Patrick Michael

You are so right! I had about a dozen that I out right fired, about 10 more that I doubled the price and they went elsewhere and a couple more that paid the PIA fee. The stress these clients caused was not worth the money.

Thanks everyone! It's almost over!!!

Wondering why a 3115 would be necessary since the returns can be amended. There is no change in accounting method. The original basis and other improvements have been depreciated. Just forgot this remodel.

Client sold a rental home in 2023 and lo and behold, found about $40,000 in capital improvements from 2021 that she forgot to tell me about. She does have receipts and is a scatter brain, so I believe it is legate. Because of her income all the losses have been disallowed and the added depreciation will added to the unallowed losses. Since her taxable income doesn't change do I have to amend the 2021 and 2022 years returns or can I just add the additional deprecation to 2023's 8582?

Like Catherine, I always use the Transaction Summary from Drake and have the client sign. One time client yelled and screamed at me when there direct deposit was rejected. When I told them they would have to wait for a check in the mail they demanded that I give them the money because they needed it for a down payment on a car. I pointed out that they had signed the transaction summary verifying the bank info was correct and t hey told me they didn't read it first and it was all my fault. Needless to say they became ex-clients at that point.

I have a feeling I know the answer but am hoping I'm missing something. Clients had a timeshare and wanted out. The timeshare was in the husband's name and his wife could no longer travel due to health reasons. They spoke with a representative of the time share company and he recommended that the husband "convert" his time share into the name of the wife, using the "equity" in his time share to purchase the new time share. The wife could then get out of the new time share by providing a doctor's note. Sounded good to them until they received a 1099 S for $75,000. They did not receive any cash in the deal. To the best of the husband's memory, he paid about $35,000 for the time share over 20 years ago (he is going to see if he can dig up the paperwork). Are any of the yearly fees and other expenses they had to pay able to be added to the basis? They have no idea how the company came up with the $75,000 value on the 1099 S. Can the value of the time share be challenged and if so, how would it be presented on the 1040?

I am starting to get millennials in the 16 to 18 year old range, mostly kids of my clients, who are filing their first tax returns. I have to make a conscious effort not to laugh when I watch them try to sign their names in cursive. They get a pained expression on their faces and it takes forever. Many just give up and print or make an illegible mark. I'm afraid that within a another generation cursive writing will be lost art.

My favorite is "Why is my 401(K) distribution included on my return? I already paid the tax (pointing to the withholding box). It shouldn't be on my return." Some people are convinced they are "paying" the tax twice and can't grasp the concept that the withholding is just a prepayment of the tax that is going to be due, not the tax itself.

Forgot to add that supplemental information is showing ordinary income reported of 125.44 So the adjusted basis should be 2,683.58 (2,558.14 plus the 125.44).

First time I have one of these and looking for a sanity check. Client sold 13 shares, proceeds $7,827.40 in 2023. Option was granted and exercised in 2018 with a FMV on grant date of 192.98 (box 3 form 3922), FMV on exercise date 207.14 (box 4) and Exercise Price 196.78 (box 5). From my reading this is a qualified disposition and the basis should be 2,558.14 (13 shares times 196.78 from box 5). Is my understanding correct? TIA.

This client ( I have done their taxes for the last 3 years) is in their late 20's. Went to community college for 4 years and never earned enough credits to get a degree. Was a dependent on his parents returns for those four years and parents don't have copies of the old returns and have no interest in getting transcripts. I hate to have him lose out if he is still eligible.

How do handle it when you get new clients with dependents (or themselves) who have been going to college for more than 4 years and have no idea if they have taken the AOC (or Hope) in past years? Will the return reject if you take the AOC and it has been taken for the 4 years?

Just received one supposedly from Drake.

Received two emails this morning that looked legitimate (not the usual grammar and spelling errors) asking if I was taking on new clients and offering to email me last years returns. Give away was the "Reply" email address did not match the "From" address and was really weird,( .jp instead of the usual .com or .org). I know most of you are very careful with these type of emails and just wanted to let everyone know that the bad guys are getting much better at making the emails look legit.

The kittens mother is feral and had a litter of 5 kittens under our deck. We were able to catch the kittens and then lure the mother into the garage to feed them until we were able to wean them. Mother went off to a non profit that spayed her and then released her (she was too feral to adopt out). We kept these two and were able to adopt out the other three.