Jack from Ohio

Finding a tech support person who TRULY KNOWS the problem is our dilema. I suspect there have been changes on their website, and the develpers(?) messed something up. I have been able to get on the site with IE until the last couple of days. I am using Win 7 and IE9. The whole idea of clearing cache is distastefull to me. It takes out too many things that make my working easier. That is the canned answer that "less knowlegable" tech people always start with. It appears to be a security setting issue within IE9. I'll be danged if I am dumping all my cache and cookies because a technician(?) only gives generic canned answers.

Considered not safe by whom? An argument could be made that only Registered Mail is considered secure. So no sensitive data could be sent by any other USPS method. All First class mail could be easily stolen. Given the requirement to label all mail containing tax information with the words "Important Tax Information", they are easy marked targets. Still waiting for the examples of e-mails being intercepted....

I have started giving flash drives. $6 each many places. 2GB hard drive will hold at least 300 tax returns. Anyone who has a computer likes it, because they can put the files on their computer and not lose them like they seem to do the paper copies.

I tell my clients... "The IRS posted schedule says xx-xx-xxxx. It also says that no deposit dates are guaranteed. Expect your refund in 3-4 week or less. It could be as quick as 8 days, but as much as 28. I say this from experience over the last 2 years."

I do not use web based e-mail period, for all the reasons just mentioned. Everyone's internet provider has non-web based e-mail that is handled with Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail (Win 7) or the like. When I retrieve my mail, it is erased from the e-mail server of my internet provider. No one else can retrieve it unless they hack my computer. Someone guessing a password is not the same as someone "intercepting" e-mail transmissions. Improper care of, and creation of, access passwords are the source of most information that gets stolen. If a client uses a web based e-mail, even the decrypted e-mail is subject to the same risk on the web based server. When an e-mail is sent, it is broken into many, maybe hundreds or thousands, individual small "packets" of data. All the packets do not necessarily take the same route (through all the routers that compose the internet) to its destination. There may be thousands of different routes that any given packet may take. This is one reason why "intercepting" e-mail is tedious and difficult. No encrypting of e-mails for this long-time old nerd!! On the Palin incident, once the perp changed the password, e-mails would not be available to Ms. Palin, so it would be very evident that something was wrong. Again, if there are no e-mails residing on a server out there, there would be nothing for the perp to see. Just ranting!! E-mail IS SAFE!

I have had ZERO issues with cheap paper.

I would like the same thing. I would not mind setting up a custom page if it could be interactive to pull information from the return, as long as I only need to make the setup once. Has anyone accomplished this?

Check the requirements for a casualty loss. Those small amounts won't help a bit, even if it were to be considered a casualty loss. In my opinion, it was not a casualty loss.

I use the cheapest available for all. No one really cares about the quality of the paper. In fact, very few clients even care about what is written on the paper as long as they get their refund. Staples ran several promotions where you could get a ream of paper for $.25 (limit 2) by sending a rebate. My Mother-in-law and my wife both buy 2 reams. Other promotions for $.75 per ream, and $1.00 per ream each with a 2 ream limit. These promotions ran about 4 times this past summer. With their easy rebate system, no hassle to get the rebates. I have 16 reams with an average cost of $.83 each. Buy the cheap stuff and keep your overhead low. Generally "copy" paper is the least expensive, and I have seen NO difference in paper brands. Same goes for the firm I work for. We go through 35+ cases of paper in a season. We get the paper we can get the best price on.

It seems that the print manager now remembers the setting and choices from LAST year!! Good Move ATX!!

I do not assume the information about risk. I talked to, and inquired from, technical professionals at the heart of the technology infrastucture. I am still waiting for an example of someone's e-mail being hacked..... The phobia is spreading fast, and quickly becoming worse than the Y2K hoax.

That just proves that lawmakers are as uninformed technology wise as most of the American public. The phobia is almost worse than the Y2K hoax.

Or FaceBook!

Not likely to ever happen. Too many people that have computers and use e-mail are not savvy enough to deal with encryption. The phobia is almost worse than the Y2K hoax.

If you are using a cordless phone in your office, it is 1,000 times easier for someone to listen to your conversation than to intercept your e-mail. A scanner with high tech abilities is all you need.

You use the words "access" and "unsecured." Those are issues that I cannot control on my client's end. Sending the e-mail is safe. Snail mail is much more vunerable to theft and loss. I am finding that every day, more and more people are securing their routers. If a person is lax on securing things and controlling access, the person doing the "invading" would be able to see the information to decrypt and encrypted e-mail as well. Unauthorized access and unsecured systems do not make e-mail unsafe. These are items that I cannot control on the client's end. No encryption for me. I have been using e-mail in a large way for many years. I have used the internet for everything available. I use simple common sense when using it, and have never been hacked or compromised.

I do not encrypt any e-mail. The idea of someone simply driving up in a van and intercepting your e-mail is TV and MOVIE FICTION! Can a person/entity tap your e-mails? Yes. I had my software engineer/techno son explain the process. It is long arduous and extremely complicated, and has to be done individually for each computer. Much information about the computer and it's connecting network is needed to put the proper tools in place. I challenge anyone to show me an instance of someone who has had their e-mails intercepted by a third party. E-mail is safer than snail mail. How many human beings handle a letter as it is going through the postal system? It is extremely low tech to steal an envelope, and every person is equipped with skills to do it. I dislike when people send me e-mail that requires logging in to some security system, then inputting information just to read it. I have, already, called the person and told them to fax the information. The TV show "Person of Interest" is 99% fiction. Despite all the rumors about Government seeing all e-mail, and listening to every cell phone conversation! PURE YAK SQUEEZE!!

I have Tracfone. Basic phone and texting. I pay by the minute for airtime. Online I get a package that makes the cost $.06/minute. Each text costs .3 minutes, so a text in or out costs. $.018 each. If I send a picture, it costs 1.0 min. each or $.06 for each picture file sent. I average $36/mo total costs over the last 26 months. The more I talk and text, the more it costs me. No contract. I can also use very very slow internet access that costs 1.5 min for each minute online. I have used that feature 3 times in 2 years. These rates make my cell phone usage very affordable, including texts. I have considered a smartphone, but the costs jump to $49.00 per month, but that includes unlimited everything. My phone runs on AT&T network, so coverage is good. Everyone should shop their cell phone costs, and DO NOT renew a contract when it runs out. The cell company has to keep providing service at the same price as the contract on a month to month basis as long as you keep paying. This gives you time to shop around. Cell providers have notoriously ripped customers on price and packages since they started. Competition has made this a different market these days. SHOP YOUR CELL PHONE SERVICE!!

Haven't used e-services for 2848 yet, but your situation does grab my attention!!

We have an inch of sleet with three inches of snow on top. Supposed to get up to 40+ tomorrow, so I am hoping most of the snow will melt. The streets and roads thawed today because the crews salted and plowed early morning and it was in the high 20s today.

Very unlikely that $500/month provided more than 50% of her support. I raised three. Youngest is now 24. Trust me on this one.

Use only the "manual" method for updating. I stopped using the automatic 4 years ago. Too many "quirks" to depend on the automatic, just as you are now describing. Use the maual update, and it should be fine.

I had this same issue last year intermittently. It made for more "double checking" when I was marking off the completed e-files. With our firm doing 2,800+ returns last year, this intermittent anomoly was a real headache. I hope that it is just an update thing....

If he has a network, that probably won't fix the problem. A workstation with the ATX program running was shut down improperly. The only way I have corrected this is to open administrators settings and remove that name from the list. Create a new name at the workstation and log in again.

I have not mailed in a 1096 in 4 years. Too simple to e-file and I get acknowlegment as well.