Leaderboard

Things have changed since we "seasoned" preparers first learned about gift/estate taxes. The look-back period now applies only to gifts made TO the decedent, retained life estates and interests, closely held businesses, and a few other oddballs. (See the 706 instructions, pp 26-27). Also, any gift taxes paid within the past three years get added back into the estate. I'm doing one of these right now. Mom gave her sons some stocks she had owned for 50 years; the stock certificates were retitled and legally transferred 4 days before she died. (The process had to start before then.) The step-up basis would have helped them avoid massive cap gains they now face. Thankfully she did not transfer her shares of ATT and its baby bells, and their babies, so the sons get step up on those. It has to be every preparer's nightmare to calculate basis of original ATT shares.

There's always an estate. It might not have a filing requirement.

Ultra Tax is a great software, but pricey. I like ProSystem fx better, and saved money with pay-per-return. Both those are in a different league and different price range than either Drake or ATX. Only you know what your priorities are and only you know how you work. Get the demos of everything out there and try them out to see which work the way you think and which will handle your expected clientele now and for years to come. When you get your short list, then call the companies to negotiate prices on the ones you like best.

It might be a moot issue. Death bed transfers like this are usually reversed due to the look back period. I would be surprised if the properties were not pulled back into the mother's estate for estate and/ or inheritance tax purposes thereby subjecting the properties to inheritance rules.

Are you sure they didn't say the opposite--they need the 1095A to reconcile with the 8962? We got one of those letters and it turned out to be our fault. The amounts on the A changed midway through the year but the preparer entered them all the same. Turns out the guy had gotten extra ACA credit when we filed his return and had to pay it back. Anyone else have the feeling that Congress and the Administration are now targeting the IRS with almost frivolous criticisms, still paying them back for going after tea party groups, or faulting them for trying to administer the ACA that some policymakers hate? Today there was a report critical of the IRS because it did not have the ACA info from the exchanges by Jan 20. How can that be the IRS's fault? In another decade the complaints might have been directed to the exchanges, or mitigated by the fact that this was a massive new undertaking bound to have some bumps and wrinkles. But in today's hostile environment, the IRS is to blame. Those policymakers who hate the ACA hate the IRS for trying to do the job those same policymakers mandated it to do. Guess their budget will get cut again, making it less likely they can fix the problems and opening them up for a new round of blame next year.

Just an update. I called ATX last Thursday , they were closed for the 4th. I called yesterday and was told they would look into it. I received the Federal and PA Acks about an hour after the phone call. The Federal Ack shows an Ack date of June 29th , the same day I efiled it. For some reason ATX did not post the Ack.