mcbreck

Thanks, I only use one computer.

That wasn't it. Not a big deal and I'm not going to work on it but it's weird. I think I'll hide completed just so I know to look elsewhere.

I'll check that, THANKS

Just noticed an 1120S that I've completed and efiled isn't showing up in the PCM on the front page of the software. Shows up on the recent returns list and it shows up if I look them up with the Client Status Manager. Fed and State were both accepted so I'm done but wondering why it isn't showing up. The only other 1120S I have started so far is still on the list but not finished.

I've done a "repair index files"

4 hours ago, Slippery Pencil said:

This was discussed on the TaxTalk io group a couple years ago.  Pretty much everyone agreed the credit was taken after the system was hooked up and functional.

I have a relative who took the credit when it was installed. Just needed an electrician to hook it up to the grid. That last step took 18 months because of installation problems the electrician found. As was said previously about others, the guy who sold it moved onto another company and the company they bought from sold to another so nobody thought they were responsible. When the second company wanted to sell to a third, it was put on hold when they figured out this relative wasn't making payments (and nobody was sending them to collections) and demanded to know why. Poof - they got it fixed.

If you are a sole proprietor you are no longer allowed to use your SSN once you have employees. It isn't illegal to merge your personal banking and business if you are a sole proprietor. If no taxes are withheld and it's for their child - should it be a 1099?

8 hours ago, BTS said:

Encyro.  Handles signatures and is a secure client portal.  Easy to use and not that expensive.  Pennies per signature.

Ditto also. Website says it is Hipaa and IRS compliant. Everything is sent and received via an encrypted platform. It may not be the easiest but it's not difficult and is very cheap. $120 per year but for IRS KBA you have to buy a bundle of SMS texts for $.16 to $.25 each. $80 is 500 of them so likely $200 for the year for anyone. Clients can send you all their document via your personal upload site.

Now is it actually safe? Don't know and am told no by experts but it meets the legal requirement I think. No site is actually completely safe. Password sites which a few years ago we were told are impossible to hack have been hacked.

6 hours ago, cbslee said:

Do you use zoom meetings with clients?

Investment clients, company I work with does a weekly zoom meeting for all of us to get together and an attorney I work with has a client that likes to have zoom meetings whenever he has questions. I'd gladly have meetings with tax clients via Zoom but almost all my tax clients live locally.

I have two that I use to hold up my laptop for zoom meetings.

I've been noticing on a Facebook community page of Drake users that people are having significant problems getting Drake running correctly. Is anyone on here having a difficult time?

I've had zero problems so I'm just wondering. Seems one of the major problems is the multi factor authentication and I turned that off immediately.

The Supreme Court will need to rule on this. Imagine if 50 states had this type of ruling.

Locally we have a city earnings tax. If you live outside the city but work in the city, you owe the tax. Prior to covid if you worked remotely or at an off-site (outside the city) you were exempt for those hours. During Covid the city ruled you were subject to the tax whether you stepped into the city limits ever during the year. The Supreme Court will be ruling on that also but it's going to take years.

Had a new guy last year who I really thought was going to be a problem. 3 calls before we ever met (all implied problems were possible) and when we met he gruffed and complained. Turned out to be a terrific guy and he's referred several others to me in 11 months. Over the summer he dropped by my office just to thank me and see how my vacation went.

And no I don't think the beneficiaries get another stepped up basis if one was already taken. But I have heard attorney's argue otherwise.

Sara has it figured out. But, would the beneficiarie's share of the trust that they have a legal right to receive a stepped up basis?

For example a person owns property in an S corp. They die they company doesn't get a stepped up basis. The shares of the company get a stepped up basis so if you sell the property you must liquidate the business to not have to pay taxes on the gain.

My scanner is just my brother printer.

I use NAPS2 as the software. It's free and tiny in size so it doesn't bog down the computer. Years ago I was using an older laptop which was hanging when tax software was open, Quickbooks and using dialup so I shifted a lot of programs to something tiny. I remember I had Paperless and it just brought everything to a standstill when I loaded it so a change had to be made on my end.

I don't use ATX but I've had zero problems with Windows 11 and I upgraded the day it was available for me. That's over a year without a problem.

On 12/5/2022 at 1:39 PM, mcbreck said:

If last year's copy of the guide is good enough, you can download it for free via Paychex. You set up a free log-in, go into the guide and when you try and download it the site will email you with a link to download the entire guide.

 

The 2023 version is available for free download now.

As an EA, I do 40 hours on the first year of the 3 and then the minimum 16 the next two. This is my first year, doing a class in the next week or two to get a jump. Like to get it done before my summer vacation.

It's sad how horrific the IRS is at technology. Is it the "too many chefs in the kitchen" problem or too many people not wanting to actually take responsibility so they all require too many chefs so that no single person can be blamed?

Options and Derivatives are legally binding contracts. Repos, reverse repos, swaps, commodity futures.... There are a lot of really smart people out there.

Tracy Alloway (Bloomberg and the Odd Lots Podcast which is AMAZING) made a really good comparison of crypto with Beanie Baby dolls. Beanie Babies had someone who distributed / sold a price sheet that everyone used to price them as if it was their real value. Prices just kept going up and nobody really questioned it because it was on the list. If someone said that Beanie Baby wasn't worth $30, they could point to the list. Crypto had a price list but turned out it was all manipulated just as much as the Beanie Baby list. FTX was buying on one board and selling on another to themselves at higher and higher prices to justify getting more and more loans on their worthless asset. They bid a coin they owned almost all of up to over $50 each (total value of $9.6b) and now it's priced at $.87 ($300m) and has a value of $0.

Warren Buffet said that if you owned all of the Bitcoin in the world and offered them to him for a total price of $25 he'd decline.

Thanks - didn't have a clue that wash rules wouldn't apply. Seems odd since the SEC is looking at regulating some of them as securities.

$4b is what they paid. Current value is $2.19b

Microstrategy holds $4b in Bitcoin and announced they sold some and bought some in the same week. The corporate press release says there might be some tax benefit to such a trade. How? Wouldn't wash rules wipe out any potential capital loss recognized? Am I missing something where C-corps don't have that rule?

They have roughly a 50% loss in their Bitcoin holdings so I'm not sure if the $4b is what they paid or what they hold. My guess is a margin clerk sold some coins on a margin call and they got a new loan and bought some back.

Merry Xmas to all. With the weather today I've stayed home and am reading a pdf copy of The Logic of Subchapter K I found online. We'll see how this goes.