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Don't let your spouse watch those home improvement programs, you'll be sorry.

I want to join the 21st century and be like the cool kids, so I aim to just get used to the new look and functions. I found "sticky notes" and loving those. They don't cheerfully flutter when the back door opens, but one can't have everything.

All versions of windows have a start button and a menu. And they work better than the old menus, anyway. Change is hard but inevitable. And in this case it's for the better.

If it's finding things - Classic Shell is a free program that will make win10 look and feel like older versions of Windows. Puts the Start button on your screen! If I recall, Windows now comes with something to makes Classic Shell not required but I'm not 100% sure of that.

I was working with Vista, so this is a whole new experience. Frustration level only reached 10/10 a few times today.

If you check the Complete box in the Return Manager when you complete a return, ATX will remember that date and use it whenever that box is checked. This is true even if you uncheck the box, make some changes and save the return. We often update our notes for death, divorce, marriage, births, address changes, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. during the year, after the return is done. So we have to uncheck the complete box to save our changes, but as long as we recheck the complete box, the original complete date will be correct. It's rare that we have to reprint a return, but it comes in handy when we do.

You have to be careful with the word "legal" - yes, legal at the state level. However section 280E still applies. I've been approached but never prepared a return for a marijuana business. It seems once I explain 280E they don't want me to do their return. I can't know, but I'd bet most of them shop around for someone who is unaware or willing to ignore 280E. Also see memorandum 201504011.

Did you come from W7 or earlier? I currently have W8.1 so I'm thinking the learning curve won't be as steep.

Received a subpoena today! Some guy is suing my client over some profit sharing thing over this one construction job. I have to submit (by mail) to the plaintiff's attorney the financials, my invoices to the client, and some job costing work papers. I sent a copy of the subpoena to my client and yelled at him over the phone that I did not appreciate being hauled into his mess. On the advice of my attorney, I told him if he wanted to object to the subpoena then he would have to pay his lawyer to do that. Otherwise I would be complying and sending off the requested documents. I also spoke to the plaintiff attorney and asked why he wanted my invoices. He said to see how much of my fees were allocated to that job. None. He was pretty nice and assured me that I wasn't under any threat. My attorney assured me of same. I am just livid.

I e-filed my first NY amended return today. Had a few problems doing it but Proseries support helped me work through.

The thing that frosts me is that, instead of going after the bad apples, they instead levy all sorts of extra requirements across the board. Well, that's not going to make a gnats-pee-in-hell worth of difference to a crook or "just" an incompetent -- but it does but all kinds of extra burdens on us good preparers to NO effect. Grrr.... Then we get info like this latest newsletter I just got this morning (see the lines in boldface - added by me - especially): Preparers Plan for Shrinking IRS Budgets and Growing Penalties by Eric L. Green, J.D., LL.M. Budget cuts have decimated the ability of the IRS to perform its job. From exams to collections, the IRS has insufficient resources to work cases and perform basic customer service (the last time I called the Practitioner Priority line I waited over an hour, and I called at 7 a.m.). Nevertheless, Congress expects the IRS to collect revenue. It’s no wonder that voluntary compliance is down and the tax gap has increased. It appears that the government may be seeking to increase compliance by placing new burdens on return preparers by way of increased application of preparer penalties. We have seen several recent instances where preparers, after giving accurate advice and performing proper due diligence, are assessed penalties after their client fails to heed that advice. For example, the IRS has always been concerned that S corp owners may not take reasonable salaries. Thus, most preparers who have S corp owners as clients provide a letter identifying the requirement and suggesting a proper level of salary based on historic income. However, when the client returns the following year for tax preparation, lo and behold, the income level taken was too low. First and foremost, the obligation of the preparer is to accurately report the events that already occurred. Second, the tax year is closed. Fixing the problem would require the preparer to convince the client to recognize more salary, and amend quarterly employment returns, causing the incurrence of large penalties. When confronted with this, and similar scenarios, the IRS is looking to preparers to fix the “problem.” The preparer has no power to force their client to do anything. By attempting to hold preparers responsible for the pre-existing actions of the clients, the IRS can use the specter of preparer penalties and ethical charges against professionals to cause preparers to perform basic IRS audit tasks. When confronted with preparing returns for a taxpayer who will be reporting information that may not be compliant with tax laws, it is incumbent on the preparer to understand available safe harbors and ethical responsibilities. For example, under §§ 6662(d)(2)(B) and 6694(c)(2), preparers are entitled to a safe harbor if they disclose a position taken on a tax return. Preparers should always request that their clients comply with the tax laws and explain how that can be done. Finally, if necessary, preparers should consider not working with clients who chronically fail to adhere to their advice. Having to defend against a preparer penalty assessment or Office of Professional Responsibility investigation is expensive, time consuming, gut wrenching and, simply, not worth it. The new IRS has fewer resources. Do not be surprised if it leans more heavily on return preparers to do its job. Preparer penalties constitute a powerful and coercive tool to force preparers to police their own clients. Preparers must prepare. Eric L. Green is a frequent instructor for CCH® Webinars and the creator of the CCH® IRS Representation Certificate Program.

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