Catherine

Not really. We've seen microsoft treat their customers like dirt and their bloatware like a gift from on high for decades. It's for them - or they'd fix problems that have been around for way too long.

Yeah, I'm staying as far away from W11 as is humanly possible. During the filing season? Not just no, but no possible way on God's green earth not ever no way no how no!

We have a couple of Fujitsu ScanSnaps at the office, and they are great little workhorses. Love the duplex scanning.

I also use EFileMyForms and it's a great bargain. Easy and fast to use, and you get pdf copies instantly. Plus confirmations when 1099s are mailed, e-filed, and accepted.

I'm getting dizzy with all the yes-no-yes-no-yes-no!

If I ever really give up on QB (which I may, as I keep threatening to), I'll definitely go to Medlin's accounting program.

I did it, and so far have not had to use it - but the pertinent letters won't be coming out for the next several months. Rather than do representation myself, I thought it was worth the experiment, as I try to retire slowly & gracefully. TLDR answer: too early to tell, but cheap insurance?

We have all benefited from your participation here, and will miss you. I do hope you will reconsider, perhaps after taking a break. After all, Walter Cronkite came back the next evening.

They have an FAQ page here https://www.bls.gov/respondents/ars/faqs.htm found via search engine. Looks legit, I guess, but sheesh they want us to be suspicious of everything, then also send out-of-the-blue emails wanting people to click on links.

I have two emails purportedly from BLS this morning, for an "annual refiling survey." They look legit, and have a web ID and a password in separate emails. Yes, I can type in a link rather than click. The most suspicious item in the first paragraph is the "reduce costs and save tax dollars" which I have never, ever, seen any legitimate government agency give a dingleberry about. (Maybe that's a DOGE thing, suddenly, lol.)

Lots of groups issue letters annually, if they have people who donate multiple times during the year. So the organization's end of year donation statement works. Several million "children" disappeared the year they started requiring SSNs for kids as dependents.

Oooh; need to remind hubby to do that. Thanks!

I've had several calls asking if my welcome letters have gone out yet. Told them all "this week, I hope." We'll see. Yeah, sheesh, people. Lighten up - you won't get any official docs for some weeks yet.

I love Peanuts; thank you @Elrod !

Happy New Year to everyone here. May we all have a season without too much turmoil. Enjoy the last deep breath before the onslaught.

Merry Christmas to all. And Happy New Year, when we get there next week. This is the last week before loin-girding starts in earnest!

I would have a stack of papers to shred. When it hit an inch, I put it out for shredding.

I used to keep paper copies but now just pdf's - and a pdf of all client original documents and another of signature pages (paper kept for the requisite years). Electrons stack much more tightly than pages. Clients get paper and pdfs including EF Acks (I also keep acks). I want to have everything needed to research a return without having to open the program if at all possible.

I started mine around age 5 or 6. Shredding; paid by the inch. When they got older, filing, printing, and as teens answering phones. since we all three sound identical on the phone, they got real good at fielding general inquiries. Specific queries were handed off to me.

The older (pre-2022) returns will have to be mailed, yes. However the client will be able to pay online using Direct Pay (or send a check for payment of tax with the mailed-in return(s)) thereby at least cutting off additional penalties and interest. First Time Penalty Abatement may be possible for the oldest year (if the requirements are met; those are available online), but the penalties have to be imposed first. You can't ask for abatement before they add in penalties. Other penalty abatement might be possible if your client has a super-strong reason she could not file for those years. Sole caretaker of someone who needs 24/7 care might be a reason. Being someone who had a serious health event and was in hospital and/or rehab for a long time (or recurring visits in close proximity - I got penalty abatements for two years for one client who was in the hospital weekly for chemo, for months, spent the rest of the week recovering from that, then back in) is another reason. But they do check those out carefully and you do need to send in substantiation. Again, only after they impose penalties.

Just got a call from a long-deceased client's executor, who just today got a letter from the IRS claiming they cannot send out a refund because they lack Form 1310 - for 2018. For a client who died in May 2019, *after* we had filed his 2018 return. *And* for whom we sent in Form 1310 - at the IRS' request - in October of 2020. This has been sitting on someone's desk for over four years? Your tax dollars at play!

I renewed last year; CPE info was correct. Took a couple months to get my card, IIRC. I do keep paper and PDF copies of all my CPE certificates. Eventually the paper gets tossed, but electrons are cheap so those I keep.

If it's unconstitutional, that is by its very essence national and universal within the nation, the Constitution still being the "Supreme Law of the Land," "and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby" (Article VI, 2nd paragraph).

We finished the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner tonight - chicken pie (we had only four people, so I made chicken). I hope everyone had as nice a holiday as we had.

Client told me attorney said she'd never seen it before in over 20 years of estate work in CA - but that she checked, and it was indeed legal. She was horrified, too.