BLACK BART

As a taxpayer once said: "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me!"

Catherine, In the (paraphrased) words of Captain Renault ("Casablanca"), "I'm shocked, shocked to find that a naughty joke is going on in here"! Meanwhile, here's another: Little girl to little boy - "Can I touch it? Little boy to little girl - "No! You've already broken yours off."

around here. Anybody heard any good jokes lately? One from last week: Guy says "Lock your wife and your dog in the garage for an hour;" asks "Which one do you think will be glad to see you?" Yeah, yeah, I know. It's slim pickin's, but you've gotta work with what you have.

1. Install voice recognition app. 2. Press Alt and Ctrl simultaneously. 3. Clearly and distinctly enunciate: "SHAZAM!" 4. All will be revealed.

Thanks for the tip, cbslee. I was unaware of this security breach, but just checked and WAS "impacted'. As far as I knew I always had "good credit"- can't speak for it now though. I kind of hate to check to see the damage, if any. You know, I once had a lawyer tell me that if he could land a class action suit, he'd "have it made" and now I know what he meant. I read the terms in your link and, if I understand it right, the "impactees" get $125 and/or free credit checks, 93 individuals who filed the suit get $2,500 each, and four lawyers get 77 million bucks. Anybody who thinks that's a tad one-sided is free to run down to Atlanta to a "Fairness Hearing" and object. But who could possibly complain?

Ha-ha! Kudos to you, Max - you're a gentleman and a scholar. As a card-carrying codger I appreciate your spirited defense of "old folks" while still offering a clear analysis of the problem as you (in the words of you-know-who) refuse to take advantage of the original poster's youth and inexperience.

Max, Do you know if they're saying that we (professional preparers) will have to file ALL our 1099 forms electronically or if they're just lowering the threshold number? Thanks.

Dear Kam, Would you please repeat the question? Thanks.

Oh well, I'll take a shot at it (fools rush in where...). First, I assume when you're saying the paper person sent in a "duplicate page" you mean TWO of the copy A's of form W-2 (NOT the employee copies B-C-2); is that right? I'm not sure what you mean about "blanking out" the wages on one page. You're going to have to send two forms W-2C here; one for each employee. Let's say employee #1 made $20,000 and employee #2 made $10,000. Since SSA has two forms on each, right now they're assuming that #1 made $40,000 and #2 made $20,000. Each form W2C has a "Previously reported" line and those ($40K/$20K) are the figures you will put there. Then you'll fill in the "Correct Information" for wages, SS, & withholding for the right amount on each. There's another way to do it but it just muddies up the water. See page 26 of this link which lays out how-to-do the above stuff (and the muddy version) and walks you through it. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2w3.pdf It's been several years since I was last tortured (ah'druther be drawn & quartered) with one of these and at that time SSA was not accepting laser-printed W-2 forms. They do now but I'm not sure about the W2C & W3C forms. If they require the red copies like IRS does on 1099s then you may have a problem finding the forms. It takes a good while to get an offbeat form by mail from any government agency and most local stores don't carry those forms. According to the link (see page 3) SSA will take W3C forms electronically at their so-called BSO (Business Services Online), so maybe you could do it there if you prefer (have no idea how long it would take to get client a password, log-in code, etc.). As you may have guessed, I'm also an insist-on-paper person. Good luck!

Exactly right. The original credit (long ago) was pretty good, but over the years they've cut it down so much and the cumulative ceiling has limited tax savings so much that it just isn't worth the trouble and we can't charge enough to justify the research involved.

Thanks all for the replies. I don't blame the ladies for being suspicious (I was too), but I believe Abby has nailed it and it's the real MS McCoy. Still; I don't want to go along peaceably. Reading this link I get the idea "Ideas" is trying to herd me in a certain direction and if my friend's right about the (unmentioned) "inclusive language" part, everything will work out just fine (from their viewpoint). But it seems like "Our way or the highway". The message says: (a) "If you click Cancel, the message continues to appear every time you restart your computer." Well, shoot; I don't like that very much. (b) "Office 2010 generates this Click to Run pop-up message. It can occur if Office 2010 is not up to date." Must be a bad thing, but have lived with it so far--never been friended/unfriended/liked/unliked/no face in anybody's book, not a single tweet to my name. I'm pretty sure un-updatedness is survivable. (c) "To resolve this issue, click OK to download and install the update." I think this "resolution" lacks....mmm....resolution. It's saying "Download these brussel sprouts (or else) and you'll soon be "writing right". (d) "...uninstall Office 2010. This will prevent these messages in the future." Gosh; what a wonderful plan. Sounds just like IRS: "Take it or leave it!" Meanwhile, I'll continue to click "Cancel" until one of us gives up.

I've been getting this persistent/insistent screen popup about four random times each day for a couple of weeks now: An update for Microsoft Office Starter 2010 English is now available online. Please remain connected to the internet for the duration of the update. Do you wish to start downloading the update now? OK___ Cancel____. It doesn't look like the usual fake stuff and appears to be an actual Microsoft "Word" offering. It has apparently anesthetized my Malwarebytes filter (if that's supposed to be preventing it). I do have an old Word program on my older computer, but haven't bought anything from them in years and wonder why they are giving it to me. A friend told me that MS had come up with a Word program called "Ideas" which is supposed to help users with grammar, spelling, composition, and (unsurprisingly) strong hints on how to make writing/musing more "inclusive" which translates as (1) PC language (2) how not to hurt anybody's feelings (for your own "good" and, incidentally, that of the rest of the world). Could that be what this is? I'd like to know if others here have been getting the same thing and/or their "ideas" (pun intended) what it might be. Thanks - BB

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/p15t--dft.pdf

Okay, thanks for the input, guys. I've got the time to wait but don't think this customer would. So, all things considered; think I'll try to reconstruct. Appreciate your thoughts.

I need client's detailed depreciation schedule from 2017 to figure 2018 depreciation. I have 2017 taxpayer's copy, but it only has the one figure for depreciation on schedule C; no other schedules included. They started a new business, bought equipment in 2017, and I don't know if 179, bonus, regular, or combination of all was taken (they don't have any purchase records). Tried contacting previous preparer: fly-by-night operators, closed up, left the the state, no forwarding address/phone. Transcripts won't do any good, so I thought of filing a 4506 requesting the entire tax return. Downside, it costs $50. Question one: When a return is originally sent to IRS, does the detailed depreciation schedule we prepare go in along with the 4562 or not? (If not, no point in ordering.) Question two: If it does go in, will it be included in the 4506 copy sent to us? Question three: What's the approximate wait time for turnaround? (I once read that IRS said several weeks, but nowadays, who knows? It could be several months.) I've ordered transcripts many times but never a full copy. Anybody else tried it?

Look, I know you're just trying to help and thanks for laying it all out for us (obviously you've done a lot of research), but I guess the problem is that many of us don't want to do calculations and become responsible for clients' withholdings. It's like doing the tax return twice; but they won't want to pay you very much for a W-4 form. Of course I'm beating a dead horse here because IRS will do what they want, which is probably to collect more money up front. Software (which I don't want to buy) can make it easier, but it won't absorb the blame when taxpayers give you understated or wrong estimates and owe money in April. We had a perfectly good, simple, and practical W-4 which was the taxpayer's problem - not ours. If short, all they needed to do was write in hold X dollars per week more next time. Now (along with the 1040) it has been blown all to hell - they've created a problem and handed it to us. Maybe the "estimates" will work out; maybe they won't, but clients will have a handy target when they don't. Okay; rant over, but Lion's right - this isn't simplification. It's more in the direction of the ever-expanding 8867 whereby we became IRS' "partners".

So, you're saying (as Don Draper always says to Betty), "Everything's going to be alright."???

Actually, I think it is horrible (the same as Abby did in his tiff with Medlin: "What? No percentages?") And since they killed off the number of dependents there's nothing left for the average employee to work with. It was hard to get them to fill out a W-4 before and even then they could only because they knew they were single/married and who lived with them. Now the boss gives them five pages of junk and says "Fill this out." I can imagine how that's going to go. People at small employers like a cafe will simply say "I can't do this" and hand it back to the boss who will then bring it to me. Large employers (factories) will require their people to fill it out or be replaced; they'll take it to the payroll clerk there who will say "I can't do this. Take it to your tax person." We'll also get those. As Medlin said, you can make some money out of this, but my God, at what cost? How many hundred people have I seen who are dissatisfied with their withholdings at tax time (and they'll remember who filled out that new form). There's not enough money to compensate us for the ill-will that will be generated amongst clientele when it doesn't work out. When those forms are issued I think I'll either take a vacation or, like the college kids, try to find a "safe space" where I can't be found for a good while.

I don't need to go - we do taxes for a hairdresser in the building and she gave me this hot tip two months ago: HD: Hey; you haven't been giving me my car expenses! BB: Huh? HD: Angie over at Kut 'N' Kurl says her tax guy fixes hers so she doesn't owe much at all; he says all businesses can take off 10,000 miles. BB: No kidding. Who's her tax guy? HD: Actually he's not a tax guy - he works at the transmission factory, but Angie says he's real smart and balances his own checkbook. BB: Well, that nails down his credentials. HD: What? BB: Never mind; how much driving do you do? HD: Well, I drive back and forth from the house every day; and then we go to Memphis for beauty supplies once a year. BB: About the commuting...say, by the way, how far away is home? HD: About a mile that way. BB: Uh-huh. And you go to Memphis to buy supplies? HD: Well, not exactly, but sort of. Once a year me and her and two other girls go to Wolf Chase Mall and the restaurants - can you believe a Margarita is ten dollars at Red Lobster? - and make a day of it. Then we stop at the beauty supply store on the way out of town. BB: And how far is it? HD: A little over 140 miles round trip. BB: So you drive 140 miles every year for that? HD: Not every year. We take turns and that way everybody only has to drive her car every fourth year. BB: Any other driving? HD: Two or three times a year I drive across town for older ladies who can't make it to the shop. Oh, and I did one at the funeral home. BB: Well, you've certainly built a compelling case for car expenses and we'll be sure to take off something for them next time! HD: Thanks so much!

Why, certainly not, John. You're too hard on your clients. I sent out several messages, calls/voicemails, a letter, etc. for a client for 1&1/2 months and she finally graced us with a call yesterday (almost didn't answer-thought it was another damned Google telemarketer). Said she'd have called earlier, but "you wouldn't believe" how much trouble they had endured since somebody stole their debit card info, plus Block gouged them horribly last year, plus this, that, and yak-yak-yak. Yes I would because (1) I've had a credit card stolen (2) when they (late-season price shoppers) first came in, hubby said "All I've got is a W-2." Then she drove us crazy for two weeks calling and adding entities/businesses. Then; they vanished for 45 days. I've got more bad news for them; their Block experience is getting a rerun. What a business! I should have (after ruling out brain surgeon) gone to barber school.

Lynn, I was just wondering if you had been able to get your 2016-2017 returns through yet? I will have a 2018 ready to send Monday so was worried about whether the current year is still working at ATX. Don't want to send something in and have it just hung up indefinitely, of course.

I once asked an IRS agent at a tax seminar this same question. He said yes you could if the loans had originated from the business; even if the business was no longer operating. I had the same "lone item" audit concern and also asked about that. He said that it probably would stand out, but was not an automatic audit, and was a legitimate business deduction. So, if you're lucky, have no other risky items, and have the time for a possible audit... At the time (about 12 years ago) a client had sold her rental apartments, still owed a large loan on them, and we made her a "lone ranger" interest expense entry on an "E" for about three years. She was never audited. Regards, BB

Except for the old link posted by Abby and Rita's memos that's about all the info there has been to see since WK has been mostly -- what's that term? -- incommunicado.

Both accepted.

Just sent two after following Rita's advice above. Both went through EFC okay and show "Transmitted to Agency." Waiting now (holding breath-crossing fingers) for the Holy Grail ("Accepted by Agency") to be received.