Catherine

I'll do it late this week, or next. Yeah, I got the email too. You probably did, Lion, and it never registered because it wasn't germane to your current workload.

Been there, done that, set the drop dead date earlier. They still come in like headless chickens on October 10th, but at least they come in knowing they may well go past the deadline. It actually makes more space for the super-lateys, when the others obeyed the earlier date. And I force myself, yet again, NOT to care more than they do.

I can think of several of them specifically, right now. And we wait. Thanks for the update.

Thanks Judy and Hahn. As it turns out, there was a listing of sales in her business that I had missed. That put her into profit and her Roth contribution is OK! Phew.

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks, Judy!

Whee! Not.

Client put $700 into her Roth IRA for 2019. No wages. Business loss. Filing status is married filing separately because her divorce was not final until early 2020. Can she still claim that contribution as a "spousal IRA" or is she hosed? The only thing I found was that MFS uses the single limits for income phase-outs for a Roth IRA. Worse comes to worse she will recharacterize to a 2020 contribution and only have to get back any growth. Annoying; her business is cyclical and every few years she goes to a slew of shows and runs up huge travel expenses. Good thing she was planning NO travel in 2020! So that should be a profitable year for her.

I sent in my 941 by mail the day before the updated form was announced... we'll see what happens. You guys must be ready to tear your hair out over this, @Medlin Software!

I've had that screen crop up, too. I just go back to the Home page. And I told Eric about it at the time, with screenshots. It's an annoyance rather than an actual problem, for me. Yes there are limits on how often you can post. Just wait a minute or so and try again.

Refurbs, and sometimes brand-new-but-last-year's-model, can be excellent buys.

The search feature on irs.gov doesn't like ANYONE. For some (like me), it's actively hostile; for others it's simply unhelpful.

They may be non-assignable, but that doesn't mean the entity is still valid. We had one where we tried to file a return but it was rejected because the EIN was rejected as not-existent. We knew the number was right, because we had old returns!

That doesn't work for the client who, during tax season, is in South America and does not have access to a printer. Or for my clients in eastern Europe. There are some situations where e-sigs are really the best way out of a pickle. What we did with the CPAperless was re-use the one email twice, and send a separate email saying you first, then it'll come back and you go second. Klugey but functional.

Check the client's pay stubs and ask about his company's history, too. We had one a couple years ago where the company changed payroll services mid-year. They were *supposed* to get one W2 for the full year from the new provider (and they did get that W2), but they *also* got a W2 from the old provider for half the year. We had to wait for the IRS letter but had the explanation and all supporting documentation ready to go. Prior to that, we had one client whose company did some restructuring, and issued two W2s for the year, under the old and the new structures, with different EINs. Plenty come in with multiples who work in, and have tax withheld for, multiple states. Those we treat as continuation pages (because essentially that's what they are).

Thanks for the leads; I'll check them out.

Anyone know where I can see if an old EIN is still valid? I can't get through to the IRS (maybe I can try Friday at 7pm, but we're not there yet). Situation: friends had a small non-profit in another state. Haven't filed tax returns in years. I tried the "validate EIN" feature in Drake and it said the EIN was good - what I am not sure of is if it's valid for the type, or if it's valid (i.e., still exists) in the IRS database. I also checked the other state's corporations database and they want significant sums of money before they'll tell me anything. I've also found EIN verification tools online, all for a hefty subscription price. Any ideas gratefully accepted!

Wow! We had a lot of wind and gusts, but nothing like what you had. As far as helping out.... you know where to find me. Anything I can do. I have four or five returns (total) left, a couple of amended returns, and ongoing work. At least three of my five will go past deadline, because I know these clients and they won't get me data in time (I'm not their mommy, can't make them, and refuse to worry about them).

I have long said "common sense isn't very" and it was and is true.

I'll chime in, too. The conversion program is pretty darn good, and will take your 2019 returns and put them into Drake 2019, ready to roll forward. Depreciation is always the hard one, no matter WHAT software you are switching to or from. Convert all your completed returns now, and spend the post-Oct 15th deadline time fixing depreciation errors. Also view your completed returns IN Drake and make sure they match what they showed in ATX. Most of them will (or, have taxable income and total tax within a buck or two - close enough!). The few that don't will have some issue or other - track 'em down this year. Play with some of the test returns to get a feel for Drake. The most annoying thing for me when I switched (mid-Feb 2013, during the 2012 season database debacle) was having to "view" the return when I wanted to see the form (instead of the data entry screens). However, Drake calculates and views the return faster than ATX changes screens, so it was more a problem in my head than an actual issue. YMMV.

CPAperless has now discontinued its "Signature Flow" utility that got e-signatures and billed per signature (instead of a hefty monthly fee). Anyone have any ideas where we can find a new vendor for this service? I saw word of one - somewhere - months ago but as we all know this year has had a few distractions, and I can't remember who or where it was. We are specifically looking for a per-signature billing, if possible, because we only do a dozen or so e-signatures per year. Paying $15/month-plus is just stupid for that super-low volume. Thanks in advance!

I may well be able to help as well, @Lion EA, however I use Drake and I know you use a fancy-dancy program. UltraTax? But please email me or MD me here if I can help!

There are also online *schools* now. While there is no federal credit for online or private schools, for all I know there may be state provisions. So make sure it's home-school, not online private school. Homeschooling curricula don't cost anywhere near $6,000 (unless they've all seriously jacked up their prices all of a sudden). Demme Learning's math program is a couple hundred bucks for a full-year program. Analytical grammar is less than $150 for a year. Calvert's all-in-one plan is $400/year for 1 kid or $700 for three kids. So I wonder what they're spending $6K for.

If you ever need to read tax treaties, pray you get an OLD one. Those ARE written in plain English and are actually pretty easy to work your way through! The more-recent ones... well, let's just say to clear your calendar, and have the bottle of ibuprofen at the ready!

not sure how well that would work in the office, frankly. lol

Outside of us dinosaurs, I wonder who still knows (or gets taught) that if the out-of-balance amount is divisible by 9 that somewhere two numbers are transposed in the different columns?