I'm an investment advisor clearing through Charles Schwab and Schwab takes 10% of my revenue and pays me the 90%, that's a COGS. Reality is that most probably don't include the 10% in their income or expenses because they never see it. They book the money coming in and ignore the expense in their accounting.

A lender may take such a doc happily, since they have you on the hook for fraud should the loan default. They get paid either way. Similar requests are made from employers. Employee will get a raise every 6 months, will remain employed, etc. No wise person gives any docs to a lender on behalf of another.

I think the lender is just trying to make them go away without turning them down flat. So the lender makes a request they know is outrageous, knowing no accountant in their right mind would write a comfort letter like this. That way the lender gets to blame you as the one blocking the loan rather than accept responsibility for their actions. Another possibility might be that they are making more than they're reporting and you have a tax cheat for a client. I'd be inclined to tell them if they have to lie to get the loan, then that's proof they can't afford the purchase. Either they will get mad and leave you or you'll begin to cement a strong relationship based on honesty and trust in the advice you offer.

This is the most terrifying hack of all. Not only do the hackers have all your personal data, they have your physical description. Unless you are 4'5" or 6'6", it won't be too hard to find someone who looks like you and can cash those checks. Make sure that you have a credit freeze and not a credit alert (which the companies recommend because it still allows them to sell your credit scores).

"In early June, sporadic but serious service disruptions plagued Microsoft’s flagship office suite — including the Outlook email and OneDrive file-sharing apps — and cloud computing platform. A shadowy hacktivist group claimed responsibility, saying it flooded the sites with junk traffic in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Initially reticent to name the cause, Microsoft has now disclosed that DDoS attacks by the murky upstart were indeed to blame." "On June 8, the computer security news site BleepingComputer.com reported that cloud-based OneDrive file-hosting was down globally for a time."

I know right?? Same as putting the rope around your own neck.

Rocket Mortgage is back to offering mortgages with just 1% downpayment and they'll double that amount so that you have 3% equity. Several banks are back to offering 0% down to special groups. I love that they wanted to you write a letter admitting you broke the law by submitting a tax return you knew was fraudulent.

A client this stupid is never going to change. Just be glad you advised them of the penalty and they made the choice to pay less. May as well cut your losses at the outset.

Mine too. That Equifax hack cost me tons of aggravation. Been frozen ever since.

Financial planning projections are silly but they are even more silly if you don't understand the assumptions and how they impact the final numbers. In 1999 our planning software used expected market returns for the next 10 years to be 15% per year and was told regulators prohibited me from lowering that number. nasra.org is all public pension funds and they give what their expected portfolio rate of return is going forward - the average now is the lowest I've seen it and it's just 6.92%. They slowly (very slowly) dropped their returns during 0% interest rates so I'm guessing we are near a low.

Client makes a ton of money ($400k) and does a Roth conversion which generates an additional tax bill. Sweet. They are in a high tax bracket and couldn't explain why they would do a Roth conversion except the Ed Jones rep suggested it so it's his fault. I give them the extension and which includes an estimated penalty for underpayment and they decide to not pay it and just pay the tax bill - deducting the penalty amount. Now the IRS sends a letter requesting the penalty and the client thinks I should have to pay it because somehow it's my fault and they pay too much in taxes.