Leaderboard

Yes, looking at tax only, this is correct. Tax is $514 more. But if I understand correctly, if the three dependents are under 17, the credits will be $3,000 more. ($6,000 instead of $3,000). If the three dependents are over 17, the credits will be $1,500 more. ($1,500 instead of zero.) Don't think the Family Tax Credit is refundable, but I think your client is better off in 2018 either way.

Magic 8-Ball says "Answer Hazy; Ask Again Later!"

I thought of a pretty good one myself (not actually a joke, but a funny happening of sorts). Clients who had sold their business came in last week for some tax advice (after the fact, of course) and prompted a remembrance of laughs past. Some years ago, they stopped by the office to leave their W-2s but we had to stop discussing the case because school was out and they said they had to go get the kids. I asked "What kids? You told me two years ago you weren't claiming any." They said, "Oh no, we've got two children but we can't put them on our income tax return because we already claimed both of them on our W-4 forms." Barbershop advice resulting in many chuckles and two 1040Xs .

Um, I woke up in a good mood? ______________________ Actually, I was reminiscing earlier today about a semi-amusing-turned-nice story of when the husband and I rode in a group charity bike ride on MD's eastern shore a few years back that I'll share. Not wanting to spend all day at this event in the mid-summer heat, we decided to start early in the day and chose to ride the shortest route that I think was either 20 or 30 miles. We started off strong and saw the arrows on the road but then an older gentleman that was assisting directed us down another road the wrong way because he read the course exactly backwards! We rode on for a while and discovered that we'd ridden back out to the main highway and hadn't seen any other riders, and believe me, there were lots of people participating. Still, we continued on remembering that we were told to look for the event's pit stop with drink refills and light refreshments. Out on the main road, sure enough there was a church with a large painted placard and arrow that read "BIKES" . . . and that's how we ended up in our full lycra bicycling kits complete with padded shorts and waddling around on our cleated shoes at a Sunday morning pancake breakfast for BIKERS, as in motorcycle guys. They invited us to stay and eat, refilled our water bottles, and were genuinely very concerned that we were lost and riding a long way out of our way. We ALL had a good laugh at how and why we ended up there! We both have a good sense of direction and decided to ride on down to the next town and then make our way back to the start area. That day was a lot of fun even though we never did meet up with any other riders!

NECPA, please provide updates. Many of us have animal 'kids' and of course care about out human kids. I know our son and we have been through similar emergencies over the years, not always with the outcome desired. I hope Hobbes and you and your son overcome this and have a great New Year.

Got my W2's and 1099's prepared today. Reconciled my bank accounts. Started working on my tax return. Just a typical day in January, except for the 15lb prime rib I cooked for dinner. Tom Modesto, CA

slow today. Anybody heard any good jokes lately? (FDNY is usually good for one or two.)

It's going to be interesting to see how well the W-4 choices applied to the new withholding tables relates to reality and the tax planning that we do.

So sorry to read this. There is never good timing for such events. It just seems this cutie had at least a couple of years of a loving family, more than too many get.

I haven't checked out all scenarios but I did email the owner about one error when he first posted it. https://www.taxreformcalculator.com/

Not sure of your specific example. But I was wondering too about a couple with children. Joint standard deduction goes up but they lose the personal exemptions. Maybe for some, the child credits increase.

We have friends who always have a New Years Day brunch, and we spent some time there. I spent the afternoon catching up on household accounting, including searching ALL over for my folder on the credit freeze stuff. Needed to lift the freeze for a few days so we can switch mobile phone providers - and the folder was NOT where I put it. Except it was; it was just hiding in front of another folder the same color. It only took me four searches of my entire office (at home) to find the bleeping thing! I was not amused - but glad to finally find it. My engagement letters went out on Saturday. Thank heavens! I start getting client calls asking for them the end of the first week of January, and sometimes get so busy with those (and 1099's and W-2's) that it gets hard to get the letters out! We had a three hour envelope-stuffing party middle of last week; I forget if it was Wednesday or Thursday. We got a higher temp here today than predicted: we got to 13F when they'd said 9F was going to be the high. When I teach on Saturday, the high is supposed to be 2F, with a low that night of -13F! We have not seen a prolonged stretch of cold like this in a *very* long time. Joe Bastardi over at WeatherBell Analytics has models showing the cold will last through mid-January at least. Brrr! Looks like the solar physicists are right and that ole sun of ours is going into hibernation for the next 20-30 years. Add in the increased volcanic activity that tracks reduced solar activity, and that doubles the effect. 80% of our volcanoes are under (ocean) water. So the ones above ground add ash to the troposphere, blocking the solar irradiance, and the ones underwater heat the oceans, which then evaporate more. When that moister ocean air hits the colder air over the land ---> snow. Lots and lots of snow. Whee! Not.

Some of us are still recovering from last night; some of us are actually taking a holiday before the fit hits the shan; one of us just finally finished all the engagement letters to mail out. Sorry I don't know any good jokes It was in single digits here so I didn't participate in the fun run today. It won't be fun tomorrow evening or Saturday morning either as marathon training began last Saturday. I really don't like this cold - brrrr!

Well, this quickly morphed from compulsory education for practitioners into best ways to study for the EA exam. On that subject, I have no doubt that the IRS will continue to try to find a way to regulate otherwise unregulated preparers. We've had lots of discussions here in the past and I think most of us agree that these paid preparers should have to show some level of proficiency. After that, I do think that there should be some sort of CE requirement so that these preparers without other credentials are keeping up with ongoing changes, some sort of update classes perhaps. I don't know if that is up to the IRS and think that this is more of a state regulatory issue much like states regulate any other profession. As for the review courses and study guides that have been mentioned, those are excellent suggestions. The creators of these courses and books have analyzed recent tests and trends and will emphasize those areas that they think are most important and most likely to be tested. They also keep the person disciplined to study and stick to a timetable so that the candidate has completed the studies at the appropriate time. The suggestions of finding a study group, a buddy to work with, and using prior tests are also excellent ones. As for memorizing things we'll never use again, well that comes with the territory of any testing really. My thoughts on any of these tests, whether it be the EA, CPA, or now defunct RTPT, I look at these tests not only that show a certain level of knowledge and competency, but as important is that they show a level of capability. Obviously I haven't taken the EA exam, but those answers to the written essay questions and problems on the CPA were intensely scrutinized in the grading process to make see if the candidate showed the proper approach and thought process in working through the problem. Finally, and something that hasn't been mentioned here yet, is that I think work experience in the field is invaluable, maybe even more important than any testing or any amount of CPE that is imposed, when it comes to actually doing our jobs.

Bart...you're giving FDNY too much credit. He may be worthy of half a good joke...but 1 or 2??

Stinks losing furry kids - I lost both this year. As for work - I did my corp W2s on Friday, did my own corporate return and my rental return on Sunday while crashed in the house. My personal return is about 50% complete - just waiting on a few forms that will come in March - will take me 20 minutes to finish it up. My wife's W2 and a few investment 1099's are all I need.

I was trying to look at this from a straight tax point of view. Esp if the IRS lowers the withholding tables. Child credits may put some of this back but I don't think it will put it all back.

Must be a big "issue," I'm waiting over 2 weeks for my confirmation letter. I think there was a holiday or two in there so I'll give them a few extra days.

I bet we could all sit down today and make a list of the folks who will call on April 12th, asking for an extension (again) after promising in February that *this* year they'd be on time! Plus the ones who will pay late, the ones who will forget form-whatever, et cetera.

yes

I also like printing out client list with date prepared. It's funny how clients are just creatures of habit. The same ones are early, same ones late, the same ones kept you hanging, and the same ones you have to hunt down to get paid.

Glad we could help!

Duh. I went one screen beyond where I was in the client list tab - and it had options. You guys help me out without even replying.

IRS updated with this statement 4 days ago: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statement-withholding-for-2018

As long as sales tax plus RE/PP taxes are more than 10k, you don't have a taxable state income tax refund next year. Also, MD backs out state income tax from itemized deductions, but not state sales tax, so it saves MD taxes too. And MD couples who have around 20k in itemized will likely be better off itemizing and paying more in federal taxes, because they'd save more in MD taxes than they pay in additional federal taxes, because the MD standard deduction is so low, and you can't itemize state unless you itemize federal. Would be interested to learn how this shakes out in other states.

From Drake today..........."The second installation of Drake Tax 2017 will be released on January 4, 2018. After installing this second release, you may begin preparing and transmitting returns to Drake. We will hold those returns "in queue" until the IRS begins accepting returns. As of now, the IRS has not released a start date for e-file processing. However, we will let you know that start date once the IRS announcement has been made."

The change in bonus depreciation allows for 100% deduction of new or used qualified property placed in service after September 27 2017. Not a big deal for equipment but allows property such as land improvements and farm buildings to be wrote off 100%.

I highly customize my questions. I haven't gotten to 2017 yet but here are my questions for 2016 organizers: Questions Yes No Basic Information 1 Did you get married, divorced or separated? 2 Did you add any new dependents or lose any existing dependents? 3 Are you or any of your dependents blind or permanenty disabled? Which ones? 4 Did any children under 19 (or 24 if a full time student) receive more than $1,050 in investment income? 5 If you have any dependents, are all your dependents either US residents or citizens? 6 Did you provide over half of the support for someone you are not claiming as a dependent? 7 Can you be claimed as a dependent on anyone else's return? (They provided over half of your support.) 8 Did you and all your dependents have health insurance coverage for all 12 months? Please provide any 1095-A, 1095-B, or 1095-C forms you received, or provide a list of the individuals in your family who were enrolled in minimum essential health insurance coverage that shows which months they were covered. 9 Were you granted a health insurance coverage exemption or are you claiming an exemption? (short gap, affordability) 10 Are any health insurance premiums withheld from your paycheck pretax? If unsure, check with your employer. 11 Are you covered under a group health insurance plan with your employer? 12 Did you buy or sell a home or any other real estate? Please provide HUD1 settlement sheets, 1099S & other documents. 13 Was your morgage transferred to another mortgage processor? 14 Did you refinance a mortgage or take out a new mortgage or home equity loan this year? 15 Was there a disposition or change in use of a home for which you claimed the 2008 First-time Homebuyer Credit? 16 Do you wish to have $3 of your taxes (or $6 on a joint return) applied to the Presidential Campaign Fund? 17 Did the IRS or any state send you a notice of changes to a prior year, or any other tax correspondence? 18 Are you aware of any changes to a prior year that would require you to amend that year's tax return? 19 If you are due a refund, how do you want to receive it? Check in the mail Apply to 1st & 2nd quarter of next year's estimates Apply to 1st quarter of next year's estimates Apply to all 4 quarters of next year's estimates Direct deposit (please provide voided blank check) Type of account: Checking Savings If you owe taxes, how do you want to pay them? Paper check Credit card Installment Agreement Direct debit from my bank account (please provide a voided blank check) Type of account: Checking Savings 20 Do you want to allow your tax preparer to discuss this year’s return with the IRS? If no, enter another person (if desired) to be allowed to discuss this return with the IRS: Designee's Phone Personal identification name Number Number (5 digit PIN) 21 Did you make gifts of more than $14,000 to any one person? 22 Did you make any loans to anyone or any entity? 23 If you made loans, was the interest rate below market rate? 24 Were either you or your spouse ever in the military or National Guard? 25 Would you like a paper copy of your return? We always provide a CD with a PDF copy of your return. Yes No Income 1 Did you have an interest in or signature authority over a financial account in a foreign country? 2 Did you receive income from a foreign source or pay taxes to a foreign government? 3 Did you cash in any U.S. savings bonds? What type? Were proceeds used for higher educartion expenses? 4 Did you receive tip income that was NOT reported to your employer? 5 Did you earn income in more than one state? 6 Did you receive disability income? 7 Did you receive alimony? 8 Did you receive, or expect to receive, a Schedule K-1 (or substitute K-1) from a trust, estate, partnership, or S corp? 9 Were any of your debts cancelled or did they become uncollectible? (1099A, 1099C) 10 Did you receive stock, restricted stock or stock options from your employer? 11 Did you receive a state or local income tax refund? (attach 1099-G) 12 Did you receive a refund of any deduction you took on a prior year return (e.g., real estate tax refund)? 13 Do you have gambling winnings? (If yes, be sure to include in gambling losses) 14 Did you receive any unemployment benefits? 15 Did you receive payments from a Long-Term Care insurance contract? 16 Did you receive employer-provided adoption benefits for a previous year? 17 (Blank) 18 (Blank) 19 (Blank) 2 20 Did you convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, or make any other conversion or recharacterization of any type of IRA? 21 Did you rollover a retirement plan distribution into another plan? 22 Did you receive any distributions from a retirement plan (IRA, 401k, pension, etc.)? If Yes, attach all 1099-Rs. 23 Did you or your spouse receive Social Security benefits? 24 Did you sell any other personal assets (cars, boats, artwork, tools, furniture, etc.) at a gain? 25 Did you sell any assets using an installment sale? 26 Did you receive proceeds from a prior year installment sale? 27 Have you provided ALL your income from ALL sources, not just those listed in this Organizer? Yes No Business and Rental Income 1 Did you have any business or self-employment (1099) income? 2 Did you start or acquire a new business? 3 Did you sell any part of an existing business, or sell business assets? 4 Did you cease operating any business? 5 Did you remove any of your business assets for personal use? 6 Did you have any rental income? 7 If you own rental property, did you spend more than 750 hours working on your rentals? Yes No Business and Rental Deductions 1 Did you use part of your home for business purposes? 2 Did you purchase any furniture, equipment or vehicles for your business? 3 Did you purchase any furniture or appliances, or make any renovations or additions to your rental property? 4 Did you or will you make any contributions to a self-employed retirement plan (SEP, SIMPLE, Solo 401k? 5 Do you have a business mileage log to support any business miles driven? (They have mileage apps for your phone.) Yes No Deductions 1 Did you/will you make IRA contributions (not 401k)? List by type (Roth, traditional, etc) for you & spouse (if married). 2 Did you make any contributions to HSA (Health Savings Account)? Please provide documentation. 3 Did you have moving expenses due to a changing jobs? Need miles from old home to old work & old home to new work. 4 Did you pay alimony? 5 Did you pay any student loan interest? 6 Did you pay any college/trade school tuition? Please provide 1098T, proof of payment & account transcript from school. 7 Did you lose property or have damage to a property due to a casualty, theft, or condemnation? 8 Did any investments become worthless during 2016? 9 Did any loans you made become uncollectible? 10 Did you purchase an electric or hybrid vehicle? 11 Did you make energy efficient improvements to your home or purchase any energy-saving property? 12 Did you pay substantial medical expenses, including health insurance and long-term care insurance? 13 Did you pay any real estate taxes or personal property taxes? 14 Did you pay sales tax on purchases of vehicles (cars, boats, etc.) or home improvement materials? Provide receipts. 15 Did you make any charitable donations? 16 Did you donate any items to charity? Please provide list WITH VALUES and method used to determine values. 17 Did you pay expenses for the care of your child or other dependent so you could work? 18 Did you use your car for work (other than commuting to and from work)? 19 Did you incur any business travel, meal or entertainment expenses for which you were not reimbursed? 20 Did you work out of town for part of the year? 21 Did you incur adoption expenses or file Form 8839, Adoption Credit, in a previous year? 22 Have you provided ALL your deductions from ALL sources, not just those listed in this Organizer? Yes No Other 1 Did you make any federal estimated payments? List date and amount of each payment. 2 Did you make any state estimated payments? List date and amount of each payment. 3 Did you pay wages to a household employee of $1,900 or more, or more than $1,000 in one calendar quarter? 4 Do you expect a significant fluctuation in your income, deductions or withholdings in 2017?

Update-Hobbes has severe Congestive Heart Failure. He's only 2, so the vet thinks that it was congenital and just didn't show until yesterday with a vengeance. He is not responding to medication and is still having a difficult time breathing. At least he got to go home and sleep with his favorite person. I wish that I could just jump on a plane today, but I really have to settle down and work. At least his girlfriend is there, so they won't be alone. We were hoping that Hobbes could come and live with us, but the vet thinks that he would only survive a few months with a lot of intervention. We've been super lucky to have had cats that lived into their 20's, so it really sucks to see this happen. Thanks everyone for your wishes and thoughts. The picture below is Hobbes in his Christmas gear. He always let Andrew dress him for any occasion! He was not necessarily happy about it.

I tried it today. It told me my info didn't match anything and I needed to re-register. When I tried that, it told me that there was already an account with that info. From that it said there was a password mis-match and to reset the password. Once I did that it let me right in.

Happy New Year to All Y'all.

You're welcome. I might be wrong but think this was the handling that we had in other years where legislation was passed very late in the year and the IRS said to keep using the existing tables until the revised ones were made available.

Happy New Year to you all. Here's to a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2018.

Doing long division on the paper and pencil they provided -- hadn't done that since third grade. Two solid days at a site far from home. Waiting months for results. Good thing I passed all four parts on the first try, because I'd already decided I'd never do that ever again!

Some of you weren't even around when you had to pass the exam the old fashioned way - you had to learn it. There were no things as software programs to assist, or education programs to attend, no online programs - you had to read Pub 17 and (at that time) Pub 34, and Circular 230 and remember them. You had to know the formula for Gain on Sale of Personal Residence (Form 2119) which was a deferral of gain, Maximum Tax on Earned Income calculation, zero bracket amount, no Education credits - and it was a multiple choice hand written exam - no calculators were available.

I so agree. I always have felt that education is knowing the right book or website to look up the answer. We cannot remember everything!

Usually the words contain extra syllables. Any southern English speaker can make the word "hear" (or "here") come out with two syllables and make it sound as natural as can be.

Driving west to the dentist this afternoon, I saw sundogs with rainbows! Go google for images yourselves, since most folks here don't want to click on links. It was stunning.

The funniest accent misadventure I ever saw was MANY moons ago. I was working (college era) in a small restaurant owned and mostly staffed by folks from Greece. Popular with truck drivers. We had a guy come in, truck driver from down south, and order haddock. 'Cept the way he said it, it came out not quite right. Imagine the "a" in "hat" and now say HA-dock. Well, the young Greek-speaking man taking the order heard the driver say ("y" as consonant here, not vowel) HYA-dog. (Only two syllables, not hi-yah-dog.) That's the way he pronounced "hot dog." Driver was NOT happy when his haddock came out as hot dogs. I had to go over and translate English to English for them and get it fixed. Fish, not franks!

I never use the CD. I download the install file and use it. Then when updates come out, I download the update file and run it. If I have to reinstall or install on another system later in the season, I download the latest install file. It will have all the current updates in it.

My thoughts exactly. Was surprised how clearly he still sang. Of course, we know all they lyrics anyway. So did the young'ens in the audience.

It's funny how we can understand him when he sings, just not when he torques. Maybe because in the 70s we had enhanced hearing due to the haze in the college dorms.

I saw the Black Sabbath farewell tour this summer with my son. It was the first band we ever bonded over, many years ago.

Maybe they have a good tax gal, y'all.

Don't feel bad Bill....This fella doesn't have any R's in his repertoire... Garden=Gaden Flower=Flowa Brooklyn=Booklin

I didn't know Nebraskans had an accent either. Where exactly is "deepest darkest" Nebraska? Arkansas? I was in a grocery store in Newfoundland one time, guy in front of me was talking away in supposedly English - I honestly didn't understand a single word. They can have such a think Irish accent that it's darn near impossible to comprehend them in some rural towns.

I'm a Brooklyn Boy living outside of Boston where sometimes the translation of what I say doesn't get thru, like "card" they think I'm talking about a fish, or "coffee" they think I said cough- fee (maybe I need sub titles). They laugh at me and I say "don't make fun of the way I torque." Happy New Year everyone! We'll torque again next year.

Warning-I'm having a very sad day. I'm just now getting down to my office today. My son started messaging me at 5:30 AM that his cat was having a lot of trouble breathing and what should he do? He's in Denver, which just makes everything harder. Of course, this would happen on a holiday so the only choice was the emergency vet hospital. The cat is only two and has not had any problems since he rescued him a year ago. He has an amazing personality and loves my son to death. It was hard for him to move and leave our cats, so he looked all over until he found the perfect one. The short version is that it was horribly expensive and he could not afford to keep him there overnight, so he took him home this afternoon with steroids for a couple of weeks. His breathing was better, but still not good, so back again he went tonight. They gave him inhalation therapy and hope that this will push him into recovering. We are going to help him out, because he starts grad school next week while he's still flying for the airline and money is tight. I've been talking to him and crying with him most of the day. Unfortunately, I pretty much like animals more than most people and Hobbes is a wonderful cat. If this doesn't work, he probably has heart failure like my husband and we will all be devastated. Now I have to try to get my head back into working. I did at least get my corporation bookkeeping done last night, so that I can probably get it in on time.