Catherine

I use QuickBooks.

I have a secure portal that comes with my web site, but I also use Verifyle for e-signatures, and that is also a secure way to send information. I very much like that this year you can set up a document for two signatures; last year it was very clunky since it had to be done manually. NAEA gets you free access, yes, but the $9/month subscription is much less money than NAEA membership. I've let that lapse, as the only benefit I've had from my membership for some years has been last year's Verifyle access.

It's amazing what one year's events does to that baby new year. The more time goes on, the more I understand it!

We have no problem with other people dropping off information. We won't discuss it more than saying, "Thank you," though. If someone slides a package under the door at the office, or slips an envelope through my front door mail slot, I usually have no idea if it was the client, a neighbor, or Pony Express. Now, if an existing client comes in with someone (friend, adult child) and says they want them on board as a backstop, then we get a Section 7216 disclosure signed before any discussions take place. I don't think we need a POA unless the second person is wanted to take sole charge, or sign e-file authorizations and the like. We will accept referral clients from existing good clients. That backfired on us only once - it was last year; long term really nice client sent her brother. What a disaster he was - we fired him and were sure we were going to lose the sister and her husband. In the end, she apologized profusely to us! She had no idea what kind of a financial idiot he was; apparently she referred him to her financial advisor, too, who also fired him and read her the riot act over sending him.

Don't know about CA rules, but wouldn't that income pass through the 1041 on a K-1 and then be reported on the individual's 1040 anyway? Then the individual needs to see if they are over the state income limit for CA filing. In general, I have clients with rentals file in the state the property is in. (All mine are paper losses, because of depreciation.) That starts the statute and prevents the nastygram from the state demanding tax on the gross income on a 1099-MISC for rents.

That sounds like your client has misunderstood the information he was given. Regardless of his 457 pension, any current-year W2 earnings will affect the taxability of his socsec income if that income is high enough (likely won't matter if he's getting a $300/year as a stipend for some keep-busy job - some places won't let people volunteer; they must be on payroll, at least for a pittance). He's not mixing apples and oranges, he's mixing apples with kerosene and the combo is going to get him burned.

Here's what I send out. I don't use an organizer, per se, because a) they cost so much to send out, b) no one fills them out properly, and c) I want to see the original documents (and scan them for my records!) anyway. Don't waste the clients' time transferring (and messing up) numbers, and I get it all and can compare with prior year lists for anything missing. Anyone who keeps scanned originals, I highly recommend Gruntworx ( https://www.gruntworx.com/ ) to make an indexed pdf. That way when the CP2000 comes in a year and a half from filing, you can go instantly to the item the letter questions and see the original without slogging through a half-dozen or more pdf files littered with upside-down, back, and blank pages. 2021 Checklist - short organizer GF.pdf Also - anyone who finds it useful can use my organizer - if you drop me a note I'll send the Word document and you can put your own firm info on it, and make any state-specific changes.

Here's what I send out. I don't use an organizer, per se, because a) they cost so much to send out, b) no one fills them out properly, and c) I want to see the original documents (and scan them for my records!) anyway. Don't waste the clients' time transferring (and messing up) numbers, and I get it all and can compare with prior year lists for anything missing. Anyone who keeps scanned originals, I highly recommend Gruntworx ( https://www.gruntworx.com/ ) to make an indexed pdf. That way when the CP2000 comes in a year and a half from filing, you can go instantly to the item the letter questions and see the original without slogging through a half-dozen or more pdf files littered with upside-down, back, and blank pages. 2021 Checklist - short organizer GF.pdf

May God give us all the strength to get through the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Quarters of 2020... Perhaps we can hope/pray for a return to normalcy on January 1st, 2023. (Loved your comment on Qx of 2020 some time ago, Lion, and have used it ever since!)

I use one of the online services (EFileMyForms) and they take care of all the e-filing nonsense. Fortunately, I also don't have too many of these to do any more. My business partner takes care of most of our businesses and I forget what he uses.

Happy New Year to all my friends and colleagues here. Couldn't get through this madness without you all!

Massachusetts got really nasty about Use Tax for a few years (people go to NH to buy stuff and bring home). Then they got NH stores to charge MA sales tax to all MA deliveries (that gets the big stuff, like appliances and large furniture), and Amazon too. They quieted down a lot after that. I have a few who still claim the "safe harbor" figure (based on income) but most once again skip it. I tracked our Use Tax for years, and once Amazon started collecting tax it was less than $10 for the year, so I stopped tracking. Plus, now eBay charges tax even on used items from individuals (not stores) that technically are not subject to sales tax in MA. So I no longer press people for details, but the query is still on my documents checklist.

I'll pick the 25th. (of January 2022)

Merry Christmas to all my friends here!

Your clients have been substantially luckier than mine, then. Might be highly dependent on what center the returns go to.

I bought Adobe Acrobat X (way old, now) new and licensable from ebay, for two machines. Been using it ever since. Don't know what is the most-recent of the old, you-own-it, non-subscription packages, but you could try that.

They will take forever to process a refund. I have also found that even when the 1310 is on TOP of the return, the IRS will claim they never got it, and you may have to send it again (ditto Form 56 - sometimes they'll lose first one and then the other, just to be extra special). Tell the PR to be glad it's a small refund; I had one family that had to wait nearly a year to get grandpa's $7k refund back in their hands. Good luck!

Thanks! I'll use that for crib notes when I write our "welcome to tax season" letter for our clients. That was on this afternoon's to-do list, too.

If the client wants proof of receipt, have them send a check with the return. Cashing the check means they opened it. Even if a refund is due... send 'em $5. But you probably already know.

I never said that! I said I could make snarky comments about it - but snark is not accusation. In some ways, it's all harder now. Yes, you take the exams one at a time, and not only once a year. But I know a couple of EA-wannabes yet to take all the exams because they can re-schedule. "I'm not ready" becomes either a respite, or an excuse to keep re-delaying in perpetuity. Having that once a year hard deadline lit a fire under your feet. Yes, I agree completely - the Part 3 entities and corporations is not a fun combo. When I took the exams (2003 - the year before the hurricane event that Lion and Sara dealt with) it wasn't held in an IRS office. There was a large conference center in Boston, above the Prudential Center shopping mall, rented out by the IRS - and staffed by IRS and MaSEA proctors. We got lockers for all our stuff, and could only bring in eyeglasses. There were (fortunately!) bathrooms *inside* the cordoned-off zone. No calculators. Pencils were on the tables, and scratch paper. Seating was in zig-zags on long tables, so you could not see what others did. No pencils or paper left the area, even to go potty - they checked. I remember getting a nasty headache after the first day from concentrating so hard; wandered the mall for an hour or more letting that fade before driving home. Bought myself a cute sweater at a store - that I still have and wear! It's held up really well. We got our exams, and scores, back by mail months later. I think I still have them tucked away somewhere. Passed all with good margins but I think it was the S-corps and partnerships section that had the lowest score. AAA and OAA, and inside/outside basis, are tricky enough without adding in the conditional triple negatives! I wish you the best of success! We need more EAs.

It is indeed!! I hope to download and install today.

Yes, I remember doing that when studying for the SEE, and when taking the *&^ tests, too. Passed all four sections first try, too. (Down to 3 sections now; could make snarky comments about tax preparers these days having it easy - but I won't because the IRS is crazier now than it was then.)

We had two Thanksgivings - one by ourselves and one with younger daughter & her family (older daughter was working on Friday and could not join us). First one featured ribeye steaks and homemade sweet potato fries, with blueberry cake for dessert. Second was smoked shoulder and green beans slow-cooked together, with cormbread and herbed baby potatoes, apple crisp for dessert. Yum. Hope all my friends here had a wonderful day (or days)!

Talk about prehistory, @Abby Normal!