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Always stand up when you remove staples. It's good for your posture, you get better leverage on the staple removal tool, and you achieve better wind-up when you throw the stack of papers away in frustration.

Do the people who send out these tiny booklets really think they're of any use to anyone? I guess they're just trying to reduce their paper, toner and postage costs, but, seriously, I could probably read this in my 20s, but now? Ha!

If any of my clients saw me naked, they certainly wouldn't be bragging to anybody about it. More likely, they'd be searching for bleach to wash their eyes out.

Full dressed, I charge X, without shirt, I charge 2X and naked, I would charge XXX.

Option 2 so you don't get a matching notice on the 1099-S. 8949 Code N-Nominee adjustment

Any tax extenders bill would have to originate in the House, where is there is no apparent sign of movement. At this point, I hope all of the extenders vanish, never to be seen again.

Since I was close to the Bay Area, I have had a lot of people in tech companies. The reporting has gotten much better over the years, but do the clients give all that to you? Ha! The worst ones lately have been RSUs paid out by a US subsidiary of a Swiss company. The client was retiring and thought he had about 1-2k in RSUs. Turned out to be more like 300-500k. Took about 5 years to cycle through all of them since he couldn't sell some right away (recent grants). And there's some he's held. So much fun figuring basis....

With any luck it’s just a few more left and sitting back waiting for checks and 8879 forms to come in the mail. Uh oh. Hope that wasn’t a jinx!!

I have been a bit surprised that I have lost hardly any. I had five or six older clients pass away last year. I pretty much replaced them. I rarely raise prices and when I do not by any huge amount. This will not be my best year but all in all I am not unhappy. Getting older having a few less is not a bad idea. Having only 11 weeks instead of the 13 we formerly had is causing me to have to extend a few incorrigible late comers but they will understand. My family has been in some form of small business in excess of 125 years and great service goes a long way. An example. A neighbor for whom I have never done any work called me in a panic. He left a message so I returned his call. His wife said he was out but ought to be back shortly. Shortly thereafter I heard a knocking on my rear door. Sure enough it was him who insisted in an agitated fashion he wanted to come in. I had just gotten up and standing in a bath robe my hair completely uncombed. He stepped into the den and explained he had used Turbotax and made a number of mistakes. I told him not to be too upset that it was only a tax return and could be amended and requested he bring me what he had done and I would amend it. He seemed relieved and went home to fetch his paperwork telling his wife he had seen me naked ! Lord ! The things I have done in this line of work.

I'm tired and at that stage where staples are starting to bother me...a lot.

It's the lower of FRV or adjusted cost basis at the time of conversion to rental, without land, for depreciation. So, the apartment is one whole thing, including everything done to get it in shape to rent. You'd break out appliances and other things with different depreciation lives, of course. Then, any renovations after renting would get a separate line on the depreciation table as Renovations.

This did get me thinking as to the why so many of us put up with the dreaded error message. As any of my Psycho Analyst clients would tell me, (we do talk psych stuff once in awhile, after they pick my brain), it's the classic Love/Hate syndrome. They would probably tell me, you need to pick one. As with any relationship, if you can't deal with one, you have to leave. Or, if you do put up with both, are you a martyr or nuts? So you ask yourself, what will it be? For me, as with any other relationship, love always seems to win out and I put up with the hate. I guess I may be a martyr, or more likely, nuts.

Staples bother me but not as much as: 1. People who dont bother to open their mail. 2. Getting documents all crumpled up in a bag.

You can take 100% bonus depreciation on the rental share of the appliances.

Copied from the BNA Blog: Kentucky’s conformity date was moved to Dec. 31, 2018, from Dec. 31, 2017, under an omnibus tax-change bill (H.B. 354) signed March 26 by Gov. Matt Bevin (R). The state already conformed to the provisions of the federal tax code overhaul (Pub. L. 115-97). Maryland’s hourly minimum wage is to rise to $15 by 2025 for large employers and by 2026 for small employers from $10.10 after the legislature voted March 28 to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) veto. The first hourly minimum wage increase is to occur Jan. 1, 2020, when the hourly minimum wage is to rise to $11 for all employers. New York’s electronic wage-reporting specifications were updated to reflect new requirements for 2019. Michigan’s hourly minimum wage rose to $9.45 and state paid medical leave requirements took effect March 29. All Puerto Rico employers are to electronically file unemployment tax and wage reports starting April 1, 2019. The requirement is to apply starting with tax and wage reports filed for the first quarter of 2019, due April 3

I tell my clients that, the extension gives them till August 15. Guess when the tax info rolls in...?

And, you can't really match them up by number of shares, with some shares held back to pay taxes, the splits/mergers/whatnot that happened over time. It's a nightmare matching the paperwork for when received to paperwork for when sold.

I used to have a client that stapled a color coded scrap of paper to every form that she brought me labeling the form (W2, 1099, I don't know what this is...) I guess she thought she was helping me.

I've got my clients trained pretty well to not use staples. I have a sentence in bold in my organizer letter that asks them not to use staples. It's cut way down on the stapled documents we receive.

"The tenant depreciates the improvements over the appropriate life and deducts interest expense on the loan."

Yup; same here. Client this year sold a mixed bag. Doesn't know squat about any of it, and brought in a dozen or fifteen pages of printouts she'd gotten from ??? over the years. Took me an hour and a half, with all sheets spread out on our BIG conference table, to figure out what shares were what, what basis was (if any), et cetera. There were NQSOs, ESPP, and RSUs, *and* a few ISOs too. She'll be paying for that time!

I have recently been heard to threaten a $10 fee for EVERY staple I have to remove. And yes, I have one of the good staple removers. I still have to stand/sit there and remove them!

Forget about age, look at income. YES to all your doubts. (Dependent, AOC on parents' return).

No, but 2018 gap in January forward is affected by 2017 end-of-year gap.

I was going to say form 8949 for sale of principal residence and use worksheet for depreciation but with sch E that won't work, so I think your calculation works. Any land included?

I am pretty much the same as last year. I do know of one that tried Turbo Tax, but his parents said that he would be back. I am not worried too much at this point, because a lot of my regulars are just that much more difficult.

I got one free with my new Staples stapler, works great. BTW, my 2 "jam free" Swinglines jammed.

That's the most well-designed staple remover I've ever used. It handles virtually any size staple and doesn't damage the paper.

Ah, yes. I know that stage well. Although my new staple remover is a pleasure to use.

Terry, I guess it was just a typo in your number 2 paragraph. In the installment sale with a current client, the profit percentage goes to 6252 line 4 as Sec. 1231 gain then flows to Sch D Part II line 11, so both. My client sold a commercial building. I agree with cbslee first or DANRVAN at least. Unless you have only this client to manage, you may not get any sleep trying to finish in 2 weeks. Good luck!

Thanks, Lion, this is my inclination and I am quite aware of the isolation of land and separate line for renovations subsequent to rental. I've already listed the appliances, too. I think I have to go with the appraisal for FMV, however, for the whole structure and allocate to the apartment as I don't see an easy way to account otherwise for common things like the new roof and gutters and plumbing which also benefit the apartment though not directly. There is a separate HVAC system and water heater so that's easy. Sharing the washer and dryer, not so much! Thanks again!

Aw shucks, you have taken all the fun out of this discussion.

That's too introspectve for me. On to the next client !

I don't know the answer to your question, but I would follow Lion's advice. Whenever one of my clients tells me they want to start a partnership with family members, or a FLP, I give them this advice: What ship doesn't float? A family partner SHIP. I hate these things because it never comes down to the business. It is always about the family, and I don't get paid enough to be a therapist. Tom Modesto, CA

In Drake my deceased spouse had the word "deceased" and the date printed in the box with the deceased spouse's last name.

Restricted stock is not the same as NQSOs. Why not ask for a paystub to see what all stock he was granted/exercised/sold. He probably got RSUs as well as the NQSOs. NQSO are the only ones that are reported with the code V in box 12. I see this all the time; someone has NQSO, ESPP and RSUs all from the same company. Then throw in some ISOs too. Actually, I rarely see ISOs. Just the first 3.

File an extension with a reasonable estimate payment if needed. Explain to client return is a mess and do what you can after April 15 as you need to dig up prior returns or transcripts.

To simplify this response, assume the equipment had a five year life using straight line depr. Also assume he bought the equipment at the start of the project which took one year to complete. The "otherwise allowable depreciation" under that assumption would be $5,000 divide by five = $1,000 which is added to the basis of the rental property. The $1,000 is lumped into the cost basis of the building which is depreciated out over 27.5 years once the building is place in service. So in effect, the annual depreciation from the equipment will be $1,000 divided by 27.5 = $36. The remaining basis in the equipment is $5,000 less $1,000 allocated to the building = $4,000. He cannot directly depreciate any of it. All he can do is allocate a portion to the rental basis. Does he also use these tools and equipment in his carpenter work? Maybe works as employee and lost out on misc itemized deduction? $36 a year is not worth messing with.

The extenders have been a thorn in our sides for too long. Let them die or make them a permanent part of the next tax legislation.