The most time consuming part of my business taxes is the part a tax preparer can't do: categorizing expenses and totaling by category. I've been working on that today (after sleeping in). Every year, when I get that information finished, I fill out the tax forms myself.

When I first started my business, I hired a CPA firm to do my taxes. I did it that way for several years. Of course, I reviewed the completed return every year before sending it in. After awhile, I realized, “I can do this.”

“But Bob, what about changes to tax law?”

It’s true, I suppose, but as a counter-argument I’d point out that when the tax law changes, the tax forms change correspondingly. Here’s the thing: I actually read the forms and the instructions. And that’s the part that most people don’t want to do, I think. They don’t want to read it. So they ask a CPA, or at least a Tax Preparer, to do it for them.

In my amateurish, non-professional way of doing taxes, I have something very nice working in my favor: if I’m ever audited, the IRS auditor will either say my tax return is fine, or they’ll say, “We owe you a refund. You overpaid.” I declare all income, and I don’t make up deductions, and the math is good. So if I do make a mistake, it’s going to be not taking a deduction that I’m entitled to.

Will that hypothetical refund for overpayment ever be more than the money I’ve saved over the years by doing my own taxes? I doubt it.

So it comes down to whether I prefer the drudgery of doing it myself, or paying someone to do it for me. And since I have to do 98% of the work (categorizing and totaling expenses) and the CPA would only do 2% of the work (filling out the forms with the numbers I provide), I’m fine with doing it all myself.

#entrepreneurship #smallBusiness #taxes

This mini-PC (in the yellow circle) was shipped to me from Texas. The owner, a man who lived alone, suffered a major medical event and will never be able to use it again. The person with Power of Attorney sent it to me to crack. I recovered email, a rather insecure password list, information on all utility bills, where banking is done, and so forth. Now the family can proceed with handling the person’s financial affairs.

The mini-PC is even easier to ship than a laptop, because it doesn’t have any lithium battery inside. It uses an external AC adapter.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

It’s time for company’s to change this website notice to, “You may need to download an application to view PDF documents.”

The Portable Document Format (PDF) was originally a proprietary format, but it has been an open standard for many years now.

I sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with several of my clients. Adobe’s constant pressure to incorporate their automatic cloud storage and artificial intelligence analysis of documents that are read, created, or edited with their software make their products not just a security risk, but a legal risk.

I canceled my Adobe subscription and uninstalled all of their products from every computer I use for work-related tasks. (Full disclosure: my wife still has her Adobe subscription and has no interest in changing products).

Opening a PDF file in a web browser is also a security risk if you have an NDA, since many web browser providers are analyzing displayed content. If you have security obligations to your clients, I recommend disabling the viewing of PDF files in the browser, or, better yet, use a less invasive browser for work-related tasks.

I’m not making any recommendations in this post (or in the comments) for PDF viewers or browsers, because that would create the impression that this is a sales pitch. If anyone recommends something in the comments, that’s fine, just understand that I’m not making an endorsement here.

But back to the original point, in my opening sentence: unless Adobe is paying you to recommend their product on your website, you should drop the reference to Adobe in your PDF notice. It’s an open standard, and recommending a particular product when it’s not a requirement is misleading at best.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

Cybersecurity - Networks - Wireless – Telecom – VoIP

One of the most bewildering aspects of remote tech support is when I connect to the user's computer, there's an error message on the screen telling exactly what to do to fix the problem, and the user says, "Just close that, it always pops up."

I respond with, "Well, that's a safe error message, so I'm going to click on it and resolve it so it doesn't keep being an annoyance."

And then their problem is fixed and I invoice them.

It would make sense to me if they said, "I'm not sure if it's okay to click on that, or if it's trying to trick me."

But when they don't think it's related to the problem - I don't know how to explain that.

#HelpDesk

Are QR codes for restaurant menus safe? Why yes, as a matter of act, they are. And before you start with the “But Bob,” read the whole post.

There’s this concept in cybersecurity called a risk assessment. When the restaurant puts an official, restaurant-sponsored QR code linking to their menu on your table, the risk is very low. Click on the link and pick your favorite food and beverage.

Did someone tape a new QR code over the original QR code? The risk went up. Ask your server if the restaurant changed the QR code. If they did, the risk is back down.

QR codes are a nice benefit in the age of smartphones. They make it much easier to get a complex URL into your browser, and to identify valid concert ticket holders, and many other things.

THE LESSON
Instead of parroting negative rules (“Don’t do this!” “Don’t do that!”), use your skills and do the analysis.

(About the picture: someone on Threads complained about QR codes for restaurant menus. They don’t like them. Fine. Me neither. But then someone posted in the comments, “You should never scan random QR codes this is a huge cybersecurity issue.” And that’s just a gross oversimplification).