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Here are pictures of the hall bathroom and the master bathroom. The tile on the floor in the hall bath is a bit hazy still from the grout, but the color is shiny black like the accent in the tub surrond. The master bath has a dual shower system, one for me and one for my wife with an adjustable shower head for her (I have been told that women like to take a shower and not get their hair wet, but not having much hair, I would not understand that). Sorry to keep bragging, but I am really liking how this is turning out. Floors go in Friday, moving day is Sunday. Tom Hollister (Soon to be Newark), CA

While I agree it would be nice to have this automated, I take advantage of the LINK feature in ATX to ensure any changes on a state return are automatically reflected on the home state return (thus not forgetting). Since I don't have that many multi-state returns, I can deal with this inconvenience.

OK, maybe this time it will work. Tom Hollister (Soon to be Newark), CA

I had previously written about a personal tax issue that I an having with foreign banks. To all those who were able to empathize....my sincere thanks. To the few who were "holier than thou"......I guess you think throwing your husband to the dogs is OK. Anyway, one of the banks made contact with our attorney and will ultimately cooperate. DH had to produce his passport from 1977. Good thing he never throws anything out...including the little piece of paper I wrote my phone number on in 1984. So...I don't have to worry about how to avoid Part III in Schedule B....or even do MFS. I don't care about ever seeing a penny. I just want it to be over and done with.

You have to check the credit anyway, so I don't see the lack of 100% automation as much of a problem. It's always the last thing I do on a multistate return. Edit: I've used software that supposedly automated it and found that I had to override the calculations a lot of the time, anyway.

Do look into the Streamlined Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. Seems like Husb is eligible (omission not willful, he thought the money was gone for good). Penalty is only 5%.

No reason not to perform the tax preparation on the gift return. Just don't get into the valuation part of it. The Gift Tax return is fairly simple and straight forward if it is a full interest in a gift. As long as you have a competent valuation advisor, it is not a tough return. Just heed the warning about not getting into valuations. Tom Hollister (soon to be Newark), CA

Jack is answering about the recipients basis where the recipient acquires the donor's basis (steps into the shoes of the donor). If you are actually asking about how to prepare the gift tax return and about determining the fair market value at the date of the gift to report on Form 709, Sch A, column F, that is a much more complicated answer about how to determine the value of an ownership interest in a closely held business on a piece of property. If that is really what you are asking about - If by property you mean real estate, I'd suggest your client use a qualified professional to appraise it because the documentation of how the FMV was determined is required to be attached to the gift tax return, and gift tax returns are reviewed by humans at the IRS. That is a risk area for tax preparers since doing valuations aren't within the normal scope of a tax preparation business. A typical scenario that I've encountered a few times goes something like this: A parent owns his own residence and a 2nd house that the child is living in (for little or no rent) and transfers that 2nd home to the child by gift. Yes, the child's basis comes from the donor's basis, but in preparing the gift tax return, the preparer must explain the method used and report the FMV on the date of the gift because that determines how much of the unified credit is used up by that gift and calculates whether there is a taxable component to the gift at all. Business valuations are much more complicated and especially so when the business is closely held. There are business appraisers that do that too. There are methods that the IRS finds acceptable and that take into consideration a variety of factors that I feel are really beyond the scope of something that could be easily or completely explained here. Again, an explanation of the valuation method used must be filed with the gift tax return. If you are considering doing this, you might want to check with your malpractice insurance agent to make sure that type of service is covered. As an example, I had a C corp client that gifted 76% of his ownership in his closely held business to his son in stages over several years. To highlight a few of the areas considered in that valuation, those factors included the type of industry, the size of the business by volume or asset base, its locale, its competition, stability of client base, discounts for lack of marketability due to being closely held, adjusting for owner compensation that might be in excess of what the business would pay an outsider or manager to perform those same duties, and much more. That list of factors isn't meant to be a full discussion, obviously, so don't shoot the messenger. I was only trying to show how business valuations are complex. A full explanation of how those valuations were done was attached to each and every gift tax return that was filed. No funds changed hands, the son received something that had appreciated close to 50 times more than the dad's basis in the company, and son's basis in the company is equal to 76% of dad's basis. The gift tax return filed by an individual tracks the total gifts given by that person over his or her lifetime so that one knows how much of the unified credit has already been used up while he/she was living, and that is used in determining if there is a taxable estate or not at the person's death. To be basic, the current law says that a person can transfer $5.34 million of assets either by gift during his lifetime or at his death via his estate without paying tax. That is what the unified estate and gift tax exclusion is all about. Does that help you at all?

Thanks Rita. I just want to be in compliance. This is one bank out five. After penalties/tax/lawyer's fees.....the money left will be just a fraction of the total amount I originally posted. A very small fraction......assuming we never hear from the other banks. DH learned a very costly lesson. I think he wants to give whatever is left over to family members.

The three states that this effects are: New York, Maine and Illinois per ATX. This problem is finally being presented by ATX with its latest E-mail advertisement for 2015 renewals today. "We have determined that we WONT offer "fee collect" this year to our customers as we strictly believe that if we were to agree to this "supportive" fee we would have to disclose to all customers this fee."

Margaret, This is the home we are moving to, not moving out of. We are renovating the kitchen, two bathrooms and putting new flooring into the whole house. In addition, we have done some plumbing and electrical upgrades. My day job is CFO for a General Contractor, so I got a really good deal on the project. My wife was at the house when the sub contractors were working last week. The tile sub yells at the plumbing sub that he better do a good job for the owner of the company. The plumber yells back "to hell with him, I want to keep Tom happy so my checks keep coming!". I thought it was kinda cool that they recognized that my signature is on the bottom of the AP checks. I expect to get 3-4 years of happy enjoyment from this home. After the kids are done with college, we will decide where we want to move for retirement. Newark is a nice place, but the SF Bay Area is not my idea of a retirment community. I think we will move back to the Central Valley and work on building up our tax practice there. Tom Hollister (soon to be Newark), CA

That's very nice, Tom. I see you included a selfie in the second picture.

In short, a professional arms length valuation by a recognized professional. Most tax preparers cannot do this. Tom Hollister (soon to be Newark), CA

Same answer. Sale price is irrelevant for the gift tax return. Selling for $1 gives the recipient a basis of $1. If simply gifted, the recipient's basis is the same as the donor. Selling for $1 is a stupid urban myth attempt to avoid taxes.

I found your kitchen video

My kitchen is white, also.

I just love an uncluttered kitchen - the bare design of this is great!

I think you manually have to enter the information to get the credit, it just doesn't compute on it's own, for example you will need to fill-in the wages/income and taxes paid per state.

I encourage my regular clients to call me with questions and information about any major changes in their lives throughout the year. I don't want them coming in with surprises at the end of the year and issues that they should have asked for advice on before going forward. This works well for me. I am, however, going to have to do something about prospective NEW clients who are calling with a million questions and may just be scoping out the field. I have to start telling them that they must make an appointment to come in and see me during regular office hours. (One of the problems of OIH is that they think you are available all hours including Sundays).