Leaderboard

I used the Gleim product with many, many,many practice tests. I knew it was going to be OK when my practice test scores got well above the passing grade. I also learned that every. single. time. I went back to a question, my second answer was wrong and my first was usually right. It saved me untold agony during the testing just not going back to older questions. You CAN do it. Instead of worrying about test anxiety, think instead that the worst that could happen is that you would have a better idea of what to expect a second time. You won't lose any clients, you don't have to cut prices, you don't have to wear a scarlet letter... It's all OK, and we'll all still love you.

Vote here for @RitaB as I am nominating her for a star because of her announcement last Friday in the "ATX client letters" topic that she is willing to play host to a bunch of you this coming June 23rd. Rita, you are a treasure, always willing to help and always with good humor.

Cha CHING! Getting paid for amendments is good for me. I hate amendments. I love money. I'm so torn... TORN, I tell ya.

Aunt may be providing over half of support if they live in Aunt's house and Aunt provides food. Child's money may be going partially into savings account which does not count towards support. But you should actually run some numbers to be sure Aunt can claim child as dependent.

Nothing to do with the test because I can not speak to that since I have never studied nor taken it, but I just wanted to state a comment that is on my wife's exercise bulletin board. It seems to apply here. "If it is important, you will find a way; If it is not, you will find an excuse!" Sounds a bit harsh but there is a lot of truth to it. Grab the bull by the horns and go for it. Good luck!

Decide how you learn best. The study guides available are great, with lots of practice tests. There are also live courses online, such as Eva Rosenberg/Tax Mama. And, you might have live courses near you. HRB's course was great years ago when I took it, but I don't know if you have to be an employee to enroll. Check with your local chapters of NAEA and NATP to see if they offer courses. The nice things about the current test is that you can take one part at a time, know if you passed immediately, and retake if needed as soon as you want. Basis, basis, basis. If you're finding a weakness as you study, pull the corresponding IRS Pubs; you'll often find questions on the test come straight from the examples in the Pubs. Don't be afraid to guess, but don't second guess yourself. Breathe!

You are the favorite person on this board. And Judy had to nominate you for the star of the week. I think it is a conspiracy to keep me from my star, so I am crying..... Right now, it looks positive for us to get out to see you, so long as there is some business purpose (Abby Class on ATX customization?). I love me some BBQ, and I could use a hug.... Tom Modesto, CA

Tell your client to get that child the Social Security Survivor Benefit as well. Aunt may not be able to claim the child, as she is NOT providing more than half of her support. $20K? Is Aunt paying $20,001 for her care? Rich

I have one client with PMI noted on their 1098 from Wells Fargo. While most years she calls every day about the status of her return. This year I have to give her credit for being patient as we await the software updates.

There's been some discussion on various tax forums that I visit where members are debating whether or not this interest paid on home equity loans, HELOCs and second mortgages will continue to be deductible. IRS has issued IR-2018-32 in answer that is shown below:

NONVOTING POST - Look, I took a selfie : Aww, Tom, sorry. I've been waiting to see if anyone else would nominate someone or make more posts. You're all stars in my book.

You are killing me with that sad face, @BulldogTom. I can't wait to feed you some BBQ and give you a hug.

Don't worry about the guaranteed payment statement. That was mentioned because you originally said this was a partner in a partnership that issued a W-2 and a K-1. Yes, your client still gets the SEHI, assuming he meets the requirements.

Aunt can claim niece if niece did not provide more than 1/2 her own support. Aunt technically doesn't have to provide more than 1/2. Donna, you mentioned Kiddie Tax. Niece also has investments? So, is aunt is socking away at least some of the $20,000 in investments owned by the niece?

Well, yes, thank you, Max, it's much less than that. (49,000)(0.0765) = 3,749 (49,000)(0.9235)(0.153) = 6,923 6,923 - 3,749 = 3,174 Then you deduct (0.5)(6,923)= 3,462 for income tax purposes. At 15%, that saves 519. So now we're down to 3,174 - 519 = 2,655. Of course the client only sees the $11,000 and thinks that's ALL due to the boss not wanting to pay payroll taxes. When you boil it all down, if people would make estimated tax payments, they'd feel better.

Decide on a study guide. Map out a study plan. Schedule a test. If you are a facebook user, we have a group where we ask and answer questions and generally help each other understand some topics better that we don’t have a lot of experience with. I was scared too. I had been doing taxes 38 years when I decided I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I also wanted my daughter to do it so I needed to set the example for her. Best of luck to you. PS - I used Passkey book, study guide and online subscription. I was very happy with them.

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.

After 22 years in the tax business, I am considering getting my EA designation. I'm embarrassed to say I am scared. I have come up with countless excuses for not getting it previously. Cost, time required to study, etc..but it all comes down to fear. I have always had test anxiety (high school/college) and I'm scared I'll fail. How should I start the process...sign up for test date/time, then start studying? I'm sure I'll do fine on the individual portion...but I have very little experience doing non-personal returns

This was posted on the ATX Tax Software Support Group Facebook Page...has anyone experienced issues with the EdExp form? I haven't.

Don't do what I did. Took part 1 and passed, then waited too long to study for part 2 as life got in my way and the 2 years expired, time flies. This was over 10 years ago and now I'm too old, I mean older and not interested anymore. I would take part 2 first, getting the hard part over with will give you great incentive and be able to easily get it done. Good luck!

Too many warm corona's??? Tom Modesto, CA

I would recommend a Code Section 529 plan for her.

I'm assuming this is the Survivor Benefit Plan? If so the kid gets the benefit until turning 22 unless she gets married or quits school and then it stops. For the savings account, I hope they get the funds into a minor trust account.

The interest on savings from the 1099R income was $480 in 2017, the first full year of income. So, there must be a good amount going into savings. Aunt's income is about $55k. She has one other child of her own. Since the income is on a 1099R, it is unearned and that's why I was doing the kiddie tax. Does that help?

The p Double check... One of the filing requirements is "At least one of the parents have to be alive at the end of 2017." Also, Rita, distributions on a 1099-R count as "unearned" income for the Kiddie tax.

If they had just put it on the 1098 to begin with, we would have waited to prepare the return, and they would not have had to print and mail 1098s twice. It was Pennymac Loan Services. This is not my most favorite tax season.

He does get guaranteed payments. I still adjust for the SEHI, right? I'm confused about the guaranteed payments statement. I didn't think that had anything to do with the SEHI.

I think you are okay. The Simple contribution comes out of box 1, but not out of box 3 and 5. The health insurance comes out of boxes 3 and 5 but not out of box 1, because he owns more than 5%. However, since this is a partnership, why is he getting a W2?

You can do this! I am giving advice on how because I took it back when it was paper and so I don't know that what I observed still holds true. But I have confidence in you!

I think you have to advise the client of the proper steps to take and insist they do so. That is, file the 8919, pay the tax and move on. I agree with Max W and don't like how this looks. I wouldn't touch the corp end unless I had full cooperation, understanding and well specified engagement agreement signed and in place. Your responsibility is to your client and not the corp. Just my 2 cents worth

I have had no one affected yet - but I also thank you!

Well, it is only about $2800 when you take the Adjustment. That's a little over $230/m, so a lot of people might not want to risk losing the job for that.

I agree with Rita L. Let her decide. Be sure and explain that the extra cost to her is 7.65% [of the net income, subtract expenses, if any], not the entire kit and kaboodle. On $49,000 the cost of being self-employed is about $3,750. It might be unwise to give up the job over that amount. Just being real.

Those dividends won't create a taxable event until the policy's cash value exceeds the total of premiums paid over the life of the policy.

Was the penalty paid from any refundable credit?

Huge thank you for posting this! I have only one affected so far and client is scheduled to pickup at 1pm tomorrow, to be amended later on. It's an easy fix that I'll take care of in the morning.

Kook of the week nominee..... Get a call from a Texas number. Guy leaves a message. Referral from another client. I call him back and he starts telling me how he has this little problem with the IRS. Apparently, he has not paid his taxes from 2013 and 2014. Says he has been disabled and he can't seem to get through to anyone at the IRS because they keep getting disconnected while he is on the line. The penalties and interest are really piling up. But the last person at IRS he talked to said if he would fill out a "Form 22 something" he could get all the penalties and interest wiped out. So I start asking questions. Do you have your tax returns from 2013 forward? "Well, I moved and I don't know where they are". Did you prepare your returns or did you have someone do them? "Well, my daughter did the returns". Can you get the returns from her? "Well, we aren't speaking right now". His next statement "I only have disability this year, but I need my taxes filed and that 22 something form filled out. Can you do that?" My response..."Yes, I can do your tax return. The representation is at $XXX per hour, and will include taking a power of attorney, getting copies of your transcripts for the years in question, communicating with the IRS and you, and then coming to some resolution that allows you to pay back what you owe, or put you in the Currently Not Collectible status until such time as you can start making payments. I estimate a minimum of 10 hours, and I require a 50% retainer before I start working on your case." His response..."Well, let me look for my returns and I will get back to you." Tom Modesto, CA

Etax, have a little empathy. Do you realize how much work this entails? IRS has to rewrite software, forms, instructions, and pubs. They have to change a zillion linked pages on their website, FAQs, etc. This was thrown in their lap one week ago. They have reduced staff due to budget cuts and are sort of busy administering 2017 filing season right now. I would be amazed if they could pull it off in one month. We won't be doing any amendments until after tax season anyway--too busy with first runs. New returns that are affected by the extenders can be entered, checked, and put on hold until the time comes. Tell any impatient clients to complain to their congress members (and remember their names come November).

IRS projected date is 2/22

Please forgive my ignorance, but what does "ISTG" stand for? Tom Modesto, CA

Before anyone else expends more time with answers, please note that this revived topic was started 10 months ago.