Catherine

One EA I knew who specialized in representation (I think she's retired now) used to put in all her offers for $1,000 to get them rejected fast. She said there was never any real negotiation or knowledgeable IRS people on the cases until you got to appeals, so why not skip the first level as fast as possible and get to a proper settlement officer. Not sure if that's really the case, and not sure I'd be comfortable trying that, but I can see the sense in it.

The key items for me are: Kludgey moving from one screen to another; very slow and clunky and non-obvious. Plus you can't go back to where you were; you have to go back to menus and re-navigate. Very much worse than QB desktop multiple windows. Reports are very much more limited in QBO. No auto-fill function. No adding on-the-fly in number fields - e.g., multiple items on a bill. No splitting transactions until *after* they have been recorded. That's what comes to mind off the top of my head. Ever work on the same year program with QB desktop for Windows and QB desktop for Mac? And the Mac version felt like it was four rev's behind and treated by the developers the same way they'd treat Weird Uncle Ed at Thanksgiving, who smells a little off, tells sketchy inappropriate stories, and no one wants to sit near him? That's how QBO feels to use.

I disagree. If another return was filed, *that* one is the one to flag. Not the one where everything matches the IRS master file going back 10+ years. Going back one year, sure. Two years, maybe. Ten or more? Nonsense. Incompetent programming.

Be glad you found out before filing! We had a similar case some years ago (before the entire IRS system collapsed, fortunately) and did not find out until the CP2000 letter to the client demanding tax and underreporting penalties etc on basically his entire income a second time. (Payroll provider switch was in November, if memory serves.) The IRS accepted a letter from the employer stating this was an error and that the old payroll company was going to issue W-2C forms for $0. For hundreds of employees... ouch.

We refuse any new clients who want QBO and do not support it; I detest it with a deep and sincere loathing. That said, I do pass along subscriptions at my cost for several clients who insisted (they have special circumstances, and in-house bookkeepers who know QBO).

This. I also run reports, but slightly different ones from what Tom says he runs. Mainly to the same purpose - but my WIP spreadsheet answers (in more detail than QB) the questions he runs his reports for.

I can understand this if there are address changes, name changes - or heck, even bank changes. But suddenly demanding proof of identity from people who have the same name, same address, same ssn, same bank, same frimping everything, as for the last decade - jeezel louizel, that's just bone-deep stupid. All my clients who have gotten those letters - except for one, who moved - have had no IRS system changes for a decade or longer.

It was just in a promo from some vendor and I already deleted the email. Hoping it's right, but I wouldn't put $$ on it yet.

Fair, as applied to taxation rules and regs. Strange but intriguing concept!

I use QuickBooks.

I have a secure portal that comes with my web site, but I also use Verifyle for e-signatures, and that is also a secure way to send information. I very much like that this year you can set up a document for two signatures; last year it was very clunky since it had to be done manually. NAEA gets you free access, yes, but the $9/month subscription is much less money than NAEA membership. I've let that lapse, as the only benefit I've had from my membership for some years has been last year's Verifyle access.

It's amazing what one year's events does to that baby new year. The more time goes on, the more I understand it!

We have no problem with other people dropping off information. We won't discuss it more than saying, "Thank you," though. If someone slides a package under the door at the office, or slips an envelope through my front door mail slot, I usually have no idea if it was the client, a neighbor, or Pony Express. Now, if an existing client comes in with someone (friend, adult child) and says they want them on board as a backstop, then we get a Section 7216 disclosure signed before any discussions take place. I don't think we need a POA unless the second person is wanted to take sole charge, or sign e-file authorizations and the like. We will accept referral clients from existing good clients. That backfired on us only once - it was last year; long term really nice client sent her brother. What a disaster he was - we fired him and were sure we were going to lose the sister and her husband. In the end, she apologized profusely to us! She had no idea what kind of a financial idiot he was; apparently she referred him to her financial advisor, too, who also fired him and read her the riot act over sending him.

Don't know about CA rules, but wouldn't that income pass through the 1041 on a K-1 and then be reported on the individual's 1040 anyway? Then the individual needs to see if they are over the state income limit for CA filing. In general, I have clients with rentals file in the state the property is in. (All mine are paper losses, because of depreciation.) That starts the statute and prevents the nastygram from the state demanding tax on the gross income on a 1099-MISC for rents.

That sounds like your client has misunderstood the information he was given. Regardless of his 457 pension, any current-year W2 earnings will affect the taxability of his socsec income if that income is high enough (likely won't matter if he's getting a $300/year as a stipend for some keep-busy job - some places won't let people volunteer; they must be on payroll, at least for a pittance). He's not mixing apples and oranges, he's mixing apples with kerosene and the combo is going to get him burned.

Here's what I send out. I don't use an organizer, per se, because a) they cost so much to send out, b) no one fills them out properly, and c) I want to see the original documents (and scan them for my records!) anyway. Don't waste the clients' time transferring (and messing up) numbers, and I get it all and can compare with prior year lists for anything missing. Anyone who keeps scanned originals, I highly recommend Gruntworx ( https://www.gruntworx.com/ ) to make an indexed pdf. That way when the CP2000 comes in a year and a half from filing, you can go instantly to the item the letter questions and see the original without slogging through a half-dozen or more pdf files littered with upside-down, back, and blank pages. 2021 Checklist - short organizer GF.pdf Also - anyone who finds it useful can use my organizer - if you drop me a note I'll send the Word document and you can put your own firm info on it, and make any state-specific changes.

Here's what I send out. I don't use an organizer, per se, because a) they cost so much to send out, b) no one fills them out properly, and c) I want to see the original documents (and scan them for my records!) anyway. Don't waste the clients' time transferring (and messing up) numbers, and I get it all and can compare with prior year lists for anything missing. Anyone who keeps scanned originals, I highly recommend Gruntworx ( https://www.gruntworx.com/ ) to make an indexed pdf. That way when the CP2000 comes in a year and a half from filing, you can go instantly to the item the letter questions and see the original without slogging through a half-dozen or more pdf files littered with upside-down, back, and blank pages. 2021 Checklist - short organizer GF.pdf

May God give us all the strength to get through the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Quarters of 2020... Perhaps we can hope/pray for a return to normalcy on January 1st, 2023. (Loved your comment on Qx of 2020 some time ago, Lion, and have used it ever since!)

I use one of the online services (EFileMyForms) and they take care of all the e-filing nonsense. Fortunately, I also don't have too many of these to do any more. My business partner takes care of most of our businesses and I forget what he uses.

Happy New Year to all my friends and colleagues here. Couldn't get through this madness without you all!

Massachusetts got really nasty about Use Tax for a few years (people go to NH to buy stuff and bring home). Then they got NH stores to charge MA sales tax to all MA deliveries (that gets the big stuff, like appliances and large furniture), and Amazon too. They quieted down a lot after that. I have a few who still claim the "safe harbor" figure (based on income) but most once again skip it. I tracked our Use Tax for years, and once Amazon started collecting tax it was less than $10 for the year, so I stopped tracking. Plus, now eBay charges tax even on used items from individuals (not stores) that technically are not subject to sales tax in MA. So I no longer press people for details, but the query is still on my documents checklist.

I'll pick the 25th. (of January 2022)

Merry Christmas to all my friends here!

Your clients have been substantially luckier than mine, then. Might be highly dependent on what center the returns go to.

I bought Adobe Acrobat X (way old, now) new and licensable from ebay, for two machines. Been using it ever since. Don't know what is the most-recent of the old, you-own-it, non-subscription packages, but you could try that.