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A restaurant burned down and the plight of the workers came to light. Some had worked there for decades and could retire. Since they were paid partially or completely off the books, they were shocked that they were entitled to little or no Social Security benefits. Others paid the same way were eligible for little or no unemployment. Years ago SSA sent statements to workers a few months before their birthdays each year projecting their benefits if their inflation-adjusted incomes remained the same. Amazing how many of our small business owners making $10 or $20k a year found religion when they saw in black in white that their SS would amount to peanuts.

Self encrypt the data before upload is also a good step. Then, if the storage itself is accessed, your data remains unusable unless someone also breaks your encryption. Try to be just a little more secure than your neighbors and the baddies will pass you for the easy score.

And those who need Ssdi who under paid. I was asked today about how little RC someone could report. I asked them how little they wanted to leave their family of something awful happened. Yes, some may beat ss in earnings, but not many I suspect and certainly not at the first part of their career where their family is most at risk.

I have been using OneDrive for about two years to backup files. Every storage option has their faults and most of it starts with how good is your password to access the account. If you re-use passwords then the likely hood of your data being comprised goes up. OneDrive also has a feature called Person Vault https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/protect-your-onedrive-files-in-personal-vault-6540ef37-e9bf-4121-a773-56f98dce78c4?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us My suggestion is no matter what you decide (google One, one drive, icloud, AWS, dropbox, etc) use a strong password or phrase one that you have never used before. Then enable multi-factor authentication, (if possible with a authenticator app if they allow it). Don't save passwords in your browser(chrome, firefox, or ms edge). I still keep a book of passwords (is this the best, probably not, but considering LastPass and others like it have been hacked or had issues over the past year, I figure this is the best way to keep my data secure)

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

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.

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.

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.

Read several in depth articles recently saying that this trend started over 20 years and that the professions leaders never took it seriously.

Figure 1: Status of Unprocessed Paper-Filed Original Tax Returns Comparing Weeks Ending April 22, 2022, and April 22, 2023 Filing Season Individual Business Not Specified Total 2022 6,200,000 5,200,000 2,000,000 13,300,000 2023 1,200,000 500,000 900,000 2,600,000 As of June 3, however, the inventory of unprocessed paper-filed original returns had grown to 4.1 million, consisting of about half individual returns and half business returns. Processing of amended tax returns. In contrast to the 80% reduction in the backlog of paper-filed original tax returns, Figure 2 shows that the inventory of amended returns was 3.6 million in April 2022 and 3.4 million in April 2023, a reduction of only six percent between the two periods. Figure 2: Status of Unprocessed Amended Tax Returns Comparing Weeks Ending April 22, 2022, and April 22, 2023 Filing Season Individual Business Total 2022 2,600,000 1,100,000 3,600,000 2023 1,700,000 1,700,000 3,400,000 The IRS has not made notable progress in reducing its paper AM inventories over the past year. The inventory is just six percent lower than at the same time last year. Figure 3: Status of Unprocessed Taxpayer Correspondence and AM Cases Comparing Weeks Ending April 22, 2022, and April 22, 2023 Filing Season Individual Business Not Specified Total 2022 2,200,000 1,000,000 2,100,000 5,300,000 2023 1,900,000 900,000 2,200,000 5,000,000 Basically the IRS is still playing "Whack a Mole"

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.

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

"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System reported Wednesday that hackers stole the names, social security numbers, birth dates and other confidential information of roughly 769,000 retirees and beneficiaries, taking advantage of a vulnerability in a contracted vendor’s cybersecurity system.' Apparently CalPERS was also hacked 3 weeks ago and just announced it today? Not good optics.

If we applied SS tax to ALL income, we could lower the rate. A lower SS tax rate would benefit low earners and small business immensely.

I like the fact that some “outsourced” countries can fall below the radar compared to manufacturing countries.

Yesterday I was asked by the notorious hair stylist type to provide a letter to the bank that they are making more money this year than what they reported last year. I asked for $1000 retainer. Didn't hear back.

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.

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

"This month, a massive hack targeted the Oregon DMV. The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed Thursday that an estimated 3.5 million driver's license and identification card files were compromised when the agency was hacked two weeks ago." Wow! I have am going to have to freeze my credit and notify my clients to do the same thing.

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

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

Mind boggling. (my credit accounts have been frozen since the equifax hack)

But in a recession, the accountant majors still get professional offers while the business majors...not so much.

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.