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The one thing you need to keep at the fore-front of your mind is that you have no ownership is this problem. You neither created it nor own the rights to solve it. If he insists on blaming you and ranting, tell him to give you whatever money is causing the issue and you will pay the tax yourself. (Notice I did not say give you the tax money, but rather the money that is causing the tax). I have done that when the need arises and it always has quieted the person. The other thing that works well for us - we tell all of our clients the results on their tax returns via a telephone call. That helps them maintain their dignity and the shock has worn off by the time they arrive at our office.

Best phrase I ever heard for this was "ladies of negotiable affection" in one of the Diskworld books by the late (great) Sir Terry Pratchett.

In about six hours I have to tell a usually quite unpleasant and belligerent client who's paid close to nothing for years that he has to cough up $5K (unexpected windfall and, of course, never heard of estimated tax). In Roman times it was death to bring unwelcome news to the emperor -- it's shouldn't be quite that bad, but I may need to break out my lion-tamer's kit (a whip and a chair) to fend him off.

I'm getting less and less sympathetic as the years go by, but I do hug my clients who are returning APTC when they whine. Hey, it's wine per diem time!

Yeah, usually poor planning on their part doesn't constitute a lot of sympathy on my part. After I have told them to do the estimated taxes, call to make an appointment to do an estimate mind-year, contact me if you have a major change in your financial position; etc.....sorry no sympathy there and I hate to offer the words "told you so" but it is what it is.

I've had some success with these types by pointing out that "the only way you owe a lot more tax is that you earned a lot more". I also tell them I can't tell them the figures on their return are "right", but they are "correct". (There's nothing right about the government seizing our hard-earned money, etc and then wasting it). Sometimes the inevitable rant about how the government wastes our money ensues, and my only response is that you and I totally agree on that. But we also have to agree that we can't do anything about it sitting here in my office - the only place to take action is at the ballot box. At the end of the day, some clients just insist on blaming us for their problems because they can't speak to a monolithic bureaucracy. But I can assure them I have lots more complaints that they do, so there's no reason for them to go there.

No offense, Rita, but I would rather have a real expert for the tax issues - a hair dresser, or someone from church. You could obviously do the section on Hugging.

I have a sale of a rental property that generated a $70k gain, and he is trying every way to Tuesday to reduce his tax liability. I told him that most of my clients call me when they sell a rental so we know what is coming. I'm not crying over it. But I am ready to give a hug...

Well, at least you will get paid BIG BUCKS for that return.... right??? I don't have any unpleasant clients anymore. Priced them right out of here. They paid me big and left. Whoever said money can't buy love lied. One person here, I won't mention any names *coughrita* says money can even RENT love!

It's Affordable Care Act Hell.

I start off telling them that I wish I owed that much [pause] because it would mean I made a ton of money.

That is exactly where I have it entered. I have a copy of the IRS letter so I know I have the correct number. This is becoming a source of irritation. Wait a minute......... I finally figured it out. I forgot to enter the PIN number for the efile tab. Once I put the number in there, all is okay. Sorry about unloading on you all.

My client and her sister inherited a cottage in Norway many years ago. They sold it last year and paid tax in Norway. I know this is a taxable event for her. The sale goes on Sch D. Then, the 1116 will reflect the net income from the sale and the foreign tax paid to Norway. I am filing an extension for her because it's too late for me to get her done before deadline. I haven't done a sale like this in all my 20 years. I'll hum a chant, burn some incense, and pray I do this right! hmmmmmmmmmm The good news is that with this sale, she also moved her Norway savings account to the US, so no more FinCEN.

Thanks Rita, I was just going to post the information and discussion that was in that post. You have to work through the calculations for the SEHI deduction and the involvement for the s.e. tax for someone who also qualifies for the PTC. It isn't as simple taking the premiums net of the credit because of the s.e. tax.

If your client is filing a farm return (sch F) I would put it on line 4a, Agricultural Program payments. And unless you have information that says otherwise, I would treat it as taxable income.

All I can add is, I'm sorry you all are experiencing this. I have had no problems with anything like this whatsoever. I used ATX for a lot of years and do fully understand your loyalty to it. I am also resistant to change but sometimes you just got to bite the bullet. I hope ATX can work out their problems and become what it used to be. If those who are being billed for PRS returns for a separate form have purchased what used to be ATX Max, I don't see why on earth you would be billed for accessing forms that are already there. Especially, in JB's post. I would want to know from ATX why it let me prepare the return with those forms and then lock me out. Sounds similar to a bait and switch tactic.

I will present CPEs: "VA Filing Thresholds" and "The Lost Art of Hugging and Other Decedent Issues". We'll deduct everything!

Why are we resending information to the IRS that they already have?

Yay! Don't be sorry about asking. We're all tired at this point and sometimes we need a little help from our friends.

If we're going to be creative, then this would be the perfect time to file a 3115 and expense all of the undepreciated asset balances in the current year.

Rita, when VA agi is below a certain amount there is a lot of lines that do not populate. Just make sure the tax line is 0 or blank. The other thing is make sue your income adjustments page is correct and you will be good to go.

I remember reading years ago that Queen Elizabeth in England gets paid by our government for not growing cotton on land she owns in Louisiana. At least we aren't giving her food stamps. (I hope)

This may come in handy for you, Dave:

Publication 926 deals with household employees, and it covers this situation: Not withholding the employee's share. If you prefer to pay your employee's social security and Medicare taxes from your own funds, don't withhold them from your employee's wages. The social security and Medicare taxes you pay to cover your employee's share must be included in the employee's wages for income tax purposes. However, they aren't counted as social security and Medicare wages or as federal unemployment (FUTA) wages. Report the social security and Medicare taxes that you paid in boxes 4 and 6 of your employee’s Form W-2; also add the taxes to your employee’s wages reported in box 1 of Form W-2.

Including our speaker Rita's wine per diem.

· "My client’s results are their personal responsibility"

I usually preface these situations by saying "this is the worst part of my job" and "please don't hate me, I'm just the messenger." A quick explanation so they understand and you're done. Showing compassion and understanding with their ranting and raving is good, as long as it is over quickly, you've got the next guy to listen to, unless it's wine per diem time, which you probably need.

Very welcome girlfriend. Now if I could only guess the mega Bucks numbers right, I'm paying for everyone if we ever have the ATXcommunity end of season conference/party.

Terry: Glad you are enjoying using the program. Makes you wonder why you waited so long, doesn't it? if you haven't worked with Macros yet, it's worth giving them a try. Just write a very simple macro for a repetitive task. After you've done one or two, you'll begin to see endless possibilities.

Glad it's working well for everyone again this year! I also had another very productive and worry-free year with Drake.

I get Production Flexibility payments for not growing crops on certain parts of the IL farm that my grandfather bought in the 1880's. Maybe $42 per year! (I have only a few acres; my cousins have acreage also.) Our tax dollars at work.

That helps. Thanks

This guide was prepared by E&Y at the request of AirBnB that I keep on my desktop. Scroll down to section 9. AirBnB.pdf

I don't send brokeage statements. If my numbers don't add to the ones they have, then they'll ask. I also summarize by short term and long term. Been doing that for years.

Agree with Gail. In years past, we called it "Land Bank payments." The government has come up with some pretty creative names for it these days.

One point to note is that in such cases the nanny is usually NOT happy to have to report the extra income. Get the client on an employee payroll asap. Paychex SurePayroll has a nice online service for this, for small money. I do some in-house and they are annoying - especially because household employees (and their employers!) tend to be lax about reporting time IN but then want to be paid instantly.

And that we know they don't have the time to look at, nor should they.

Yes we are all tired and it seems the simplest and obvious things are the ones we overlook. Only 12 more days!!!!

I have a nephew who has 3 AirBnB rentals with an average rental of 3 to 4 days. Did his own return reporting on Schedule E Got hammered by the IRS was forced report on Schedule C.

Entering a Farm Depreciation Schedule for a new client. 65 Assets. All placed in service over the last 10 years. Almost all range in cost from $5 (not a typo) to $99. WTH? Charging by the line? I realize the de minimum election does not go back 10 years, but have you all been depreciating $5 purchases? Hugs to the prior preparer. I am really enjoying entering this line by line on April 5th.

I would have probably ten lines. Line one: year xxxx additions - see schedule in file. And so on and so forth. And then after tax season, just for grins, have your farmer client review those 65 items and have him tell you which ones he still has. My guess is that you will be deleting a bunch of those from next year's return. Of course, that comment assumes that you do not want to extend this return and make it right this year.

Yes, this requirement to purchase separate efiling for RITA, a city form really yanks my chain, too. I have figured out that I have to delete the efile part and can fill in the RITA manually and print. The clients (fortunately only 3) either mail in or take to the local tax office for filing. I despise the whole RITA concept as currently implemented anyway. Rental carryovers are generic and can't be tied to the specific location now. General city is the way to go, I think.

Yes, I think you are correct, my friend. VA Adjusted Gross Income is 22,484 and threshold is 23,900. Thank you.

Could it be that clients total income is below filing threshold? This is a guess.

Wow...you guys are cynical. I was right with the OP on an issue with a 1041 return. I agree with what Catherine says. It depends on how you set it up. Best advice is to document the relationships before any in home care is provided. Tom Newark, CA

Maybe they plan for him to live in the woods and be entirely self-sufficient and completely off the grid.

So happy you are enjoying the program! I use SFP also and love it. The doc mgr is wonderful also. So easy to download to from SFP and scan or print directly back to it.

The wording indicates the partnership ended 5/18/2016. The 1065 needs to be completed with each partner getting their respective share of the income and expenses from Jan thru May assuming they are a calendar year tax payer and not a fiscal year.. You also list the K-1 to the 20% partner and the 80% partner as their final k-1. From the time of the partnership ended thru the remaining year, the 100% gets everything on Sch C as a disregarded entity. I agree with jasdim, I wouldn't do it the other way unless there was a corporate resolution or if it was spelled out in the original operating agreement.

The best I've found to search by municipality in CT: http://publicrecords.netronline.com/state/CT/