Don in Upstate NY

My personal experience with a hacked account: I have a Gmail account that I use for most non-critical e-mails. As you may know, Gmail maintains an address book and archives your messages indefinately. About two years ago, that account was hacked. My first notice that something was wrong was a series of ten phone calls within an hour from people in my address book telling me that they had received the classic "Lost my wallet in London, please send money" e-mail. We wondered why anyone would try such a well-known scheme. I attempted to login to Gmail, and was informed that my passowd was incorrect. I attempted to reset the password and Gmail told me that the new password was sent to my secondary hotmail address [problem - I don't have a hotmail address]. Further correspondence with Gmail security indicated that this sequence of events fell into a protocol that required the account be frozen for a week before any more changes would be accepted. After a week I regained control of the Gmail account and the true extent of the hack was revealed. My secondary e-mail address had been set to the [bad guy's] hotmail account. A copy of all incomming e-mail was being sent to the [bad guy's] hotmail account. Then I looked at the log of activity for the period when I didn't have control of my account. Besides the "London" e-mails, only one other e-mail had been sent. That was a copy of the only e-mail in the archive that had the work "Taxes" in the subject line and an unencrypted attachment. This was no casual hack - the bad guy was serious.

I have been unable to get the stickers this year. The number I usually call (1-800-TAX-FORM) says that they don't stock them since they are not a "current year" publication. Pub 3010 also doesn't show up in the irs.gov list of publications or on a search for efile stickers, labels, etc. Anyone have a current source?

If you'd like a copy of the 2011 and 2012 refund charts, I have them both here ... http://w2in.com/aarp...2-01-Liverpool/ down at the bottom of the list.

And the additional delay for paper check refunds has been reduced from one week last year to two days this year!

And yet one of the remaining local manufacturing plants has always issued theirs four to a sheet, perforated horizontally but with a dotted line and a cute little sissors icon vertically.

The RedGear knowledgebase talks about this problem - where the client dabase which is used to produce labels has duplicates or missing entries. Their solution is to rebuild the database. When you do that you can select the folders (default, etc.) that you want included. It's a batch process and they say it will fix the problem. Unfortunately when I tried it (I had NO names in the label list) the batch process ignored any return that was locked (which all of my completed returns were.) I found no batch "unlock" command, and would have had to unlock the returns one-by-one. No thanks. This is not really a problem for me, since I have been using an external database for my client managemt purposes since the early 1990s. I print labels, schedule appointments, track e-files, and do my accounting from that. http://support.taxprepsoft.com/?p=2668

(Duplicated from the other forum) The Korean Free Trade Bill (HR 3080) increased the penalty for lack of due diligence by an EITC preparer from $100 to $500. The final rules issued yesterday (December 20) also mandate the use of the actual Form 8867 and it's filing as part of the return. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/...251459,00.html Also, the IRS is presenting a webinar on EIC Due Diligence on January 4. http://www.visualwebcaster.com/Event.asp?id=84231

Gee, I hope not. My number remained the same. P0000nnnn Don EA in Upstate NY

I received mine today (Wednesday). I have the TRX PRO (TaxWorks) version. Installed without incident. It looks like they've changed the update function so the red gear is no longer in the system tray. I set it to check for and download updates every eight hours, but install manually. Suggest we set up a new thread to discuss new fetures as we find them. Don EA in Upstate NY

Getting ready for the first of the update seminars today. Got my powerpoints all ready, but still on shakey ground since the final instructions for Schedule D haven't been released yet. There's going to be mass confusion next season in properly filling out Schedule D and the new form(s) 8949. Individual capital gains transactions are no longer reported on the Schedule D, but are reported on the form(s) 8949. Initially you classify each transactions as a type A, B, or C, and then fill out a separate 8949 for each type. Classifying the transactions as A, B, or C looks deceptivly simple, but it is not. The 8949 form indicates that if the basis is shown in box 3 of the 1099-B, it's a type A. If the 1099-B does not show basis in box 3, it's a type B. And if there's no 1099-B, it's a type C. However the draft instructions clarify that this refers to the 1099-B as submitted to the IRS, not necessarily the 1099-B as received by the taxpayers. Brokerages have the option of providing gratuitous basis information to the taxpayer even if it is not required by the new law. If they do so, it will be shown in box 3 of the taxpayer's 1099-B, but not in box 3 of the IRS's 1099-B. Fortunately there is another box (box 6) on the 1099-B that is checked if the basis shown in box 3 is gratuitous, and thus the transaction is a type B. Preparers who simply follow the directions on the 8949 form will be wrong. (Didn't this forum previously have a spel checker built in?)

But this shouldn't cause any more work if you are currently filling out the form and worksheet anyway. (I assume it will be sent as part of the e-file.)

Not so. The issue was not whether to blame the accountant, it was whether to assess a penalty against the taxpayer. It was clear that the accountant (VTS), perhaps among others, made a mistake. From the stipulated facts in the ruling [emphasis added] ...

I would question the "Heartwarming Story" caption. Why should we feel any elation when the IRS prevails on a penalty against a client for something that is (apparently) the preparer's fault? As pointed out above, the client may well persue a civil course of action against the preparer to recover the penalty assessment. What percentage of your clients actually review their returns? Not just "why is my refund smaller than last year?" As high as 10%?

I have discovered a unique feature in TRX - at least I have never seen it in any other software. TRX lets you cancel an e-file that has already been sent to their filing center, as long as they have not already sent it along to the IRS. During the April 15 to October 15 season this can give you almost a full day to correct an "oops" without filing an amended return. Tuesday I prepared a simple return for a client - W2 income and the usual itemized deductions. We reviewed it together, compared it to last year, she signed it off, and I sent it on its way. A little later while printing out my copy of her backup, I noticed that the employer had withheld NY Disability insurance, which is an allowable deduction on Schedule A. The difference on the bottom line refund was small - about $5.00. I toyed with the idea of simply giving her a $5.00 credit on next year's fee (or mayby $10.00), but then I recalled seeing the delete feature in the filing center menu. I tried it - it worked. I redid the return and refiled in plenty of time for the (once-a-day) Wednesday noon drain.

The Tax Book explicitly notes that the student does NOT have to be a dependent.

My earliest copies of tax returns were on Thermofax paper, which has the unfortunate property of turning black after a decade or two. In a rare moment of lucidity I discarded these totally unreadable copies, even though some future technology could possibly resurrect them (if not the clients).

Not even close. You could file a 1040A if your income was below $5,000 back in 1918.

Yup. That's what the instructions say.

There are two places I know of where you enter your EA identification number : 1) on the Power of Attorney Form (F2848) in the identification column of the last question. 2) on the EA renewal form (F8554) on line 2. Interestingly, the form has boxes for a six digit number, but my EA certificate shows only a five digit number. I left the first box blank - seemed like a good move at the time. :wall:

Limit of 30 is an IRS restriction. Pub 1346, Attachment 11.

Here's a legit W2 that I received from my pension provider several years ago. At that time I could not e-file because withholding could not exceed half of gross. That rule has since been modified - I e-filed one this year where withholding was equal to gross. Looking thru Pub 1346, the only relevant error message that I found was for a W2G, where withholding could not exceed winnings.

The IRS doesn't know anything about the "extra" questions, or even that you asked any questions at all. The "Paid Preparer’s Earned Income Credit Checklist" (Form 8867) or your software vendor's equivalent is NOT transmitted to the IRS when you file the return. You keep it for your records to CYA in case there is some question in the future.

RedGear Software, which markets the TaxWorks tax preparation software line, has promised users an enhanced beta testing program for the 2011 version of the software. The plan is in response to stability issues in the 2010 rendition that arose from what the company said was a migration of technology in 2009 and 2010 that was designed to improve performance. Full story.

Maybe because the debt code was eliminated for this tax filing year. :rolleyes:

This is a problem occurring as the IRS transitions from their legacy e-file system to their Modernized E-File system (MeF). Returns filed via MeF have a submission ID, but do not have a DCN. The IRS has addressed this problem on their website for other forms, such as the 9325, but I couldn't find anything about the 8453. In the case of the 9325, the tax preparer was directed to simply use the Submission ID where the form called for the DCN. I have not had this particular problem with TRX, since it appears that TRX does not use MeF for any return containing a state return. All of my 8453 returns also had associated state returns and so were transmitted using the legacy protocol with DCN. Eventually this problem will be solved as MeF will have the capability to accept paper documents as .pdf files. This is currently true for the entity versions of MeF, but not true for the 1040 version. In the meantime, I would use the submission ID on the 8453, ignoring the little boxes and manually writing it in.