Lee B

"On December 1, 2015, Mozilla Executive Chair Mitchell Baker announced in a company-wide memo that Thunderbird development needs to be uncoupled from Firefox. She referred to Thunderbird developers spending large efforts responding to changes to Mozilla technologies, while Firefox was paying a tax to support Thunderbird development. She also said that she does not believe Thunderbird has the potential for "industry-wide impact" that Firefox does. At the same time, it was announced that Mozilla Foundation will provide at least a temporary legal and financial home for the Thunderbird project" This is what I had read, so it's not really a Mozilla program any more.

I thought that that Mozilla had stopped supporting Thunderbird

The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies and the tax industry today warned tax professionals to be alert to a new phishing email scam impersonating tax software providers and attempting to steal usernames and passwords

What I find interesting is that CCH mentions improvements to Prosystem fX and to CCH Axcess and doesn't even mention anything about ATX or TaxWise. It's at the very least a curious approach to marketing and public relations.

Accounting Today has an article about "What's New for next Tax Season" There are no new enhancements listed for ATX ? Frankly, this just confirms my sense of where ATX is headed. It appears that CCH is pushing them to cut costs and send as much profit and cash upstream as possible!

I think it would be easier to deliberately terminate the S Election. Suggest you review the reasons that terminate an S Election.

Where are you going to deduct the depreciation ? What if the cow grazing never happens ?

I had a client in a very similar situation several years ago receive a state grant to reimburse him for brush control. He also received a 1099, which I reported as misc income.

Interesting, since I had just the reverse happen to a payroll client of mine who had two Schedule C businesses, a Espresso stand and a Garden Supply Store. The IRS forced to him to consolidate his payroll form submissions. I was doing payroll for the Espresso Stand and his bookkeeper was doing payroll for the Garden Store. Ended up being total mess, which dragged on for several years after the Garden Store ended up in bankruptcy.

If the FMV is 100 K and they sell it to the kids for 20 K, then they have made a gift of 80 K to their kids which would require filing a Gift Tax Return for the 80 K.

Many years ago my first job after graduating from college, was on the audit staff of a national accounting firm and I did not do any taxes. In my office the audit staff was triple the size of the tax staff and this was in a city of about 120,000.

In my experience, the IRS will not issue two EIN numbers to a sole proprietor. So you need to find out if the IRS considers the old number to still be an active number or you can apply for a new number and if the old number is still active, your application will reject. Pick your poison.

In my area, there are so many, you could go on a road trip, one free Slurpee after another. Woohoo !

Today is 7/11, so Slurpees are free all day long

Are you saying that this boat never leaves the dock ?

"I am not a robot "

Update from Malwarebytes: A new strain of ransomware, a Petya-esque variant being called Petya/NotPetya, is swiftly spreading across the globe today, impacting tens of thousands of computers as of 2:00 p.m., PST. More powerful, professional, and dangerous than last month's WanaCrypt0r attack, the Petya-esque ransomware uses the same EternalBlue exploit to target vulnerabilities in Microsoft's operating system. However, unlike WanaCrypt0r, this ransomware instructs you to reboot your computer and then locks up your entire system. Long story short: if you get this infection, you're hosed From what I have read, if you have kept up your MS updates current you are not at risk. In a network environment, it only takes one computer that hasn't been updated to put your whole network at risk.

A new worldwide ransomware attack is currently under way !

My state, Oregon has had mandatory licensing/testing since 1973, and now the number of licensed preparers has been declining has for the last 3 or 4 years. Other than a few part time preparers working out of their home, fees in Oregon are high enough that most preparers feel like they are fairly compensated. Preparers that want to work tax season only are in high demand ! There was another thread last week where some posters were bitching about state licensing, yada, yada. The higher the entry barrier, the more money you make, so I have no problem with state licensing. The same barriers exist for attorneys, architects, cpas, engineers, doctors, dentists and etc.

Over 15 years ago I assisted a commission salesman who was audited, I didn't prepare the return. His employer did not reimburse expenses and the taxpayer did not keep a mileage log. Fortunately the salesman had a stable client base, that he called on every month. I had him reconstruct a mileage log based on his client list, plus he got a letter from the Safeway Bakery manager where he picked up donuts every morning to give to clients which added up to well over $ 1,000 . The reconstruction salvaged about 60 % of his claimed mileage and the auditor gave him the donut deduction. As I remember he still ended up owing over $ 4,000 mostly due to undocumented mileage plus some other undocumented expenses. Obviously the auditor could have really hammered him.

The IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry today warned tax professionals to beware of phishing emails purporting to be from a tax software education provider and seeking extensive amounts of sensitive preparer data. The email’s origin is unknown but likely issued by cybercriminals who could be operating from the U.S. or abroad. The email is unusual for the amount of sensitive preparer data that it seeks. This preparer information will enable the thieves to steal client data and file fraudulent tax returns. The IRS reminds all tax professionals that legitimate businesses and organizations never ask for usernames, passwords or sensitive data via email. Nor should a preparer ever provide such sensitive information via email if asked. All tax professionals should be aware that their e-Services credentials, the Electronic Filing Information Number (EFIN), the Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) and their Centralized Authorization File (CAF) number are extremely valuable to identity thieves. Anyone handling taxpayer information has a legal obligation to protect that data. Because the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry, acting in partnership as the Security Summit, are making inroads on individual tax-related identity theft, cybercriminals increasingly target tax professionals. Thieves are looking for real client data so they can better impersonate the taxpayer when filing fraudulent returns for refunds. The fake email uses the name of a real U.S.-based preparer education firm. Here’s the text as it appears in phishing emails being sent to tax professionals: In our database, there is a failure, we need your information about your account. In addition, we need a photo of the driver's license, send all the data to the letter. Please do it as soon as possible, this will help us to revive the account. *Company Name * *EServices Username * *EServices Password * *EServices Pin * *CAF number* *Answers to a secret question* *EIN Number * *Business Name *Owner/Principal Name * *Owner/Principal DOB * *Owner/Principal SSN * *Prior Years AGI Mother's Maiden Name If you received or fell victim to the scam email, forward a copy to [email protected]. If you disclosed any credential information, contact the e-Services Help Desk to reset your password

Edsel, you are overstating your position. The IRS is very clear that the recurring use of an error constitutes a incorrect method. When the 3115 rules were liberalized they were intended to deal with these kinds of problems as opposed to filing amendments.

There is a long history of federal websites not working well with Chrome.

I used to buy some of the PPC Deskbooks which are good references with a how to do it theme, although they are a bit spendy.