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.

Drake does display a QR code as a part of the proceess to set up MFA. At first I resisted it, but eventually decided to set up MFA after reading about it on this forum. Now it’s a really seamless process that I’ve become comfortable with and I feel as though I’m protecting my client data with another level of security.

Client filed original 2021 return on time without extension. Recently we discovered an error, made changes resulting in an additional refund, and they signed and mailed a Form 1040X for the 2021 year on Apr 14, 2025 via Certified Mail with R/R. So far the post office tracking system doesn't show it moving from the first location. Could just be a tracking USPS glitch or extra slow delivery, but I'm assuming the worst for the moment - that it never arrives. Ordinarily I'd say it's probably a lost cause. However, in NC, hurricane Helene and flooding in 2024 caused dues dates for filing to be extended repeatedly, most recently to Sept 25, 2025. The IRS wording doesn't specifically mention amended returns, but it does mention "various Federal individual filings", which clearly means the extended due date isn't limited only to the various returns actually named in the release. If I'm correct, the taxpayer may actually have until Sept 25, 2025 to submit a duplicate filing if the Return Receipt doesn't come back to us in by July or August. Any thoughts on this scenario?

Regarding this entire issue of deducting frills, back when I was a young accountant and knew everything, I challenged a client about his wanting to claim a deduction for a boat, a 4-wheeler, and 2 trailers on his business return. I explained in great detail how "ordinary and necessary" expenses worked, putting his logo on them doesn't make them business expenses, how this would be a red flag in an audit, and how his mechanic and barber didn't know as much as I do about these things. When I finally stopped to take a breath, he calmly replied to me, "John, how do you think my crews get around when we are surveying heavily wooded property and undeveloped land?" (Did I mention he was a land surveyor?)

Client has probably been watching too many episodes of “Yellowstone”. Wants to project the Kevin Costner look when riding into town. Maybe wearing a logo vest as well? it’s probably good you passed on the engagement. Think about all the bad things that always happened when John Dutton didn’t get his way. It often ended with a trip to the “train station.”

Could be bad advice from the preparer; could be bad listening by the taxpayer. Just recently I had a client call me about a transaction which we had discussed 3-4 months ago. At that time she told me what a friend had told her about the taxation of the capital gains. I explained to her why that advice from her friend was dead wrong and I then gave her the correct information. On this subsequent conversation she repeated the bad advice to me, and when I corrected her she said "But I remember you telling me that on our last conversation." Fortunately I had made notes and more-or-less read them back to her. Either I'm a very bad communicator, she's a very bad listener, or (most likely) she only remembers what she wanted to hear rather than what was said.

Taxpayer has been receiving an IP PIN for many years. We are amending their 2021 return this week. Should we use the IP PIN which was used on the 2021 return, or the IP PIN for the current year? (Don't want to get this wrong since we may not have a chance for a do-over if we miss a technicality).

Good time for the client to set up online access to the SocSec account so they can review history at will.

Mine has been on autopilot for years. Every time the transaction shows up, it brings a smile to my face.

You're right. And I think this was always the actual goal. It wasn't necessarily to chase down people who make minor mistakes in their listing (or even didn't list at all), but rather to create a trap for those who were laundering money IF they were caught by other means. Regardless of whether they had lied on the BOI form or had never filed, the draconian penalties would serve as a wedge to force them to give up info on the major culprits in exchange for penalty forgiveness. Failing to cooperate would be financially devastating. (Of course, cooperating might be even worse in the real world ). Anyhow, we couldn't say any of this to our clients because there remained a real risk of huge penalties for even simple clerical errors, much less not filing, for which they might try to hold us accountable. So we were intimidated into giving them just enough information to scare the hell out of them without being able to offer them any real help - on a simple clerical task that would only take about 15 minutes on average. Makes us all look sort of silly in the eyes of many clients, IMO.

So THAT’s really what it’s all about!