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Here's to Hobbes, that he has comfort being with those he loves and with those who love him. As for a joke or two (or a half), nothing like a little pressure, but here goes. This could happen to us someday. Technically not a joke, more of a public service message. In the village of Riverwalk, an over 55 community people often eat at the clubhouse. One morning Jerry, an older gentleman didn't show up for breakfast. Some of his neighbors went to check on him and knocked on his door. They could hear him thru the door and he yelled he was running late and would be there shortly. So everyone went back to the clubhouse. An hour later Jerry was still not there. They went back to the house and found Jerry at the front door with a death grip on the railing. He was having trouble walking. They wanted to call an ambulance but Jerry said he felt fine, just help me to the clubhouse. Once there he had breakfast but could not get up from the table. His friends called an ambulance and brought Jerry to the hospital. An hour later the friends called the hospital and asked how Jerry was. The nurse said, he's doing fine, but that he just had both his legs in one leg of his boxer shorts. Moral of the story, if you get old, be careful and pay attention. The Biggest Lie I tell myself is....I don't need to write that down, I'll remember it. Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers. Now they drink like their fathers. I decided to stop calling the bathroom the "John" and renamed it the "Jim". I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning. I didn't make it to the Gym this morning. That makes five years in a row. Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven't meet yet. Why do I have to press 1 for English if they just transfer me to someone I can't understand anyway? Am I ready for the Catskills yet?

Yes, they were waiting for the Law to be signed. I'll check with them on their mail date.

Shoot, my clients are all over the place whether the law changes or not. It's terrifying. "Hey, Rita, how do I fill out this W-2 thingy again? I'm up to about eight and a half here on this worksheet blah, blah, blah..." Me: Drive over here and I'll have a thingy ready for you. Don't trouble yourself [for the love of God don't].

Thanks for the info! I got to thinking when I was reading them about the regional high level IRS representative who once spoke at our tax group. She said she hates that preparers use organizers and thinks that we are being unprofessional, even breaking rules. She was intimating that she wished there was a fine she could impose on preparers for using them. Obviously she has never sat across the desk from a tax client during tax season. How the heck could you get though all of those questions, yes she thought it was our job to ask every one of them, and still somehow get any returns done. Just watching clients slowly handing over one document at a time, docs they often times have no idea what there even are, makes me usually reach over and grab the whole stack so I can rip through them in 30 seconds. There are only so many hours in the day and the organizers are so helpful to get 80+ percent knocked out.

I use this for code most often: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26 Google searches almost always point you here.

Yes, going to get very interesting. With so many millions paying more due to all the re-jiggering the lower withholding may not reflect reality. A colleague of mine in Westchester, NY, another high ST and RE tax area said she sees a tax revolt (or at least a tea party) once all these people get their tax bill in 2019. She thought that year would be a good time to retire. As Thunderclap Newman sang...Call out the instigators.....Because there's something in the air. I sense this too, depending on how expensive taxes get for those millions of taxpayers, get ready to do some 'splaining Lucy. We'll be the first sounding board to hear the complaints.

I have one client who claimed $89k in NY state and NYC taxes last year. Bought a house on Long Island this year which will add $36k in property taxes. Sum of both limited to $10k in 2018. Won't be pretty. But his tax rate will go from 39.6 to 37%. Whooo Hooo. The others who will take a big hit are salespeople who get only partial reimbursement from their employers. I have one who gets a Sch A deduction of $20k just for unreimbursed mileage. With Misc itemized deductions gone, this will hurt.

Thanks, FDNY; I needed that as probably will anyone else who reads it. Great way to begin the year, with a smile on my face and a laugh out loud!

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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

And when e-file opens, I think I've had to first get a rejection for prior year returns and then recreate the e-file to get the year to change. I don't know if this is still the necessary process or not. Or if it was never the necessary process but I just didn't know what was happening.

The original post is questioning the math for calculating the tax liability before any credits are applied. Given the assumptions of the child tax credit for 2018, I will agree with Rita the client maybe better off in 2018. It is probably needless to say but each situation will be different and it will be so hard to give any advice until we see the entire picture. On another note, if you're like me, married with an empty nest, and right at the so called middle class limits, not being able to itemize and with the loss of the personal exemptions will no doubt have a negative effect for 2018. BTW- the math of the OP is correct

I've been getting a number of calls and yes, it is all over the map. Many clients in hi RE tax state NY (especially Long Island), many with decent income, nurses married to firefighters and teachers married to cops, and the like. Between loss of deductions and exemptions the higher standard deduction sometimes works by a little or doesn't work by a lot. Especially when they were used to getting much higher itemized deductions. And if they have a second home, forgettaboutit!

I have all my (and my client) W-2's done as pdf's. Tonight I hope to pull out the blank forms and print them tomorrow morning. Then I'll start to fuss at business clients to get me 1099 information.

I think this will help some of my clients. I will have to go back and look at the sales tax deduction tables and see if the amounts will get my clients up to the 10K limit. Thanks for pointing that out. Tom Modesto, CA

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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!

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.

If my memory is correct you will need to go to the download center, download it and install it. I don't beleive that it updates from within the inital release. I just wandered in to the download center and I see that Drake Accounting 2018 and CWU 2018 is now available.

Just a random thought - can a business owner who rents his office/warehouse to his business create an LLC to hold the rental property and get the 20% passthrough deduction? I assume treasury will impose self dealing rules, but what if they don't get to them before the 2018 filing season? Just trying to be creative. Tom Modesto, CA

According to AMD, if your computer is using an AMD chip, you are not affected by this problem.

It appears from these instructions that it will be. Thanks for the tip and link.

All I can say right now is that I am VERY glad I don't have to program these changes - OR design the forms and schedules. For the rest, I can wait.

That is going to be a very interesting question. I read that article too, and I think the treasury is going to have to provide guidance on it. Tom Modesto, CA

Yes, and I read on Forbes that Sch Es get it too, but I haven't been able to corroborate.

I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised, Terry. Unless you mean you’ll no longer be able to itemize in 2018 I read it to mean you don’t itemize now I’m still on the first cup of coffee. And if your business is a pass thru, don’t forget about the 20% deduction there I think the great majority of my clients will pay less tax with the new law. They are “all over the place” when completing W-4s, however, so the bottom line on tax returns may be weird, but that can be explained by comparing with corresponding other lines from the 2017 return.

Slick, no one has bought The Tax Book. They are small, family-owned organization, with an assortment of excellent writers with dozens of years of collective service. I am proud to know the owners and writers out of the Minneapolis area. Their writers are practicing tax preparers whereas the giant publication companies are afraid they would be sued if they allowed their writers to actually do any tax work. I buy their hard copy 1040 book and Business book every year plus their CD which gets updated online. Each book is at least 700 pages and contains concise and accurate conversation about thousands of topics. "Bigger is not necessarily better." As I have become older I think bigger is rarely better. I say that because of my prior history of dealing with and working for Fortune 500 companies and their out-of-touch and clumsy management structures.

When the IRS opens up e-file in a couple of weeks, you will be able to efile 2017, 2016, & 2015. Not until then. Remember, ATX charges $5 each for efiled prior year returns.

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?

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.

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.

Ah, it's interesting to see the emerging strategies coming out. This one doesn't affect me because, although some of my clients will be affected by the SALT limitation, the pattern cbslee described is about what I expect for my DE residents and for all of the same reasons. DE is also a state with no sales tax. For those of mine that are PA residents, again this will be a nonevent because PA's tax system doesn't have itemizing.

Oregon has very low standard deductions so most of my clients will end up itemizing for state only, which Oregon allows. If you own a house and are still paying off a mortgage, that is enough for you to itemize on your Oregon tax return. Oregon has no sales tax, so that is not an issue.

The NATP summary lists 'the most notable changes taking effect after December 31, 2017' so I interpret that as tax year 2018. " Pass-through Businesses Non-corporate taxpayers, including trusts or estate. who have domestic qualified business income (QBI) from a partnership, S corporation, or sole proprietorship are allowed to deduct 20% of business-related income, subject to certain wage limits and exceptions. The remaining income is subject to normal individual rates. The 20% deduction in not allowed in computing adjusted gross income (AGI), but rather is allowed as a deduction reducing taxable income. It does not reduce income subject to SE tax. The deduction is also not allowed for businesses offering certain personal services........" Does this answer your question?

Here is a summary from the Journal of Accountancy: Depreciation Bonus depreciation: The bill would extend and modify bonus depreciation under Sec. 168(k), allowing businesses to immediately deduct 100% of the cost of eligible property in the year it is placed in service, through 2022. The amount of allowable bonus depreciation would then be phased down over four years: 80% would be allowed for property placed in service in 2023, 60% in 2024, 40% in 2025, and 20% in 2026. (For certain property with long production periods, the above dates would be pushed out a year.) The bill would also remove the requirement that bonus depreciation is only available for new property. Luxury automobile depreciation limits: The bill would increase the depreciation limits under Sec. 280F that apply to listed property. For passenger automobiles placed in service after 2017 and for which bonus depreciation is not claimed, the maximum amount of allowable depreciation is $10,000 for the year in which the vehicle is placed in service, $16,000 for the second year, $9,600 for the third year, and $5,760 for the fourth and later years. Sec. 179 expensing: The bill would increase the maximum amount a taxpayer may expense under Sec. 179 to $1 million and increase the phaseout threshold to $2.5 million. These amounts would be indexed for inflation after 2018. The bill would also expand the definition of Sec. 179 property to include certain depreciable tangible personal property used predominantly to furnish lodging or in connection with furnishing lodging. It would also expand the definition of qualified real property eligible for Sec. 179 expensing to include any of the following improvements to nonresidential real property: roofs; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning property; fire protection and alarm systems; and security systems.

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.