Christian

Ah yes. The inscrutable Dutch.

I have yet to see anything on the WK hack with respect to files being lost. Has anyone?

ATX values my business so little I don't even get a call from a rep ! I usually reup online. I too have been a client since the Maine days. Gee we ARE getting old !

It would indeed be a cold day in Hades for me to get money BACK from the federal or state governments ! Some years back I had to contact my state senator to receive a $27 refund from our Department of Taxation.

In checking my own return I see no amounts reported on line 18 or 19 on Schedule D so I can assume I am in the clear. Whoopee.

Has ATX provided an update covering this ?

I'll add my two cents. A long time client turned his affairs over to a son when he and wife went into a home. His son turned the management of his dad's affairs over to an existing firm but his dad strenuously warned him against employing the head of the firm as he had no confidence in him instead to use a family friend at the firm who shortly thereafter retired. The son promptly turned the assets over to the very man his father had warned him about. I pointed out to him the fees looked pretty high last year. This year was no different and the guy had LOST over $30,000 of his 88 year old mother's assets through bad stock trades !! Go figure.

Somehow I knew Abby would cover my ineptitude.

An article in the Progressive Accountant states that the malware which attacked WK was a new unknown strain undetectable by existing security software. Apparently to date they have found no data lost. I was unable to pull up a link but feel sure it can be accessed from the PA website.

Has anyone seen any assurances from WK that no client files were lost. I've scouted around and see virtually nothing.

I have made an address error in an efile I sent. Is there a form I can submit correcting this? The client owes tax so no refund is involved I simply need to correct the town name on the filed return. This, of course, also applies to the Virginia return.

I usually reup about now. As you may well imagine I am going to hold off for the time being.

It is 8:45 here and I just transmitted two efiles . What is my greatest concern in all of this? What if these criminals successfully penetrated WK's security and stole actual returns as the group who broke into the Office of Personnel Management did a couple of years back? Good Lord !!!

Something must be askew as I am unable to efile returns.

Taxman I am not that familiar with escheat law but maybe three years. This particular client is a dilly dallyer but advised she did not have great difficulty in getting the matter resolved.

I plan on discussing security with Centurylink before making any change. Of course, I run Microsoft Security Essentials all the time and run Malwarebytes two or three times a week as well as regular quick scans. I am as stated on a dsl line on a regular router and my current isp has there own security in place as well. I very rarely ever have any problem. I would assume Centurylink has security in place as well. Generally I use eight character passwords which use mixed caps numbers and such. I do not use the computer to link with any clients. The phone and now text messages are already more than I can handle.

In reviewing a video giving directions for setting up the modem router they suggest connecting the computer by Ethernet cable for set up but I am sure there would be no problem leaving it connected. The new machine will be a desktop pc and will not be moved around. On the other hand I might just bump up to 8.1 and use old Bessie here if a USB adapter can connect me.

When you say wired system I do not understand. My Wi-Fi modem router would be connected to a dsl line. Is that what you are referring to? I keep my old landline basically for security. I plan on using the connection to service my smart tv as well.

I am so glad to find a fellow Virginian with the same sale. Yes, Gail that is what I meant. Add the value of the BAT shares they received to the cash they received and deduct their basis. The info supplied by BAT is totally confusing. They seem to show a sale of some BAT shares and report a short term gain and a long term gain for it. The client got $29.44 a share in cash and .503 or so BAT shares for their RAI shares. The monetary value of the BAT shares was given so it seemed a pretty simple straight forward computation. I quite simply could not make heads or tails of the other material they sent.

Some tax clients try spoofing each year.

Thanks ever so much. As it happens they did not receive the funds until 2018. I will print this and place it in their file.

In 2017 British American Tobacco acquired Reynolds American Tobacco in a stock and cash deal. The owners of Reynolds received cash and British American stock for the Reynolds stock. The form provided by British American for the sale is confusing to say the least although this is indicated as a taxable exchange. To my thinking all that is needed is the basis of the acquired shares which would then be subtracted from the COMBINED cash and fair market value of the British American stock received. Any input on this would be much appreciated.

I have more or less worked out most of the kinks in what I need to do in no small part with help from our forum members. I have a windows 7 professional 64bit machine. I use it off and on but not for tax work. In checking tech support I am told a simple USB Wi-Fi adapter is available which will make it Wi-Fi accessible. Someone on the forum mentioned that Microsoft is continuing support for the professional version for three additional years but I have been unable to confirm that.

As noted in an entry last year a client somehow let a large amount of property become escheat to the state of Virginia who sold it. They subsequently recovered the cash received which prompted my forum entry. I advised a family member to have the money reinvested in the security which was sold by the state and no tax consequences would result until such time as the stock was sold. True to form they did nothing. The state sent them a form but it is anything but definitive as to how the money is to be treated for tax purposes. They did advise how many shares were sold and the date. My thought was to treat the sale as if the owner sold the stock. I called the priority line but no help there. It would likely pass muster but should any of you have encountered a similar situation I would appreciate any info you may be able to share.

With no financial penalty what are they going to do wag their finger ?