Lee B

Yesterday one of my clients , before leaving on an overseas trip, asked to to email some of his tax returns to a bank where he has applied to refinance a loan. I used Adobe Acrobat to encrypt the returns with a password and emailed them to the bank. The bank sent back an email saying that their security software stripped the encrypted files containing the tax returns (will not allow any encrypted files to enter their email server). I am not comfortable sending the tax returns without encryption. The bank's solution was to send me a link for "Cisco's Registered Secure Email Service." It requires me to download some files, sign up as a registered user, then reply to an email from the bank, then attach my encrypted files etc. I understand the need for security, but this seems a bit over the top. That is one of my better clients with multiple entities. What would you do ?

Perhaps your printer driver needs to be updated.

Be aware the the definition of AGI for calculating the credit and the AGI for the calculation of the penalty are not exactly the same.

The reappearance of this problem is not a confidence builder, since ATX had a very similar problem last year. Also, I'm noticing several posts on the ATX board of users having problems with the Backup/Restore function just like last year. Basically, I.m waiting to see what others users experience is after the mid-January update.

Last year a number of users had delete the link to the Form ( C, E, or F etc), then when they redid the Form link, the depreciation numbers flowed correctly.

There are some posts on the ATX Board about this problem and what different users have figured out. The impression I got was that this problem occurred if the Form the depreciation was tied to Schedule C or ? was not available when the return was rolled over. In which case you would have to delete the return and wait to rollover until Schedule C, E, or F was available and updated in your software. Hope that helps.

I didn't have earthquake insurance on my home until there was a moderate earthquake in my state about 15 years ago. Paying for E & O Insurance is kind like paying for Earthquake Insurance.

I have my coverage thru the same company ( subsidiary of CNA ) as August & Margaret. Never filed a claim, but the price is good.

I went to a class that covered this topic about 6 weeks ago taught by a CPA/Attorney that specialized in this area. Basically he said that as long as you had solid documentation, you were almost always better going to appeals, assuming that your application and documentation met all the requirements.

The government reimbursement rates to medical providers is lower for Medicaid than it is for Medicare, so while some providers are declining to accept Medicare patients, there are far more who are declining to accept Medicaid patients due to the lower reimbursement rates. I've read news stories where some doctors are limiting their medicaid patients to no more than 10 % of their total patient base.

I just finished a tax planning session with one of my clients who is an author. While asking about her expenses and what constituted Professional Services, I found out that since she has switched this year to self publishing, she is now making payments to 5 different individuals who provide various kinds of publishing services, one of whom is a Canadian citizen living and working in Canada. Does anyone know what the rules are for reporting the payments to the Canadian citizen. Of course the payments to the other 4 need to be reported on Form 1099. Thanks,

Just the other day, I was reading an article about the filing of fraudulent W-2s & 941s with inactive EINs to prepare the way for claiming bogus 1040 refunds. The article said that everyone should follow the procedures for closing any inactive Federal EINs. I didn't even know there was a procedure and I've been processing payrolls for 21 years. I am going to have review my files to see if I have any EINs from any of my current clients which should be closed.

The ATX Board is up and running. I was just there. According to some posts, it sounds like they may have blocked access to anyone who hasn't renewed for 2013 or has other active software. I have the current Payroll module so I still have access. Other posters with support requests for last years tax program have apparently been told no help with last years program unless you renew for the coming year? Customer Service ain't what it used to be !

Is the use of available public information "spying ?"

Business efiling will be closed the last week of December thru the first week of January, otherwise open.

I was a Senior in High School standing in the hallway getting ready to enter a Civics class. The news was announced over the P A system. I remembered my Civics teacher saying, " The stupid bastards actually went ahead and did it." He wouldn't explain his comment. Grist for the conspiracy theorists ?

I just received an email encouraging me to click on the enclosed link to renew my PTIN. It was all text no graphics, pretty clearly a scam !

Just used EFTPS and it's working fine. I efiled a Form 1120 late yesterday afternoon with ATX and received my acks this morning.

According to the MeF Status Page, the system was back up as of 3:30 PM EST.

Intuit Tax Online has emailed an advisory against using IE 11, due to unspecified problems. Chrome, Firefox, & Safari, are their preferred browsers.

I was just at Dell's Website. Most of their business system selections give you the option of Win 7 or Win 8. if you go to consumer or home computer websites, your only option is Win 8. i also went to Lenovo's website which also gives you the option of both Win 7 & Win 8. Lenovo (formerly IBM PCs) is now the largest P C maker in the world.

As I understand it, in those states which choose not to expand Medicaid, there will be a gap between that MAGI that allows you to qualify for Medicaid and the MAGI that allows you to qualify for health insurance thorough the ACA exchange. If your MAGI falls in this gap, then your only option would be a standard individual health insurance policy with no credits. There have been some articles written about this gap, if you want to google.

Also, if for whatever reason the senior ends up in a nursing home paid by medicaid past gifts may well end up being examined.

Actually the ATX Community is up and running. I was just there. Last year I discovered purely by accident that ATX has subcontracted out the running of ATX Community, when I got redirected to another site which does that kind of stuff for different companies.

It depends on what ATX email communications that you have selected and agreed to. I decided to minimize my email communications from ATX so I just receive the major announcements