Leaderboard

Given that the lawyer is dispensing such low-quality tax advice, the church may want to have a knowledgeable lawyer review all the work he did for the orgnization and scrutinize it for other serious flaws. I'd be concerned that his legal exerptise might be as defective as his tax knowledge.

The church is not required to issue a 1099-Misc unless he shows up unexpectedly again and the total for the year exceeds $600. However, the minister is required to report the $500 honorarium on his personal return irrespective of whether or not a 1099-Misc is issued. But that isn't any business of the congregation's - it is a matter between the minister and the IRS (although the minister's Boss has a position on the matter which He explained in Matthew 22:21)

And those gifts to the regular pastor? Not 1099s, but include on his W-2. I agree that the unexpected visitor gets a 1099, box 7.

It is a 1099 misc, box 7, nonemployee compensation.

Lets say you show up on a Sunday and do some light bookkeeping, W2's and 1099's for them at the end of the year. You don't expect to get paid but they pass the plate and give you a "gift" of $500. What would the IRS say to that? Just because it is a church giving it out does not make it tax free. Tom Hollister, CA

Be careful with that election. It means that if any one property is sold or taken out of service, gain or loss is not recognized until ALL the properties are sold. Suspended losses remain suspended until that time. Be sure your clients aren't planning on disposing of any of their holdings until they exit the landlord business altogether.

While I love ATX, it is not as robust in the diagnostics as other software packages. I don't know how long you have worked with ATX, but I learned a long time ago that it does not have many bugs, it does however have many ways for the operator to miss a check box, entry date, or question that needs to be entered to make the software calculate correctly. It is my opinion that this is the reason ATX users are better preparers than other software users - we have to be to make sure the answers the software spits out are correct. Just my humble opinion. Tom Hollister, CA

A good example of how statistics can be manipulated to mislead can be found at http://watchdog.org/56722/blumer-blade-falsely-equalizes-dem-gop-claims-about-ohs-growth/