Catherine

Yes.

Could indeed be a reason for non-match of documents, and I don't see it being a political comment to refer to public statements of fact regarding actions taken by the IRS. It's not even political to rant about how much of a royal PITA it's going to be for us, dealing with the repercussions of their actions. (We'll probably get asked to provide proofs from client docs like mortgage statements and more, that were sent in and destroyed. My state does this all the time with withholding for state pensions; they pay the funds, they withhold the state tax, then demand the taxpayer prove that the state withheld the tax by sending in 1099-R forms with the state tax withheld amount highlighted. I swear, if these people had a clue, they'd be dangerous...)

Remember the maxim: if you double your rates and lose half your clients, you will be doing half the work for the same money. YMMV if you are basically working as a hobby, or a ministry, or any other non-financial ultimate purpose. But for those of us making a living at this insane business, the workman is worth his/her hire. Anyone who does not agree need not be a client.

It looks beautiful! Enjoy the fruits of all your labors.

Well here is a new one. Just got a letter, addressed to ME (at my business address), for tax debt owed by a former client of mine, demanding payment from me! There was a box to check stating I dispute the debt, reason: it ain't mine! and I faxed that in immediately - along with a strongly worded letter demanding that they remove all association of this debt from my name and address. I also stated in the letter that if this affects my business credit rating, I will consider legal action against them. So I think they have been dealt with. We'll see. The larger issue is that they could only have gotten my name and contact information from the IRS, which has somehow conflated my (now-expired) POA with the principal of the LLC in the paperwork they are sending to debt collection agencies. Who would I contact to protest this/warn the IRS/demand they ensure that debt collectors are going after the tax payers, not the tax preparers? This is carelessness in the extreme. Frankly, if any of us had sent taxpayer confidential information out to a debt collector and put an IRS agent's name and contact as the person responsible, the entire agency would be all over any of us, stripping us of our EFINs and PTINs and whatnot. It's not okay, just because it's them doing it, not one of us.

I have used Gwx and before they came up with "covered transactions" I used the Gwx trades too. Great service. I upload all my scans and get the bookmarked indexed pdf back and keep for my records. Wonderful for clients who get letters years later; no need to plod through fifteen different multi-page pdf's looking for the pertinent piece of information. Just click the bookmark. Highly recommended, for far more than Trades.

MA is horrible about those 1095-As. Some they send on paper. Others have to log on somewhere to download. If eligible for totally subsidized MassHealth, since that's a fully state (taxpayer) funded program, they don't send a 1095-A. So not only is it confusing for the clients, it's horrible for us, and can change year to year depending on the financials of the client and what they chose online a year ago.

When e-file of 941s became possible, I looked into the requirements. Halfway through reading them, I demurred and have never looked at it again. Way more onerous - and potentially dangerous to me as a professional - than paper. If they want the *&^ forms electronically, they can make it easier and less dangerous to do so. Until then, they're getting paper. Which they can then fold until there are lots of stiff hard corners, and shove where the sun don't shine. I am sick and tired of mandates that make their lives "easier" but put me, my practice, and my clients at greater risk.

That is my assumption from the text, as well. However, mortgage interest, consolidated 1099s, and 1095s are all important documents on transcripts for clients who "lost" (i.e., threw out) those documents.

Me too! You'd think it would teach me not to do things in haste, but it ain't sunk in yet. One of these years, I hope and pray!

Do they want money? Or you don't know yet, because while they received perhaps they have not processed? I think I'd try to pursue this as I've generally found that anything let slide ends up trying to bite me in the tail later.

Many thanks to you, @BHoffman. I managed to get through to a junior agent this morning who was very helpful but basically useless. She gave me some of your recommendations, but not all. Have an email out to client to confer a bit before we go further.

They destroyed millions of docs; in theory, mostly informational. God help us pulling transcripts in a couple of years as there will be nothing on file. IRS Destroyed 30 million paper tax documents (link to site; text copied below) An audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has found that the Internal Revenue Service made an intentional decision "to destroy an estimated 30 million paper-filed information return documents in March 2021." TIGTA says the agency did this because of it's inability to catch up on backlogs of paper-filed returns. The report does not say that actual 1040 income tax forms from filers were destroyed, but only that information returns used to support tax filings were. "The IRS uses these documents to conduct post-processing compliance matches to identify taxpayers who do not accurately report their income." Common information returns include forms W-2, 1099 and 1098, among others. With the supporting documents destroyed, the IRS will likely be missing many of the documents it requires to adequately screen for accuracy of returns, and may also end up lacking sufficient materials for tax audits. However, the IRS can request taxpayers provide relevant proof or copies of documents used to support their income tax returns, including copies of files the IRS may have destroyed. TIGTA previously reported that there were actions the IRS could take to reduce paper filings and/or convert paper tax returns into an electronic format. In addition, TIGTA reported that, while the electronic filing (e-filing) of business tax returns continued to increase, the e-filing rate still lags behind that of individual tax returns. Finally, repeated efforts to modernize paper tax return processing have been unsuccessful. In other findings, TIGTA reported that has taken several steps to increase e-filing, but that the pandemic amplified the backlog of paper tax returns and records. This, TIGTA noted, suggests that the IRS needs to create an agency-wide "strategy to further increase e-filing." TIGTA made three overall recommendations as a result of its audit: Develop a Service-wide strategy to prioritize and incorporate all forms for e-filing; Develop processes and procedures to identify and address potentially non-compliant corporate filers; Develop processes and procedures to ensure that penalties are consistently assessed against business filers that are non-compliant with e-filing requirements. The report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is at:https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2022reports/202240036fr.pdf

Client owed AZ tax; approved an e-pay debit of part of the tax owed; they planned to pay the balance a paycheck or two after payment to their resident state cleared. Arizona, however, debited the full amount of tax - leaving the clients up the creek for their resident state, plus quite a few other bills. What they want is to have a return of the debit in excess of what was authorized, and they will pay the tax (including late payment interest/penalties) on their original schedule. How likely is Arizona to be reasonable about this? Frankly, by taking more than was authorized, to my mind it's theft. For all they knew, the balance was coming by check from a different account, or online credit card payment, or via an installment payment request by mail.

A good reminder to us all - are our hard drives encrypted? Are the file drawers locked? Do you have cyber insurance? Does your backup scheme include cold-metal restoration? Very glad to hear that your office was not burglarized, cbslee!

Everything that Margaret & FDNY said. If helping us here is a break for you, then God bless you and thank you for finding us a respite. Please take time for yourself!

Hi folks, I got a voucher from Ruby Receptionists for call answering services, based on a class action from a number of years ago. I was always very happy with the Ruby service, but as my business grew and I hired more help, having an answering service was no longer necessary. Therefore, this voucher is 100% useless to me. If anyone uses Ruby and is interested in this voucher, please let me know! It's worth a bit under $100 and I can give all details to whoever is interested. Not interested in making money for it; mainly that it get used by someone, rather than just wasted.

For a couple of years, MA was sending out "correction" letters with less-than-$5 changes (both directions) but zero explanation. That was fun. Not.

Look at Drake. Also, many moons ago, I used TaxAct (pro) but moved to ATX because at the time TA did not have part year or nonresident state returns. They've really grown since then (20 years and more; I should hope so!) and they might be worth a look-see.

Happy Birthday, Judy! I have about a year on you (ahead, not behind). Last summer when I was teaching I so seriously overdid it all that it took a full month to feel even vaguely human again. This tax season has been relatively mild in comparison (there was one really nasty week, and a few other multiple-day events). No alarm clock. Not working weekends, or evenings. I "wasted" an entire day reading a novel I'd bought in like February and had been looking forward to; that was lovely. Working in my garden. Visiting granddaughter (and her mama and dada) - she started walking at 10 months! Also talking a bit (mamamamama, dadadadada, aaaDUH (all done), awwwtuh (water) and a few others). This weekend I'll be starting some seeds for veggie plants. Sewing. Finalized the book for the Bible study class I run weekly. I also started the intermittent fasting last fall with great trepidation but frankly I had the best/healthiest winter in memory and feel good overall, too. Rifle practice with the laser trainer setup in the basement; our annual set of 3 matches starts next Saturday (first time since 2019), but it's been way too cold and windy to practice outside! Having a hard time getting motivated to deal with extensions. Remembered at 4:15pm today that PR tax payments were due; got 'em scheduled on time! Plus 941 and other filings. Two amended returns done (both had late-received, totally unexpected, K-1s from estates). Next week I have my own bookkeeping to catch up on. Summer vacation in August to look forward to, and another week of teaching in July (told them months ago I won't be doing nearly so much this year) to prepare. Was feeling super burned out last year so I've been scaling back as best I can this year.

In answer to @Blabrunda I don't know off the top of my head. You could put it in, why not? In answer to @Abby Normal plenty (including me, at times) fill out the paper form to make sure all issues are resolved before going to the online form.

Why can't they use their time to go look for more kiddie porn perpetrators and shut them down? Why harass our clients who then harass and blame us? Why? Why? Why?

That's what they call it, but that isn't what it is: it's corporatism. I am starting to think that the UK should never have approved the perpetual corporation. Yes, the going-back-to-Parliament to get charters extended every so-many years was annoying, but it prevented the monoliths we see today. Those monoliths are extremely interested in preventing competition. As for Drake, I'd rather see a $50 increase in price every year than a $300 increase every 5 or 6 years; I'd been waiting for a wallop in price for a couple of years now. As for support - at least they're still answering the phones. I'm still waiting for my guaranteed-within-48-hours callback from ATX from Feb of 2013.

For the first year ever, there were customer support people who were clueless. I hoped this was because they had newbies and programmers on phones. That said, I am still very happy with the software overall, and would not change at this time.

Drake has a slightly different approach; largest discounts are for earliest renewals.