Lee B

I received my 1099 efile confirmations on the 26th via one of the online filing services.

I am setting up a new computer before I download Drake 2019. Recently, I have been using the Chrome browser, but for many years before I used Firefox. Does Drake work well in conjunction with Firefox ?

And I'm sure your clients like mine keep contemporaneous and accurate mileage records

I have run into this same problem with S Corporation clients several times in recent years. With my clients the problem arose because of a lazy salesperson who didn't want to do the extra paperwork told my clients they didn't need to register the vehicle in the corporate name. My firm policy is to make the client go back and have the paperwork redone correctly, which they have done.

It's probably in one of ATX's hidden files, which they always use.

Over the years, my experience with contractors is that for the most part they are concerned about the current job they are trying finish and the next job they need to start yesterday and not much else.

You can continue to use the contractor, however back withholding rules apply, which used to be 28 %.

Copied from Accounting Today: "Taxpayers are feeling good about their tax-filing abilities, according to a new survey, with 89 percent indicating they feel confident they have their withholding set up correctly and 95 percent saying they're confident that they're taking all the deductions they can." I wonder how different these results would be if you surveyed taxpayers on April 15th?

I just fired a payroll/tax client, a carpet installer who I had to remind one too many times that he had forgotten to pay me. Nice guy, but now that I am easing into semi - retirement I just don't need the aggravation.

I have been efiling my 1099s on a different program since Thursday.

This issue with ATX has existed going back for many years

Interesting, since I received new security definitions this morning dated 1/16/20 for MSE on my Win 7 computer ?

At the top of Schedule 1 of the 2019 Form 1040 is the following question: "At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency? __Yes ___No" More work for all of us and more exposure of risk !

Several articles that I have read say that you shouldn't try to upgrade computers which more than 4 years old to Win 10 due to hardware considerations.

I believe the IRS FIRE system opened up on January 10th. However that doesn't mean that ATX is ready yet ?

1. Perhaps they are semi retired and this is going to be their last tax season . . . . . Don't be so quick to prejudge someone before you know their circumstances 2. As of December 31st 2019, 26 % of Windows computer worldwide were still running Win 7 !

If you search the internet you will find that Microsoft offered paid extended support for Win 7 to business/corporate accounts for up to 3 more years. You will also find some articles which outline detailed instructions of how to bypass Microsoft's validation procedures and obtain free extended support. At some future date Microsoft may figure out how to block users from obtaining these extended support updates for free. When they do some smart person will figure how to get around Microsoft's new validation checks.

Unless you have Extended Support from Microsoft.

Copied from the IRS Mind website; "IRS compliance enforcement targets With many new IRS personnel on the job, the IRS will focus their compliance resources on resolving big compliance problems. Here are 7 targets that we can expect the IRS to pursue in 2020: #1: Small business taxpayers The big problem for the IRS: recent tax gap studies still show that taxpayers who do not receive information returns (W-2s, 1099s) and must voluntarily report their income and deductions are the biggest contributors to noncompliance. In fact, according to IRS studies, small businesses are the biggest culprits- misreporting their income by 56%. Unreported tax on small business income for individuals is estimated to be $110 billion a year. IRS compliance efforts: enforcing compliance on small businesses is costly for the IRS. However, in 2020, the IRS has hired and on-boarded hundreds of new field auditors (called revenue agents). These new revenue agents will likely be training on audits of small businesses. #2: Crypto-currency holders The big problem for the IRS: there is no audit trail on crypto-currency – and the IRS knows that means noncompliance. Like small business owners, the IRS knows where there is no virtual currency information reporting (i.e. W-2s, 1099s) and the potential for large gains, there is a high likelihood of noncompliance. IRS compliance efforts: the IRS began its scrutiny of taxpayers with virtual currency transactions in July 2019 with several soft notice and compliance programs. These programs are just the beginning. The IRS promises more compliance efforts this year, including several criminal prosecutions for taxpayers who have intentionally not reported virtual currency gains on past returns. #3: Employers with unpaid payroll taxes The big problem for the IRS: 72% of all revenue collected in the US tax system comes from withheld payroll taxes. When employers don’t pay their payroll taxes, the US Treasury takes a double hit. First, the IRS does not get employees’ withheld income and social security taxes. Second, the IRS has to give credit to employees on their filed returns for the unpaid withholding. The IRS views employer collection and nonpayment of employees’ withholdings (called “trust fund” taxes) as stealing. The drop in revenue officers who investigate unpaid payroll taxes has dropped by 47% from 2010 to 2018- and so has enforcement of the IRS # collection priority. IRS compliance efforts: the IRS is diligently on-boarding more field collection resources (i.e. revenue officers). Their #1 priority will be both early intervention visits on employers behind in payroll taxes as well as payroll tax enforcement. Egregious taxpayers who have multiple incidents of unpaid payroll taxes with different entities (called “pyramiding”) face IRS criminal investigation. #4: Certain nonfilers The big problem for the IRS: the IRS claims that nonfilers only represent $39 billion in lost revenue annually to the US Treasury. Many tax experts disagree with this estimate. The big problem with nonfilers is that they leave the tax system for good. Also, IRS tolerance of nonfilers erodes the integrity of the voluntary compliance system. IRS compliance efforts: the IRS has been criticized for not chasing two groups of nonfilers- high income nonfilers (especially those without withholding) and taxpayers who do not file a return after they have requested an extension of time to file. The IRS has restarted it’s delinquent return investigation compliance efforts in 2018 as well as hired more field resources to chase nonfilers. In the future, we should see the IRS pursue the more egregious nonfilers. #5: High tax debtors The big problem for the IRS: from 2010 to 2018, the IRS has lost almost half of its field collection personnel (revenue officers). Many high tax debt taxpayers were put on hold because the IRS simply did not have the resources to chase them. IRS compliance efforts: in 2019, the IRS has significantly increased the number of its field collection personnel (revenue officers). The marching orders for these new ROs are to let tax debtors know that they are present. In 2020, these ROs will be visiting higher debt taxpayers and repeat file/owe taxpayers to get them back into compliance. #6: High-income taxpayers The big problem for the IRS: the IRS has been under some heat for auditing low income taxpayers at the same rate as higher income taxpayers (income of $1 million or more). In response, Treasury and the IRS said it would like to audit more higher-wealth taxpayers in the future. IRS compliance efforts: more IRS revenue agents will mean more audits on higher wealth taxpayers – especially taxpayers who enter into certain transactions like conservation easements or hold interests in foreign financial accounts and entities. In the past, high-income taxpayers have experienced audit rates as high as 12% (2011) – in 2018, the audit rate of high wealth taxpayers is 3.4%. Expect more high income audits due to IRS political pressure and good return on investment – the average amount owed on a high income audit in 2018 was $115,259. #7: Taxpayers with refundable credits The big problem for the IRS: it is estimated that 24% of all earned income tax credit payments – over $16 billion a year – are erroneous. IRS compliance efforts: EITC and additional child tax credit refund hold audits continue to be the #1 IRS audit target. These are easy IRS audits as they are done by mail and taxpayers rarely contest the IRS’ findings. However, the IRS has been under some scrutiny for using their limited audit resources on lower-income taxpayers who claim EITC. But, the IRS is still focused on reducing the 24% error rate – and IRS mail audit resources will continue to flag and audit these returns in the future. What is not an enforcement target More resources for the IRS will not be able to solve all the big areas of noncompliance. The IRS will still be limited in what they can do. Two targets that are not currently on the IRS’ radar for compliance enforcement are: Employers who misclassify workers: with the lack of experienced IRS field audit resources (i.e. revenue agents), this important issue is not on the IRS radar. The IRS only audits 0.14% of employment tax returns, and reserves complex worker status (employee or independent contractor) audits as a part of its small business audits. The growing gig economy and incentives to classify workers as independent contractors is a concern for the IRS – but there is little the IRS can do about it until they train more auditors to specialize in complex employment tax issues. S corporations and partnerships: back to IRS resources – the IRS does not have the revenue agents and support personnel to conduct these complex examinations. The audit rate for S corps and partnerships is 0.2% – and it appears that it will stay that way for the next few years until the IRS can ramp up and train its auditors to examine these entities. The target: all taxpayers – with notices The IRS has figured out how to enforce compliance without compliance enforcement. Since 2001, the IRS has understood that the most cost effective manner to enforce compliance is to let taxpayer’s know that they are there – after they file. The IRS cannot audit or enforce collection on all taxpayers – but they can let the taxpayer know that they may be subject to further scrutiny by sending them a notice. In 2018, the IRS sent over 219 million notices to taxpayers. The compliance by notice strategy is here to stay – and it lets all taxpayers know that the IRS is still there- even though they may not be a target in 2020."

The payroll program that I use for my larger clients does not allow negative other income to be entered .

I have seen this specific error message a number of times in years past for this particular ATX form.

This means that your software provider is still waiting for IRS approval of one or more forms.

I wonder if it's a setting in a browser extension that you have ?

Lion, I must say your experience with this website is really strange.

I totally agree, even now beginning my third year, there several things that are so nonintuitive that I still struggle. For example whenever I have to attach a pdf to an Oregon return, I end up calling support every time. Fortunately, someone answers the phone immediately!