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OK folks, here goes. Let's break up the drudgery, have some fun on the forum, and put yourself or another member in the running to earn the new and prestigious "Tax Aficionado" gold star to be awarded weekly. For those of you that missed the conversation of how this idea evolved, it is in the topic called "How Many Times Per Day." This is rather loose and fluid at this point and may be further refined. We'll see how it goes and how many participate. What to post - Post something about your week, a particular kooky client, a wacky situation, something that happened in your office, whatever you want to share with us here that brought smiles, laughs, exasperation, or appreciation and gratitude from those around you. If you already posted something in another topic that you would like to have considered, please make mention of it here by directing us to that post, link to it, or quote it here. Nominate other members that were particularly helpful or enthusiastic during the week. Make mention of the post, link to it, or post a quote within this topic. Make this clear enough so that other readers will know what you are referring to. I'd suggest that you also tag that member by using the "@" function. As an example, to tag me, you would type @jklcpa somewhere in the post. How it works - Each week will have a pinned post running from Saturday morning through the following Friday until 11:59pm. Voting will continue through the next day so that posts made on that ending Friday will still have a chance to earn votes. This week's pinned post will start now and run through 2/23 with voting through 11:59pm eastern time on 2/24/18. Vote for your favorite Tax Kook/Aficionado by clicking one of the positive emoticons of "like", "thanks" or "haha" within this topic. If referring to posts in other topics, the reactions made there are NOT counted. Thumbs down and angry face won't be included in the count. The topic will be locked at the end of the week to disable the voting. The winner will be the member that earns the highest number of positive reactions for any one post within this topic. For members having multiple posts in one week, the posts will be considered as stand-alone entries; votes not tallied across the multiple posts. The star will be placed in the winner's signature line over the weekend after votes are tallied. The star is also easily removed by editing your own signature line to delete it. And who knows, maybe at the end of the season I'll spring for some treats like those banana splits someone is always mentioning . . . or replace the crystal ball that is broken. just kidding about the ball.

IRS projected date is 2/22

There is a step up on half when father died. If in a community property state full step up when father died.

Sorry, I did word that a bit confusingly. It's in Preferences, Print. Check 'Mask sensitive info on Client Copy'. Beats me why they didn't say 'mask Social Security numbers'.

Yes - computer completely shuts down. My tech suggested trying to uninstall HP Velocity, which I did yesterday. No problems since uninstalling it. Waiting to see if that's a permanent fix or if the problem will come back.

My client's mortgage lender rejected an extension form because I masked the SSNs

This is my first year suppressing the information on the Client Copy and the client feedback has been most positive. Hope everyone is having a smooth tax season!

When using the Client print packet, if you check the preference to suppress, yes. Also, it's an option in business returns to suppress the SSN on the federal K1... but most states don't allow this yet.

The only place I know of is the organizer. I have never looked for it on the tax return.

Quite possibly: Unfortunately, some persons deed away their homes without reserving a life estate. Arguably, the federal estate tax inclusion ends up being lost by such a maneuver, but the literal language of Section 2036 quoted above can salvage the step-up in basis: note that the word “retained” is used. The Internal Revenue Service has successfully argued in the past that a right can be retained without having been reserved, and that the continued occupancy of the home after the transfer of title, without paying fair market rent, is evidence of an implicit agreement, understanding or assumption of the parties of the transaction. (See Estate of Linderme v. Commissioner, 52 T.C. 305 (1969).)

The 1040 is only a preliminary document when applying for a loan. Returns are verified from the IRS transcript. That is why form 4506-T is submitted with the loan application.

I wish ATX would change two things: Allow us to suppress ID#s on every print packet. Put a checkbox in the print dialog so we can turn it on or off as printing. I've gotten new clients where all the ID#s were suppressed on tax documents and returns, so I had to ask what the ID#s were.

If a client asks for a copy for their bank, I send it to the CLIENT as masked. If they request one with the numbers showing, I would send that to the client. My software does print the last four digits of SSNs, bank accounts, EINs, etc., so I don't think anyone has requested a new copy with all digits showing.

I print numbers on government copies only. Numbers are on my file .pdf copies. Client copies have numbers masked. (I remember years ago at HRB, some preparer's client put their folder on top of their car and drove off. Never did find it.)

Who is your client? A friend of the child, a cousin of the child, an aunt of the child, a sister of the child, etc. I am going to assume your client is the mother of the child, she can file as single and qualify for EIC provided the child didn't provide more than 50% of his own support. If the mother provided more than 50% of the child's support, not only does she qualify for EIC, but she also qualifies for head as house hold. As Jack said, the above is correct even if she is not claiming the exemption for the child.

If the child is her dependent child, (not dependent relative) she can qualify mom for EIC and HOH, even if she is not claiming her as dependent.

I would do the 3115. Missed depreciation is an automatic acceptance so no need to fill out all 100 pages. The reason is that they should have taken more depreciation in prior years, so claimed higher income than they should have. In the year of sale you have to deduct depreciation allowed or allowable from basis, so they will pay higher cap gains even though they never got the benefit of the higher depreciation. Missed depreciation can be taken on Sch E all at once, so their income will be reduced in the year of sale.

It's on my calendar, too, and my finacee is very excited about going to Tennessee. She loves Dollywood and Gatlinburg. And June is better anyway, should be warmer.

Well, alrighty then. June 23rd. My house. Visiting hours (not like funeral home) begin at 2:00. Cookout for supper. Message me for directions, my email address, all that stuff. Absolutely no hurry on the RSVPing. I'm excited!

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