Jack from Ohio

Catherine, I am not sure how many clients you have, or how complex the returns are. I am on this quest to prevent converting 3,000 returns from ATX to another software. The conversion is never complete and sometimes there are conversion glitches. To convert for 2013, then convert back for 2014 is far more headache than I want to consider.

I work for an employer that has a totally working brain, is wonderful to work for, and between us we have worked out any "direct competition" issues that may arise. I have worked at the form for 10 tax seasons with no problems. I guess it is about who you choose to be your employer.

Thank you everyone for reading my posts on this matter. SARCASM!! With everyone ignoring all my posts and the work that the beta testers are doing and saying, I wonder why I bother even sharing. Help me understand why I should continue my efforts with testing and sharing with this board?? For all those that choose not to be completely informed, do your thing!!! This reinforces my thoughts about the real reasons for all the complaints about the program. There is much more going on than all but 3 of the members of this board know. These three were at the Customer Advisory Board meeting in late September. If you choose to ignore my information, why should I even offer it. Feeling really unappreciated right now....

I will be posting soon about my recommendations and experiences. I am doing much more testing and will post those results and recommendations as well.

Really??

I still have much more indepth testing to do beyond what they had me check. Currently, I am about 95% convinced. That is up from 90% after the CAB seminar. If you used 2012, using 2013 will not be significantly different other than many of the problems with 2012 have been eliminated. Patience. I will be posting more once my additional testing regime is finished.

Jumped my personal practice from 215 clients to 275. Looking for the same kind of increase this coming season.

Auditus Interuptus? A new name for the "shutdown?"

Now for something completely different (at least from me). If a 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?... If corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from? If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them? When you choke a smurf, what color does it turn? If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent? and How come we choose from just two people to run for president ...and 50 for the Miss America pageant. Thoughts?

Rich, It appears that you are not listening....

You are speaking exactly what we have seen in the past.

I don't think Richpaman gets the difference. Whether they pay penalties or not is irrelevant to my position. The tax money they withheld from OTHER PEOPLE and spent on themselves is the issue. Rich will soon find out that the IRS is NOT very LENIENT when it comes to trust fund taxes. The IRS will look for and acquire liens on their personal assets to collect them. My clients were actively paying the trust fund taxes that were owed due to the former accountant's incompetence, and the IRS still started proceedings to place liens on their personal assets. Time from assessment of taxes owed to pursuing liens was 6 months and my clients had already paid 40% of the amount owed. Good Luck Richpaman with the OIC. As I posted, if they agree to pay the penalties, they are agreeing that they owe the monies that he penalties have been assessed for. Will they send apologies to all the employees whose money they embezzled? Again, embezzling the money is what they are guilty for.

I get CPE credits as a perk to the training and what I learn. The idea of "purchasing" CPE credits discredits the whole purpose. I have been tallying up 3X the "minimum" for RTRP for the past 10 years. Whether I "need" the CPE credits for some "accreditation" or not, I will still take the classes and seminars.

Let us know how the OIC for the trust fund monies works. Again, it was NOT THEIR MONEY. I care to help clients with morals about other people's money. If she agrees to the penalties, she is agreeing that she owes the monies that penalties were assessed against. Again, no sympathy for people that take other peoples money and expect to get away with it.

I am seriously contemplating becoming an Navigator for the ACA. That way, I can be paid for teaching my clients how to use the Exchanges for purchasing healthcare insurance. Currently, the IRS is inferring that I should provide this as part of the service I am currently providing. Anyone else? 20 years ago, I had my State Insurance License. Maybe the knowledge I learned will finally pay off?

I meant, what is the difference in security of her downloading the file vs. sending it to you? Would you download the file from the website?

How is downloading from a website any different than sending an e-mail? I know the answer, but for your fear to be valid, there must be some difference? I speak techie, so enlighten me??

You believe all that if you wish. Email or any transmission on the internet is broken up into hundreds or thousands of individual packets. All packets do not take the same routes to the destination. They move by the billions per second at the speed of light. It is VERY difficult to target one e-mail or mail address. Ask your engineer what the process would be. So, now faxes and e-mail are not secure? Back to the USPS that has an efficiency rate that is deplorable, and allow many people that are not screened or vetted handle mail that, by IRS regs, must be marked "Important Tax Information" clearly on the outside of the envelope which makes for easy pickins for an identity thief. Our firm had too many instances of USPS losing items this year. I do not believe that Circular 230 has any provision about sending anything via email or any other method. Please correct me if I missed something. MAS said it correctly. Identity hackers get enough information directly from victims by them answering phishing phone calls and e-mails. They also target companies with hundreds of thousands of people in their database. They are not going to "tap my line" for the 100 or so e-mails I send in a 4 month period with information in them. Too much work. Keep believing the hysteria. It will cost you multiple dozens of hours of additional work, just to calm your fears.

Stealing my credit card information is far from identity theft. My credit cards protect me if someone uses them without my permission. That is my protection. I generally don't give DOB, SS# and Mother's maiden name to my waiter or waitress. Another bad analogy. Last December, went to the ATX2012 tax forum in Atlanta. Used our credit card several places for small purchases. Had extra time, so we did some Christmas shopping for gift cards. Total sale was $600. My credit card provider declined the call. In 30 seconds, my cell phone rang. It was the credit card company informing me of the large purchase 800 miles from my usual area of doing business. After giving them the all clear, the card was accepted. Credit card theft is NOT identity theft.

By invoking more total police state laws in every venue? Been tried in many other countries and does not work. You would NOT like a society that had processes in place to totally protect your identity at every turn. What happened to personal responsibility to know what you are doing and be accountable if you do something unwise? Society now blames the lack of "Big Brother" style protection from the government(s) to bail people out from their own ignorance or arrogance.

All mail, is handled by people at several stages. Anyone could see that it is a tax document and simply take it. Many UPSP workers and contractors are not vetted, bonded or checked out. The power of the NSA is WAY overblown. The TV show "Person of Interest" is fiction at it's highest degree. The idea that the NSA can see everything we say, phone messages and email preys on the lack of information of the masses. Some attention in basic science classes in High School would have prevented the hysteria that is currently gripping America.

US Mail is less secure than e-mail.

This is not a matter of your client not paying THEIR taxes, they have taken OTHER PEOPLE"S MONEY that was supposed to be sent to the government and SPENT IT. In any company, business or organization in America, this is embezzling and is a felony. Sorry, still no sympathy. I would not take on a client that is trying not to repay trust fund money that they have embezzled. The client I had, suffering from a previous accountant, only wanted to pay what they should and do what was right. The IRS was cold and unbending until it was all paid. Took my clients less than a year, but all is complete and current today.

Those with open WIFI are careless and irresponsible. If someone gets into their system and compromises it, it is not because e-mail is not secure, it is due to laziness, ignorance or both. Sort of like not locking the door on your house. Natural sense should apply here. One more example of why most hacked e-mails are the careless fault of the user.

This part is WAY overstated. It is NOT easy for a hacker to read your e-mail unless he gets your e-mail username and password. This is how the great majority of e-mails get compromised. No one can roll up in front of your house and read all your e-mails with a few clicks. Anyone who knows the technical ins and outs of e-mail and how it is transmitted will know. I have a son that is a software engineer and served as a level 3 technician at an e-mail providing company. Much more chance of someone getting into your computer at work or home and reading the e-mail.