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Even with well-established clients, if one sends me an email with only an attachment and no verbiage, I contact the client via a new email and ask if they sent me something, and what it was they sent, before I'll open it. Also with personal emails. Took one of my cousins a couple of years to (finally!) get the hint and tell me "these are some pictures I took" or "here's a link to an article on topic X" with the original emails.

A church should be the ONE employer who is likely to fix their mistake in a timely fashion. It is on the TP to get fixed, or pay the preparer to push for fix. If I were the employee, and it cost me anything for the error, even to pay a preparer to get the fix done (extra time to report.back out, or push for proper W2), I would be billing my employer. But, I an hugely jaded after 40+ years of payroll, and an employer who cannot do their duty should be held to task.

had a (former) client got caught in a similar situation--no mention to me of their buying and selling and possibly no 1099-K, but the IRS knew the amount they sold on eBay. When I told them they would need to know what they paid for every item they sold, they had a hissy fit. Since I had no idea how long this had been going on (possibly for years), I told them I wouldn't handle it and recommended they get a tax attorney. Their new CPA wanted to know why I didn't want to handle such a simple matter and I told him I'd retired.

I wish Google Voice would add a fax service. What I recommend is giving out a Google Voice number as your cell phone for clients. That way they can text you documents and you can save directly to your computer from your browser. You can also type texts to your clients on your computer. I have mine set to not forward or ring, but just take messages, if someone calls. Google does a fairly good job of transcribing those voice messages to text. You can also save those voice messages to be replayed later, if the need arises. I just use GotFreeFax to send faxes when needed. 3 pages is free. Up to 10 pages is 98 cents. I currently can't receive faxes, but clients rarely want to fax me anything.

If that is the case then you will need to report it on Schedule C and then back out housing allowance. Your client probably does not want to go the SS-8 route. But that can take a lot of time an energy for someone who is only getting paid to prepare a tax return. I have been down that road before, finally threw my hands up and fixed it on Schedule C.

That stinks. Sadly many people make mistakes. More common when there are .volunteers. Likely no one in the church office knows the proper method (as no one with proper knowledge is reviewing/preparing), so I would start with the person who is in charge of finances, or better yet, the paid accountant/tax preparer for the church. If there is more than one clergy person, get together and speak as a group. Don't delay, as the HA incorrectly reported will me major $ if not corrected.

Personally, I am not concerned about what a customer does, such as sending me data. I am careful what I do eith their data once I receive it, and spell out my process in my privacy notice.

The church can send what they want. The employee has no concern with 941 issues. Of course, HA should be reported to the clergy person on letterhead, usually showing the amount for the year ended, and the pre auth (required) for the upcoming year. There is zero requirement for HA to be on a W2 (and I am a stickler for not adding non required things to a W2). A 941 is filed, as there were wages, even if not taxable. Another example is a seasonal business will often have to file a zero wage 941. Any ongoing entity with payroll during the year, and the IRS expects 4 941's or if allowed, a 944. Even the option to tell the IRS there are no more 941's for the year is not something I suggest as it is cleaner to have 4 per year.

I meant I have no liability for the customer sending me an email, or what they choose to send. Of course, I don't open unexpected things, and the things I open, I do so with proper security steps in place. A customer sending me something bad because of contacting me for help? Possible, but has not happened yet. I don't overly spend time on worrying about baddies. I prepare for any issue via multiple backups, spare machines, and using my grey matter to control my voice and finger commands.

Sometimes, when I let my inner gremlin (the gremlin who believes adults should adult) loose, I would not even resend. I would keep the returned item unopened, for the required time. If the employee/vendor asks, I would give them a copy, but still keep the returned one as proof it was sent.

I agree, if the TIN and the $ amount is correct I wouldn't worry about it. People move all the time, which doesn't require an amended W 2 or 1099.

Reporting the taxable income has not changed. What has/will change is the threshold for the electronic payment vendors to report 1099 data. A big for instance, I was able to get some Adele Las Vegas tix for the original dates. When she bailed at the last minute, we bailed as well, selling then for a HEFTY markup (paid for a fam trip to the Mouse). Just because I am not getting a 1099 does not mean the profit is "tax free".

Me? Vendor address only issue? pffffft. Mail a copy to the proper vendor address.

Rare indeed, kudos! Likely as common as (what used to be) common sense.

You really have to give the son credit for carrying out the "will" of his mother, even though it was not in her "will". Otherwise he could have personally received a benefit as an heir to her estate. I would go with that and claim the charitable deduction up to the amount of total income received by the estate. Also consider electing accrual accounting and short first year to match deductions against income.

A quote from a Bloomberg article this morning on MSN: "A coalition of 250 business groups including the US Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and National Association of Manufacturers has lobbied hard for the legislation authored by Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith and Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden. Boeing Co., General Motors Co., Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. are among the companies that stand to benefit, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The measure would restore expired tax breaks allowing businesses to more quickly recoup the costs of domestic research and development, interest on business loans and investment in equipment." If you want to know what Congress is going to do....follow the money. Tom Longview, TX

My son, who works in IT security, once told me, "Mom, if you knew what I know about the internet, you'd never use it." Scary that he's probably right. Never, ever respond to those emails from people supposedly looking for a new tax pro. Of the tens of thousands of tax preparers in this nation, they just randomly picked you?

I'm in a similar situation as OP. Land line in my office, doubles for fax. I don't get many faxes anymore, just come ons for vacations and such. A few of my clients have my mobile number but I usually don't like to give that out to clients to avoid calls at any hour. I'm trying to hang on a few more years, cutting back, hoping I don't have to get two mobile lines and all that.

Kind of like the promotions I receive for "Living Trust Seminars with a free dinner"

If you have Adobe DC it can convert a jpeg to PDF. Use it all the time.

I have faint memory of there being some traction towards altering some credits too, so the advice in the article was to consider waiting to file personal (and maybe some business?). For me, I file on the deadline, for reasons of time, and just in case something changes. But, I also manage my deposits to I am at or neat the max owed without getting into penalty, so I have no fake incentive for filing early (using withholding as a sort of Christmas Club / forced savings). I even tried, and failed, to share with others how to manage withholding to be less to compensate for the 2023 EV credit rather than loaning the PTB the over withheld amounts. It is just a concept few understand.

In my situation, they are going to issue a 1099-NEC for the total amount paid, showing both the salary portion AND the housing portion as non-employee comp.