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Political views regarding gun ownership aside, I'm curious to know why anyone would take part in such a thing.   I mean, guns aren't cheap.  Even my little .17HMR rimfire rifle cost more than $500.  My handgun cost twice that, and hunting rifles can easily go for three times that much.  I'd need to have quite the tax return to make it worth trading one of them for tax preparation services.  I have two guns that I didn't pay anything for, one belonged to my maternal grandfather, and the other to my paternal grandfather--I wouldn't trade them for anything.     Are there people out there with unused guns just hanging around the house?

Remember " substance over form." If this went to Tax Court, the verdict would surely be that son never really owned the place and none of the gain is his. If you can't do a nominee on Sch D, do what PapaJoe says and have the son issue the 1099S to dad. Son may have to file a gift tax return if he pays his aunt directly, but he probably won't owe any tax. Oh, the tangled webs some folks weave because they think they're getting away with something! I just read a Tax Court decision in the NATP monthly about two sets of parents who traded houses they didn't live in and then each sold their "new" home to the other parents' children. Made both sets of children eligible for the First Time Homebuyer's Credit (which didn't apply if you bought from a relative). The Tax Court said "substance over form" and voided the whole deal and both credits.

House belongs (or belonged) to father. Son - your client - was the nominee title holder. If 1099-S is issued to son, he should report the sale as nominee to his father, so same dollars in and out on son's return. All reporting of rental income and expenses, sale of house, etc. should be on father's return. If the father is not your client, you do not need to be concerned with whether father reported all this correctly or not.

The folks who believe that only the police & military should have firearms make the point FOR us: the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. They simply limit the definition of "good guy" to police and military. History shows, time and again over the millennia and as recently as the past decade, that the greatest number of civilian deaths in the world are at the hands of the peoples' OWN government. Always preceded by disarmament "for greater safety". Always. As a side story, the police are notoriously bad shooters. After watching the Cambridge MA cops use our (MIT's) range for practice one day, I used to tell people that if the Cambridge cops started shooting, go stand right in front of them as it was the ONLY safe place. Just watching them scared the dickens out of me and I was astounded that no one got hurt. My coach, who was retired from the Providence RI police force, had hours of hysterically funny, terrifying, stories about the Providence PD folks.

>>Removing guns from the stream will have no effect on the criminals.<< WRONG!!! If you remove all the guns from honest people, the criminals will have a free hand to do whatever they want to do.

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. Fact. Reality. Removing guns from the stream will have no effect on the criminals. Still waiting on the law that will cause criminals to start obeying the laws. You will end up with non-working junk.

Sara, if that's the reason, why would that Mom keep the gun until some 'turn in your gun for ____' event?

I thought I had gotten my re-fi settled after 18 weeks of processing. I had a FICO score of 829, had done business with this bank for 15 years without being late on any of my loans...not one single day late....had the closing FINALLY and now they can't get my auto debits from my bank account at their bank straightened out. At first, it was comical at what all was happening.....have never seen such a mess before in my whole career. When the lady from the "President's office at the Bank" called me, I just knew things would be o'kay then. Not hardly...unfortunately! I went to my branch bank to pay my first note a day early since I had been informed that the auto debits weren't set up for my first payment yet. My branch manager took my payment to a teller and came right back. She told me that the teller said my payment would all apply to principal as my loan wasn't due yet. She was a tad bit upset to say the least! What is really mind boggling is that my neighbor who had a FICO in the 600's started a re-fi on the Internet with Quicken Loans 6 weeks after I started mine. She closed her loan in 5 weeks with a better interest rate than I have. They gave her a spiral bound book showing her all of the steps they went through on her loan, her loan papers, etc. When her loan was processing, she could log on to a Quicken website set up for her loan and see exactly at what step the loan was in at the time. After the neighbor's loan was approved, my loan closed 7 weeks later...a total of 18 weeks!!

Not absolutely certain on this, but on son's return Schedule D show cost equal selling price to show zero profit. Son gives 1099-S to father showing same selling price.

Around here cities sometimes have a turn in your guns day, often for cash or a gift certificate. They usually collect a lot of weapons. Sure some are nonworking junk, but many come from inner-city moms who found them under their teenager's mattress or hidden in a drawer. They don't have much control over their kids, but they throw out the drugs and turn in the guns if they're lucky enough to find them because they really don't want their children involved with that stuff. So yes, these collection days do get some illegal guns off the street. That said, I wouldn't touch the idea of a private collection. Let the police do it. It would take a real jerk to try to rob a police station. If people know you are collecting guns, you are a sitting duck.

I told her that doughnut was, Mine........................

I have never understood why something like this would work. Why would an honest person turn in a perfectly good gun and I am absolutely certain that a criminal would not turn in one. Whats the point? What is wrong with an honest person having a gun?

Damn, I thought I had replied to this. The class is the Sacramento Chapter of CSTC's October dinner meeting, on the 28th. Starts at 6pm. one hour by me on filling out the forms, and an hour by Marc Zine, our IRS Practitioner's liaison. I'm not sure what he'll be talking about. Its at Mimi's Café on Alta Arden Way in Sacramento for anyone out there that might like to attend!

It's crazy how many times this has happened recently.   Maybe it's time for me to start using Google Wallet or Apple Pay or whatever.  I've had to replace my debit card 3 times in the past 5 or 6 years as a result of these kinds of things.   At least with Google Wallet (not sure about Apple Pay, which is new), your full credit card number is never transmitted to the retailer.  Google having my credit card info is no doubt more secure than every retailer getting it.

For that he (and we?) should be grateful - think of the mess he would have sent in!