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It's always fascinating to see how some people think dropping off incomplete information somehow gets things started. They're the same ones who call a few days later to ask "How's it coming?", assuming you've entered their partial info, have a progress report available, and are just sitting there waiting for the rest of their info. The next best are the ones who call, text, or email to let you know they're getting their info together and will be back in touch soon to drop everything off. I think some of them assume the "I'm working on it" call establish their place in line. I dealt with these folks a long time ago. If it can't be completed on the first pass (for any reason), extension gets filed. Some will still get completed before Apr 15, as I circle back, but nothing is guaranteed.

Short answer, yes.

Mine are resorting to prayer. I started to ask if the only day they were covered was May 24, and if she meant to send that last text to God.

We were talking in the office today about how we would prepare unnecessary Sch As for clients who came in earlier just to show them how the new tax laws changed their situation. This past week or two that extra step is no longer taken. Those early clients also got our time and empathy when they owed unexpected amounts. Today we are thinking of putting another number on the phone menu, "If you owe, press 8," where they can hear a recording of the same explanation we have given to hundreds of clients this year (why keep repeating ourselves?). We will have at least 200 on extension, many of whom will call this weekend. (Why bother, we should just copy last year's extension list.) I had a few drop-offs TODAY, one of whom left a note that all her docs weren't there but she'd get them to me soon. Like I have nothing to do but work on her incomplete return. I feel especially bad for our poor receptionist who is handling a million calls a day and an endless stream of clients picking up and dropping off that last (maybe) document. It won't be long before we can all have some food and sleep.

do we want to know HOW you know this???

But, if you don't have a home office, you can potentially lose a big chunk of your mileage. If mileage is part of the Sch. C expenses, and they are claiming distance from home to the first work location and back from the last work location, then the loss of the home office causes the loss of the mileage. I was told one time that the only reason the IRS challenges home office is when they think they can get mileage deductions removed from the return. They don't care about a small percentage of your utilities coming through the return, they want to go after something that will have an impact on the bottom line tax. Tom Modesto, CA

...needs a "special" Rita hug?

The kind of client that responds, "Ok checking," because she thinks I'm sitting here waiting on her to update me on her progress should get a response like that. Yes.

Should your reply simply be "Amen". ?

Microsoft has announced that they are blocking updates to systems which use Sophos security software. There are a number of reports that users of Avast security programs are having the same freezing problems.

Bulldog Tom, Good explanation of your customer's case and good analogy. If I am not mistaken, that part of ACA will not change next year. Once a person enrolls on the "exchange", the law will remained unchanged. I guess we will have ACA for a while and I am not a fan of it either.

We had a husband wife bookkeeping/tax prep firm close and leave town because both had heart attacks. Last fall, we started getting calls from businesses who needed payroll NOW, and we've been picking up a good number of individuals from them this year. It's a mixed bag though because they were crap at both bookkeeping and tax returns, so we've had to do a lot of clean up work/amendments, which is not fun. But in the long run, we added a lot of great new clients.

Duuuuuuude. Here's the symbol for pot:

My apologies if that combination is the universal symbol for weed or something.

I have been having recurring bouts of glacial internet service with pages loading so slowly they don't load at all. My ISP sent me a new router which initially worked ok then yesterday the problem reappeared. They now suggest my Ethernet modem may be starting to fail. I initiated a full security scan yesterday afternoon (Microsoft Security Essentials) which always take forever. I got up this am to find the computer had reverted to the start up screen and the scan had aborted. Oddly enough the system speed is back to par more or less so I activated a second full scan which will finish in several hours. I have had some problems after these updates and wonder if it may have had something to do with this matter. I likely will replace this old reliable model but Lord knows I am not tackling Microsoft 10 until summer.

Long answer, "Yes, absolutely, as depreciation allowed OR allowable will need to be recaptured upon sale of the home."

Many Payroll companies software will not allow a specific percentage. I always recommend Single and ZERO exemptions, plus $XX per pay period, if needed. Many payroll people in companies, have not clue about what we are discussing, causing even more frustration.

If you read the article, the problems seem to revolve around the use of an antivirus program called, "Sophos", which is from England. However there appears to be no official response from Microsoft, so the actual details are a bit sketchy.

I have help inputting and I check everyone and e-file them and I am only at 650! but I do go to bed and get usually 7 hours of sleep - most nights, a few are less and I take naps on weekends and sometimes during the day - I have to slip upstairs when my head hits the desk - Abby was talking about - who still works in the area - how can some people be so *** and still do taxes!! I will have about 400 extensions but quarterly's start Tuesday and it is difficult to do first quarter in 2 weeks - as the 1 member S corps we wait to do their payroll calculations until now. Back to work - I have about 10 2015's to finish up... Darlene

Taxpayer is a family member. Not the smartest cookie in the box, but we love him just the same. Signed up for Obamacare, eligible for the APTC. All good, his income and his spouse income properly estimated. The amount of the PTC and the cost he paid is pretty much right on....EXCEPT....his wife and he got into a fight and she left him at the end of October. He cannot locate her, as she moved to another state and blocked his calls to her cell phone. He has no option but to file MFS. Guess what, that means an otherwise qualified individual who is right in the wheelhouse of who this law was supposed to help, cannot use the PTC because of the MFS status. I know, he can file as abandoned/abused and get around the penalty...But it just seems so unfair to me that when life happens, and your situation changes, here comes uncle Sam to slap you in the face again because you could not foresee that your life was going to change dramatically before the end of the year. Taxes are not fair, but this is insurance, not tax. I so wish that the testing of income for PTC was the prior year AGI. It would make things so much fairer (is that a word) if you had some certainty on what the maximum you will have to pay for the required insurance the government requires you to buy. We would never by auto insurance, homeowners insurance, or life insurance based on a cost we did not know until the year was over. Just think if you bought an auto policy in January for the year, and then in May you got into an accident and State Farm calls you up and says you have to pay another 4K on the policy because you estimated that you would not have an accident, but since you were wrong, here is the bill. This is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. Rant over. Tom Modesto, CA

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3387984/widespread-reports-of-freezing-with-yesterday-s-win7-and-8-1-monthly-rollups-kb-4493472-and-kb-4493.amp.html

But if the space is not used regularly and EXCLUSIVELY, then they can't take home office and therefore don't have to depreciate.

No payroll processor should allow a FWH flat percentage, since there is no such allowable calculation (other than for certain off cycle items, if the company chooses not to aggregate). By using something not allowed (a flat percentage), the employer and all who touch the payroll are subjecting themselves to liability. If a payroll person gives W4 advice, they are proving their lack of knowledge. Tough spot for tax preparers. If you cannot "give" the client a refund, they may think you are missing something (refund shopping). Most have no idea they could have the money with each paycheck, and that it "is" their money, not some sort of "gift" from the eagle. The last time (decades ago) I helped someone with a W4, I gave three opinions. 1 was to be neutral at end of year, one was for a substantial non interest bearing "refund", and one was a slight bit aggressive, but not to the under withholding penalty. It was a family member, who was just scratching by, and by choosing the neutral setting, they had several hundred more in net pay each month, stopping the "scratching by" issues. What is really interesting, is the IRS has elected to publish ongoing items telling employees to check their WH. Tells me the IRS is tiring of getting complaints, and that wage earners are not getting needed (or implementing received) advice. Could be a fair source of additional income for anyone with the ability to take the prior year earnings and tax liability through a wage calculator to give a couple of W4 options. The new W4 may actually make it easier for preparers to suggest, since the employee has the option to enter specific dollar amounts instead of made up "allowances" and status.

If you e-file, you do not need 8453. Form 8879 will be adequate. I have not sent Form 8453, in 15 years.

I have never sent the 8453 as long as the detail was attached. I don't think it's necessary when you electronically attach the detail to the e-file. I only send it if they have given away a car and I need to send the charitable receipt attached to the 8453.

Yes, that 8453 goes via mail with a short list of documents you might send by mail. If everything is transmitted electronically, including attached .pdfs, then only the 8879.

That quote from 1.1014.4 (a)(2) is also confusing. It is an illustrative statement of the general rule of that paragraph which basically means there is not a 2nd step up when the asset passes from the estate to the heir. The preceding paragraph 1.1014.4 (a)(1) tells us the adjusted basis of depreciable of property passes from the estate to the heirs. An estate is allowed depreciation per section 167(d), therefore adjusted basis includes deprecation allowed or allowable as with any other entity.

Payroll department should give no advice on preparing a W4... and a W4 has no percentage option so percentage advice is wasteful.

Thanks Catherine that was a great help

@jasdim Hi.. I am by no means bragging but over the years I have a system that I have modified and tweaked a bit that works for me perfectly. First, the returns that I do run the spectrum, from returns with LLCs, rentals, self employment, S corps, and more. During this time I also have a pretty big business client base, where I do payroll, payroll taxes, books, financials, and year end taxes for those companies.. I am bit behind on monthly account type work bit even that I have honed my system.. Most of these I use TeamViewer to remote into their computer and clean up their Sage50/Peachtree.. I have a few on QuickBooks but not a fan.. grew up with Peachtree and love that program.. I use Medlin for payroll, Sage 50 for accounting and ProSeries for my individual and business tax prep. As far as 1040 work goes.. If they are a repeat client, I know how much time to budget. say typical family, maybe three W-2, a few 1099- INT or DIV, maybe a 1099-B, two children maybe, even maybe on in college.. I schedule that for 30-45 minutes. client comes in.. they have seat.. they have a monitor facing them. I sort through the documents, put them in order, and work right through the return.. I am gracious and kind to my clients but very rarely engage in small talk about weather, their family, other than tax related.. work through the the return, they sign 8879, I efile,.. they pay me. and I thank them and they leave thrilled.. This whole tax season has been that way every day.. when they are walking out, the next client is just getting there or maybe was there a few minutes... Say I know a return will be one W-2, and maybe that is it 10-15 minutes max.. Rental property returns, self employment income, 30-45 minute return.. My clients know that I only work off summary listings for self employment or rental property and they come with a one page summary already done. with the current law this year is even better.. say client gives me mortgage statement, real estate taxes.. some donations.. I glance at them. i know what the state and local taxes are about from the -w-2. and the 10K salt max.. if clearly under the 12/24/13.6/26.6 I just calmly and smoothly move them to the pile of extra things I do not need.. some new clients I may enter that data to show them how it id not matter but most often I do not enter items that do not impact outcome. even on the w-2.. Code C does nothing, Code DD does nothing.. Code D may if retirement income range but I am entering Code D for someone that is clearly outside of credit range.. Well I could say more but have more work to do.. I have other tweaks and not really tricks but just time saving things that I do that allows me to do this many returns, while still doing other work.. oh, and working long hours is part of it also.

I tell my clients all the time, you need to have x% withheld, and they ask me, how do I do that? I tell them to either work with their payroll department or try Single 0 and see what % that gives them. Of course, it's confusing if they have pretax items, but... it just shouldn't be this hard!

I missed that the estate started in 2017. I think you are correct Gail. I thought Danrvan was saying the estate did not get a step up in basis. Jeez April 10 and I am easily confused. Imagine that.

I think you are both saying the same thing - just looking at it differently. if i understand Danrvan, the owner died in a year prior to 2017. Estate inherited rental property, with a stepped up basis. While in the hands of the estate, income was received and reported on a 1041 but no depreciation was taken. Now it is 2018, and the return (i think another 1041?) is being prepared by Danrvan and he notices that depreciation has not been taken and is going to take in, and file a 3115 to catch up the years that were missed while the property was in the estate. There is no second step up in basis when the property is transferred from the estate to the final beneficiaries. I don't know if that is any clearer, or if I misunderstood Danrvan's posts.

Wow! I do just over 400 returns, and I work basically every hour that I don't have to sleep from 15 February to 15 April (I do take my son to chess tournaments, etc., but I take my laptop and keep on working -- and I haven't had any tournaments since 9 March). How do you do it? What types of returns? I'm standing in awe. I do have legal/financial work that I have to do (although nothing where there's not 'blood', as I tell my clients), but even if I did NO other work except returns, I couldn't come anywhere close to 1000.

This is an area that I struggle with.. I have done almost 1,000 returns already and every time slot is booked through the 15th and will go into the evening. I am still getting calls.. I do not want to turn away the work and tell the client, or prospective client that I would love to prepare their returns but with the deadline here, I would be happy to file an extension and contact you in the next couple of weeks or so to complete your taxes.. most say that is fine but I get some hesitation and one person said they would "do their taxes themselves" . I cannot take on anymore physically between now and Monday other than those already slotted for appointments, well maybe with a few I still may squeeze in.

My RMD is based on prior 31 December balance. My Medicare premiums are based on two/three (?) years ago.

This idea gets my total support !

My idea for a W4: Enter the % you want withheld (min 8%). You can still claim exempt if you expect your EIC or other credits to zero out your tax. This will help part-timers, especially if their hours vary and sometimes have no tax withheld due to low hours in a pay period. Then everyone will be having a discussion about what % they're having withheld and people will start to understand what their effective tax rate is. And if they're under/over withheld, they can easily increase/decrease the %.

---> I suspect 90% of the "unaffordable" code uses are false. And 100% of them are not caught. I came to this conclusion thru guessing. <----- Rita: Your methodology is unassailable. I should have taken your "Probability and Statistics" class after having spent all that time as your star Algebra pupil 15 years ago.

Agree, ACA issues have been far more challenging to me than any tax laws. I suspect 90% of the "unaffordable" code uses are false. And 100% of them are not caught. I came to this conclusion thru guessing. Also, Tom, if runaway spouse was covered, not-the-smartest-but-loveable can allocate 50% to her. I don't think that's the case, but that's the only hope I have. (For this situation, not for you.)

I agree 100%, and also not for political reasons. There are serious shortcomings in this law, many of which revolve around fairly mundane life changes. I've mostly refused to prepare returns having anything but the most basic & routine ACA issues. Had a single-mom client this year who got married in the 4th quarter. I took a couple of stabs at it and came up with figures 100% out of sync, depending upon some assumptions I made about what the rules actually SAY. I finally gave their stuff back to them and told them to try HRB or another chain. At least there they will have someone with deep pockets to cover the penalties if THEY mess it up. Sure enough, they went to the two major chains in our area and also got vastly different results. I don't know who they used (and really don't care,) but I think I could accurately guess.

In the past I have gained two new clients each whose former preparer died from a heart attack. Both of them were fairly young and about my age at the time. That got me thinking that this job does come with its health risks. While I do work long hours they are interspersed with stretching, exercise, and drinking water. I never allow myself to get stressed and smile when a client is freaking out on the phone about their tax bill (I do no face to face). As it has been said, it's just not worth it, they can't pay us enough to have their stress transferred to us. I've only done 3 extensions since yesterday as my cut off is 1 week before due date so from here out just extensions will be prepared, and that is a really good feeling. Take care of yourselves everyone, life is short, don't let them make it shorter.

Hey, Possi: Lots of those liquid tears drops things all day long. Refresh Plus lubricating eye drops. And DO give the evil eye to any complaining clients now. Hey, David: For those I know will owe, I use the 100/110% of last year's liability formula. For long-time clients, I can pretty much eyeball it. For those that do ES payments also, I make the extension payment a huge one that will cover April and June ES also, all to be reconciled when the return is prepared. If I've been the slow one, I do a more thorough computation. Did one last night for a complaining guy, just went through with round numbers against his 2017 summary with his 2018 documents and told him to pay $25,000 and $8,000. It's down from the year before (which is why I took the time and didn't do the 110%) so he'll pay it. I often look at how much paid with 2017 extensions and how 2017 turned out to calculate how much to pay with 2018, for those that don't vary much from year to year or I can see at a glance they're up or down. But, most e-filed extensions were done via "batch" and are zeros. Many of my clients followed me from Block more than a decade ago, so were not used to extensions. I have a lot of push-back. But, they know, and I remind them when they drop off or don't have all their documents. I want to work all year and earn more money. I don't want to turn down their referrals, but do need time to review with new clients. Extensions.

It's all kicks and giggles until someone giggles and gets kicked. I think I'll have 40 - 50 extensions.

JohnH is correct as usual, probably because he was in my Algebra class 15 years ago (falsehood), and I will add that it helps to be able to say to people that I get an extension for my own return. I also tell them I know I've paid in enough and will not owe. Psssshhh, it's all good. I will sooth fears of extensions one time and one time only. I'm happy to extend the tax season, but the people having more than one panic attack about 4/15 are given a hug and my best wishes for continued success with another preparer.

On another board, there is a discussion right now about a rental property that a professional completely depreciated over 10 years. If IRS can't catch that, I'm not a bit worried. But, yes, I am sure about my depreciation schedules. I attach them to returns, and I don't care who sees them. Are you sure every software uses different classifications and processes? I've only used ATX, so I didn't know that.

Over documenting by clients is one of my pet peeves. However I would rather a client give me too much information rather than too little and chance missing a tax item. Another pet peeve is the people that dont bother to open any of their mail that relates to taxes. i.e. w2, 1099, 1098 etc. I hate spending time being their mail boy. Open your darn mail and organize it accordingly. I can wish cant I