HV Ken

This is when you know you need to get a life! Was having a conversation with another preparer over a meal and the topic of tax fraud came up. We ended up having different views on whether we are REQUIRED to report tax fraud (provable - you have the fraudulant return that was prepared by someone else), or merely SHOULD report it. I read through the Abusive Return Preparer - Criminal Investigation (CI) pages but do *not* see support for the position that we are REQUIRED to report it. Looking for documentation that says we are required - the next meal is riding on this! Thanks.

Here is a link to an article at accountingtoday.com with a little tax season humor: Top 10 Most Outrageous Tax Deductions

But you have to do this on every return that has already been rolled over and not yet transmitted. ATX changed something that broke what was previously working, and now we have to respond to that. I realize it is easy to correct on each return and adds about 10 seconds processing time, but it should not have happened at all!

Here is one we haven't seen before. Client's spouse died. Had funeral in funeral home. Spouse was cremated. All funeral expenses were covered at the funeral home. On a separate note, the client presented the spouse's remains to their monastery - religious temple. The receipt from the monastery says it is a non-profit organization. The receipt says Memorial Terrace, and client gave several thousand dollars to the monastery for this. Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Would this be considered a charitable donation? Would it be offset by the market value received from the donation? Is this too morbid for everyone?? Thanks for any thoughts or insights.

Something along the lines of #15 saved us between $4,000 and $5,000 on our 2010 taxes.

I took it as a sign to pack it in! I came back in the office around 11pm and was able to efile, so must have been a temporary outage. All is well in the world!

Wed 2/9 930p Eastern I cannot e-file - getting connection refused I also cannot get to myatx.com But I can update the program ok. Anyone else experiencing these kinds of communication issues at the time I am reporting?

According to the Forms Release Schedule, the state of this form is: Draft - Final Pending from Tax Agency This is defined as: The tax agency has released a draft version of the form. The final version of the form is pending from the agency. Assuming this is accurate, then it seems ATX is waiting for the IRS to release the final version of the form. This tax season is off to a rough start!

How do you do this on the forms statement directly? There should be a pop-up where you make the adjustments, and then when you close the pop-up, the changes are made.

I am not experiencing that. It changes for me once I close the pop-up window to adjust the price per form.

The link is in my post - just click on "1099 Repeal Offers Relief for Small Business" in the text.

This is a 4 minute video on Fox news. IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson on the Senate's vote repealing the 1099 tax-reporting requirement for small businesses from the new health-care law. 1099 Repeal Offers Relief for Small Business

Found it! Analogy post

Hi - someone posted awhile back an analogy that compared our tax system to a group lunch, where the people who paid the least complained about the people who paid the most and the breaks they got, and what happened when the people who paid the most stopped paying. I can't think of how to search for it, since my description is kinda vague. Perhaps the person who posted it, or someone who remembers it or commented on it, can point me to the original post? Thanks!

This is a great response and approach, KC.

I use the Practitioner PIN, check the "ERO entered" box, and use the last 5 digits of the SSN for the PIN. Very easy this way. What is the value in using Self-Select PIN anyway?

I just watched the ATX video ATXMeFvsLegacy. Is it safe to assume the ATX program itself either generates the e-file as MeF or Legacy? That was one point that was not specifically stated in the video. I guess the information in this video is merely FYI for us?

This "export return" step is run automagically whenever I generate the e-file on a NETWORKED computer. There must be some process that runs in the background to get information about the e-file to the SERVER (HOST) computer.

Is anyone else experiencing this? On the network computer. Generate an e-file. The last step the program does is "Export Return". The little window that appears for "Export Return" never disappears. This is very annoying as it wants to always have focus and be on top of whatever is behind it.

It was in the beginning of the article: The notion that large refunds are good is but one of the many enduring tax myths. Here are five others you should be familiar with.

Here is an interesting article addressing some common tax prep myths. Enjoy! 6 Tax Myths Everyone Should Know

IRS on YouTube and Twitter The IRS participates on the following social media platforms, including: YouTube ― The IRS has video channels that provide short, informative videos on various tax related topics. Twitter ― IRS tweets include various tax-related announcements, news for tax professionals and hiring initiatives.

IRS Launches the IRS2Go App for iPhone, Android The IRS2Go phone app gives people a convenient way of checking on their federal refund. It also gives people a quick way of obtaining easy-to-understand tax tips. Apple users can download the free IRS2Go application by visiting the Apple App Store. Android users can visit the Android Marketplace to download the free IRS2Go app.

I am using Carbonite - I think it was $59.99 for one year. Thankfully, I have not had to pull anything back yet, but this is the service my IT guy recommended.

I see a new option in Preferences - Print Manager: Remember Print Manager selections for each return I haven't seen any description on what this actually does, but it at least sounds like it is a step in the right direction. Does anyone have any experience with this new preference?