Lee B

I have a Canon that is very fast duplexing, so I will print duoublesided.

Last tax season was my first year with Drake and twice they had me email a copy of the return that I was working on and were able to quickly identify and resolve my problem(s). I never had any issues that would have needed them to directly access my computer.

Even if a trailer is personal property, it still is a residence. Options: 1. What I have always done if I am filing a return anyway is to report the sale and claim the exclusion in order to avoid a potential IRS letter and the panic call from the client. 2. Don't report and deal with the IRS letter when and if it happens. Just explain the choices to your client and make an informed decision together.

Just to be clear, your paper filed return will not be processed. It will put on the back burner to be worked at some later date after the shutdown finishes. Actually waiting for the shutdown to end and for efiling to restart would more than likely result in a quicker processing turnaround.

I have Drake Accounting installed on a standalone system. I just started using it for "on the fly" Forms 94x, W2/W3 etc. I have experienced some noticeable time lags with only 9 or 10 small clients set up. As it currently stands, it is slower than the SAS online programs, Accounting Power & Payroll Relief from Accountants World, which I have been using for almost 7 years. Hopefully Drake Accounting 2019, which was just released, will be significantly better ? If not, Drake Accounting has a ways to go before it can be considered a serious program !

Judy, you absolutely nailed it.

The updated numbers are 69,922 employees have been furloughed and 9,946 employees remain at work. The current shutdown plan being used by the IRS remains in effect until midnight Friday, December 28th. I assume that they are madly scrambling trying to figure out what to do next week.

Supposedly, 9,880 IRS employees are still working. Secretary Mnuchin has assured everyone that there will be no delays in the opening of tax season or in the issuing of refunds.

I am sure the furloughing of 52,000 IRS employees will have little or no effect.

After 20 years with ATX, I switched to Drake last tax season. However I continued to use the Payroll Compliance program this year, since it has always performed well for me with minimal problems. Now I am switching over to new Drake Accounting program for payroll compliance filing because: 1. July 1st, 2018 Oregon's "Statewide Transit Tax Withholding" went into effect, which requires the quarterly filing of 3 new forms, OR-STT-1, OR_STT-2 & OR-STT-V. The 3rd quarter forms were due October 31st. ATX created the forms, but they are still not approved for filing. Called support, but they were not aware any effort to get the forms approved. 2. I filed a Form 4419 with the IRS which was returned because the ATX version was not the current version. Just checked, the current version of this form is still not available from ATX. So, now I am severing my last connection to ATX. Used to be a great organization and a great program. Now, not so much. C'est la vie

See IR 2017-204 See Notice 2018-3 See Rev Proc 2010-51

It seems to me that they have been recruiting CPAs and EAs for several years now.

Exactly, just had Charles Schwab do precisely that for my own QCD's earlier this month.

Yeah, when they instituted "Support Chat" as the next best thing to sliced bread, that was the last straw for me.

I apologize, I just assumed it was fairly current.

"Microsoft Has Stopped Trying The Microsoft Security Essentials website promises “comprehensive malware protection” and “award-winning protection,” so users would be forgiven for believing that Microsoft was committed to making MSE a capable antivirus solution. But Microsoft is now saying that MSE is only basic protection that users shouldn’t rely on. In an interview with Dennis Protection Labs, Holly Stewart, the senior program manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, said that Microsoft Security Essentials was just a “baseline” that’s designed to “always be on the bottom” of antivirus tests. She said Microsoft sees MSE as a first layer of protection and advises Windows users to use a third-party antivirus instead. According to Holly Stewart, Microsoft “had an epiphany a few years ago, back in 2011, where we realized we had a greater calling and that was to protect all Microsoft customers.” She says that Microsoft passes its information on to other antivirus makers and helps them make their products better. “We used to have part of our time directed towards predicting test results,” but these people have now been directed to focus on emerging threats and share that information with other antivirus companies. She went on: “We’re providing all of that data and information to our partners so they can do at least as well as we are. The natural progression is that we will always be on the bottom of these tests. And honestly, if we are doing our job correctly, that’s what will happen.” Nevertheless, she argues that “baseline does not equal bad” and says they provide a high-quality antivirus. But Microsoft themselves are recommending users not use MSE, so it’s hard to take that seriously. This isn’t a product average people should use — it’s better than no antivirus, but not something we should recommend. Microsoft is doing a disservice to its users by telling antivirus testing companies that they don’t recommend MSE for average users and telling average users that MSE provides them with “comprehensive malware protection” on their website. Microsoft needs to pick one message and stick to it." Excerpted from an article in How To Geek: https://www.howtogeek.com/173291/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-antivirus/

My understanding is being a "Real Estate Professional" is of no benefit as far as the determination of QBI.

I have a client, mid seventies, who is a retired American Airline stewardess. As part of her retirement benefits, she receives free flights. Prior to 2017, AA issued a 1099 to her for the value of the flights. Beginning with 2017, the IRS required AA to issue a W-2 for the value of the flights, including FICA withheld. Who knew ?

The House has just reduced the TCJA Technical Corrections/Tax Extenders Bill from 297 pages to 253 pages. `Woah, democracy in progress !

First the the 20 % PTE deduction is taken on Form 1040 on the lower of QBI or Form 1040 Taxable Income. Therefore you could have positive QBI and zero taxable income resulting in a zero PTE Deduction.

Just realized that we have the same scenario as last year, the Tuition and Fees Deduction was only extended thru 12/31/17. An extender bill will have to pass for this deduction to be effective for the 2018 Tax Year.

On my Charles Schwab account, voice pattern authentication is now being offered and encouraged. How it works is a password phrase is repeated 3 times and recorded. From that point forward, you have to repeat that phrase in order to authenticate who you are . It sounds promising, but if hackers could access the servers where those phrase recording were kept, then even this could compromised.

I must say, you gave your buyer a fantastic deal .

Five or six months ago I had my hard drive on my Win 7 Pro 64 Bit system replaced by an SSD, which was cloned with no issues.

Excerpted from a long article in the CPA Journal : https://www.cpajournal.com/2018/12/06/icymi-the-equifax-data-breach/ Why Is This Breach Different? "Over the past decade, over 3 billion people’s personal information has been hacked from email providers like Yahoo or retailers like Target. The Equifax breach, however, is the first in which the “big four” personal security identifiers—name, address, birth date and Social Security number—were stolen from so many at once. These are the security authentication foundations for many commercial and other purposes (Robert Lemos, “Identity Verification Becomes Trickier in Wake of Equifax Breach,” eWeek, Sept. 11, 2017, http://bit.ly/2yMVLOu). Possession of these identifiers may increase two forms of identity theft: new account fraud and account takeover. In new account fraud, a criminal uses the identifiers and possibly other information to open new credit accounts in a person’s name; the target does not find out until his credit rating is wrecked after the bills go unpaid. The aggravation, costs, and time spent on the resulting credit repair can be significant. In account takeover, the criminal uses the four identifiers to impersonate someone for various purposes, including creating fraudulent transactions. To CPA firms, one of the more familiar frauds of this type is the filing of phony income tax returns to steal tax refunds. In some cases, local CPA firm computers have been breached, enabling thieves to successfully perpetrate this type of fraud. Recently, account takeover has been used to steal cell phone numbers, which can compromise multifactor authentication (MFA), an important cybersecurity best practice (Nathaniel Popper, “Identity Thieves Hijack Cellphone Accounts to Go After Virtual Currency,” New York Times, Aug. 21, 2017, http://nyti.ms/2jws7dq). MFA requires providing authenticating information in a manner different than the initial authentication; for example, some websites will, after the user has inputted her password, send a second verification code via text message that must also be inputted to log in. Another MFA method requires that the initiator make a call from a predetermined phone number; unfortunately, such a phone number can be imitated, and the security of the MFA rendered ineffective. Weak MFA approaches could lull CPAs into a false sense of security. Many accounting software programs rely on two-factor authentication for sign-in or to reset forgotten passwords, and an increasing number of these programs enable the electronic transfer of funds from bank and investment accounts. With this type of account takeover on the rise, it may be wise to revisit the use of cellphone text messages for MFA, as well as explore more secure approaches. In previous major breaches, the public attitude has generally been to accept the risk as the price of convenience. The Equifax breach, however, has taken public frustration over weak cyber-security to unprecedented levels (Ron Lieber, “Why the Equifax Breach Stings So Bad,” New York Times, Sept. 22, 2017, http://nyti.ms/2jvZvkT). The breach is beginning to instill general fear that the cybersecurity underpinning electronic commerce cannot be trusted." Recently, I talked to an Investment Adviser with Key Investment Services who was no longer allowed to email clients for any reason. Any emails sent to him had to go thru a security review process that significantly delayed his receipt of emails from clients. I have also read several articles where more than one highly regarded IT Security Expert said that he had stopped using email due to all the hacks and scams that are everywhere. Another article estimated that in a another year or two that in excess of 80 % of all emails worldwide will be generated by scammers & hackers. Be very careful out there, the world has changed. We will have to adjust.