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Today was drop off and phone call terror day. What are people thinking? I am so far behind that I expect to meet myself coming through the door one day. I can only do so much without finding myself making odd mistakes and will not allow that to happen. My house looks like a junk pit and I really don't care. I don't live in my house. I live in this office. A lot of people that are still out there are in for a big surprise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XcqiCLmbrNU

Saw this on Yahoo News this morning: http://screen.yahoo.com/viral-hits/man-uses-instagram-tax-documents-231508690.html Seems this guy who live in Philly, but now works in NYC, is trying to avoid paying NYC taxes. So, he takes a picture of himself everyday, leaving for NYC. Except.... He has an apartment in NYC. Why the Rant? Because they make the story about "The IRS". And the "The IRS" does not care about what state you live in. This is for NYC/NY State taxation. Rich

And you know Deb is going: "The return has been filed and accepted. Why are you people still talking?" And I ran out of "likes" again, Pacun, or I would like your short and sweet "she qualifies". This is no way to live.

So what's the verdit? I think she qualifies for refundable AOC.

None of the choices in #1 apply to her. You don't take the refundable part if 1, 2, and 3 all apply. "You do not qualify for a refundable American opportunity credit if 1 (a, b, or c), 2, and 3 below apply to you."

JJStephens, what an amazing story of, well, hubris at the least. Was he still a co-worker after moving out? I hope not for long! Just know you and family are good people and they are maybe not so much.

All due respect, Deb is trying to determine what she can do with the information she has, and the facts and circumstances, not our life experiences. Cause she's a smart cookie.

I love rants. Working on the engineer's return. That he spent four days on before bringing to me. With the penciled in forms and "backups" attached to each form. Just give me the forms and get outta my hair is my motto. He paid his financial advisor $19,700. A pineapple could have made money on mutual funds over the past five years. Sorry, don't have much to say about state taxes. Except this guy is going to pay thru the nose to TN. Cause his financial advisor knows all he wants to see is dividends.

Parents cannot claim this child because of her age, income and not being full time student.

I musta missed the part where she said the kid lived in CA. But Deb knows about the costs for this student, wherever she lives. The community college costs were 1,400. And you missed my point completely about refundable credits.

At this point, I would be all of the above. I hate that question, and basically I put it back in their lap: I have no way of knowing how many people will bring their information tomorrow, and I am two weeks behind, so I guess all bets are off if you don't have it in before the people who drop off tomorrow.

well, it depends on what tone of voice you use when telling the client to crank up their time machine. If you can say it with a smile on your face and enthusiasm in your voice then it's ok in my book.

Just had a perennial extender drop in. He said his wife told him to ask how late they can get their info to me and still get the return done by Apr 15. Was it OK for me to tell him to crank up his time machine and get it to me by Mar 10, or was that: 1) unkind ? 2) snarky ? 3) uncalled for ? 4) other...

Oh lovely, I updated after reading this thread about standing alone. I couldn't stand the constant interruptions reminding me to "please update"! No problems detected, though, so far. Thanks Jack for the guidance and thanks Rita for the humor. We need both in these final weeks.

I love both of you too much to be mad. Psssh. Bring it on. You always hurt the one you love. That's what I hear.

She qualifies

According to Deb, the client is age 21, less than a full-time student, and provides more than 1/2 of her support. For those saying she doesn't qualify, which part of question one do you think is precluding her from qualifying?

I love it. I couldn't resist either.

Number 2 may be the result of number one? Not sayin' nothin', just sayin'....... Sorry, just could not resist. Tom Hollister, CA

Good job confusing me. YES, she qualifies because 1c reads AND you didn't provide half of your support. In this case, she did and therefore she qualifies for the refundable portion of it.

Pub 523 has a section with comprehensive examples devoted to those that rent the home for a portion of the time encompassing the 5 years. That section starts on pg 16: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf

1 doesn't apply to her because she did provide more than 50% of her own support. That the one that allows her to claim it.

No. You have to answer three questions and you will take the refundable portion of it. In this case, I would take it. Just document what she answers to you and fill out a worksheet and you should be OK.

Less than a .1% chance of it even being looked at, much less challenged. This is reality.

I will modify my instructions above. I sent an e-mail and Tech support called me. (I must have someone's ear) Identified the problem and some possible changes to prevent the retry problem in the future.

I guess both people that have issues didn't follow the instructions 100%. Whenever you are going to upgrade ANY software, you need to close other programs. Whenever you are going to upgrade a SERVER software, you need to close that application on the workstations AND do the update first on the server. Thank you for sharing your mistakes. I thought the update was full of flows when you opened up 1040s, but I am glad that once you upgrade, everything is working properly.

And tracking this nonsense would be an absolute nightmare - and people won't do it. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/bitcoin-is-property-not-currency-in-tax-system-irs-says.html

Once had a co-worker who was evicted for reporting an unsafe furnace. I told him he could camp out with us for a day or three until the new apartment he rented was ready. He, his wife and two kids moved in. They brought a bag and half of groceries when they moved in. A couple days turned into six weeks when the new apartment had to undergo more repairs. Throughout that time he complained about my wife's cooking, made special requests for meals, took showers so long that there was no hot water left when I got in, etc. Not once while they were there did they offer (much less pay) for anything. After four weeks wifey and kids moved home with mama (in a huff) because my wife was making her feel guilty by doing housework while she (his wife) was watching soaps all day. A couple weeks later I finally had to tell him to find another place to stay. In an amazing coincidence, he instantly found a new apartment just down the street. A few days later he knocks on the door and sheepishly tells me his wife had sent him over. He said she remembered bringing some groceries when they moved in and she needed them back. My wife & I loaded up a half dozen bags to overflowing and loaded them into his car. He protested that he thought that might be a little more than they had brought. We assured him that the last thing we wanted to do was to take advantage of them and sent him on his way. I never heard from him again. Which was okay with me

Thanks for both replies. Lion: The usage issue is a great question that I need to confirm but I'm pretty sure the usage remains 100% biz even though the biz has scaled way back (I believe due to the owner's health issues). BTW, still in awe of your avatar adventure! KC: Thanks for the Pub 946 guidance. That never showed up when I googled "Section 179" and "amended return"

Remember that year, 2010?, when we also deducted health insurance on Sch SE? I hate it when something is for one year. Or a couple of years, like adding real estate tax to the standard deduction. I still have people thinking they are deducting real estate tax somewhere.

I was scratching my head (was it yesterday? days are all running together) when someone here posted that ATX CCHSFS was blaming some glitch at the IRS when e-file rejects were being kicked out due to state EIN number missing from the W-2 entry. There was not one posting about this on the official Drake forum that has 10 times the registered users that this forum has. It's hard for me to believe this is an IRS problem and there was not one peep from anyone using Drake about a reject because of this. Anyway, it seems like most everyone is having a good season with the software this year. I just don't trust CCHSFS after last year's debacle.

I don't have a quick answer on the part about the tax on NII, but #2 is true. Bonuses accrued to a group or pool of employees that are paid within 2.5 months after year-end would be deductible in the year accrued if the forfeited bonus is reallocated to the others remaining in the pool. But, if the bonus requires that an employee still be employed on the date of the payment, then the "all events test" isn't met until that date that the bonus is paid, which would be in the following year. Here's a good article from the AICPA that covers it pretty well. Bonus Deduction Timing - Finding the Correct Tax Year Also, CPA is correct that bonuses to related parties can't be accrued. They are deductible in the year paid. It's part of code sec is 267 that puts limits on related party transactions and converts those transactions to a cash basis so to match the transaction in the same reporting period as the cash basis owner. A quote taken from another source: "The related party rules under IRC S. 267 require the matching of income and deductions arising from transactions between related parties. Related parties include individuals owning more than 50% in value of the outstanding stock of the company. The law requires that even if all events have occurred to fix the liability and the economic performance rules are met, the deduction may not be claimed until the year in which the related party recognizes the income. Thus, in the instance of a bonus payment to a greater than 50% shareholder, the amounts will not be deductible by the company until the period in which the income is recognized by the shareholder."

Yep, there may be savings in there, too. I got a 21-year-old that can save birthday, Christmas, and graduation money for years. True story. His sister can save money for 3.5 minutes.

Lucky for me my PTP clients all have small holdings; none of the "other state" info is within an order of magnitude of crossing the filing thresholds. Phew!

It's not hard for me to believe a person can live on $25,999. I see people raising families on that here. Well, that and their $8,000 in refundable credits. OK, bad example.

I got my annual call yesterday from a partner in a partnership wanting to know when it would be done. I told her that her that once again, her partner didn't get my the information in to to me until there were three drawers ahead of her. She said, why didn't you call me and tell me? I told her that she should be checking up on her partner, since she knows that this happens every year. I suggested once again that they go to a larger CPA firm so that this wouldn't happen. I am not going to kill myself because her husband's CPA is going to make them go on extension if they don't have the K1 by Wednesday at 12. I know that I am too cheap, that's why they don't move it to her husband's CPA.

I came back this year. Running fine on Windows 8.1, new machine I7-4820K 3.70GHz processor and 16GB RAM

I have predicted that people will come back in 2015 but I think they will come back in 2014. Yes, the product is excellent and you should come back at on April 16. Just call the help desk and ask for a free copy of the 2013 software and I think they will ship it to you. Then in November purchase the software. I have had no issues whatsover this year and the program is very robust from the shelf.

See his second post, Jack, where he corrects the one you quoted.

Name of individual is considered name of biz for Sch C.

Thanks jasdlm! It appears that contrary to Pub 502, it is deductible for a sole prop without being in the business name. I guess I have some amendments to do ...<sigh>.

Don’t Miss the Health Insurance Deduction if You’re Self-Employed IRS Tax Tip 2013-43, March 28, 2013 If you are self-employed, the IRS wants you to know about a tax deduction generally available to people who are self-employed. The deduction is for medical, dental or long-term care insurance premiums that self-employed people often pay for themselves, their spouse and their dependents. The insurance can also cover your child who was under age 27 at the end of 2012, even if the child was not your dependent. You may be able to take this deduction if one of the following applies to you: You had a net profit from self-employment. You would report this on a Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business, Schedule C-EZ, Net Profit From Business, or Schedule F, Profit or Loss From Farming. You had self-employment earnings as a partner reported to you on Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), Partner's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc. You used an optional method to figure your net earnings from self-employment on Schedule SE, Self-Employment Tax. You were paid wages reported on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, as a shareholder who owns more than two percent of the outstanding stock of an S corporation. There are also some rules that apply to how the insurance plan is established. Follow these guidelines to make sure the plan qualifies: If you’re self-employed and file Schedule C, C-EZ, or F, the policy can be in your name or in your business’ name. If you’re a partner, the policy can be in your name or the partnership’s name and either of you can pay the premiums. If the policy is in your name and you pay the premiums, the partnership must reimburse you and include the premiums as income on your Schedule K-1. If you’re an S corporation shareholder, the policy can be in your name or the S corporation’s name and either of you can pay the premiums. If the policy is in your name and you pay the premiums, the S corporation must reimburse you and include the premiums as wage income on your Form W-2. For more information, see Publication 535, Business Expenses. It’s available at IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676). Additional IRS Resources: Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center Publication 535, Business Expenses Publication 225, Farmer’s Tax Guide Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business Schedule C-EZ, Net Profit From Business Schedule F, Profit or Loss From Farming Subscribe to IRS Tax Tips Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 25-Nov-2013

I agree with Rita. I don't have a cutoff date. I do as much as I can and don't push my endurance any more than I have to. Hubby told me yesterday that I look worried all the time, so I guess that I need to lighten up. I prepare them in the order in which they came in with a very few exceptions. There are situations, and there are situations. Just because they send me all their stuff from Arizona or Texas does not mean that they get priority. They play while I work. Well, guess what, this year I am taking them one at a time and any and all are welcome to find a better fit. None of them seem to want to.