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Well, actually I was voicing my suspicion that some fellow tax pros are making it harder on those of us who try to prepare an accurate return. I think that congress actually understands it better than some (many) tax preparers. Let's face it, this is an exceptionally good group of preparers here. The panic on a couple of FB groups from tax people who apparently don't understand that a credit beats a deduction, for example, has me just dumbfounded. I can imagine a good many of them just going with "unaffordable" on Form 8965. It's a bit discouraging.

I think we're all getting confused about when taxes are imposed and the due date. For property taxes, if you already have the bill the taxes have been imposed. You can pay them anytime you want up to the due date. In our state RE tax bills are sent out July 1. You can pay them all at once or half by July 31 and half by Jan 31. In FL, RE tax bills are sent out in November and are due by the end of March. In both cases, the taxes have been imposed. I am definitely going to pay my RE bill due in Jan by the end of the year. After all, I could have paid it all in July if I was so inclined. As for ES payments, the IRS uses quarters and as far as I know so do the states. The taxpayer self-assesses his or her tax liability and typically pays it quarterly. Some people make one payment in April so they don't have to remember it three more times. Some go away for the winter and make their forth-quarter payment in December so it doesn't get forgotten. The payment is due by the end of the quarter, but that doesn't mean it has to be paid the last day. It can be paid anytime during the quarter. Think about it: If someone makes their 3rd quarter ES on Sept 16, it's applied to the 4th quarter. Although the tax is self-imposed, I would say it is due anytime during the quarter. I am making my final state ES payment in Dec, two whole weeks before the due date.

O K, I read the bill carefully and if the Qualified Business Income is under the Threshold Amount of MFS $ 157,500 or MFJ $ 315,000 then the limitation of 50 % of the W -2 Income is not applied. Therefore a SP with Qualified Income under the Threshold Amount would get a 20 % deduction. For S Corp there are special anti-abuse rules that would prevent an S Corp owner from taking this deduction if he took $ 0 wages.

Some years back, I had a new client come to me; and in reviewing his prior years returns, I had him explain a Schedule E, page 2, Unreimbursed Partnership Expense that appeared on one year and not others, with no MMLLC line, just the UPE line. He'd had the situation above and called the IRS (back when the IRS answered phone calls). They told him to use Schedule E, page 2, as if the MMLLC was still open, as he would for any UPE. So, he'd done that for that one year the partners personally paid an expense after they closed the LLC. Now, with K-1 matching, that might generate an IRS letter. I haven't had an occasion to look into it. Keep researching to see if you can use that method for your client.

Back to the discussion of state estimates - Now I'm confused; time for more coffee! If the 4th quarter 2017 state estimate due by 1/15/18 is paid before 12/31/17, the tax year for which that tax is imposed IS 2017 and IS being paid in the tax year for which it is imposed, shouldn't it still be deductible in 2017 with the way the conference report is worded? Ah, I think cbslee was editing his post above to clarify and confirm what I expressed here. Headed for the coffee pot now. Sorry for my confusion!