Lee B

What caught my attention was that this was a commercial IT firm with a public presence that specialized in IT security consulting and projects.

"Google researchers said on Wednesday they have linked a Barcelona, Spain-based IT company to the sale of advanced software frameworks that exploit vulnerabilities in Chrome, Firefox, and Windows Defender. Variston IT bills itself as a provider of tailor-made information security solutions, including: technology for embedded SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and Internet of Things integrators; custom security patches for proprietary systems; tools for data discovery; security training; and the development of secure protocols for embedded devices. According to a report from Google’s Threat Analysis Group, Variston sells another product not mentioned on its website: software frameworks that provide everything a customer needs to surreptitiously install malware on devices they want to spy on!" In the world today, where everything is for sale including our personal data, I am not surprised. We are so far down a slippery slope, how do we recover? How do we fix this?

According to the AICPA's Malpractive Insurance Provider, Divorced clients are one of the leading source of legal claims against CPAs, due to a conflict of interest between the 2 ex spouses. How do you provide accounting and tax advice that's fair and equitable to both ex spouses especially when one spouse is your primary contact? Two years ago I sent termination letters to two clients who were in the midst of getting divorced when I discovered that the spouse that was was my primary contact wasn't being truthful about their situation.

I don't recall any requirement when I renewed my PTIN a week ago?

"Business MeF Production Shutdown Schedule Shutdown for "Send Submissions" only is scheduled to begin at 11:59 a.m. (noon) Eastern time, Monday, December 26, 2022. Transmitters can continue to use the other service requests except "Send Submissions" until 11:59 p.m. (midnight) Eastern time, Monday, December 26, 2022."

I am not aware of a minimum number.

I do mostly Business Entity Returns and the personal returns of the owners. This year I did less than 40 returns and I just renewed my EA License. No Problems.

Assuming ATX hasn't changed things, I believe that using the Backup and Restore functions instead of the Export and Import functions will fix things.

What do you mean by updating your pc?

No because Box 1 can be reduced by non taxable fringe benefits. Normally it would match box 3 plus any amount exceeding the annual SS wage limit.

So far, the sharing of personal tax information with Meta appears to have been mostly limited to the taxpayers that used the online versions of Taxact, Tax Slayer and H & R Block to prepare their own returns. In addition: "The Markup also found the pixel code on a tax preparation site operated by a financial advice and software company called Ramsey Solutions, which uses a version of TaxSlayer’s service.That pixel gathered even more personal data from a tax return summary page, including information on income and refund amounts." (Ramsay Solutions is a spinoff of the The Dave Ramsay Show) As a practical matter, I don't think that I have a single client or any family member that will read or hear about this. Issues and problems like this are only noticed by accountants, financial advisors, and other computer/technically literate people.

Pixels as well as cookies are not considered malware.

Well, in 2019 the FTC fined Facebook $ 5 Billion for egregious violations of privacy. Unfortunately, for Facebook that is just pocket change.

I just checked. Dell has multiple deals with Win 10 Pro

Meta's website doesn't explicitly say, but how it appears to work is that Meta will let businesses use the programmable Pixels for free in return for receiving the information, which Meta then uses for marketing and advertising which is how they generate revenue.

Think of Meta Pixels as next generation programmable cookies, which Meta provides to business users to "enhance the users online experience" with the information then being shared with Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram and to a lesser extent Whatsapp. Meta Pixels are apparently very hard to avoid and very difficult to get rid of. Supposedly Google some similar tracking but not at this depth. "The Markup found sensitive data sent to Facebook on the Education Department’s federal student aid application website, crisis pregnancy websites, and the websites of prominent hospitals. " "The Markup tested the websites of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in America. On 33 of them we found the tracker, called the Meta Pixel, sending Facebook a packet of data whenever a person clicked a button to schedule a doctor’s appointment. The data is connected to an IP address—an identifier that’s like a computer’s mailing address and can generally be linked to a specific individual or household—creating an intimate receipt of the appointment request for Facebook." Unless we go completely off grid or avoid other parties websites like the plague we are all being tracked.

"Major tax filing services such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been quietly transmitting sensitive financial information to Facebook when Americans file their taxes online, The Markup has learned. The data, sent through widely used code called the Meta Pixel, includes not only information like names and email addresses but often even more detailed information, including data on users’ income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ college scholarship amounts. The information sent to Facebook can be used by the company to power its advertising algorithms and is gathered regardless of whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on Facebook or other platforms operated by its owner, Meta. " Surprise, Surprise! Another reason to never use Facebook!

Why would you do that and make your situation more complicated?

I had to wait for the second MFA code for about 5 minutes, otherwise it went very smoothly, about 15 minutes in total.

I did get one last month while I was logging in from Kauai on a two week vacation.

Just to clarify, Drake did not buy TaxAct. A Cinven umbrella holding company owns Drake and TaxAct. According to Cinven's website, they own equity positions in 140 different businesses around the world and on average they hold their investments 4 to 5 years. Cinven's mindset is a strategy of maximizing their investment, which is not an operating strategy.

Marilyn, You are a better person than I am. However from my point of view "loyalty is a two way street"!

Optimistically by the end of 2023, realistically by the end of 2024.

I have been gradually downsizing and raising my fees hasn't resulted in any clients leaving. Every year I send out letters telling selected clients that I won't be able to prepare their tax returns, or payroll or etc.

For us the big benefit of the gridlocked divided government for the next two years will be, minimal tax law changes which will hopefully allow the IRS to finally get caught up