JohnH

Well, it clearly wasn’t bar codes. Now we have advanced to QR codes. And we have to use QR codes to set up MFA just so we can log into our software. That’s clearly the work of the devil.

"We had the local politician over for dinner. The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."

By far my favorite satire site is The Babylon Bee. A recent parody news story pictured one of them with a bar code on their head with the following explanation “To make purchasing congresspeople easier and faster for lobbyists, congresspeople will now have barcodes printed on their foreheads to be conveniently scanned at newly installed self-checkout machines.” The article in and of itself is funny, but the video “News Bulletin” is hilarious. I’d post a link, but it probably violates a few terms of our forum.

“The art of taxation consists of plucking the goose so as to obtain the most feathers with the least amount of hissing.” Jean-Baptiste Colbert

OK, since we're reminiscing, let's talk about the calculator-only period. A desktop calculator, lookup tables, and rolls of calculator tape - especially the "check tapes" stapled to my office copy of the return. I don't think anyone has mentioned the days of putting a tiny staple at the top of 3 pages with carbon paper inserted between them. Make a mistake and then it was a decision between starting all over or dabbing a tiny bit of White Out on each page, then blowing on it to dry before starting to write again. Then along came the NCR (No Carbon Required) paper sets. It was pricey, but a a real time saver. You just had to be sure not to lick your fingers when handling/sorting/collating the sheets or you'd get a sore throat. (I still wonder what that chemical in the NCR paper might have done to my airways and digestive system) My first copier used rolls of chemically coated paper & liquid toner. You could almost always guarantee a spill when you refilled the reservoir. It also had a really weird smell. (Again, wonder if there were any problematic chemicals in all that stuff.) Or maybe the above-mentioned volatile organic compounds (including formaldehyde, benzene and toluene) acted as a preservative - I'm still here.

IRA accounts aren’t limited to low-interest instruments - never have been. My tIRA and RothIRA accounts are held in IRA brokerage accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. I can invest them in any manner I wish. For me, that is 50% fixed income (CDs, govt bonds, etc) and 50% equity (in the Vanguard Total Market Index ETF). And I rebalance periodically to maintain the 50-50 ratio as market conditions ebb and flow. So don’t fall into the trap of thinking IRA’s can only be held in bank Money Market accounts or other low-paying instruments. And I would never suggest that someone toss their money into a crypto scheme and call it an investment. By that’s just me …

I registered for login.gov and id.me, so looks like I'll need to be on the lookout for scams with either one. I don't think I'd fall for it since I never click on links unless I'm expecting them, but one never knows when there might be a lapse in attention. And that one has a fairly legitimate look to it (well, except for the big red arrow and the word "SCAM" )

You might need to make an entry on the sub-schedule for the line in question (either negative or positive), to force it to reconcile. I haven't used ATX since 2012, but have seen situations in ATX (and now Drake) where I had to fix something using that approach. I think it's ok as long as a supporting schedule is generated and the wording explains the entry. Disclosure and all that stuff...

KC was always the voice of reason. (Not saying anyone else on this forum isn't, but...)

I think Rita's last post was on Feb 22, in a discussion about farming. She said one of her retired farmer clients told her, "You better quit when the cows can run faster than you can."

I think there are two main factors. 1) A misguided (or potentially deceptive) effort to create the illusion of "diversification". In fact, these small investments have virtually no impact on performance because they are so small in relation to the size of the portfolio. Whether they gain or lose, they don't move the needle very much in the long term. But they generate lots of paperwork which conveys the illusion that they're working hard for the client. After all, my guy must really be looking out for me if these sophisticated investments require all this fancy reporting. 2) A commitment to stay focused on focusing on specific funding objectives. Client: "You said this strategy would be good for the college fund for our kids." Broker, "Oh, you must have misunderstood. I was talking about building the college fund for MY kids. These LP's/ MLP's/ REIT's pay awesome commissions!"

I think these partnerships that investment advisors purchase, especially within IRA’s, must pay really generous commissions. After all, SOMEBODY needs to benefit from all this mess created by the k-1’s.

I have a concern that we are going to see an accelerating flood of these letters. I envision a scenario where it becomes exponentially more difficult to get human intervention (via phone or written correspondence) to resolve errors while at the same time the ACS keeps churning out notices escalating all the way up to levies.

This IRS statement from August 2024 might be relevant to this conversation: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/multi-factor-authentication-key-protection-to-tax-professionals-security-arsenal-now-required I'm neither defending it nor criticizing it - just putting it out there for consideration.

I developed my WISP by asking GROK to produce one. It was excellent. I did the same as others have - edited in my specific info, tweaked a couple of items, printed it out, and filed it away.