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Save the returns in pdf format, and then you could allow those preparers access to the pdf to view the completed return that would protect the actual input from inadvertent changes.

Right! Some of mine don't open anything that says "contains important tax information" on them.

Hi PurpleTaxLady, and welcome to the group. I think Jack is correct about it being a design flaw in the program that CCHSFS can't or won't fix, and there are other problems at CCHSFS also, one being lack of adequately trained technical support staff. I think his statements from another topic summarize this very well:

For those of you that receive notifications and updates by following the forum without coming directly to the site, Eric has graciously set up 2 new areas for us. One is specifically for the ACA discussions and the other is for ProSeries users to discuss that software without going to its official forum. If you would like to receive the postings and updates for either of those new subforums, you'll have to log on and choose to follow those in addition to following the general chat area. Of course, we'd love to see you logging on and participating too.

For the few invoices you are talking about, you could set up an excel workbook with links to one master sheet containing the date field and month service relates to. Changing the date and month fields on that master sheet would take the few moments to make the change and the data would auto-populate throughout the workbook. Print the entire workbook once a month and you are done. I prepare the quarterly CAM bills for one client having a commercial rental with a small number of tenants, and this is how I do it. I have the master sheet that does all the math, and it flows beautifully to each tenant's bill. Of course, I don't have to worry about tracking the receivable though.

The only problem I have with Catherine's "pay up or no more work" is that it gives those once-a-year clients the idea that they can carry that balance out for an entire year until they need our services again. I don't want to extend that level of credit or have to worry about balances dues out that long. Credit card companies do that very well, and I am not in the business of extending credit. Most of my clients pay when the return is picked up, but I do have a statement formatted on my old invoices that gives them 30 days interest free. Beyond 30 days is when I start charging interest. Two years ago I started using the bill function within my tax software to generate the invoice, and that 30-day statement is gone, but I would still honor it. There are some business clients that have more extensive work that I spread the payments over several months to lighten the impact, but those terms are clearly spelled out in the engagement letters in advance of starting my work.

Passed on Tuesday and awaiting the President's signature - http://journalofaccountancy.com/news/2014/dec/tax-favored-savings-accounts-for-disability-expenses-201411491.html New law creates tax-favored savings accounts for disabled taxpayers By Alistair M. Nevius, J.D. December 17, 2014 As part of the larger tax extender legislation passed on Tuesday, Congress approved the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 (H.R. 647), which will allow disabled individuals to save money to pay for their disability expenses in tax-favored accounts, called ABLE accounts. The House of Representatives passed the measure on Dec. 3, by a vote of 404–17, and it now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. The purpose of the bill is “[t]o encourage and assist individuals and families in saving private funds for the purpose of supporting individuals with disabilities to maintain health, independence, and quality of life” and “[t]o provide secure funding for disability-related expenses on behalf of designated beneficiaries with disabilities that will supplement, but not supplant, benefits provided through private insurance,” Medicaid, and other sources (H.R. 647, §101). The bill adds a new Sec. 529A to the Code, under which a qualified ABLE program will be exempt from taxation (except for unrelated business income tax). A qualified ABLE program is a program run by a state that allows a person to make contributions for a tax year, for the benefit of an eligible individual, to an ABLE account established for the purpose of meeting the qualified disability expenses of the designated beneficiary of the account. A state’s ABLE program must limit designated beneficiaries to one account and must allow accounts to be opened only for residents of that state or a contracting state. Eligible individuals must file a disability certification with the IRS or meet certain criteria for blindness or disability under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §1382). Contributions must be made in cash, and the program must limit annual contributions to the amount of the annual gift tax exclusion in effect for that tax year. The ABLE program must provide separate accounting for each designated beneficiary, and designated beneficiaries and contributors must not be able to direct the investment of contributions or earnings in the account. Distributions from the account will not be included in the designated beneficiary’s gross income as long as they do not exceed the beneficiary’s qualified disability expenses. If they do exceed the beneficiary’s qualified disability expenses, the amount otherwise includible in gross income will be reduced by an amount bearing the same ratio to that amount as the expenses bear to the distributions. Funds in ABLE accounts will also be disregarded for purposes of various federal means-tested programs. Once signed by the president, the bill will take effect for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2014. — Alistair M. Nevius ( [email protected] ) is the JofA’s editor-in-chief, tax.

You might also consider including a suggestion that she accumulate all the necessary data and meet only one so that both of your time will be more wisely spent and not wasted on inefficiency. A pet peeve of mine is having to work on something piecemeal because it is very inefficient, wastes time and leads to possible mistakes when the preparer has to stop and start a job.

...and IRS and all vendor software must be updated and tested to include the extenders.

IRS pub 5157 that is the ACA guidance provided to VITA preparers. It's a nice overview with some brief quiz questions and answers that highlight a few of the more common fact patterns we may see. It's a pdf that can be downloaded. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5157.pdf

From an email I received tonight: On Thursday January 22, 2015, Stakeholder Liaison’s Mid-Atlantic Region will be hosting a two hour Webinar from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST on the Affordable Care Act. Here is the invitation email for the webinar. Hosted By: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Presented By: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Stakeholder Liaison (Internal Revenue Service) On Thursday January 22, 2015, Stakeholder Liaison’s Mid-Atlantic Region will be hosting a two hour Webinar from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST on the Affordable Care Act. There will be two main areas of focus: the Affordable Care Act’s Individual Shared Responsibility Provision (ISRP), and the Premium Tax Credit (PTC). There will be ample time for questions and answers as well. So if you want a last minute refresher on the nuts and bolts of the Affordable Care Act, this is the webinar for you. We look forward to you joining us for this worthwhile presentation. Registration Process: 1. Please remember the e-mail address that is entered when you register because a registration confirmation message will be sent to that email box within moments, requesting that you click and confirm your registration. Confirming your registration is simple and takes seconds to complete. 2. You must confirm your registration in order to attend the webinar. Webinar attendance is only allowed after the registration confirmation process is complete. Confirming your registration will also enable you to receive email reminders for the webinar. 3. If you do not receive the registration confirmation e-mail, please check your spam folder, and if necessary adjust spam filter to avoid future messages from being blocked. On the day of the event: 1. Please remember to dial-in using 1-888-331-8226, and when prompted enter Access Code 3479383#. 2. Utilize either URL address or join the event hyperlink to conduct a system check at least ten minutes prior to start time of the meeting. To register for this event To register for this event, use the following link: https://events.na.collabserv.com/register.php?id=144165edd5&l=en-US If clicking the above link does not work, please copy the entire link and paste it into your Web browser. © 2014 IRS Narina Bchtikian SB: SE Communications and Stakeholder Outreach Senior Stakeholder Liaison 600 Arch Street, Room 3214 Philadelphia, PA 19106 Phone: 215-861-1061 [email protected]

The spammers don't care what the topics are or sites' main interests. When I started looking into where these were generated and searched for some of them with whois, the IPs came up as spammers that were signed on to a wide variety of sites for the sole purpose of spamming, and some were reported to be associated with blacklisted sites. This forum's internal IP tools revealed that some of the members had multiple members all signing in from the same static IP address, and those might have been automated spam bots being set up once a human had solved the old security question. The new sign up features that Eric put in place on Monday assure that new members are real people and whose IP addresses are not associated with high levels of spam.

I think that too, Tom, and Margaret said the appraised value was $12, and that the fracking company really wanted that land to continue the pipeline and paid a big premium for it. I'm unsure about the penalty inclusion. I wouldn't rely on what some lawyer wrote into a contract, and that was the reason I asked. Punitive damages are definitely includable, but what if they are compensatory received by a non-human exempt entity? I think they still might be taxable, but really unsure about that.

Likewise, that Congress came to agreements also.

The threshold is $1,000 for triggering reporting of UBI on 990-T by organizations exempt under 501(a), and the damages already exceed that. Margaret, why do you think the damages aren't taxable?

He's expected to sign it in the next couple of days.

I feel the same.

It passed. Here's a link (Library of Congress) to the bill summary with a list of the provisions included in H.R. 5771, doesn't give specific dollar amounts - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:HR05771:@@@L&summ2=m& Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 - Title I: Certain Expiring Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend certain expiring tax provisions relating to individuals, businesses, and the energy sector. Subtitle A: Individual Tax Extenders - Extends through 2014: the tax deduction of expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers; the tax exclusion of imputed income from the discharge of indebtedness for a principal residence; the equalization of the tax exclusion for employer-provided commuter transit and parking benefits; the tax deduction of mortgage insurance premiums;the tax deduction of state and local general sales taxes in lieu of state and local income taxes; the tax deduction of contributions of capital gain real property for conservation purposes; the tax deduction of qualified tuition and related expenses; and the tax exemption of distributions from individual retirement accounts for charitable purposes. Subtitle B: Business Tax Extenders - Extends through 2014: the tax credit for increasing research activities; the low-income housing tax credit rate for newly constructed non-federally subsidized buildings; the Indian employment tax credit; the new markets tax credit;the tax credit for qualified railroad track maintenance expenditures; the tax credit for mine rescue team training expenses; the tax credit for differential wage payments to employees who are active duty members of the Uniformed Services; the work opportunity tax credit; authority for issuance of qualified zone academy bonds; the classification of race horses as three-year property for depreciation purposes; accelerated depreciation of qualified leasehold improvement, restaurant, and retail improvement property, of motorsports entertainment complexes, and of business property on Indian reservations; accelerated depreciation of certain business property (bonus depreciation); the special rule allowing a tax deduction for charitable contributions of food inventory by taxpayers other than C corporations; the increased expensing allowance for business assets, computer software, and qualified real property (i.e., leasehold improvement, restaurant, and retail improvement property); the election to expense advanced mine safety equipment expenditures; the expensing allowance for film and television production costs and costs of live theatrical productions; the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico; tax rules relating to payments between related foreign corporations and dividends of regulated investment companies; the treatment of regulated investment companies as qualified investment entities for purposes of the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA); the subpart F income exemption for income derived in the active conduct of a banking, financing, or insurance business; the tax rule exempting dividends, interest, rents, and royalties received or accrued from certain controlled foreign corporations by a related entity from treatment as foreign holding company income; the 100% exclusion from gross income of gain from the sale of small business stock; the basis adjustment rule for stock of an S corporation making charitable contributions of property; the reduction of the recognition period for the built-in gains of S corporations; tax incentives for investment in empowerment zones; the increased level of distilled spirit excise tax payments into the treasuries of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; and the tax credit for American Samoa economic development expenditures. Amends the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 to extend through 2014 the exemption of the basic military housing allowance from the income test for programs financed by tax-exempt housing bonds. Subtitle C: Energy Tax Extenders - Extends through 2014: the tax credit for residential energy efficiency improvements; the tax credit for second generation biofuel production; the income and excise tax credits for biodiesel and renewable diesel fuel mixtures; the tax credit for producing electricity using Indian coal facilities placed in service before 2009; the tax credit for producing electricity using wind, biomass, geothermal, landfill gas, trash, hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy facilities; the tax credit for energy efficient new homes; the special depreciation allowance for second generation biofuel plant property; the tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings; tax deferral rules for sales or dispositions of qualified electric utilities; and the excise tax credit for alternative fuels and fuels involving liquefied hydrogen. Subtitle D: Extenders Relating to Multiemployer Defined Benefit Pension Plans - Extends through 2015 the automatic extensions of amortization periods for multiemployer defined benefit pension plans and for multiemployer funding rules under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Title II: Technical Corrections - Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2014 - Makes technical and clerical amendments to: the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012; the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012; the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012; the Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010; the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010; the Creating Small Business Jobs Act of 2010; the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009; the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008; the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008; the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008; the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008; the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008; the Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007; the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006; the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005: A Legacy for Users; the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005; and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. Eliminates provisions in the Internal Revenue Code that are not used in computing current tax liabilities (referred to as deadwood provisions). Title III: Joint Committee on Taxation - Provides that any refund or credit in excess of $5 million due to a C corporation taxpayer may not be made until the Secretary of the Treasury submits a report to the Joint Committee on Taxation providing information on such refund or credit. Title IV: Budgetary Effects - Prohibits the entry of the budgetary effects of this Act on certain PAYGO scorecards.

Eric took care of that for you. It's there now in the Other Vendors section.

Pacun, I saw the start of all the new users being set up between around midnight and 3 am and disabled the posting functions of those that I'd found, and I could tell that they were foreign-based users and IP addresses. At that point, there was only one real spam posting that wasn't offensive in nature but had a ton of links in it. I left Eric notes in the moderator section about what I'd done and why, and after I'd signed off in those next few hours is when it really exploded with all the additional users, and by morning Eric saw members making reports and shut the forum down completely to work on the problem. KC and I do see those reports also. Previous to this, I had my report setting to not send to my general email box because I leave a tab open and check in frequently during the day, as frequently as I check my emails for sure. Some of the functions available to KC and I as moderators are the ability to modify or delete posts, and to manage members in certain ways including disabling posting and eliminating spammers one user at a time, but this issue was well beyond what either of us would have been able to fix.

Call support tomorrow. It's highly doubtful there'd be any KB on this because it's something specific to your machine that is stopping the installation from both sources, perhaps a corrupted or missing file.

After disabling about a dozen last night before signing off, and then seeing Eric's message this morning about more than 80 (!) new users and about all of the spam, it was wonderful to see those IP addresses trying and not being able to log on when Eric opened the site back up to us. Well done, Eric!

Thanks for that ^.

Thank you.

Eric, thanks for all of your hard work and your patience as well. I sent you a PM with some suggestions for security questions and answers too.