Lee B

If you are talking about ATX Payroll, their past practice has been not to support this kind of application.

Used ATX last year, but not this year. Output a pdf file then pick the pages you want to print.

Just so that you aware, the definition of a "real estate professional" has nothing to do with whether an activity does or does not reach the level of an active trade or business, which is based on a totally different section of the code.

Perhaps, if he spends the majority of his time and generates the majority of his income from rental activities.

As far as tax season goes, the key issue that I am concerned about is which of my clients that have different kinds of rental properties will qualify for the 20 % PTE deduction which clients won't qualify? Second, due to the partial government shutdown, Congress is showing no concern or movement toward a TCJA Technical Corrections/Tax Extenders Bill. Is Qualified Improvement Property 15 years or 39 years ?

Can I assume that your client is the Managing Member and that there is no involvement of a Real Estate Broker or a Property Management Company ?

Not enough information. The key hurdle, you will probably have with this scenario is that for the commercial rental income to be included is that your client must be "actively participating' in the rental activity, which is a much higher hurdle that material participation and a different definition.

Here is what will continue to be done : Completion and testing of the upcoming tax-filing year programs Electronic returns that are processed systemically (requiring no intervention by service center functions) up to the point of refunds Processing paper tax returns through batching Processing remittances Processing disaster relief transcripts Continuing the IRS' computer operations to prevent the loss of data Protection of statute expiration, bankruptcy, liens and seizure cases Upcoming tax year forms design and printing Maintaining minimum staff necessary to perform accounting functions and to prevent the loss of accounting data Maintaining criminal law enforcement and undercover operation Here is what has been halted: Service center processing after the point of return batching Issuing refunds Processing non-disaster relief transcripts, Income Verification Express Service/Return and Income Verification Services Processing 1040X amended returns All audit functions, examination of returns, and processing of non-electronic tax returns that do not include remittances Non-automated collections Taxpayer services such as responding to taxpayer questions (call sites, during non-filing season) Information systems functions (except as necessary to prevent loss of data in process and revenue collections Supposedly this will be subject to change the longer the shutdown drags on.

Interesting I have had a Scansnap S300 for over 10 years and never cleaned it.

I have a Canon that is very fast duplexing, so I will print duoublesided.

Last tax season was my first year with Drake and twice they had me email a copy of the return that I was working on and were able to quickly identify and resolve my problem(s). I never had any issues that would have needed them to directly access my computer.

Even if a trailer is personal property, it still is a residence. Options: 1. What I have always done if I am filing a return anyway is to report the sale and claim the exclusion in order to avoid a potential IRS letter and the panic call from the client. 2. Don't report and deal with the IRS letter when and if it happens. Just explain the choices to your client and make an informed decision together.

Just to be clear, your paper filed return will not be processed. It will put on the back burner to be worked at some later date after the shutdown finishes. Actually waiting for the shutdown to end and for efiling to restart would more than likely result in a quicker processing turnaround.

I have Drake Accounting installed on a standalone system. I just started using it for "on the fly" Forms 94x, W2/W3 etc. I have experienced some noticeable time lags with only 9 or 10 small clients set up. As it currently stands, it is slower than the SAS online programs, Accounting Power & Payroll Relief from Accountants World, which I have been using for almost 7 years. Hopefully Drake Accounting 2019, which was just released, will be significantly better ? If not, Drake Accounting has a ways to go before it can be considered a serious program !

Judy, you absolutely nailed it.

The updated numbers are 69,922 employees have been furloughed and 9,946 employees remain at work. The current shutdown plan being used by the IRS remains in effect until midnight Friday, December 28th. I assume that they are madly scrambling trying to figure out what to do next week.

Supposedly, 9,880 IRS employees are still working. Secretary Mnuchin has assured everyone that there will be no delays in the opening of tax season or in the issuing of refunds.

I am sure the furloughing of 52,000 IRS employees will have little or no effect.

After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake last tax season. However I continued to use the Payroll Compliance program this year, since it has always performed well for me with minimal problems. Now I am switching over to new Drake Accounting program for payroll compliance filing because: 1. July 1st, 2018 Oregon's "Statewide Transit Tax Withholding" went into effect, which requires the quarterly filing of 3 new forms, OR-STT-1, OR_STT-2 & OR-STT-V. The 3rd quarter forms were due October 31st. ATX created the forms, but they are still not approved for filing. Called support, but they were not aware any effort to get the forms approved. 2. I filed a Form 4419 with the IRS which was returned because the ATX version was not the current version. Just checked, the current version of this form is still not available from ATX. So, now I am severing my last connection to ATX. Used to be a great organization and a great program. Now, not so much. C'est la vie

See IR 2017-204 See Notice 2018-3 See Rev Proc 2010-51

It seems to me that they have been recruiting CPAs and EAs for several years now.

Exactly, just had Charles Schwab do precisely that for my own QCD's earlier this month.

Yeah, when they instituted "Support Chat" as the next best thing to sliced bread, that was the last straw for me.

I apologize, I just assumed it was fairly current.

"Microsoft Has Stopped Trying The Microsoft Security Essentials website promises “comprehensive malware protection” and “award-winning protection,” so users would be forgiven for believing that Microsoft was committed to making MSE a capable antivirus solution. But Microsoft is now saying that MSE is only basic protection that users shouldn’t rely on. In an interview with Dennis Protection Labs, Holly Stewart, the senior program manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, said that Microsoft Security Essentials was just a “baseline” that’s designed to “always be on the bottom” of antivirus tests. She said Microsoft sees MSE as a first layer of protection and advises Windows users to use a third-party antivirus instead. According to Holly Stewart, Microsoft “had an epiphany a few years ago, back in 2011, where we realized we had a greater calling and that was to protect all Microsoft customers.” She says that Microsoft passes its information on to other antivirus makers and helps them make their products better. “We used to have part of our time directed towards predicting test results,” but these people have now been directed to focus on emerging threats and share that information with other antivirus companies. She went on: “We’re providing all of that data and information to our partners so they can do at least as well as we are. The natural progression is that we will always be on the bottom of these tests. And honestly, if we are doing our job correctly, that’s what will happen.” Nevertheless, she argues that “baseline does not equal bad” and says they provide a high-quality antivirus. But Microsoft themselves are recommending users not use MSE, so it’s hard to take that seriously. This isn’t a product average people should use — it’s better than no antivirus, but not something we should recommend. Microsoft is doing a disservice to its users by telling antivirus testing companies that they don’t recommend MSE for average users and telling average users that MSE provides them with “comprehensive malware protection” on their website. Microsoft needs to pick one message and stick to it." Excerpted from an article in How To Geek: https://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/