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And Judy (aka @jklcpa the Magnificent) once again has a cite and quote and reference. Judy, I have NO idea how you manage to do this in the midst of the busy tax season - but we all love you for it!

I wish I had Rita's meme of the guy spitting his water.... I took a new client years ago who has a foreign bank account in Norway. I check the boxes on the Sch B and we do the FBAR together every year. She had her ducks together, I followed the now retired CPA's return when I took her on, did some research myself to help with the FBAR, and life was copasetic. Last year, she and her sister sold the cottage in Norway and I included that income on her tax return. Her intention at that time was to close the foreign account and bring that money here. Great. No more FBAR (which scares me to death....) Today, I called to tell her I wrapped up her tax return, and needed to know if she still had that foreign account. Yes, and her "little pension" is still going into it. "But it's ok, I pay taxes in Norway on that income, and it stays in Norway." OMAFB (Oh my aching frigging back) Wasn't I supposed to include this as income all these years? And claim foreign taxes paid? I threw up in my mouth a little bit today.

Shhhhh! "Google" may be my new middle name. With any search tool, using the best key word and having some idea of what to look for are the most important aspects. With that last statement, you see why my husband has been calling me "Captain Obvious" lately. What's funny is how easy it seems now when thinking back to how truly terrible I was at using the giant library of printed loose-leaf books of code, regs, and cases from CCH. That was the stuff of nightmares.

I tried to like this twice but it would not do it

I'm about 20-25 miles north of Albany. Very small town. Not much here but the Hudson river which is 50' from my front door. I am blessed to have a room with a view and since I work from home? An office with a view. To Tom - I'm glad I made your day. Too many times we forget who we help and only remember those we failed. Shame on us. I'm about to resurrect the thread that sent me on the path I researched and led me to your post. At the 11th hour? I appreciate any and all advice. Thank you for the warm welcome. I appreciate it more than any of you will ever know.

Another client's bookkeeper coded $36,000 of Sch C owner contributions as revenue in 2016 (I'm amending that one) and $42,000 in owner contributions as revenue in 2017 (I caught that one). I have never seen a bookkeeper do this before, and didn't look at the revenue details until preparing 2017 because my gut started screaming at me. I did check to make sure she didn't deduct his estimated tax payments. I questioned the additional revenue in 2016 since his payroll wages did not increase as would be expected. He told me he worked a lot in the field. Fine. So, I base his estimated payments on that amount and he dramatically overpays in 2017. Big fat refunds for 2016 and 2017.

We've asked for an option to choose the number of columns and have a difference column because 99.99% of the time, we're just projection next year. Would have been wonderful this year to just have 2 columns with a difference column and lots of white space to type notes. Oh, well. Getting rid of the zeros gave me space to type my notes.

This week a client whose wife died in January got a refund check made out to her. This happened in our office once before, and that time the IRS was quick to issue a new check. This time the client called IRS and was told that the preparer messed up. Excuse me, the return clearly shows the wife's date of death and has "filing as surviving spouse" in her signature area. It was efiled, so why don't they blame the computer? Looks like the reduced money IRS has for training is taking its toll. I feel so bad for these people. Both had recently lost their spouses and now had to go through this mess.

You have to include a statement with the return in the year the gain is realized, meaning the year the insurance reimbursement is received. The required information is explained on page 14 of pub 547 .

Almost done. One client emailed me his documents today so I could rough out any amount to be paid with an extension. Yes sir, you are going to owe around $5k. The tears are flowing from my computer screen and puddling on my desk.

...on the Planner form if I had the preference to print without zeros checked.

I should text more, but every time that I do, some Bozo calls me at 7 AM on my cell phone, just because they have the number. I only text my client's that aren't apt to abuse having my cell phone. I keep getting text to land line calls from the kids that don't understand that I actually have two land lines in my house.

That's right up there with the clients who have a voicemail setup, but they never check it so the voice mailbox is full and won't accept any more messages :-( That's why I mostly send texts.

It was nice to see KC's name on this post. She was just a great member of this community and I hope she is doing well.

PROBLEM SOLVED......DISCARD THE EF INFO FORM, RECREATE AND E-FILE AGAIN. THIRD TIME IS A CHARM. THE ID SUBMISSION YEAR WAS CORRECTLY LISTED AS 2018 THIS TIME!

And this is why I choose email still. I can print to pdf and save in the client file. Only 2-3 clients even know my cell number because they are members of the same church. I never have the sound on when I am working as there has been a recent inundation of spam calls here. It's using the area code and first 3 digits of my number so I quit answering or calling back. I was fooled once thinking it was a neighbor. I just respond to left messages. Technology can be very good, very useful and also a pain in the patooty. I choose to use it for my convenience. Ms. Cranky Luddite now signing off.

Now you're the hero!

My first job EVER was to replace the pages. My dad would bring them home a few at a time from his office with the replacement page sets, and I'd go through and update. Next night he'd bring back another few books.... Maybe that's why I can find things in books super fast, but cannot for the life of me get the keywords right for an online search!

Test any system on yourself first. We supposedly had that (log in, send a text from online), but it never worked. It would say the message went out, but it never went anywhere.

Learned something today, but this year's peeps already went on Line 21. Wonder if I can remember for next year.

I have clients that Sometimes call me nonstop, I only return their call if they leave a message, other that they can call all they want. My office phone is not a cellphone, it doesn't receive texts nor tells me of the missed calls.

I don't want to give my cell number either and so I recently activated the texting function available through my Comcast service where I can send and receive that will come in directly to my computer instead. I haven't had to resort to that yet. Maybe you have something similar that would work for you?

Without a way to get a timely message to or response from them, especially at this late in the game, it serves them right if we are unable to file anything. I've got a few that just disappear and reappear like nothing is wrong.

Very true...I insert all zeros in the 2019 column which automatically zeros out the rest. It takes a little time to do that...a little time adds up to a lot of time. Would be nice to have the option to check a box for all zeros. Maybe next year...or the next...or the next.

Just don't mark the 2017 return as final if payments continued into 2018. The date the trust technically closes and the date it closes for tax purposes don't have to be the same. I recently filed a final estate return that has a big refund coming. I told the executor to keep the bank account open because the check will surely be made payable to the "estate of..." and there will be no way to cash it if the estate account is closed. So the estate is closed for tax purposes but still technically open. In your case, if the income was being deposited into the trust account, was it being distributed to the beneficiaries? Then it should be taken as an "income distribution deduction" and flow through to them on the K-1s anyway so the trust will owe no tax.

So I think she can use Mark Twain's line in her opening conversation with SSA - "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Almost choked on my coffee while reading @Possi's post. Thanks for the laughs!

Linda, I believe that the transaction would be a sale or other disposition of an asset. There may be two transactions if he does not want to build. There will be a cost, covered by insurance hopefully, for the clean up and restoration of the land. That cost will be a non-taxable transaction, as it just puts the land back to the condition that it should be in to sell it. The proceeds from the insurance for the home that was destroyed would be the selling price of the home asset. Gain or loss would be recognized based on the remaining basis in the property. It will flow through the 4797 to the 1040. The short year schedule e will also go to the 1040 as normal, and if their are any suspended passive losses, they will be released and flow to the 1040 as well. The land will convert from rental property to investment property until sold and will will produce a capital gain or loss depending on the sale price and the basis. Hope this helps. Tom Newark, CA

I can't believe how many people I've called and they haven't set up their voicemail. I do not want to continually call them, because it just ticks me off! Everything ticks me off right now, I guess. Bonnie

I will have to check and see if Cox offers something like that. Thanks!

Yes, I have a few of those. Eventually I found the FECWKST and could stop putting it on line 21. Mine aren't taxable in the other country, though. Or so I'm told.

Does this presumably deceased taxpayer still have a valid driver license?

You guys are all great on here. Look at all the caring responses here. I've been reading them so long my eyes are not focusing again. Ha - just kidding. I appreciate everyone's input. I have taken your collective advise and has scheduled an eye exam for next week. Hopefully it's just computer eye strain. It really makes you think about your eyes and how important they are not only to your work but all of your life. We take things for granted.

This one hit yesterday evening. Doctor; spouse is a doctor. Spouse has a W-2 job but t/p is self-employed. NEVER makes estimated payments and owes big time. We had his return finalized in a rush after getting the last tidbits from him because he was agitating for finishing. He came and picked up, brought signatures back next morning and left. We had not gotten around to e-filing him (phew) when we get an email saying "what was my SEP contribution?" SEP contribution/ --What SEP contribution?! First we had heard of it! Back-track dance commenced... and turned out to be a good thing. 'Cuz I did a stupid and entered the state 1099-MISC income a line too high, so it got double-counted, once on Sch C and once on Line 21 - and in the rush to finish for him, no one (meaning ME) caught it. We need new signatures; he was actually happy because his federal tax went down, and I (re-)learned NOT to let clients pressure me into rushing! I eventually found some time to wash the egg off my face.

Young clients - married couple with young children - withholding was way too low because job income increased substantially. Knocked out several credits (EIC, etc.), and no HI so penalties. Tried to talk them through what was different and encourage immediate W4 changes. Fast forward a few days: They have decided they are not going to file. They have been advised that they don't have to file every year, and that as long as they change their withholding this year, it will all even out, and they can continue to only file in some years. They will pay me for the return. Kudos for that offer. OH, AND he (the President) said it was okay. He is trying to help the working class, and this is part of it. I've had amazing conversations, but this was my first foray into the 'you don't have to file every year; only some years' thread of advice. ***Postlude*** - talked them down from the tree, and they are now making reasonable, rational decisions. 'They trust me'.

Maybe the 1041 won't allow 2% deductions next year, and my plan will fall to pieces. CPE gonna be intrestin' this summer!

Over the last few days as we come to the end of tax season, after the following instances happened over the last week, I have realized that sometimes we are unwittingly surrogate parents to some of our younger clients. I called one of my Ivy League graduates whose return I completed nearly 2 months ago asking if she forgot about me, she has a nice refund coming. She said no, but has no checks to pay me and she's too cheap to get new ones and if I would take PayPal. Sorry, no, why don't you use Bill Pay from your bank or brokerage account? She never thought of that. The second happens to be her brother, another Ivy Leaguer going to law school on a scholarship. He emailed to tell me he wasn't filing this year because he learned in law school that he didn't make enough to file. I said good, how much did you make? $8,000 for consulting work with at risk kids. Did you get a 1099Misc? Oh yes, it says I was a non employee. You know the rest of the story. The 3rd one is an actuary, I admire her as it is a profession I once aspired to. I mailed her return last week and a few days ago I get an email from her that she is sorry but forgot to tell me she moved. I said I already mailed it and it would take a month for the PO to forward it. She owes money to one of 4 states she worked in so I sent her an encrypted copy with instructions to beat the deadline, I wanted her to get it in because she is struggling and has a big federal refund. I worry about her. I'm sure many of you have seen these things happen with your younger clients, they do know to call you during the year for guidance, because their real parents told them to when questions arise. Something they can't do with the big box preparers. My being independent lends to being receptive to them and because their parents are longtime clients. They will keep me in business for the rest of my life if I decide to continue working. Each one of these made me smile, I remember being young once, too bad I did my own taxes. I could have used the help. Take care of your kids.

Did your client amend both years? The year of the original contribution removing it, and then the "new" year of the contribution. I would have gotten the acknowledgement for the $142k in the first year. That is too big a number. "Anonymous" can mean no public notice, but it can also mean that it stays within top leadership and the donor. I would have the client come in, and then fire them. Did that this year. Client amended last years return. Because turbo tax is good software and let him do it. Shove off, A-Hole. Rich

The fact that the client got her a refund on her claim, doesn't mean that the 1040X won't be audited. If that happens, then the refund would have to be repaid - with penalties and interest. To be deductible, any contribution over $250 has to be acknowledged by an CONTEMPORANEOUS written acknowledgement from the donee org. There are no exceptions and there have been a number of court cases that have upheld this. I know of many cases where amended returns provided refunds, but were later audited with unpleasant results. It may not seem logical, and we all know the IRS doesn't do illogical things. :}

I just did one of these. You have to do two 2848s. The living spouse signs the form of the deceased with the title of "executor" or "personal representative."

Tom is spot on. So make sure that, regardless of which way he decides to go, he gets, and keeps a detailed breakdown from his insurance co of what he gets for what. You don't need just a total, he should get a breakdown of how much is for what, landscaping [clean up replacing plants and/or paving, etc, damage to trees, etc] building, possibly loss of rental income, depending on his coverage.

A fire can be very debilitating and disheartening experience. Anyone who has experienced it first hand will attest to that. Your guy is asking the right questions. And the rules are pretty simple. Use the insurance proceeds to rebuild and pay little to no tax. Use the insurance money to go play and the piper will need to be paid. Your guy needs to explore all of the different approaches and decide what makes most sense to him going forward. He needs to be honest with the insurance appraiser and gather all of the info necessary to make an informed decision. My first hand experience with fire? My parents house, 8 years after I left home, was the victim of a fire that spread from the neighbor's house. The neighbor's house caught fire because the kids in that house were playing with matches under the bed. At the end of the day, both houses were completely and utterly destroyed. They say no one died or was injured in the fire. My Mom, just a couple years later at the very young age of 58 years old, died never having gotten over losing every thing she owned in that fire. I attribute her death, from a massive coronary event, directly to the fire. I relay that story simply to reemphasize my first two sentences in this post. Your guy needs to understand that his decisions do not affect him alone.

Today. Saturday, April 14th... 4:00 PM. THE POWER GOES OUT. Sheesh. Nap time. Rich