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I got so annoyed on Facebook at a tax pro who thought a SS card and birth certificate proved something worthwhile. Uh. Yeah. A child was born back there somewhere and was issued a SSN. The end. I started to point that out but she got four likes before I could type it so I just banged my head on my desk and came back here.

Hmmm; never thought of it that way before. Before Max came up with his defense (below) of my position, I was gonna suggest if the auditor was willin' to put in the time, that he subpoena all the kid's teachers to swear and declare he/she existed in physical reality and was present all the days they could remember. Don't know if they'd have to have followed 'em home a few times or not. You're a gentleman and a scholar, Max! ______________________________________ Children should be SEEN and not heard. -- IRS

Hoo-boy. There would be some interesting responses to having a microphone on my desk recording client's answers.

Its funny how things work sometimes. We get so involved in what we're doing that it clouds our ability to recall stuff we usually know. Then posting here all of a sudden turns the light on. I guess its good to just talk about things. Happens to me all the time.

I agree - that makes a very awkward situation when I have to give my DOB and SS#. I don't use my SS# on the 2848, so that really bothered me that they asked me for that. Between all the due diligence crap and the IRS phone drill, I'm beginning to wonder if my license means anything at all.

As I understand it, and I could be very wrong, for real estate only the portion of depreciation in excess of SL is subject to recapture. If the property has been depreciated under MACRS, there is no excess and hence no recapture. The depreciation taken is subtracted from cost to yield the adjusted basis, so it raises the amount of capital gain, which is taxed at cap gain rates. If over time the owner had added Sect 1245 property like appliances etc, those gains would be subject to recapture at the 25% rate.

A camera can be in a ceiling/wall/wall corner. Covers the whole room. A sign on the door announcing the surveillance for safety (or whatever is required in your state). At the least, it will likely create a more civilized environment. At best, it can protect you and yours from (or help you deal with) something untoward. If this were not a public forum, I could share more, which would explain why I use all available protections and deterrents, even in settings which most people would not worry.

I had heard this was coming this year. Guess who has one on their W2? Me! Our company uses Paychecks and they have included the verification code on our W2's. Looks like the long computer generated passwords that you get on some sites. I missed seeing it, but my spouse picked up on it. @Medlin Software Are you putting these on your W2's? Tom Modesto, CA

Attended a CPE class night and one of the speakers was from NY Tax Department. Good news for those of us in NY; you have to enter only the first three characters of the driver's license document number this year! First i heard of it.

If the client were at my desk, I would hand the phone to the client so that he would give the IRS personnel permission to talk with me - no POA required at that time.

My kids got me set up with Vinny (the dog in my picture) on Instagram. We try to post every few days. I'm so excited, we have over 100 followers already. (Mostly other dog people.) But we try to post some tax stuff.

what's the point.. i thought this was instant access

This crap is another reason that I won't take clients from the Internet and if something comes from a client that I don't expect, I call them or email them before I open it. I don't trust much online anymore. The email that I used for PTIN before I opted out, is not one that my clients have.

Circumstantial evidence, especially when corroborated, is much stronger than direct evidence, such as an eyewitness. Forensics and fingerprints are circumstantial evidence. BTW, there has never been a scientific study made to prove that a set of fingerprints is unique to only one individual. https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2017/october/aaas-fingerprint-report.html

A 3rd party designee will not get you into eservices transcripts. You must have a 2848 or 8821 (I've never used this form).

Best thing I've found is a report card from whatever school they're going to. Many schools will list the kid's full pedigree: name, address, age, DOB, grade they're in (and grades), phone number, school year enrolled for, parents' name, address, and related information. So anyway, if you've got that then you're ready to roll. Unfortunately, some schools don't list the home address (although T/P may have kept the envelope it was mailed in). Other stuff of course (next best) is medical records, then day care bills (sometimes pretty sketchy), social security and/or insurance cards (I know, I know - those two generally don't have anything except the name but it's something). Next year -- DNA

Yes, the land and building are separate dispositions. First you have to decide how much of the sales price was for the land. Then prorate the closing costs by the same percentage. We use the most recent assessment to ballpark how much is land vs. building. We do the same when a building is purchased.

It’s also a good idea to have an excel spreadsheet to do the calculations, I use one that allocates the sales price (pro-rate) amongst building, lands, improvements etc...., then I tie it to the tax program.

IRS Pubs. 886 series for EIC, etc. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs-search?search=886

I agree with both posts above. I too feel he should leave well enough alone.

First of all, stay away from giving any advice in regards to corporation vs LLC, that is legal advice for lawyers to handle. LLC'S are a creature of state law and have nothing to do with tax law. It looks to me like he should file as sole proprietor, Schedule C. The income would then be taxed at 24% vs 22% at the corporate level according the information in your post. Even if he goes with C. corp, he will need to pay a reasonable salary which will come back to him at 24%. A reasonable salary would probable eat up most of the $30,000 profit anyway. Also, as a sole proprietor, he should be eligible for the new section 199A deduction. As I read the code, a sole proprietor is not required to reduce Qualified Business Income by a reasonable salary. Also, per 199A (d)(3), he should fall below the threshold amount for service income.

Interesting that the 886 form (886-H-HOH) and instructions at the link is ONLY available in Spanish. It is also the ONLY one to come up at IRS.gov when you do a "due diligence" search for HOH.