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Tax practitioners occasionally uncover or otherwise become aware of errors in the previously filed tax returns of their clients. As a general rule, tax practitioners in such situations should lose no time in communicating news of the error to the client. This general duty is embodied in rules applied by both the AICPA and the IRS. Nevertheless, principles governing this duty are often far easier to articulate in theory than they are to apply in practice.
To begin with, the scope of the duty and the extent of the obligations it places on practitioners are by no means clearly delineated, particularly in the gray areas that sometimes confront even the most scrupulous and ethical of tax practitioners. Moreover, the sheer brevity of the general rule, which appears straightforward on its face, all but requires practitioners to look beyond its letter in many cases and be governed by its spirit to arrive at an interpretation that reconciles reasonable administrability with rational professional conduct.
This first part of a two-part article begins by examining the two somewhat different versions of the rule on advising clients regarding erroneous tax return positions—one applied by the AICPA and the other by the IRS. The article then considers how these rules (which this article refers to collectively as "the Rule") should be applied, both generally and in those particularly sensitive circumstances in which the error may be attributable to the tax practitioner's own advice. Part II of the article, in the July issue, will discuss what practitioners should do when clients fail to heed their advice; other practical considerations; and what to do when the error is attributable to the tax practitioner's own advice.
Background of the Rule
What Does the AICPA Generally Require?
The most comprehensive set of standards guiding the actions of tax practitioners who identify an error in a client's previously filed return is enunciated in the AICPA Statement on Standards for Tax Services (SSTS) No. 6, Knowledge of Error: Return Preparation and Administrative Proceedings. This standard specifically applies to tax practitioners who are members of the AICPA, most of whom are CPAs. Nevertheless, the standards have much broader applicability, both in their persuasive authority and their power to create industry norms, which directly or indirectly establish the general parameters within which tax practitioners operate.
Specifically, SSTS No. 6 states in relevant part:
A member should inform the taxpayer promptly upon becoming aware of an error in a previously filed return, an error in a return that is the subject of an administrative proceeding, or a taxpayer's failure to file a required return. A member also should advise the taxpayer of the potential consequences of the error and recommend the corrective measures to be taken. 1
The explanation of SSTS No. 6 contemplates that an error in a previously filed return will be discovered by a tax practitioner "[w]hile performing services for a taxpayer." 2 Nevertheless, the standard applies "whether or not the member prepared or signed the return that contains the error." 3 Thus, the scope of SSTS No. 6 is relatively broad. 4
The standard's coverage, however, is somewhat narrowed by the stipulation that "an error does not include an item that has an insignificant effect on the taxpayer's tax liability." 5 SSTS No. 6 grants a fair amount of leeway in this context, explaining, "Whether an error has no more than an insignificant effect on the taxpayer's tax liability is left to the professional judgment of the member based on all the facts and circumstances known to the member." 6
What Does Circular 230 Generally Require?
The Treasury Department on behalf of the IRS in Circular 230, Regulations Governing Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service (31 C.F.R. Part 10), likewise has articulated standards governing situations in which tax practitioners discover an error in the previously filed tax return of a client. These standards, which are set forth in Circular 230, Section 10.21, are directly applicable to virtually all tax practitioners with respect to federal tax practice. This is the case because Circular 230 generally governs the activities of all professionals practicing before the IRS, with "practice" currently defined so broadly as to encompass not only the representation of clients in front of the IRS but also the preparation of clients' tax returns for submission to the IRS. 7
While SSTS No. 6 is by no means verbose, Circular 230, Section 10.21, provides such a terse directive with respect to the discovery of an error in the previously filed return of a client as to make SSTS No. 6 appear encyclopedic by comparison. Section 10.21 states in its entirety:
A practitioner who, having been retained by a client with respect to a matter administered by the Internal Revenue Service, knows that the client has not complied with the revenue laws of the United States or has made an error in or omission from any return, document, affidavit, or other paper which the client submitted or executed under the revenue laws of the United States, must advise the client promptly of the fact of such noncompliance, error, or omission. The practitioner must advise the client of the consequences as provided under the Code and regulations of such noncompliance, error, or omission.
The guidelines of Circular 230, Section 10.21, are direct and straightforward, leaving little latitude for doubt or interpretation. Nevertheless, room for substantial uncertainty remains at the margins, which is precisely where the questions that try practitioners' souls—and livelihoods—typically are presented.
Differences in Approach Between SSTS No. 6 and Circular 230
Certainly, the basic terms of SSTS No. 6 and Circular 230, Section 10.21, are similar, and the principle behind them is the same. Both provisions generally desire and direct that a tax practitioner, once aware of an error in the previously filed tax return of a client, promptly inform the client of that error.
However, from this common starting point, the provisions then follow somewhat different paths. As mentioned above, SSTS No. 6 establishes a materiality threshold in identifying an error and leaves the definition of "material" to the discretion of the tax practitioner. By contrast, no such de minimis provision exists under Circular 230, which by its literal terms demands that upon discovering a $5 error on the return of a multibillion-dollar corporate client, the tax practitioner must immediately disclose it, even if the client likely would have little interest in the disclosure. Circular 230 grants the tax practitioner no discretion in this context.
Interestingly, however, Circular 230, Section 10.21, adopts a somewhat lighter tone regarding the extent of the follow-up advice that tax practitioners must provide in connection with the disclosure of the erroneous position. It simply directs that "[t]he practitioner must advise the client of the consequences as provided under the Code and regulations of such noncompliance, error, or omission."
On the other hand, SSTS No. 6 not only mandates that the tax practitioner inform the client regarding the consequences of the error but also that the practitioner recommend the corrective measures to be undertaken. 8 Moreover, if the client declines to adopt the corrective measures recommended by the practitioner, SSTS No. 6 suggests that the practitioner contemplate disassociation from the client:
If a member is requested to prepare the current year's return and the taxpayer has not taken the appropriate action to correct an error in a prior year's return, the member should consider whether to withdraw from preparing the return and whether to continue a professional or employment relationship with the taxpayer. 9
Accordingly, given the de minimis rule of SSTS No. 6, its provisions will apply somewhat less universally than those of Circular 230, Section 10.21. Nevertheless, where they both come into play (which will be most of the time in the federal tax practice of an AICPA member), SSTS No. 6 may well require more of the tax practitioner than its Circular 230 counterpart.
Definitional Distinctions Between the Two Standards
SSTS No. 6 provides that the term "error" includes a position taken on a prior year's return that no longer meets the accuracy standards "due to legislation, judicial decisions, or administrative pronouncements having retroactive effect." 10 In contrast, Circular 230, Section 10.21, does not provide a definition of "error" or "omission," and its text is silent on whether awareness of a retroactive change in the law affecting a client triggers any professional responsibility on the part of a practitioner.
In addition, other differences between the texts of the two standards may at first seem minor but in particular fact patterns may take on significance in assessing professional responsibilities. For example, the AICPA standard is framed by reference to a return. In interpreting what constitutes a return for this purpose, practitioners should give some consideration to the discussion in SSTS No. 6, paragraph 1, which refers to "the taxpayer's tax liability." 11 It appears that the AICPA version of the Rule would reach original and amended returns, claims for refund, and, presumably, information returns. 12
By contrast, Circular 230, Section 10.21, applies to "an error in or omission from any return, document, affidavit, or other paper which the client submitted or executed under the revenue laws of the United States." Thus, the scope of Section 10.21 may well be more expansive than SSTS No. 6 by encompassing disclosure statements and information returns with no impact on a taxpayer's liability. Circular 230, however, is not universally broader than its AICPA counterpart. SSTS No. 6's coverage extends beyond federal tax practice, 13 while Section 10.21 is restricted to matters administered by the IRS.
The impact of the definitional differences between the two standards often depends upon the context in which the tax practitioner is acting and the credentials held by the practitioner. For example, the AICPA rules are intended to cover only practitioners acting in their capacity as a CPA. Nevertheless, a CPA who is subject to the AICPA standards is also subject to Circular 230 when acting in connection with a matter administered by the IRS. When both SSTS No. 6 and Circular 230 speak to an issue, it is prudent to chart a course that will simultaneously satisfy both standards. Essentially, the tax practitioner is well served to adopt the ethical equivalent of a "highest common denominator" approach and to conform to the most stringent standard set by either iteration of the Rule for any given circumstance.
There are no tax-specific American Bar Association (ABA) standards of which the author is aware relating to knowledge of a client's errors. Lawyers facing these scenarios, however, would have to consider whether ABA standards or the standards of the relevant state bar address these matters in a broader context applicable to tax practice, including state and local tax practice, as well as to practice in other areas. The only specific guidance broadly applicable to enrolled agents (EAs) is Circular 230, Section 10.21, which applies to EAs practicing before the IRS and thus does not expressly address errors on state and local tax returns. 14 In any event, regardless of whether a professional standard is directly applicable to a specific tax practitioner, all practitioners facing a client error should be concerned about whether violating the Rule could expose them to a negligence claim, even if they are not specifically covered by the guidance in question.
Policy Implications of the Rule
Notwithstanding the differences between SSTS No. 6 and Circular 230, Section 10.21, they share overriding policy goals or imperatives. At its core, the Rule is concerned with preserving the self-assessment system, protecting the interests of the client, and establishing the practitioner as the keeper of a duty to the tax regime.
Both standards want the client to be quickly informed regarding the discovery of an error and its consequences. The interesting question, however, is why? As a threshold matter, the answer has little to do with the concept of retributive justice and the notion that tax practitioners should staunchly step forward and take responsibility for errors of their own making on a prior return. While such ethical behavior is indeed admirable, its compulsion is not the reason for the Rule.
SSTS No. 6 specifically states that it applies "whether or not the member prepared or signed the return that contains the error." 15 Thus, the Rule is imposed equally on all tax practitioners discovering an error, regardless of whether they had anything to do with the original promulgation of the error. Likewise, the broad reach of Circular 230, Section 10.21, makes no distinction between such preparers and evidences no concern whatsoever with culpability.
Rather, the overriding interest served by both articulations of the Rule is that information with respect to the error and its potential consequences be quickly conveyed to the client. The dual policy goals pursued by this imperative are the simultaneous preservation of the self-assessment system and the protection of the individual client. Toward this end, the Rule places the respective interests of the system and the individual in a state of uneasy equipoise.
Both SSTS No. 6 and Circular 230 require not only prompt disclosure of the error to a client but also that this information be accompanied by a discussion of the consequences flowing from the error. Interestingly, both formulations of the Rule adopt the term "consequences," which connotes something vaguely malfeasant and sinister. The subtext is that all good people, having been informed of an error, will beat a path to the door of the IRS to self-report and square things.
SSTS No. 6 goes one step further: Practitioners who discover an error are required not only to identify the error to the client and discuss its consequences but also to "recommend the corrective measures to be taken." 16
Accordingly, one of the primary policy goals of the Rule is unquestionably the preservation of the self-assessment system, which more often than not has the concomitant effect of increasing the collection of tax revenues. In doing so, however, SSTS No. 6 likewise acknowledges the policy goal of protecting the interests of the client. Indeed, SSTS No. 6 states explicitly that the ultimate decision regarding the subsequent corrective measures to be taken—or not taken—is solely the client's: "It is the taxpayer's responsibility to decide whether to correct the error." 17
Moreover, SSTS No. 6 cautions tax practitioners that they are "not allowed to inform the taxing authority without the taxpayer's permission, except when required by law." 18 Interestingly, this concern for the interests of the client evidenced in SSTS No. 6 is not overtly echoed in Circular 230, Section 10.21, which neither explicitly places final decision-making in the hands of the client nor admonishes tax practitioners regarding their duty of confidentiality to the client.
Nevertheless, a central element of the Rule, recognition of which is key to understanding its provisions and reasonably applying its terms, is the overriding purpose of placing information and advice in the hands of clients, so that they can make an informed decision regarding how to proceed with respect to their own tax return, even if that decision is not to amend their return or otherwise remedy an error. Simply put, there is no generally applicable affirmative duty imposed on taxpayers to amend their returns. A foundational principle of the self-assessment system is that taxpayers are the masters of their own returns and that the role of a tax practitioner is to inform and, insofar as is ethically appropriate, to facilitate the client's self-assessment process, even if that process does not culminate in corrective action. At bottom, the Rule exists for the specific purpose of reiterating this basic principle and perpetuating this relationship between tax practitioner and client in the narrow but important context of errors on previously filed returns.
Toward that end, both iterations of the Rule generally conceptualize the tax practitioner as a disinterested and detached purveyor of information and advice. That said, however, at a more nuanced level, the Rule—particularly as formulated by the AICPA—also contemplates certain duties owed by tax practitioners directly to the self-assessment system that could compete with their duties to their clients.
To illustrate, immediately after stating in no uncertain terms that it is the client's responsibility to decide whether to correct an error, SSTS No. 6 goes on to instruct the tax practitioner to consider withdrawing from the engagement and terminating all future professional association with the client if the client chooses not to self-correct. 19
Likewise, SSTS No. 6, assuming that tax practitioners will secure client consent to undertake the contemplated corrections, directs practitioners regarding the time and manner in which certain of those corrections are to be made, so that the practitioners themselves are fulfilling not only their duties to clients but also to their sometimes competing obligations to the tax system itself:
Once the member has obtained the taxpayer's consent to disclose an error in an administrative proceeding, the disclosure should not be delayed to such a degree that the taxpayer or member might be considered to have failed to act in good faith or to have, in effect, provided misleading information. 20
The ambiguity of a tax practitioner's role likewise can be glimpsed from SSTS No. 6's admonition to the tax practitioner that if a client chooses not to correct an error and the tax practitioner opts to continue representing the client, then at least the practitioner should remember his or her duty to the self-assessment system and make sure that the error is not repeated in subsequent years:
If a member decides to continue a professional or employment relationship with the taxpayer and is requested to prepare a tax return for a year subsequent to that in which the error occurred, the member should take reasonable steps to ensure that the error is not repeated. 21
Thus, although by requiring timely disclosure, the Rule serves the policy goals of preserving the self-assessment system and protecting the client, inherent in its application is the third policy goal or imperative: that tax practitioners themselves have a duty to the tax regime, a reality that in practice does much to shape how the Rule is applied.
Discovering an Error on a Client's Prior Return
The Basic Rule
General application: In the classic case, while representing a client, a tax practitioner finds an error in a previously filed return of the client. The Rule generally requires the tax practitioner to promptly inform the client regarding the error and its potential consequences. Moreover, to comply with the letter of SSTS No. 6, the tax practitioner should recommend corrective measures with respect to the error: specifically, to amend the return or to otherwise remedy the situation, such as to apply for a change in method of accounting.
An interesting question is the extent to which this advice can take into account practical circumstances, such as whether the statute of limitation is about to expire.
Example 1: While preparing the 2012 federal income tax return of corporation XYZ a week before its due date (without extension) in 2013, a tax practitioner discovers an error in the corporation's 2009 federal return, which was timely filed on its original due date without extension. The error does not involve a carryback or substantial omission of items under Sec. 6501(e). The Rule obligates the tax practitioner to promptly inform the corporation of this circumstance.
How does the tax practitioner deal with this situation where the apparently applicable three-year statute of limitation with respect to the 2009 tax year is due to expire in one week and the IRS may seem unlikely to assert a tax deficiency with respect to the error within that period? Does the tax practitioner withhold this information from the client, thereby risking the charge of inadequate representation? Does the tax practitioner provide this information to the client, thereby risking being charged with encouraging the client to play the audit lottery?
To be sure, the Rule does not provide an easy answer to this conundrum. Nevertheless, there is a reasonable way of cutting this ethical Gordian knot. Both iterations of the Rule in Circular 230, Section 10.21, and SSTS No. 6 mandate that the tax practitioner advise the client regarding the potential consequences of the error. In balancing the policy goals of the Rule and the tax practitioner's superficially conflicting ethical obligations to the self-assessment system on the one hand, and to the interests of the client on the other hand, there is a middle course to be charted that appropriately serves both masters.
Continuing the present example, the tax practitioner is well justified and perhaps best served in disclosing the full range of potential consequences to the client, including the possible running of the statute of limitation or the potential assessment of deficiencies, penalties, and interest if the error is identified by the IRS within the applicable period. This full disclosure firmly positions the tax practitioner as the information conduit, providing the client with the disclosures and the advice necessary to make an informed decision regarding its own return.
As part of this information disclosure, in accordance with ethical obligations, the tax practitioner should also recommend that the client take corrective action. In this way, the client is provided with the full range of information and advice needed to make an informed decision, the policy goals of the Rule are perpetuated, and the tax practitioner is protected from assertions by the client that the client was inadequately counseled or allegations by the IRS that the tax practitioner advised an overly aggressive and unethical course.
Accordingly, when applying the Rule to facts arising with respect to clients, tax practitioners must take practical circumstances into account if they are to adequately serve both the interests of the client and the self-assessment system. These practical circumstances must be weighed with extreme care and judiciously analyzed in light of both the plain language of the Rule and the policy goals behind it.
Documenting the advice: Both Circular 230, Section 10.21, and SSTS No. 6 are client-facing, in the sense that they are predominantly concerned with ensuring that the tax practitioner inform and advise the client regarding an error so that the appropriate corrective action can be undertaken. Indeed, SSTS No. 6 even specifies that "[s]uch advice and recommendation may be given orally." 22 Nevertheless, good professional practice, as well as sheer self-preservation, dictates that the advice and the recommendations be properly documented and preserved by the tax practitioner. Moreover, in the tax world, memories can be short and misunderstandings can abound. As months and even years go by, parties can have astonishingly different recollections regarding the nature of the advice that was provided and indeed whether any advice was provided at all. Consequently, it behooves tax practitioners to document the information and recommendations they furnish to their clients as they comply with the Rule's disclosure mandate.
This is particularly important in the context of Circular 230, Section 10.21, because a practitioner's inability to establish that the requisite information and consequences had been communicated to the client could be construed as a violation of Circular 230 if the practitioner's compliance were ever called into question. A Circular 230 violation could result in censure, suspension from practice before the IRS, or even disbarment or loss of license. Such sanctions could severely affect or even end a tax practitioner's career. As a result, the ability to demonstrate that a tax practitioner has complied with the Rule is virtually as important as compliance with the Rule itself.
This is also the case in protecting against professional liability. Even if a tax practitioner is not responsible for the underlying error in a previously filed return, having become aware of that error, failure to properly notify and counsel the client—or even the inability to evidence such communication—could arguably become the basis of a professional negligence claim. If the tax practitioner was responsible for an error on a previously filed return, documentary evidence that the client had been properly informed and counseled on corrective action that could be undertaken would from that point onward likely limit the practitioner's exposure to additional damages, even if the client opted not to take the corrective action. A solid argument would exist that thereafter, any negative consequences flowing from the decision to forgo corrective action, including, for example, a practical inability to obtain reasonable-cause abatements of penalties, would be solely attributable to the client's decision and would not generate damages recoverable from the tax practitioner.
Accordingly, documentation of the information and advice provided pursuant to the Rule is essential. Some clients, however, may resist accepting written advice for fear that it would place them in a compromising position, particularly if they choose not to follow the practitioner's advice. Moreover, such written communications inevitably require chargeable time for which many clients are unwilling to incur further costs. Finally, some tax practitioners may feel uncomfortable with the air of additional formality that such a written document would introduce into the client-counseling process. These considerations likely account for the express permission in SSTS No. 6 to provide the communications orally.
Of course, where the client is willing, the best approach is to provide a memorandum or other written summary to the client outlining the error on the previously filed return, discussing the consequences of that error, and recommending the corrective measures to be taken. A copy of that document should also be retained by the tax practitioner and preserved in the event that it is ever needed for reference.
In other cases, an oral communication may be more desirable or appropriate. In such circumstances, practitioners would be well served by a detailed conference memorandum to their files outlining the client conversation and describing the particulars of the information and advice that were orally provided to the client. This memorandum, which should be drafted contemporaneously with the client discussion, should likewise be carefully preserved in the event that it is needed in the future. If the circumstances warrant, the tax practitioner should consider the additional benefit and protection to be gained from having a colleague participate in the conversation with the client and countersign the contemporaneously prepared memorandum documenting the client meeting.
When Does the Rule Apply?
Although tax practitioners who discover an error in a previously filed tax return of a client are instructed to promptly inform the client of the error, in certain circumstances the standard application of the Rule is less than clear-cut.
Former clients: It is an open question whether the Rule covers an error in a previously filed return discovered when the taxpayer is no longer a client of the tax practitioner.
Example 2: Tax practitioner prepared Client A 's and Client B 's federal income tax returns for 2011 using software that automatically applied the ceiling for the mortgage interest deduction. In early 2013, however, the tax practitioner finds to her dismay that the software incorrectly set the ceiling too low, causing the 2011 returns of both Client A and Client B to understate their respective mortgage interest deductions. Assume that the tax practitioner is now preparing Client A 's 2012 federal return, but that Client B has now moved on to a different service provider and has become ex-Client B . The Rule would unquestionably require the tax practitioner to promptly inform Client A of the error, its potential consequences, and the corrective actions that might be taken. But would this same obligation pertain to ex-Client B ?
This question could be particularly relevant to tax practitioners with a large volume of clients and some client turnover. Although somewhat ambiguous, SSTS No. 6 does provide guidance. Initially, in articulating the general rule, SSTS No. 6 states simply that a tax practitioner should inform a taxpayer promptly upon becoming aware of an error in a previously filed return. 23 However, when explaining the application of the Rule and the thinking behind it, SSTS No. 6 explicitly envisions the disclosure obligation arising out of a currently existing client relationship: "While performing services for a taxpayer, a member may become aware of an error in a previously filed return or may become aware that the taxpayer failed to file a required return." 24
Lest this limitation of the Rule to ongoing client relationships be thought a merely anecdotal or illustrative statement, the explanation of SSTS No. 6 reemphasizes it in a different context:
If a member becomes aware of the error while performing services for a taxpayer that do not involve tax return preparation or representation in an administrative proceeding, the member's responsibility is to advise the taxpayer of the existence of the error and to recommend that the error be discussed with the taxpayer's tax return preparer. 25
Given the reiteration of this concept—that the obligation of disclosure arises when the tax practitioner discovers an error while performing services for a current client—it is difficult to dismiss the inverse proposition as well, that if the error is discovered when the tax practitioner is no longer representing the client, then no disclosure requirement is necessary.
Although more terse than SSTS No. 6, Section 10.21 of Circular 230 similarly qualifies the context in which the disclosure obligation is imposed: "A practitioner who, having been retained by a client with respect to a matter administered by the Internal Revenue Service, knows that the client has not complied with the revenue laws of the United States or has made an error . . . ." While the language of Section 10.21 is somewhat opaque, perhaps the most significant point is that Section 10.21 and SSTS No. 6 both decidedly forgo imposing an absolute knowledge standard that would require disclosing an error to a former client. Instead, both standards appear to condition the applicability of the Rule on a current client relationship.
The policy considerations in this context are somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, both the interests of the self-assessment system and the interests of clients would be best served by an absolute knowledge standard requiring tax practitioners to track down ex-clients even unto the ends of the Earth to inform them of an error on a previously filed return. Nevertheless, at a certain point, the administrability of a mandate also becomes relevant, and an absolute interpretation of the Rule requiring tax practitioners to locate and inform ex-clients, many of whom may not be easily traceable, would impose a potentially unwieldy and unreasonable burden on tax practitioners. As a result, it may well be that Circular 230, Section 10.21, and SSTS No. 6 choose to adopt a middle ground by articulating the general Rule that tax practitioners should disclose errors to clients, but then clarifying that the intended scope for application of the Rule is in the context of a current client relationship.
Given that this question regarding the applicability of the Rule cannot be unambiguously resolved, the most prudent general course of action would be to inform even ex-clients regarding the existence of an error on a previously filed return when that step can be reasonably pursued. Nevertheless, where those ex-clients cannot be easily located or where such contacts would be otherwise administratively burdensome, a reasonable and ethically sound argument does exist for forgoing such disclosures when errors are discovered with respect to a previously filed return and the taxpayer is no longer a client of the practitioner.
Expired statute of limitation: Another situation in which applicability of the Rule is questionable is when the tax practitioner discovers the error after the statute of limitation for correcting the error has expired.
Example 3: Assume that an error resulting in an overpayment of tax occurred on Client X's 2008 tax return, which was timely filed and tax paid by the due date. When the tax practitioner discovers that error in early 2013, is the tax practitioner required to inform Client X of that error?
Although not addressing this issue directly, the two standards contain elements suggesting that once the statute of limitation expires with respect to a given year, the requirement to inform clients with respect to an error for that year likewise is nullified. Specifically, where SSTS No. 6 is concerned, not all errors are created equal. In fact, an error is not an error for purposes of the disclosure requirement of SSTS No. 6 if it "has an insignificant effect on the taxpayer's tax liability." 26 Once a statute of limitation for a particular year expires, an improper inclusion or omission for that year has not just an insignificant effect but no effect whatsoever on a client's tax liability for the year in question. Thus, an improper inclusion or omission in a closed year would arguably not be defined by SSTS No. 6 as an error and therefore would not require disclosure to a client.
Similarly, Circular 230, Section 10.21, commences by articulating the general rule mandating disclosure of an error to clients. The regulation then goes on to direct that "[t]he practitioner must advise the client of the consequences as provided under the Code and regulations of such noncompliance, error, or omission." Again, in cases where the statute of limitation has expired, there simply are no consequences or obligations of which to inform the client. Thus, if the first sentence of Section 10.21 is read in light of the second sentence, then a reasonable argument exists that errors in years closed by the statute of limitation do not need to be disclosed to clients.
While such analysis inevitably has a somewhat superficial feel, it is the unavoidable result of the Rule's silence on how to address errors discovered after the statute of limitation has expired, a circumstance that, while not necessarily common, is by no means unheard of. Nevertheless, in this context, the policy goals underlying the Rule are in accordance with the notion that the application of the Rule and the operation of the statute of limitation are parallel.
As discussed above, the purpose of the Rule is not to visit retribution on negligent tax practitioners. Rather, the fundamental policy goals underlying the Rule and animating its operation are to provide clients with the information and counsel needed to determine how best to take corrective action with respect to their own previously filed tax returns and thereby perpetuate the self-reporting system and have tax practitioners fulfill their duties to the tax regime in that regard. Once the statute of limitation has run, no corrective action with respect to such tax returns is possible, and the policy goals driving the Rule are no longer served by the disclosure requirement. Thus, a reasonable argument exists that at the same time the statute of limitation for taking corrective actions expires, the Rule's mandate for disclosure to clients also disappears.
Of course, some clients may assert that they have an interest in knowing everything about their tax returns indefinitely and without limitation. However, this type of transparency is neither contemplated nor sought by the Rule. If it were, then SSTS No. 6 would make the disclosure obligation absolute, rather than allowing for a materiality exception. Moreover, the issue of administrability again must be considered. Just as statutes of limitation serve the general principle of timeliness, a reasonable inference exists that the Rule is meant to apply only for so long as its goals can be served, not in perpetuity.
Just as in the case of ex-clients, tax practitioners discovering an error in a previously filed return after the statute of limitation has expired must proceed with great care and deliberation. In such a situation disclosure is always a safe policy. Moreover, such disclosure would represent the prudent course where the practitioner lacks reliable knowledge that the statute of limitation has indeed run. That said, depending upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case, a tax practitioner may be able to adopt a reasonable position, based on elements of the Rule and supported by the Rule's underlying policy goals, that the disclosure obligation disappears when the statute of limitation expires.
Part II of
this article, in the July issue, will
discuss what practitioners must do if
their client fails to heed their advice;
other practical considerations; and what
to do when the error is attributable to
the tax practitioner's own advice.
Author's note: The author wishes to acknowledge and thank Edward Swails of Ernst & Young LLP from whose thoughts, input, and wide-ranging contributions this article benefited immensely.
1 AICPA Statement on Standards for Tax Services No. 6, Knowledge of Error: Return Preparation and Administrative Proceedings, ¶4.
4 Note that for simplicity's sake, this article adopts the nomenclature of "an error in a previously filed return." This terminology, however, is intended to encompass the various situations contemplated by the Rule, including errors on a return that is the subject of an administrative proceeding, nonfiling of a required return, and erroneous use of an improper return (e.g., a corporation using Form 1120S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation, when it did not qualify as an S corporation).
7 T.D. 9527. However, the regulations' definition of practice before the IRS to include preparing or filing a tax return has been struck down by a federal district court (Loving, No. 12-385 (D.D.C. 1/18/13)). The case is currently being appealed to the D.C. Circuit.
12 SSTS No. 6 likely should be read in light of SSTS No. 1, Tax Return Positions, which in relevant part states, "This statement sets forth the applicable standards for members when recommending tax return positions, or preparing or signing tax returns (including amended returns, claims for refund, and information returns) filed with any taxing authority."
13 See Statements on Standards for Tax Services, Preface, ¶6.
14 Practitioners should note, however, that there may be various state analogs of Circular 230 and the AICPA rules, along with other more general state laws, examination of which is beyond the scope of this article.
Michael Baillif is an adjunct professor of law teaching courses on tax law practice, ethics, and professional responsibility at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. For more information on this article, please contact Prof. Baillif at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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- Responsive Styling.
- Background – slider, video, parallax scrolling, and gradient.
- Revisions – allows you to save your Builder layout with unlimited versions.
- Visibility control where you can set whether a module or row is visible on a specific device.
- Layout parts – re-usable parts that can be included in the Builder.
- Custom CSS
This plugin provides 1 block.
- Themify Builder
- Upload the whole plugin directory to the
- Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
- Enjoy!
Contributors & Developers
"Themify Builder" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.Contributors
Translate "Themify Builder" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
7.0.2 (2023.01.02)
- Fix: Builder: Can't copy & paste modules/rows to another page
- Fix: Builder: Layout Parts inserted in hook content miss their generated stylesheet
- Fix: Builder: Menu module: Gradient styling isn't working when using transparent color
7.0.1 (2022.12.23)
- New: Builder: Post module: add load more button styling options
- Fix: Builder: Global styles changes not showing live in the editor
- Fix: Builder: Vimeo thumbnail display
- FIx: Builder: Can't import from page if it has custom CSS
- Fix: Builder: First row is not accessible if there is no header
- Fix: Builder: New row button (+) do not work in Safari
- Fix: Builder: Column % Margin CSS rules are not generated correctly
- Fix: Builder: Captcha v2 option doesn't work
- Fix: Builder: Parallax bg image in initial viewport jump
- Fix: Builder: Jetpack and wp.com compatibility issues
- Fix: Builder: Tab: Active tab background color does not work
- Fix: Builder: Page Break pagination is wrong in Post type
- Fix: Builder: GS frontend edit UI
- Fix: Builder: Floating module panel: Text editor heading select hidden behind lightbox
- Fix: Builder: Parallax scrolling not smooth
- Fix: Builder: Video: When you enable overlay image, video is muted
- Fix: Builder: Optin subscription has console error on submit
- Fix: Builder: Code panel: last line is not visible and typing in last line jumps up
- Fix: Builder: Enchance Cloudflare Rocket Loader conflict
7.0.0 (2022.12.07)
- New: Builder: Can add unlimited columns
- New: Builder: Column order can be responsive
- New: Builder: Custom row gutter control per row & responsive
- New: Builder: Resize column width available on responsive mode
- New: Builder: Different background mode (video, parallax, fullcover) can be selected for responsive
- New: Builder: Layout images will download to user site when importing layouts
- New: Builder: Slider: Add touch swipe enable/disable option
- New: Builder: Video: Add play on hover option with video overlay option
- New: Builder: HTML/Text: Add option to disable WPTexturizing (Content Formatting)
- New: Builder: Add icon options for button/label for: Optin, Contact, Signup Form
- New: Builder: Table of Content module
- New: Builder: Code module
- New: Builder: Rating Star module
- New: Builder: Added row frame scrolling animation
- New: Builder: Testimonial: Add rating star feature
- New: Builder: Gallery: add drag & drop to sort gallery images
- Change: Builder: Grid has changed to use CSS grid
- Change: Builder: Removed click mode
- Change: Builder: When a module is disabled or not available, shows notification message
- Change: Builder: Some column classes are removed (eg. second, third, etc)
- Change: Builder: Some Builder body classes are removed (eg. tb_responsive_mode)
- Change: Builder: Optimized the CSS code for preset colors and button styles (note: some css selectors & rules have changed)
- Change: Builder: Remove css related to .tb_default_color preset (changed to .ui selector – eg
a.tb_default_colorwould be
- Change: Builder: Import demo images and items 1×1 and by batch for reliable result
- Change: Builder: Builder Tool > Search & Replace has changed to replace URLs only (avoid data corruptions)
- Change: Builder:
- Fix: Builder: Responsive column has render delay
- Fix: Builder: Social Icons widget css not loaded on Builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Page Builder module missing "X" delete button
- Fix: Builder: Empty column gradient styling breaks module styling
- Fix: Builder: Inline edit the HTML/Text code will remove the html code
- Fix: Builder: Image Module: image width and height doesn't match on Builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Masonry doesn't re-render when window size change on Builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Text Module: Responsive "Multi-Columns" option for Text module doesn't work
- Fix: Builder: background-position does not save in global style
- Fix: Builder: When importing row/module, it adds -2 on the custom ID name
- Fix: Builder: Add horizontal scrollbar to preview iframe to avoid small window wrong preview
- Fix: Builder: Background-position does not save in global style
- Fix: Builder: Placeholder doesn't show on Classic Editor
- Fix: Builder: Hide negative margin drag overlay when idle hover for 2 second
- Fix: Builder: Static content is not generated
- Fix: Builder: Undefined variable error when using post slugs or ids in post module
- Fix: Builder: With WPML activated, it says error when saving Builder when it has Builder custom CSS
- Fix: Builder: Local video css class not output if mp4 URL path is relative
- Fix: Builder: Apply lightbox to image links automatically option does not work
- Fix: Builder: Post module pagination issue when using on Post type
5.4.2 (2022.06.27)
- Fix: Builder: Column slider gallery shortcode get trimmed on re-edit
- Fix: Builder: Multiple videos can not autoplay & loop at the same time
- Fix: Builder: Image caption does not work correctly the right margin
- Fix: Builder: If Squirrly SEO plugin activated, the media gallery will not load
- Fix: Builder: Subrow GS saving
- Fix: Builder: Static content breaking wp embeds
- Fix: Builder: Row frame stylesheet not loading in frontend preview
- New: Builder: Add multiple select support in Builder
- Fix: Builder: Accordion: Open/close icon is wrong if you open different items back & forth
- Fix: Builder: Accordion: Gradient option only shows when Builder is on
5.4.1 (2022.05.11)
- Fix: Builder Pro: Can't edit template option in backend
5.4.0 (2022.04.28)
- New: Builder: Add loop option in Video module
- New: Builder: Add include categories option in Ajax post filter
- Fix: Builder: Error with background gradients and parallax
- Fix: Builder: Slider > Image: fix warning when no image is added to the slide
- Fix: Builder: Divider module width cannot be set more than 500px
- Fix: Builder: Excerpt Length option in post module fails with WP SEO plugin installed
- Change: Builder: Move contact API settings to theme settings
5.3.9 (2022.03.30)
- New: Builder: Convert Plain Text module to Shortcode/HTML editor
- New: Builder: Add CSS code editor & checker on Builder custom CSS
- New: Builder: Clickable link in column, subrow, and row
- New: Builder: Add tooltip width option
- New: Builder: Builder accepts color CSS variables
- New: Builder: Add ?rem? and ?vw? in font size unit select
- New: Builder: Add no posts message in Post module
- New: Builder: Group module options in accordions (cleaner UI)
- New: Builder: add option to change the scrollTo animation speed
- New: Builder: Add hashtag when Accordion/Tab nav is clicked
- New: Builder: Add separate option to hide post author/category/comment
- New: Builder: Add icon divider on Fancy Heading
- New: Builder: Add ID attribute to button link
- New: Builder: Add query by ID in Post module
- Change: Builder: Remove default font color on .ui
- Fix: Builder: Add compatibility with FacetWP (on Post module, enable FacetWP)
- Fix: Builder: Schedule posts don't appear on Post module unless you update post
- Fix: Builder: z-index styling doesn?t work if module has scroll effects
- Fix: Builder: Some third plugin shortcodes don?t render via Builder
- Fix: Builder: Post module: Post Sorting dropdown does not work on iPad
- Fix: Builder: Changing from portrait to landscape, sticky row does not reset to full width
- Fix: Builder: Menu with sub-menu anchor link doesn't close mobile menu after click
- Fix: Builder: Scheduled posts don't appear on Post module
5.3.8 (2022.02.14)
- Fix: Error in backend due to PHP8
5.3.7 (2022.02.11)
- Fix: Some third party theme-compact css shows 404 with Builder plugin
5.3.6 (2022.01.28)
- Fix: Builder: WP 5.9 backend says Builder block not supported
- Fix: Image script: disallow large image cropping to avoid server out of memory
- Fix: Builder: Various issues (Builder frontend, wow animation, slider, etc.)
- New: Builder: Add product filter with Ajax filter in Post and Portfolio module
- New: Builder: Add icon bottom position option
- Fix: Builder: Delete saved gradient button not visible
- Fix: Builder: Row frame width unit always return to % even if you select px in builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Horizontal scroll feature no longer working
- New: Builder: Add some Link Block layout options
- New: Builder: Add query filter feature to Slider-Post
- New: Builder: Add double opt-in option in Mailchimp
- Fix: Builder: Self hosted videos don't load if lazy load is disabled
5.3.5 (2021.12.22)
- New: Builder: Add tooltip feature to module, row, subrow and column
- Fix: Builder: setting Row Frame to above 100% width causes scrollbars on mobile
- Fix: Builder: Web accessibility give empty link errors on Icon module
- Fix: Builder: All links showing active on page load
- Fix: Builder: When lazy load disabled, mp4 video returns blank
- New: Builder: Add quick option to create Builder pages
- Fix: Builder: Re-fix all anchor links show active menu link
- New: Builder: Add excerpt length option Post, Slider-Post, etc.
- New: Builder: Change layout part and saved modules/rows to alphabet order
- New: Builder: Additional Video module options
- Fix: Builder: The portrait(vertical) videos crops
- Fix: Builder: All links showing active on page load
- Fix: Builder: Tab title hover styling issue
- Fix: Builder: Themify builder is not loaded when use WordPress filter to disable Block editor
5.3.4 (2021.11.16)
- New: Builder: Builder: Add ID name hint on the row top corner
- New: Builder: Add icon option on Content Overlay module
- New: Builder: add Twitter module
- New: Builder: Add custom icon BG ad color to Icon module
- New: Builder: Add drop shadow to row frame styling
- Fix: Builder: Missing alternative text accessibility error for the row background slider gallery
- Fix: Builder: Pointer module shows content before point is hovered
- Fix: Builder: Anchor link triggers click even holding on mobile
- Fix: Builder: If enable video overlay image, the mp4 video control bar flicker on iPhone
- Fix: Builder: Global Styles are ignored when importing content from a page
- Change: Builder: On Builder's utility post types load frontend editor automatically
5.3.3 (2021.10.15)
- New: Builder: add mobile style layout
- New: Builder: Add hook content on Post module
- Fix: Builder: If classic editor is enabled switch to frontend themify builder is not working
5.3.2 (2021.09.29)
- Fix: Builder: Fix input escape issue
- Fix: Builder: JS error when you remove the only remaining item in a repeater field
5.3.1 (2021.09.27)
- Fix: Builder: Images are not visible on Builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Icon alignment is not working on live page
- Fix: Builder: Cannot exclude categories by categories name in post module
- Fix: Builder: Wrong css selector for Icon ?none? style
- Fix: Builder: Right Click Interface Menu option does not work
- Fix: Builder: Backend builder module panel is not scrollable
- Fix: Builder: Content added below image module does not render
- Fix: Builder: The transform option does not work for the text module
- Fix: Builder: Nextgen gallery plugin is not compatible in new version
- Fix: Builder: Gallery Module Slider Caption is not working
- Fix: Builder: In Slider Module the Image Display's Size settings are not working
- Fix: Builder: In Slider Module with auto height selected the Slides to appear at different sizes
- Fix: Builder: Drag and drop function is not working on Firefox
- Fix: Builder: Inline editing is not working for subheading in fancy heading module
- Fix: Builder: Link Block module links do not work
- Fix: Builder: In Safari Browser inline editor does not work
- Fix: Builder: Row overview visibility hint is not updating
- Fix: Builder: If label is missing the icon image will not show in icon module
- New: Builder: Add background styling option for date in post module
- New: Builder: Add position option for image modules
- Fix: Builder: Responsive styling does not work for margin-value added inside Rows
- Fix: Builder: Anchor scrolling not working properly
- Fix: Builder: On imported layout, the Builder unstick fails due to ID changes
- Fix: Builder: Post Grid 2 Thumb Layout no margin if Post Filter is enabled.
- Fix: Builder: In frontend builder on the mobile mode dragging the modules places them on the left of the screen
- Fix: Builder: Frontend builder do not work correctly
- Fix: Builder: In Image Module the Image Overlay should inherit the border-radius of the Image
- Fix: Builder: Icon module: vertical right alignment doesn't work
- Fix: Builder: ??Scroll effects are applied even after disabling them
- Fix: Builder: Service menu title is not following the module styling
- Fix: Builder: Duplicating a page shows a critical error
- Fix: Builder: Crawlable link issue on using javascript:void(0)
- Fix: Builder: Layout parts render incorrectly if added to a post type that is disabled in Builder
- Fix: Builder: Disable image resizer on Gallery/Slider/Post for better performance
5.3.0 (2021.07.28)
- New: Builder: Add inline editor (new feature)
- New: Builder: Add inline image resizer for specifying image width/height
- New: Builder: Add an option to select html tag for title in various modules
- Fix: Builder: Column alignments are not working properly
- Fix: Builder: Video Module: In the Safari browser the volume button does not work in self-hosted videos
- Fix: Builder: Offset scrollTo triggers auto scroll
- Fix: Builder: Image Module: Open incorrect image in ligthbox if URL is relative path
- Fix: Builder: If you insert Layout Part as shortcode, live edit is broken
- Change: Builder: Replace all icon wrapper from to (for WCAG accessibility validation)
5.1.3 (2021.06.04)
- New: Builder: Add image option for WebP image
- Fix: Builder: Text-Module: Gradient in Global Style does not apply
- Fix: Builder: Tablet portrait visibility not working
- Fix: Builder: undefined is added in positioning module styling
- Fix: Builder: If you insert Layout Part as shortcode, live edit is broken
- Fix: Builder: Rankmath compat script causing RM score to not show
- Change: Builder: Tab: Update minimal tab layout styling
5.1.2 (2021.06.04)
- Fix: Builder: Module panel gets hidden if you drag it to wp-admin sidebar
- Fix: Builder: Layout Part live save missing styling
- New: Builder: Login Module: add reCAPTCHA support
- New: Builder: Add dark mode interface option
- Fix: Builder: The embedded video added in first section gets paused as soon as you slide to other section on the page
- Fix: Builder: Option to disable lightbox in Gallery module
- Fix: Builder: Responsive preview mode tablet portrait is not following the configured breakpoints
- Fix: Builder: Subrow overlay is not working
5.1.1 (2021.05.11)
- New: Builder: CSS transform styling
- New: Builder: Add option to disable Builder on post types
- New: Builder: Add form alignment option for login module
- Fix: Builder: Responsive preview mode tablet portrait not following the configured breakpoints
- Fix: Builder: Larger icons distort circles in Icon Module
5.1.0 (2021.04.16)
- New: Builder: Add no background image option for responsive
- Fix: Builder: Slider Module Video adding too much empty space below the Module
- Fix: Builder: Toolbar Builder UI Preview dropdown does not look correct
- Fix: Builder: Mailchimp Optin Form doesn't send double optin confirmation
- Fix: Builder: Builder plugin doesn't work with 2021 theme on product single
- Fix: Builder: Post module not showing excerpts if content is created with Builder
- Fix: Builder: Videos added in slider and slider pro modules are not autoplaying
- Fix: Builder: Hook content not showing in the single product page
- Fix: Builder: Gallery module displays wrong image title in lightbox
- Fix: Builder: Mobile tab option is not working
- Fix: Builder: Pagination styles are missing for the numbers
- Fix: Builder: Cron job doesn't delete concate files correctly
- Fix: Builder: Video Module's height is not responsive to Width changes
- Fix: Builder: Happy form plugin dropdowns are not working
- Fix: Builder: Speed up Overlay Content and Menu slide in animation
- Fix: Builder: Remove outdated builder module option
5.0.9 (2021.03.09)
- New: Builder: Use breakpoint settings for Builder responsive preview
- New: Builder: Add gallery image gutter styling option
- Fix: Builder: Custom CSS panel goes away after dragging
- Fix: Builder: Facebook jetpack widget is not working
- Fix: Builder: The + button to open the toolbar is missing if the row is not empty
- Fix: Builder: Current page/menu item styling is applied to all submenus nested below it
- Fix: Builder: Video poster image does not fit well
5.0.8 (2021.02.22)
- New: Builder: Add Link Block module
- Fix: Builder: Margins are not working properly in portfolio module
- Fix: Builder: Row/column link styling override Button preset color
- Fix: Builder: On Menu module, dropdown menu links not displaying on iPad
- Fix: Builder: Module with entrance animation hidden if view with scrollTo
- Fix: Builder: sticky element shifts positions when browser height changes
- Fix: Builder: Sticky modules don't remain sticky when you go off page and back
- Fix: Builder: Right Margins are not working on builder mode
- Fix: Builder: Optin form email field label show twice on the live page
- Fix: Builder: Optin form has console error after submit
- Fix: Builder: Saved Rows can not be added to Builder
- Fix: Builder: Search conflict with themify event post plugin
- Fix: Builder: Row background slider continuously load images over the network
- Fix: Builder: Parallax background shows gap on mobile
- Fix: Builder: Conflict with Formidable form plugin
- Fix: Builder: Return the image/video icon back to zoom icon
- Fix: Builder: Gallery slider mode: animate caption after slide transition is done
- Fix: Builder: With the cube effect, the slider causing text to overlap
- Fix: Builder: Add hide label text on Icon module (for web accessibility reason)
- Fix: Builder: Builder scrollTo offset doesn't work if header select none
5.0.7 (2021.01.16)
- Change: Builder: Re-coded drag & drop UI with HTML5 (better & smooth performance)
- New: Builder: Add autocomplete when taxonomy/category select has too many items
- Fix: Builder video bg slider plugin has conflict with FW sliders
- Fix: Builder: Lightbox scrolling issue on smaller screens
- Fix: Builder: Speed up Overlay Content slide in animation
- Fix: Builder: Categories selector in all Modules can't load more than 100 Categories
- Fix: Builder: Lightbox scrolling issue on smaller screens
- Fix: Builder: When an animation is selected, preview should show the animation
- Fix: Builder: Row video background insert is not working
- Fix: Builder: In Slider Module the Image Links have alt attribute
- Fix: Builder: Events made easy plugin conflict with builder
- Fix: Builder: Entrance animation doesn't show if it is scrolled with scrollTo anchor
- Fix: Builder: In image module if you have selected full-overlay layout the text added in image caption load in wrong place on page reload
- Fix: Builder: The modal lightbox "X" button is white on white with button pro
- Fix: Builder: Re-map all old Slider fade effects to fade
- Fix: Builder: Toolset compatibility: Gutenberg block style CSS file not loading
- Fix: Builder: Layout Parts and Pro's templates lose styling when editing Builder on frontend
- Fix: Builder: The Play button is not visible on Overlay Image in Safari browser
- Fix: Builder: In slider module add new slide button is showing 3 times
5.0.6 (2020.12.15)
- Changed: Builder: Re-map all old Slider fade effects to fade
- Fix: Slider Module: Auto-scroll off option doesn't work if you have a slider with autoplay above
- Fix: Builder: Testimonials Module Image Bubble styling not working on live site
- Fix: make the responsive inputs editable in Themify Builder Plugin settings
5.0.5 (2020.12.04)
- New: Builder: Add title attribute to Button module
- New: Builder: Add width and display options in all modules and addons
- New: Builder: Add required attribute to the login form field\
- Fix: Builder: Module visibility indicator icon doesn't show on re-edit
- Fix: Builder: In section scrolling align-top is not working for the grids/column settings
- Fix: Builder: Row background-position does not work when best fit is selected
- Fix: Builder: Accordion containing Themify shortcode overlaps with the below accordion title
- Fix: Builder: Cannot have different content layout set for post modules used in the page
- Fix: Builder: Gallery issues with "Slider" mode
- Fix: Builder: Preview mode doesn't work with visibility options
- Fix: Builder: Vimeo video does not work as background row video
- Fix: Builder: Backend Text module missing preview text
- Fix: Builder: Img title attribute doesn't output if alt and title both entered in media library image
- Fix: Builder: content does not display in correct location if access control shortcodes are used
- Fix: Builder: content shows in wrong location when Gutenberg page break is used
- Fix: Builder: On image module, if full-overlay layout is selected, the image caption text loads in wrong place
5.0.4 (2020.11.25)
- New: Builder: Post filter styling option missing in post and portfolio module
- Change: Builder: Use page title as the email subject in email share icon
- Change: Builder: Change visibility handling based on responsive breakpoint settings
- Fix: Builder: On iOS row background with fixed background-attachment appears very large
- Fix: Builder: Enhance parallax background on all devices
- Fix: Builder: Hide row anchor on URL doesn't work
- Fix: Builder: Sticky issue on some situations
- Fix: Builder: Lazy loading function is not working properly with anchor scrolling
- Fix: Builder: ScrollTo anchor doesn't work on old iOS 12.4.8
- Fix: Builder: Videos added in slider are not working
- Fix: Builder: Post module navigation not showing active after 4 pages
- Fix: Builder: Gallery module > slider mode, image title/caption not showing
- Fix: Builder: Update Optin Form > Newsletter provider API error
- Fix: Builder Framework : Cancel X Button does not work properly
- Fix: Builder: If you have an overlay image enabled on video module clicking the play button mute the audio
- Fix: Builder: Sliders image size not correct and doesn't following the selected visible slides if the effect is set to fade or cross fade
- Fix: Builder: Themify Social Links widget does not work via Builder Widget module
- Fix: Builder: Testimonial post module fullwidth layout is not working properly
- Fix: Builder: On Safari, Builder row module and grid icons are broken
- Fix: Builder: In section scrolling align-top is not working for the grids/column settings
- Fix: Builder: Post module layout gets affected if you change featured image position in archive layout settings
- Fix: Builder: Can't disable related videos in Video module by add &rel=0
5.0.3 (2020.11.06)
- Fix: Builder: Button link text decoration not working in button module
- Fix: Builder: Page Break pagination doesn't work on single post
- Fix: Builder: Autoplay not working for self-hosted videos
- Fix: Builder: Page jumps to top if row has anchor on iPhone Chrome
- Fix: Builder: ScrollTo doesn't work properly if you enter full URL path anchor
5.0.2 (2020.11.04)
- Fix: Builder: Wrong image size output in width/height img attribute
- Fix: Builder: Gallery Slider Auto Scroll time above 10s not working
- Fix: Builder: Feature module in hidden row causes scroll flicker on iPhone
- Fix: Builder: Lazy load doesn't work on old browsers
- Fix: Builder: Accordion Open by default when set to closed
- Fix: Builder: If you set visible slides=4 for tablet, mobile visible slide option won't work
- Fix: Builder: On Text module, the Insert link option does not work correctly on frontend
- Fix: Builder: Creating Global Style from Dashboard does not work
- Fix: Builder: Global Style loses selection in the backend Builder
- Fix: Builder: Margin top added in rows and columns not work in preview mode
- Fix: Builder: More link doesn't work in Post module
- Fix: Builder: Gallery images linked to attachment pages cause blank lightbox
- Fix: Builder: Posts not showing after Search and Filter Pro plugin activated
5.0.1 (2020.10.27)
- Fix error in old versions of PHP
5.0.0 (2020.10.23)
- WARNING: This is a major update. Please test it on a staging site before updating on live site.
- WARNING: All Builder addons must be updated to 2.0+ to use with Builder 5.0+
- New: Lazy load images, videos, sliders, maps, etc.
- New: Modularize CSS (ie. split the css and only load them as needed)
- New: Builder: Added Overlay Content module
- Change: Builder: Replace slider JS to swiper.js
- Change: Builder: Replace icon font to individual SVG icon
- Fix: YouTube/Vimeo background video not covering the full row
- Fix: Builder: content does not display in correct location if access control shortcodes are used
** If you need to roll back to the old version due to update issues, you may download the old version here: https://themify.me/files/themify-builder/themify-builder-4.7.4.zip

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A Major Revision and a New Writer
Mikaela has done an awesome, awesome job of revising the first four chapters of her story, The Magic Sword of Trestia. Excellent job, Mikaela. I can't wait to read the rest! By the way, I replaced the first version of this story with this new revision but I didn't remove any of the comments. This is kind of confusing (since some of these comments no longer apply) but I didn't want to remove the comments because they might still be helpful to Mikeala.
I'd also like to welcome our newest writers, Wilson and Georgia. Wilson and Georgia have used a random word generator to help them create This Story. (Wilson and Georgia, please supply the title for this story so I can give it its proper name.) Random word generators are a great way to get your ideas flowing. Here's a link to the one these writers used if you'd like to give it a try: http://writingexercises.co.uk/take-three-nouns.php.


text:
Category Archives: Bucket list
It started with a marathon… London 2000 – how not to take on 26.2 miles
So this is me…
If I'm going to make a record of my adventures, I guess I should start from the beginning…
British by birth but with ancestors from all over, I entered the world kicking and screaming in our little bungalow in Pevensey Bay, East Sussex on 3 February 1979. Spending the first few years of my life on the South Coast I enjoyed the usual things that small people get up to… taking myself off to the bus stop aged three, eating fried eggs made of play-doh, wading in the mud flats of the local beach, inviting my playschool friends to 'luncheon' (seriously) and generally being a little bugger.
My younger brother (and partner in crime) arrived in August of 1982 and the family was complete for a while. I won't bore you with all the gory details, it's all a bit of a cliché from there and not what this blog is about, but suffice to say the home was broken and life was generally challenging until the age of seventeen – when I met my future husband and shortly after left the family home.
The one thing I am glad about, is that my childhood taught me that failure is not an option (something I have a bit of an issue trying to be reasonable about), that I would always be able to take care of myself and that if you want something you have to go out and get it. As a result I am fiercely independent (often to a fault) and hopeless at asking for help. I am determined that my children will grow up to be happy, confident and secure… and proud of their bonkers mother.
As a teenager I took every opportunity to be out. Challenging my liver frequently, dancing until I couldn't stay awake, dying my hair blue and getting my first (of amazingly only two) tattoos at an age when it definitely wasn't legal. Luckily I had a group of very good friends to look after me who I sadly don't see as much as I would like, but who are still there in one form or another.
Life finally started to settle down when I met Adrian, the man who works tirelessly for us and keeps my feet (mostly) on the ground. Together we have two children, Charlie and Amelia who keep us busier than an entire hive of bees; as do our menagerie of animals which drive us nuts (especially our book-eating rabbit), but make our house a home. Without him my adventures would be impossible and I am eternally grateful, that he understands and supports my need to go off exploring from time to time – without which it is fair to say that I would be even more of a nightmare to live with!
Sport and exercise have always been a major part of who I am, competing in everything possible during school, gaining a BSc (Hons) from the University of Brighton in Exercise Science and for a short-term working as a fitness instructor at a local health club. Now I'm (ahem) a grown-up, physical activity is my personal passion once again. I love to run, box, work out in the gym and most recently have got into cycling… you'll hear more about that soon.
In terms of creative hobbies I'm one of those irritating people who can turn my hand to most things, from upholstery to fencing (garden not sword fighting… yet), DIY to cake making – my chocolate fudge concoctions are a particular favourite with my army of willing guinea pigs. It's fair to say though, that I do take on too much at times and have been known to be up baking at 2am, which is when food is most definitely not good for the soul.
Professionally I work for a local telecoms provider in a number of roles, one of my favourites of which is Charity Events Co-Ordinator and allows me to get involved with a number of good causes, helping to raise money and take on various adventures in the process.
If there's a challenge I'll be there and I'm always looking for something new to take on. For ages I've been encouraged to create a blog and have finally decided that it's time to get on with it. Writing is one of my favourite things, which I hope will one day, be something I can really make a more substantial part of my life.
For now this will be my place to plan, share and record my adventures (some of which will be historical at first) and hopefully contribute something interesting, honest and entertaining to the global community.
I hope you enjoy it. Please share and follow if you do.


text:
I did my first yeast starter last week.
Yes, I've been brewing for 5 years. No, I've never done a yeast starter.
I asked some friends, and ended up with a sweet resource on Billy's site (this is the dude who runs the Homebrew Academy, which you should check out).
I went to the homebrew shop, bought my ingredients, and made a yeast starter. I was all nervous at first.. How do I do this? What's the next step. And then I realized it's just like brewing, but faster. Like, 30 minutes all said and done.
So this past weekend I made another one. And I bought a 2L erlenmeyer flask. And let me tell you, the batch I brewed yesterday was fermenting pretty vigorously this morning. Way more so than my batches usually are after only a few hours.
Moral of the story, I'm learning more about yeast, and it's fun. That is all.


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In this article, I'm, not just on a proverbial hobby-horse but whipping it frantically as I gallop wildly into the Valley of Death. I may even end up offending some readers but hopefully make some new friends along the way. So saddle up and join the posse!
Imagine getting the following e-mail from someone who wants you to provide therapy services for their child.
Dear Therapist
I am the parent of a child who cannot speak and really needs help. I saw that you offer therapy services to people like my child and I'd love to have access to them. However, I am really surprised that your therapy services are so expensive and think that you should provide them free of charge. Other people provide free therapy services and there are also many people who are not therapists who provide free therapy services in their spare time.
I'd be happy to provide a recommendation of your therapy services to other people if you were to provide them to me for free. Otherwise, I am afraid I will just have to blog about how expensive your therapy services are and go somewhere else. It seems so sad that children in desperate need of help are denied access to therapy services because of people wanting to make a profit from their disability.
Now I'm guessing that your response is likely to be along the lines of "no," based on the notion that at the end of the day, you'd like to be able to eat, stay warm, and maybe feed your family. You might also be wanting to pay off the huge loan you took out to train for years to become a therapist in the first place – because those greedy folks at the college expected you to pay for your education! And if you were to give free therapy to this client, the "recommendation" would result in everyone else wanting free help, and that's not usually a sustainable business model.
OK, so why not copy the email into a document and do a search-and-replace that changes every instance of "therapy services" to "apps." Hell, why don't I make it even easier and do that for you below:
I am the parent of a child who cannot speak and really needs help. I saw that you offer apps to people like my child and I'd love to have access to them. However, I am really surprised that your apps are so expensive and think that you should provide them free of charge. Other people provide free apps and there are also many people who are not therapists who provide free apps in their spare time.
I'd be happy to provide a recommendation of your apps to other people if you were to provide them to me for free. Otherwise, I am afraid I will just have to blog about how expensive your apps are and go somewhere else. It seems so sad that children in desperate need of help are denied access to apps because of people wanting to make a profit from their disability.
Sounds familiar?
So how about another stark contrast just to hammer home a little more how ridiculous we all are – and we're all guilty – when it comes to value and pricing with apps.
Hands up anyone who buys at least one coffee per week from a local coffee store.
Hands down.
The nice people at Statistic Brain estimate that the average price on an espresso-based coffee in 2012 was $2.45, and a brewed one was $1.34. So if you drink an espresso-based coffee each week for a year, you are out-of-pocket by $127.40. More sobering is that there's a good chance you drink more than one a week, and just having two takes you up to $255 and tax.
So remind me again; why do we whine about paying 99 cents for an app? Why do we jump through hoops to badger, harass, cajole, and even blackmail app developers into giving us freebies? If I'm happy to spend $250 per year on something as trivial as a cup of non-essential coffee, why will I not spend $1 on an app that is apparently "essential" for a child's education? Is coffee more valuable than education?
Our sense of "value" and "worth" has gone totally to pot when it comes to apps. It defies belief that consumers somehow believe that either it costs nothing to create an app or that app creators are making money out of the wazoo from their yachts just off of Miami Beach. We are, in fact, victims of Crapponomics, the naive misunderstanding of how apps work from an economic standpoint.
Why did this happen? Why is it that when an app developer asks $1.99 for something that took weeks of work we are shocked at the effrontery to ask such an outrageous price and invent some form of "special case" as to why we deserve a freebie? Let's take a look at Crapponomics 101.
1. The apps "anchor" was originally free.
In Economics, there's a concept known as the "Anchor Point." As the name suggests, it's the selling price at which you drop your anchor when you bring a new product or service to market. Once an anchor is set, new folks tend to cluster around your safe harbor and drop similar anchors. And when people start purchasing products, this anchor becomes the standard against all other similar products are measured. The average price of an app in 2012 was $1.58, which is 87 cents cheaper than a cup of espresso-based coffee.
The best anchor point for a consumer is usually free. If I want stuff, and the stuff costs me nothing, how bad can that be? Well, the obvious thing is that there's a little thing called quality that gets factored into the equation, but you'd be surprised (or not) how much quality will be sacrificed on the altar of Free. And in the early days of iPhones and iPads, the majority of apps were free – which became, and remains, the anchor.
2. Most apps are for marketing, not profit.
In his seminal work, The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins argued that human beings are basically the gene's way of making new genes. We are, in fact, merely hosts for DNA, and the name of the game of Life is for DNA to exist. In a similar fashion, apps are just the tablet device's way of creating more tablet devices. Apple, Samsung, and even Microsoft, don't need to write apps because what they want is to sell tablets [1]. The purpose of the free Angry Birds games is to sell angrier and more expensive birds; the purpose of the free United Airlines app is to get you to buy tickets on United Airlines; the purpose of the free Pandora app is to get you to subscribe to the full Pandora service. Folks will pay for more birds, better airline seats, and more music but still begrudge the 99 cents for an app designed by a professional clinician and software engineer to help a client improve. And that's because we mix up the free app with the for-profit app, and forget the value of expertise and quality.
3. We see apps as "things" and not a piece of intellectual property.
Ask yourself why you want an app in the first place. Usually it's because it offers you something that would take you a long time to develop yourself (if at all) and will in some way help your clients succeed. So why are you reluctant to pay someone for taking the time to do all that work for you? Is 99 cents really too much to ask for the hours and hours a developer has put into it?
The problem is that most folks look at apps the same way they look at cans of beans on a shelf; you find the ones you like, stick 'em in your basket, and pay at the counter. But many apps – particularly those for therapy and education – have taken someone a long time to create. What you are buying is their years of experience in their field of expertise, their time designing the content, their cost to employ a programmer, and any royalties they in turn might be paying "behind the scenes" for things within the app [2].
4. Apple are not a charity and take their cut.
Folks who create apps know that despite the image that St. Stephen of Jobs carefully crafted to portray Apple as a caring, sharing, warm-and-fuzzy group of lovable kooks sticking it to "the Man," they want 30% of everything that goes out via iTunes. Everything. If you write an app for an Apple device, you cannot sell it other than via iTunes – and that'll cost you 30% of your selling price. Every 99 cent app that we begrudgingly pay for nets the developer 66 cents. Does anyone think to harass Apple because they get 33 cents for distributing? Nope, the developer gets the blame.
And how about that "freebie" thing? Well, Apple are kind enough to offer developers some free codes that they can use for promotion purposes, but after that, if the developer wants to give one away, they have to pay for their own app – and Apple still gets the 33 cents! That "free" app you are so adamantly demanding costs the developer (a) 66 cents in lost income and (b) 33 cents real money to Apple [3].
5. You have to sell millions of 99 cent apps to buy a boat.
Another basic rule of Economics is that to make a profit you can either sell millions of very cheap things at a small margin, or a few very expensive things at a large one. The Crapponomics assumption by consumers is that app developers make money by following the former route; millions of apps at 99 cents = sun-kissed beaches and mojitos in Hawaii.
But there are two underlying assumptions here that are inaccurate. The first is that the sort of apps being developed for therapy and education do not sell in millions. Not even close. The second is that there are not significant profits to be made from an app; simple math soon whittles down the margins. For a 99 cent app, Apple takes 33 cents, leaving 66 cents. Of that 66 cents, there's usually at least two people to pay – author and developer – so that takes it to 33 cents each. Take out something for the IRS (like Apple, tax folks want their pound of flesh and you stand no chance of getting a "freebie" from them!), maybe a little for marketing, and that "dollar an app" profit has shrunk down smaller than a guy's nuts on an Alaskan winter's morning.
Think of the value, not the anchor
So do you still think paying 99 cents is too expensive? Or $1.99? Maybe even $4.99? Remember, that 99 cent app is supposed to make it easier for you to provide a service – for which you WILL be charging substantially more than 99 cents.
If a "life-changing" app costs $4.99, who in their right mind would quibble with that? Has the value of education and therapy reached the point where folks will pay more for a couple of pints at the bar than they will for their child's future? I suppose that 60-inch LCD TV from Best Buy is a "good investment" but the $99.99 for an AAC app isn't? Where has our sense of value gone? I suppose paying Verizon Wireless $40.00 every month for a data plan is normal for our wired life but hounding the developer of a $2.99 app for a free copy balances that out.
We need to realize that when we buy an app we are not paying for the virtual equivalent of a can of beans but the skills, knowledge, and time of an experienced educator or clinician. Only then we will begin to stop the decline in the undervaluing of therapy and education as a whole.
Sometimes, there just isn't an app for that.
[1] From Apple's perspective, even the sale of the tablets isn't where the big money resides; that's coming from their greatest invention; iTunes. Although most folks would suggest that the iPod, iPhone, and iPad are Apple's best inventions, it's their delivery system that was their masterstroke. In order to get anything into your iDevice you need to download from iTunes, and Apple makes money on every download. Every app, book, song, movie, or video earns them cash, and that's pure genius.
[2] Most app authors are in the true sense "authors" and not "writers." They don't actually write programming code for a device, and often have no idea about how code works. In a similar fashion, when Snooki claims to have "authored a book" she is being truthful; someone else actually "wrote" it based on Snooki's ideas (whatever those may have been.) What this means is that the "99 cents" you pay is now starting to get split many ways, and the author isn't getting anything near 99 cents.
The average cost to develop and app has been estimated to be anywhere between $8000 and $200,000. Here's a good article called The Cost of Building an iPad App. Ideas for apps are cheap – we all have them – but software engineers are not, neither is your time. You might think that if you are designing an app in your "spare time" then it's free, but the only reason you have "spare time" is that you're already being paid for a job! The real test of the cost is to quit your real job and then go to the bank to see how much they will lend you to design an app.
[3] My standard disclaimer here is that I have no problem with any company making a profit. Apple developed the iTunes distribution system and have every right to recoup their development efforts by charging people to use the system. Although I may not want to say, "Greed is Good," I'm OK with saying, "Making a profit is just fine." My beef is more that for some reason, people seem to see Apple as the good guy and app developers as trying to gouge customers by charging for their apps. Folks seem happy to demand free 99 cent apps but don't expect apple to give them a $700 iPad. Why is that? And Apple are the ones who force up app prices by asking for 30% of the selling price and only providing a limited number of free codes. So why don't people rail on Apple about this? It seems that the richest company on the planet gets a "pass" but struggling app developers get the hassle. If Apple doesn't give free $700 iPads, Verizon doesn't offer free $40 monthly data plans, and Best Buy doesn't let you walk off with a free 60-inch TV, why should an app seller give away a free 99 cent piece of software? Stop picking on the little guys!


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Penman for Monday, December 25, 2017
IT USED to be, in simpler times, that we marked and celebrated only the most meaningful of anniversaries—birthdays, weddings, the passing of loved ones, and maybe the day when we became a lawyer, a professor, or a boss. In my case, things got even simpler because Beng and I decided to get married on my 20th birthday (44 years ago in a few weeks). It's a decision I've regretted since—not the marriage, but the twinning of these events, because it would have been nice to have two separate days and two separate excuses to celebrate.
But in this era, when relationships don't seem to last much longer than cellphone batteries and when people can instantly "unfriend" each other for the most peevish of reasons, anniversaries have become precious things, with millennials having to invent such clumsy portmanteaus as "monthsaries" or "mensversaries" to find relief in the completion of another month's tetchy togetherness.
And then there's the turn of the consumer year that merchandisers won't let you forget; if it's September, then it's not only the start of Yuletide in the Philippines, but also the inevitable announcement of the new iPhone X, Y, or Z (accompanied by a deep intake of breath as the awesome new gadget is unveiled, followed by the gnashing of teeth once the price is mentioned).
And yes, of course, I have the new X, which I was intrigued by but surely didn't need—people my age could have lived happily ever after with the iPhone 4s, if truth be told—but I felt like rewarding myself for having stuck with the iPhone for ten years since the first one came out. That's what anniversaries usually do—compel you to repeat a lunatic act. (Those of us now screaming about the X's price tag will do well to remember that the first one, with all of 16 gigs of memory, cost a princely 45K in September 2007, plus another 5K to hack for use with local telcos. And before anyone subpoenas my SALN as a UP prof, I got my X at a steep discount through my telco, by hocking my soul for two more years.)
The decade-defining X reminded me of two more anniversaries that fell this year, of the kind that makes sense only in the context of our new digital reality, where a few years might as well be a lifetime in terms of changes in the way we think and work.
Last December 17, I marked my 20th year on eBay, which means I've been a digital consumer for longer than some of my students have been alive. EBay began as Auction Web in 2005, but it was in September 1997 when it opened shop as eBay, so it turns out that I signed up just a few months after its official launch. My first eBay purchase was a 1950s Pelikan 140 fountain pen from Germany, which stayed with me until I foolishly sold it a couple of years ago; my most recent one this month, again from Germany, was a 1950s Montblanc 234 ½ fountain pen—how odd is that? (But perhaps no odder than another recent acquisition—a book of letters of the Jesuits in the Philippines to the King of Spain, in a French edition published in 1706.)
Between those two purchases lies a long green trail of about 1,000 other eager buys (my 100%-positive feedback score stands at 869)—mostly pens, watches, and books, but also computers, phones, spare parts for everything, and things you can't get from any store (like original Apple shirts, the blue ones Apple Store employees wear). Like the cliché goes, one man's junk is another man's treasure, and I've very often been that other man, crazy and willing enough to take your grandfather's Parker 51 or that weird-looking Hamilton Piping Rock (yes, that's what it's called) off your hands.
Friends scared of doing business online often ask if I've ever been scammed or burned on eBay. In those hundreds of transactions, maybe two or three times, I either never received what I bought, or got something else; but since eBay has an ironclad guarantee, I got refunded in the end. Presuming you take the right precautions—examine advertisements down to the minutest detail; read feedbacks (although they're not infallible); know your product; review its price history, etc.—eBay's safe and easily the world's largest bazaar open to Filipinos. My only word of caution: it can get addictive, especially since it's cashless; expect your PayPal/credit card bill to soon read "eBay eBay eBay…"
My other anniversary thankfully came free: last March, I marked my tenth year on Twitter. Ironically, I'm not much of a social-media guy, and that Twitter account (@penmanila), which I must've opened in 2007 on a whim, lay dormant for most of that decade until two years ago, when—uhm—a certain candidate in a certain election got me so worked up that I quickly found my meek and gentle self embroiled in a full-scale Twitter war with a vandal army. ("Something wicked this way comes," I tweeted, quoting Macbeth; it didn't stay that lofty or that literate for long.)
I'm now up to 760 tweets, and counting—still nowhere near the many thousands that my younger readers have unleashed upon the universe, but old guys think more slowly and our fingers take more time to travel across the keyboard. That's actually good for social media and its trigger-happy culture, and I can only wish I were that pokey and that deliberate on eBay.
Still, happy anniversary, and Merry Christmas, all!


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Insights Into William Branham tract
Insights Into William Branham tract
This controversial ministry figure from 50 years ago still has a following.
What did he teach & prophesy, and did they line up with Scripture?
Free download, and share with friends.
You may print this off or download and share with friends.
To receive this and other free products add them to your shopping cart then complete the checkout process.
Upon completing the checkout process you will be provided with a link to download on the screen and an email will be sent to the email address provided with a link to download.
Why does Jubilee Resources make free tracts available?
God's commission for Jubilee is based on Ezekiel 33:1-9, and Luke 4:18-21.According to the Bible, Jubilee years were times of restitution. Debts were cancelled, slaves set free, families reunited and lost or forfeited inheritances restored. Every year was prophetic of the ministry of Jesus the Messiah. The Jubilee was proclaimed on the basis of the work of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement - so the liberating ministry of Jesus is founded on His atoning work. Jesus began His public ministry by reading the passage from the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:18-21). All the liberties of the Jubilee year are now available to us through the redemptive work of Jesus at Calvary, and we all have the responsibility to preach this Gospel of Redemption and to proclaim the Atonement. When Messiah returns, God's people will be totally free from all sin, sickness and disease, death and curse. The Biblical Jubilee will then be fully realised.
Our role is to educate, because deceived people don't know they are deceived people.


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Book Notes: The cooling of a friendship in 'The Burning Girl'
"The Burning Girl" By Claire Messud. W.W. Norton & Co., 2017. 256 pages. $25.95
Children are ill-equipped for the perils they encounter, not to mention those they gleefully pursue. Thus the enduring draw of the coming-of-age novel, where tension spreads like a fog over everything. When that fog lifts our gift may be some small bit of clarity, insight or relief.
Claire Messud, in her new coming-of-age novel, "The Burning Girl," writes her story, set on Boston's North Shore, with a light touch. Two girls form a beautiful, creative and deep friendship that starts in kindergarten and changes in ninth grade when school and family life change, as well. Dread, already imbedded in our psyches where are our children are concerned, is masterfully triggered. The author dramatizes nothing and everything.
Julie is the narrator, a precocious 16- or 17-year-old when she tells the story of her friendship with Cassie. Over the years they develop a set of shared stories, a lexicon, favorite activities and expectations. Together they explore, swim, go to school, interpret the world. Julie considers them conjoined.
Cassie is a natural beauty with white-blond hair and a petite body. She is the daring risk-taker. Julie is taller, with dark, curly hair, and she works to keep up with her friend's ambitions. Cassie lives with her mother, Bev, who is a devoutly Christian hospice nurse. She doesn't remember her father, who is said to have been killed by a drunk driver though there's scant evidence of his existence.
Julie is a good student and opportunities come her way. Her father is the local dentist and her mother is a freelance writer. They live in an old Victorian in a rural, working-class town — Royston — that is situated within an easy drive of Haverhill and Newburyport. That Victorian, so often the home of a dentist or doctor, feels like an anchor in small New England towns.
Cassie's life takes a series of bad turns in ninth grade when she meets new friends and when her mother becomes involved with a local doctor, Anders Shute. Shute's motives are unclear but his presence in Cassie's small family appears ominous and dangerous. Cassie, bonded closely with her mother as many daughters are in single-parent families, does not want to hurt her mother's first real chance for happiness with a partner. She is reluctant to make an issue of out Shute's menace. But Shute's campaign for control over Cassie reaches a breaking point. By this time, according to Julie, Cassie is beautiful and melancholy, "a wound trying hard to look like something else."
By the time Cassie's behavior grows self-destructive, she and Julie have very little to do with each other. Julie continues to regard Cassie as her best friend and because of this, she bears the burden of responsibility for her old friend. As readers will see, responsibility comes with hurtful consequences.
Messud does a fine job developing the story of this rich friendship between two smart and imaginative girls, one more troubled and imperiled than the other. She also does a very credible job exposing their fraying bonds. "I had other friends," says Julie, "but I'd lost the friend I loved best, and had loved without thinking for as long as I could remember…" Julie is a keen and philosophical observer, a bit detached but always true to her heart and her friend. Even when they were no longer close, she felt she understood Cassie, who "would make a certain face, or use a certain word, or run her hand through her hair in a certain way, and I'd know exactly what she was feeling, and it would all still be there between us: You couldn't take away our whole lives."
Sometimes such intimate knowledge is perceived as a violation. When that happens, the relationship is doomed. Messud's story of friendship and struggle set in small-town Massachusetts is current and urgent and gentle all at the same time.
— Rae Padilla Francoeur is a freelance journalist and author. She can be reached at email@example.com.