Lee B

I am not filing for any clients. I will probably to file my own until November.

To clarify this is the IRS implementation of the FTC's Safeguards Rule.

Copied from IRS News Release 2024 - 32: "The Federal Trade Commission’s safeguards rule now mandates that all tax professionals use multi-factor authentication, or MFA, to secure sensitive client data."

Copied from Business Insider: "The layoffs come as Dell rolls out its new AI strategy. Dell has been trialing AI tools internally since October 2023 and is now putting the plan into action, applying AI across product development, content management, sales tools, and customer service. The tools will make staff more efficient and free up their time for more important tasks, corporate strategy SVP Vivek Mohindra told Business Insider" "Two Dell employees in human resources told BI that layoffs would bring the workforce to under 100,000 people. Given the company had just under 120,000 full-time employees, according to internal data seen by BI in May, tens of thousands of staff are being let go." I really hope that the AI working in product development doesn't hallucinate too much.

Copied from Forbes: "In its 10-Q quarterly report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on July 31, 2024, the company warned that if the IRS applies the same argument to other tax years and ultimately prevails, it would owe approximately $16 billion in back taxes and interest, counting interest through the end of last year. Ouch

The Microsoft webcast that I watched said that basic 2FA with either PINs texted to your phone or emailed to you are 99 + % effective. According to the webcast most hackers aren't that sophisticated and that the sophisticated hackers aren't going to spend their time on a single account.

I have read that with some programs if your cell phone is synced then as long your cell phone is on and nearby then you are allowed to log in.

It's good to hear that someone else has had a good experience with authenticators. I tried using Google's authenticator to sign in into my gmail account. It was a very frustrating experience, sometimes waiting as long as 10 minutes for the authenticator to respond. Currently, I rely on PINs texted to my phone or emailed to me.

IMHO, the key thing is to enable 2FA or passwordless login for my computer system. Just watched a MS webcast about this and I am going to try using "Windows Hello"

I assume that you would turn MFA for logging into your Win 10 or Win 11 System. With Drake I can password encrypt the PDFs of tax return copies.

That is exactly what they mean - IR 2024 - 201

No, the FAQs have a definite answer about sole proprietors filing Schedule C with a "dba"

Perhaps your client took what the attorney said "out of context" My clients have perfect memory

On July 8th, FINCEN released about 50 pages of updated FAQs. https://www.fincen.gov/boi-faqs

"Coca-Cola said Friday it plans to pay a tax penalty worth $6 billion while it pursues an appeal in a long-running dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. "The company believes it will prevail on appeal," Coca-Cola said of a US tax court ruling dated July 31 that covered the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. The back taxes amount to $2.7 billion, which with interest makes the total owed "approximately $6.0 billion," the company said." "The case dates to 2015 when Coca-Cola received a notice from the IRS contesting the company's accounting of income from foreign affiliates over the need for "arms-length" pricing of transactions with these entities, Coca-Cola said in a securities filing." The big international conglomerates have been very adept at manipulating our tax system for decades Inquiring minds might ask, why does Apple with its Billions of dollars in profits have a US Federal effective tax rate of only 8% ???

I just called Hiscox directly and gave them my Policy #. I was told that I am definitely not covered and that the CTA BOI Reporting is specifically listed in my policy exclusions.

You definitely have a mystery on your hands. All you and your client can do is call. A "Record of Account Transcript" might be helpful.

If the other accountant wants something in writing , they should provide the release document

Thanks Terry, I have used Hiscox for years. Even if they did offer coverage, I still wouldn't assist my clients with BOI. I am informing them of the CTA and BOI reporting.

I have used a desktop for so many years that I really have no interest in trying to use a laptop for work.

Welcome back Marilyn Yes, trying to work when you don't feel good is hard. I have been struggling with some health issues this month. So far I have missed working 9 days in July. Today, I just finished my payroll reports for the 2nd quarter Hopefully, I am on the way to recovery but it may take another month or two before I am close to normal.

I think the Part II Taxpayer Declaration will answer your question

Call the practitioners hotline. While they may not give you a specific answer without a POA ,they will at the very least tell you how to find out what you need to know. I used this approach twice last year and was very happy with their assistance.

I think it's the money spent lobbying by the fee charging third party software providers that keeps the current restrictions in place. Dennis, I use your payroll software for all except my largest client who has 60 employees. I would happily pay you a reasonable per form fee to e-file Form 940 & Form 941

If I do that, I would increase my fees to cover that time.