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The coverage is usually thought of as providing for and paying for defense, with remainder for settlement (often credit monitoring) and cash payout (if needed). In my case, I don’t have or keep anything of risk, but I have the coverage mainly for defending claims (anyone can file anything!).

I was doing a Spidell update seminar yesterday and the presenter said that one of his friends got hit by a cyber attack. He went to his carrier to file the claim and the first question the carrier asked was for his WISP. He did not have one and the claim was denied. This is second hand, but Spidell is pretty reliable source. Just something to think of... Tom Longview, TX

I added a Cyber insurance rider to my E&O policy via NAEA's group plan. Look at group plans from your professional organizations to save on premiums and for plans designed for our industry.

The Tax Advocates Assistance Tool https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/can-tas-help-me-with-my-tax-issue/ Form 911 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f911.pdf

Members of the Senate and the House have priority access to the Tax Advocate's taxpayer assistance service.

I had one like that a couple years ago. He contacted the office of his Senator and had the refund in a couple weeks. I don't know if it was just coincidence or if her office actually did something to get it moving.

I have at least one major client who has not received his e-filed 2022 refund yet. Notation on website says "Pending" Telephone calls say "Pending". Neither the client nor I have been able to speak with an actual live person as of up to yesterday. Please advise.

Excerpts from the report that caught my attention: https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2023-annual-report-to-congress/ "Extraordinary delays in assisting victims of identity theft. At the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023, nearly half a million taxpayers with cases pending in the IRS’s Identity Theft Victims Assistance (IDTVA) unit were waiting an average of almost 19 months for the agency to resolve their identity theft problems. " "Delays in processing amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence. Despite the IRS’s success in eliminating its backlog of paper-filed Forms 1040, backlogs in processing amended individual income tax returns (Forms 1040-X), amended business tax returns and correspondence continued. At the end of calendar year 2019 (the most recent pre-pandemic year), the IRS’s backlog of unprocessed amended returns stood at 0.5 million. By comparison, the backlog as of late October 2023 was 1.9 million – nearly four times as much. Taxpayer correspondence and related cases more than doubled over the same period, from 1.9 million to 4.3 million. In addition, the percentage of correspondence cases classified as “overage” in 2023 reached its highest level in recent years, with nearly 70% of pending cases exceeding normal processing times as of late October. " For the 2023 filing season, Treasury set a goal of achieving an 85% “Level of Service” (LOS) on the IRS’s toll-free telephone lines, and that required staffing the telephone lines at levels capable of handling most calls during peak periods. However, the report says that meant CSRs often were “simply sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.” During the 2023 filing season alone, CSRs spent 1.27 million hours (34% of their time) waiting to receive calls. That translates to more than 650 unproductive staff years in which these employees could have been processing paper and reducing response times for amended returns and correspondence." It sounds llke the IRS has been playing "Whack A Mole" They shifted staff to answering the phones since that was what everyone was upset about.

If you contact a member of Congress, you will need to have all of your documents assembled

I had one in '22, ('21 return), refund was approx 4,500.00. Less than 10 days after e-filing, they had a direct deposit of 1,528.43. The timing, and amount, led us both to believe it was for something else - ID theft, previous year, etc. No explanation could be found and no other money was received in the "refund" window. Eight or ten months later, they received a direct deposit that made the total equal 4,500.00 + interest. (Subsequent 1099 from Treasury confirmed this.) To date, there has been no correspondence, (explanation), from the IRS.

i received a bunch of emails from them today also. they do not seem to be going in order of submission.. some newer filed ones were marked completed and older filed ones still show pending.

As a CPA you can join AICPA and obtain insurance through it. I just renewed mine for the umpteenth year and have again added the cyber insurance for $190. It is for $100,000 but I think I need to revisit that in light of BrewOne's note. It does say for each 'claim' but I need to better understand the details. Definitions can be tricky.

Yes indeed - just finished presenting, in fact. They'll have it on self-study webinar at some point. We'll see if they ask me back!

Oh, darn, I just received a Form 1099-NEC with Boxes 6 & 7 for CA due to a small honorarium I received !! Now I get to add a CA return to CT and IL. I better remember to file a CA extension.