Catherine

From Valeria at the taxprofessionals Yahoo group: The people on the phone at the IRS that answer the where-to-mail-it questions are usually the new hires and they don't know how to find it. (It's under POD--which is short of Post of Duty listing.) It's the IRM list: 1.22.3.3.1 (12-15-2004) Street Addresses The street addresses to be used for administrative mail, bulk mail, service-generated requested and certified mail, or for deliveries of IRS initiated shipments by small package ground or air express carriers, for the Submission Processing Center are as follows; IRS Submission Processing Center 310 Lowell Street Andover MA 01810 IRS Submission Processing Center 4800 Buford Highway Chamblee GA 30341 IRS Submission Processing Center 3651 S IH-35 Austin TX 78741 IRS Submission Processing Center 201 W Rivercenter Blvd. Covington KY 41011 IRS Submission Processing Center 5045 E. Butler Ave Fresno CA 93727 IRS Submission Processing Center 2306 E. Bannister Road Kansas City MO 64131 IRS Submission Processing Center 5333 Getwell Road Memphis TN 38118 IRS Submission Processing Center 1973 N Rulon White Blvd. Ogden UT 84404 IRS Submission Processing Center 11601 Roosevelt Blvd. Philadelphia PA 19154

I purchased PGP but haven't installed it yet. It was on the list to do for this past weekend but life intervened and I never got there. With any luck I'll do it this week and t hen can let you know. The great thing about PGP is that even if your laptop is then stolen by someone who wants to steal the data -- they can't; it's encrypted. And all those email people insist on sending me with confidential information -- once they're on my disk, they'll be encrypted, too.

There is also a software company called PGP that sells a (one-time) whole-disk encryption system. Don't know if that would help you, but it's not very expensive. The web site for their product is: PGP Encryption

I used to use MozyPro but dropped them after a couple of years because I ran into a weird, recurring problem where the backups would stall and go _nowhere_ for sometimes hours on end. Sometimes quitting the b/u and restarting it fixed that, sometimes not. But what really got me annoyed was that Mozy seemed to have NO interest in fixing the problem and accused me of having poor quality/low speed internet access (NOT true). Then I read in a user forum that they knew of problems and were stonewalling people. Don't know if _that_ part was true, but the service response suddenly picked up after that posting -- briefly. I switched to iDrive several months ago and have been pleased. In addition to -very- fast backups (it just did a 300MB backup in less than 2 minutes), it saves versions. So a little while ago when I accidentally over-rode a file I wanted to keep (_thought_ I'd saved a new version to work on but hadn't) I was able to go back and restore the prior version from iDrive. That was nice. They are a bit cheaper than MozyPro, as well (which itself was cheaper than VMS -- and Kyle isn't there any more, I've been told). There are other services I've heard recommended on other fora and I can go back and get some names if you'd like. Catherine

I would be very strongly tempted to report the company to the IRS. At the very least, it will give them a very-possibly shady firm to investigate, thereby leaving less likelihood of them instead doing eeny-meeny-miney-moe and investigating an honorable and ethical office instead. Which would waste their (IRS & hypothetical good company) time, our taxpayer money, cause the good folks lost business and/or more expenses, and let a shady company off scot-free.

Sent via private message on this site. Thanks!

My MFC-8840DN takes that -- I will GLADLY pay postage!! Send me a message with the amount you want, where to send check & who to make it to and out it will go in the mail ASAP. Thank you!!

The big weakness of ATX has always been the print manager. A better name is print NON-manager. And yes, going "custom print" is best. However that way you don't get the Client Copy with no SSN's in the boxes (required here in MA).

Congratulation, Pacun -- and welcome to the EA club!

I pretty much charge for the time it takes; half-hour minimum charge, even for just one W-2. Plus postage if they want me to mail them directly.

Congratulations to your daughter! You are right to be very proud of her. But tell her not to do any MORE -- she'll use up her lifetime supply of all-nighter's before she's out of college - and THEN what will she do when she has kids?!?! (Ask me how I know that can happen.....)

And this one: I want to live in theory; EVERYTHING works in theory.

Most new versions of QuickBooks will update and then run a data file from an older version. If you are not giving this client her data file back (less likely, as her version way pre-dates the "accountant's copy" facility), then why bother to keep the oldest version? Try making a copy of her data file and opening the copy with a new version of QB -- worst that happens is that you ruin the copy. At best, you'll find you don't have to do computer gymnastics at the Olympic level.

There are some issues with versions older than QB 2010 on Windows 7. There is a QB support number for those issues, it is 800-574-7492. Just had to look some stuff up for a client this morning. Also see this link: QB support articel Oops; that should be article, not articel. Dylsectics untie!!

Take two minutes and 20 seconds to be amazed and amused. Hand Dancing And they manage to do this with perfectly straight faces, too. Wow. Thanks to my cousin for forwarding the link to me.

That phrasing is a thing of beauty.....

I was looking at that SendOutCards place online -- but wouldn't that come under the Section 7216 disclosure rules if you use it for existing clients?

Thank you for this reference, KC. I had a similar situation (household employee) and got myself tangled in knots in Pub 15A -- this link cleared up my confusion and now I can issue a correct W-2 for a household employee. And if anyone has a situation like this in Mass, I also checked with an expert I know at MassDOR and he confirmed that you do indeed use the Federal taxable income as the Mass taxable income. It's somewhere in Chapter 62 of MGL, but the guidelines they have on their web site have no information on employer-paid OASDI.

Never said or implied they weren't in Georgia. Just that this woman's accent (a type I did not recognize) was so thick that she was, for all intents and purposes, incomprehensible at normal speaking rates.

Welcome back to you -- and maybe to Chaz, too!

I put one up in the fall and spent some time on it and updated it a couple times in quick succession. Almost no one knows about it or sees it. I'll stick with bookkeepinghelp.com for my advertising -- almost everyone who finds me goes through them. It's less than $200 per year and they do all the search engine optimization etc.

There was a _wonderful_ cartoon in the New Yorker some time ago. Two guys in business suits; one says to the other, "These new regulations will fundamentally alter the way we get around them." PTIN's and preparer testing will just change the way the crooks do business ("It will cost you SO much more if I go through all the administrative nonsense; so you sign the return as "self-prepared" and I'll keep my fee low." - I've heard variations on that from clients about prior preparers over the years). Much better to spend time & money finding, shutting down, and jailing fraudulent preparers. But no, they put the burden on those already following the rules. Why -- because we're easy to find! And we follow the rules, and pay the fees, and properly advise the clients - and the crooks have each done five fraudulent returns while we fought with administrivia.

Isn't that the truth????? 35 years here and I am still not fully qualified to be a paid preparer. Well, there is a difference between _qualified_ and _credentialed_. After 35 years in the business, I should think/hope you are qualified! You just don't have the alphabet salad after your name.

The bigger problem is that we have nincompoops in Congress without the testicular fortitude to tell the truth about the train wreck awaiting us (or, they are too ignorant of basic economics to see it). Bernie Madoff was a rank beginner compared to the Ponzi scheme of Social Security & Medicare -- $100-plus Trillion-with-a-T of unfunded mandates and a "trust fund" that was raided for general operating expenses decades ago. When it comes to buying their way back into power by stealing the people's money to spend on pork and special interests, nothing beats a politician. And BOTH parties have been guilty. And WE have been guilty as well -- asleep at the switch, not paying enough attention, and not voting the self-serving bums out regularly. The debt, the deficit, the unfunded mandates, and the Fed monetizing that debt more every month, is a recipe for horrendous disaster. It's not enough tax receipts (NOT "revenue" which implies they somehow _earned_ it, which they did not), it's too much spending. The Federal government is only supposed to take care of the big-ticket items - defense, border control, international relations - and everything else is to be done at the state, local, and personal level. Out of control spending must STOP, now. The government must live within its' means - just as the rest of us do. And we have to pressure the new Congress to keep their intentions to stop the hemorrhage. Don't now accuse me of not wanting to help the unfortunate. They are one of the prime reasons FOR limiting Federal power. Who has done more to help children stricken with cancer - the NCI (part of NIH) or St. Jude's Hospital? Which one runs more efficiently? Which one's function can be usurped by another outside group IF they get too big/bureaucratic/inefficient to work well -- thereby giving them strong incentive to stay flexible? If you have $100 to give to one of them, where will your $100 do the most good for the most sick kids? According to the government's own charitable giving guidelines, one should refrain from donating to a charity if less than 85% of funds raise go to the charitable purpose. Is there ANY government bureau/organization where as much as 50% of the funds go to the "social support" service? By their own standards they do not deserve funding. I am a libertarian because I believe in individual liberty and the responsibility of individuals to help those in need. One cannot foist those responsibilities off onto government (or have government usurp them) without seeing incredible amounts of waste and fraud and a worsening of the conditions that were supposed to improve. Every iota of power the Feds take, every scrap of personal responsibility they "relieve" us of, hurts every one of us - the poorest and most needy worst of all. They must be reined back to their Constitutional limits. I can be done -- but it took a hundred or more years to deteriorate this far, and it's going to take decades to fix. Is it worth the effort? YES. Because this is still the ONLY nation in the world founded on the principle that power is sovereign in the PEOPLE, and that the government is OUR servant - not the other way around. I bow to NO man, and NO government, now or ever. Enough with the rant; I have 941's, W-2's, and 1099's to prepare. Catherine

Got mine weeks ago, also the spiral-bound big 1040 book but more recently. They did not come together, nor did they come anywhere near the same day.