GLJEANNE

But, it can be more or less if they had to pre-pay their 2019 or 2020 January premiums, or if there insurance company had to issue a rebate last year.

The MN unemployment site says they're still waiting for guidance from the US Dept of Labor.  So I imagine that must be the case for the other states as well.

I'm not getting the "home and bored" calls, just dozens of panicked emails from small business clients who are trying not to go under, with questions about all the various provisions.  There's so much news floating around, plus all the things that 45 says and I have to explain to clients aren't actually real, or are only proposals.  It's all a muddle at this point!

I'm high-risk, so I'm only going to the post (where I can drop off and pick up without going to the counter or standing in line), the bank drive thru, and my chiro doc.  But  like many of you, I'm a natural introvert, so this isn't that different from usual.  I do have a niece nearby who I'll ask to do some shopping for me at some point.  But it being tax season, i was already stocked up pretty well. 

A lot of restaurants here are trying to survive by switching to curbside pickup, or delivery, so trying to support them.  I do find I really want good hearty comfort food!

Otherwise, I'm still trying to get caught up with the returns I have.  I'll probably send out reminder emails later this week to the folks who haven't come in yet, reminding them that if they get refunds, or have estimated taxes, we want to get those returns done, and they should mail or drop off their stuff.

MN Revenue just issued a release, they will be matching the feds July 15th date.  Whew.  We would normally require legislative action to move the date, and the legislature is adjourned, but I guess the gov did it under the peacetime emergency powers act.  Good thing!

BUT, this does not include estimated taxes, which are still due April 15th.  Well that bites.

I'm assuming it will take ATX a while to make the change.  I've been holding some returns, but mostly telling folks to just pay by check or go online and do it themselves.  I was behind before all this virus crap got bad, I want to get these returns out of here!!

18 hours ago, cbslee said:

Copied from IRS eNews:

"Corporations: For C Corporations, income tax payment deadlines are being automatically extended until July 15, 2020, for up to $10 million of their 2019 tax due.

This relief also includes estimated tax payments for tax year 2020 that are due on April 15, 2020."

There is no mention of including individual estimated payments in the automatic extension!

Those are two separate paragraphs, the April estimated taxes ARE extended.

My question now is - all the clients we've already filed who chose Direct Debit for their estimated taxes - or for their balances - what's the process if they want to cancel those and take advantage of the extension??  Do they need to contact the IRS directly for that?  We don't have any way of changing things once it's been e-filed, do we?

Ugh, photos are the worst.  I'm sure there are people who know how to easily make them come out right, but I'm not one of them!  Every time someone does that, I waste a lot of time getting it to print out correctly.

I work from home, and a better than usual amount of my clients came in early this year.  At this point, I've cancelled all remaining appointments and told them to just leave their paperwork between the screen and front door (at set times, so I'll be available to grab it right away) or to mail it. Wishing I'd looked into the CCH portal, but that's on my summer research list for next season.

Other than that, wiping down doorknobs, phones, keyboards and mice daily, all the usual stuff.  I'm in a high risk group, but I'm also an introvert; we've been practicing all our lives for self-isolation, lol.  So I'm not very nervous about catching it, but am anxious about a number of my clients losing their businesses.  So far my state has been doing great with their response, but I hope Congress and the WH can get their crap together quickly to put out some relief packages. 

On 2/28/2020 at 9:11 PM, Sara EA said:

Is this the same Ring Central as the doorbell business?  We all know how NOT secure that is, including employees looking into people's homes. 

I wondered the same, because Amazon owns Ring (doorbell) now.  But Ring Central seems to be totally different.

Ok, I have what's probably a stupid question.  I have a regular old fax machine, and I've never switched it to my computer because my desk is way too far away from the only phone jack.  Not to mention that my crawling around under the desk days are long gone!
So, with these electronic fax services, does that mean you don't have to have the land line at all, it just all works like email would?  I use mine even less than Terry, and would love to get rid of the cost; but like Gail said, I'm afraid some clients would still fax to the old number.

My minimum is $150, and that sounds like what I would charged your client.  I had a new client yesterday, after I finished going through the mountain of pages from last year's HRB return, I found their bill for $529.  Well no wonder they give the client so many useless worksheets and statements, they have to justify that ridiculous price!  I'm thinking mine will be around $300.

Just FYI, tech is working out a problem with the MN M15 (Penalties) being rejected for a non-existent calculation error.  Said it should be fixed tomorrow or Saturday, so I'm holding those returns until next week.

Also, in Bizarro Land. the M1MT shows up with no numbers on the screen, but prints filled out.   Go figure.
 

15 hours ago, Lion EA said:

We've all been there! I had a missing document from a very nervous lady. Luckily, she was also a bit overwhelmed putting her documents back where she wanted them as I finished with each one. After she left, I was checking everything I'd ever done in case I stapled her document to someone else's and, of course, worried that I'd actually SENT it to someone else. Days or weeks later I found her document when I opened the top of my copier; it was on the glass. I don't copy much anymore, now that I scan a lot and lots of clients upload to my portal. Huge relief.

Oh man, I've "lost" many an item to the copier!

I don't do on-the-spot returns, so they leave everything.  But this is the first time I've had a scare like that - unless I've blocked the memory of it happening before, lol.

I got my day off to such a good start today (not), when I went to compile a finished return, and the client’s original forms weren’t in her file.  I always clip the originals with a green or blue paperclip, so they're obvious when I'm ready to mail everything back to them.  This morning I started to compile, and the originals were nowhere to be found.

10 minutes of pure panic as I flipped through all my other open return files, and was thinking “OMG, what if I mailed them back to someone else??!”   Finally I remembered - oh yeah, she was the one who came in super early and completely unprepared, and had to email me all her forms.  I never had any originals!  Whew! 

It's pretty bizarre changes.  I've had one client need help with it so far.  Basically it assumes the Standard Deduction based on your filing status, unless the employee claims otherwise and goes through all the work.  For her employee, claiming just Single ends up taking out about $20 less per paycheck than the old Single 1.  Since the employee wanted to raise her withholding from each check by $20, i had to tell her to claim extra $40 - that was fun explaining. 
 

Oh, Windows.  Can't ever have an update without breaking something.  I got one of those messages last night when I was trying to open settings on some program.  But as soon as I hit Continue, it let me open it anyway, so I guess they don't really care if I have permission or not!

Not sure how all softwares are going to change to accommodate this, but they have until next year.

Thanks Eric, you're the best!!

Remember when ATX was just a little company in Maine, with great communications?  The good old days.

Oh hallelujah!  Though my ack still didn't come through, and not all transmitted files are able to go through, a few got a "not able to be transmitted due to an error" message.  Still, it's a start!

This is driving me nuts.  I have one return that's awaiting the final ack, then a bunch of 990s either to send or file extensions.   Kicking myself for not putting in more hours last week! 

Plus, it's been in the news enough that clients are starting to ask about it, and what can we tell them?  CCH says no info was taken, but so far they haven't really given us straight answers, so I don't blame clients for being nervous.

All I can say is, THANK G-D this didn't happen during the season!!!

11 minutes ago, jklcpa said:

Maybe more users will find and join this forum. We seemed to have more than the usual number join this year already.

Way to find the bright side in this!!

Yep, all day.  So is another site I use - apparently tech is having a Monday!

Danrvan, if we do that, he'd be claiming premiums he didn't pay or pay back through by taxes.  

Joan and Grandmabee, that's a good suggestion, probably what we'll try.

Ok good.  None of those would be reported to the employer or belong on a paycheck.