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I hope you all are feeling and doing well going into the last day! For me, the last of the extensions are filed and only one client coming tomorrow. It was another wild week and I've been working into the wee hours each night to make up as much of the time lost to the flu as I could, and I'm just so relieved to have completed all that I did! I have more extensions than I'd like, but about 1/2 of those do still owe me information so I'm not complaining.

I will hustle a little more today, but mostly all my ducks are in a row. More extensions than I want, but I took a page from Catherine's book and just straight up told the late ones. Tomorrow, I will renew my driver's license and Wednesday I will be lovin' on my grandson in DE for the rest of the week. I told my extensions I will see them when I'm sober, probably May 1st. I was only half kidding.... You guys and gals are truly the best~ Thanks for another season~ God Bless Y'all~

Yes, hang in there! It will be tough for me to get to my office tomorrow as I'd have to cross the "battle lines" as the Colonials chase the Red Coats back to Boston from Concord. So I'll work from home until (I think) the convoy has passed and the roads are open again. Remember, extensions are our FRIENDS! I refuse to half-kill myself for some nervous nelly client who only got me their papers last week (and are probably missing half of them).

One of my clients received an annual subscription invoice for Quick Books Online that was double what they paid last year. I called them twice and got nowhere, so I called the CEO. I received a call back within 2 hours and they confirmed that email notice of these new fees had been distributed in the prior month. I nor my client received anything from them! They then began to attempt to justify this massive increase as if it were merely corporate protocol. I explained to them that had I attempted to increase my clients fees by 100%, I wouldn't have any shortly thereafter. There are many alternatives to their products and I intend to research same. I hope you are all as appalled as I am and pass this along. The more the hear about it the more they may become contrite? Thanks for listening.

I haven't had any either, although all of my higher income clients still have NIITax

Same here; going to work on payroll today; already double-checked extensions; somebody faxed in their 88's last night; last guy came in and picked up just now. Funny thing happened this week - 180 degree opposing perceptions I guess. Guy brought in his big case pile of junk, proudly says "Here is it!" I say "I'll have to get you an extension; this is Wednesday - the deadline's Monday." We both stare strangely at each other - he's thinking (I think) "Well, you've got at least FOUR DAYS to do it!" I'm thinking "I've only got FOUR DAYS to do all this crap." He accepts it grumpily and shuffles out; probably miffed at the lousy service. What a profession - if I had it to do over again I should have majored in psychology - got to be less stress.

I’m hoping for it to be a quite day for me, it seems people are more excited about game of thrones then complying with their tax obligations

I'm in a good place too. Same two clients every year will call me and tell me the same story about how time got away from them and please send in an extension. Luckily for them they always pay what was due last year. And I don't mind charging extra. Yesterday I washed out the garage of all the winter salt, cleaned out the junk and tinkered with a bicycle, all while listening to classic rock. That really felt good. Later this morning I will watch the Boston Marathon while I do a little carb loading to keep my energy level up. This is a happy day for us.

I only have a few clients who can't pay and I tell them to just make payments as quickly as they can. As long as you don't owe too much, the IRS isn't going to get all upset if you are making monthly payments on the balance owed.

What I generally tell people in this situation is to send what they can. They'll get a letter saying "Hey, you still owe us $X" then send some more. Rinse and repeat - so long as you can do it in no more than four "chunks" of money.

It's 10:00 am on the 15th. I just now came in and double-checked my extensions to be sure all the bases are covered. There's one guy I haven't heard from, and he always owes. If he calls before I go home I'll fill out an extension. If I don't hear from him today I'll assume he's either he's doing it himself, has gone somewhere else, or is going to owe penalties. (His problem, not mine.) Will be working on 1st quarter payroll reports the rest of the day, except for a side trip to CarMax to take another look at a car I'm thinking of buying. The plan is to head home by 5:00 pm. All in all, not a bad way to spend the 15th.

Today (Monday) is a half day. Only because it is the 15th. Tomorrow off.

The actual cost of the agreement is cheaper when you do the direct deposit. If they can pay in 90 days, do not do the installments. Instead, have the client call the IRS and work that out.

I am on everybody's side, and it was not my intention to get into what is good and what is not about the provisions of the law. I was strictly looking at the tax implications for my client based on a situation that he had no control over that is now going to put him into debt to the government for the foreseeable future . I just am flabbergasted at how the IRS and congress have put so much uncertainty into the pricing of the required insurance, and the way you can be punished for not being good at predicting the future. I wish they would put some certainty into the pricing (taxing) model they are using. That way, in November when you go to sign up for the next year, you can make an informed decision on the choice to buy or pay the penalty. If I knew at the beginning of the year that the penalty was 2.5K for not having the insurance, and the cost was 2.5K per month to insure my family, they I could make the choice based on certainty. Right now, there is no way to know what the cost of the insurance really is until you have prepared your tax return. And added up the income of the rest of the family. Can you imagine telling your 17 year old to not get a job after graduating high school because it will increase the cost of your insurance tax? Tom Modesto, CA

Another first for me, I actually had someone get a very small credit on the 8801 for the AMT credit.

Even complex clients who were always deep into AMT.

They need a way to pay for all the Danny DeVito TV commercials.

I am on your side. There was a better solution than this plan. I have also had insurance my entire life. Until 2015 when I joined a Health Sharing Ministry because the premiums for myself and two kids was $10,000 with a $10,000 deductible. I am on your side. And I know you're on my side, too.

This is the only good thing I see about it, and I'm glad that folks who've been responsible and always had health insurance but lost it due to illness can be covered. Even if it's very expensive for them. I'm sure they're happy to pay. I honestly don't know one soul in that category, but I do have several clients who've never had insurance, never wanted insurance, but got insurance they've never used, because they were afraid of the SRP. One has a return here right now, not picked up. When she dropped off I asked where her 1095-A was. "Oh, that went away this year." Me: Did you not have health insurance in 2018? She: Oh, yes, and it was free. Isn't that great?? I did tell her as nicely as I could that it most certainly was not free, not donated to you by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of TN, and if your income goes up, you will be re-paying the premium. She: What premium? I got her file out of the cabinet and pointed out to her the APTC she received in 2017. She had no clue. None. The wheels did start rolling around in her head, and she asked what would happen if she married her wealthy boyfriend. I told her. She decided she would drop the insurance if that happened.

The AMT exemption amounts went up some, but the AMT thresholds went up dramatically. I don't think I had any yet, but my really high earners come in later in the year. And, some of the triggers, such as unreimbursed employee expenses, are gone.

All I have today are pickups. 2pm and two left. I've completely moved on from taxes and am back to working my normal job pretty much.

About 2 years ago a guy freaked out that his wife had about $100 in wash sales from Fidelity. Someone it was my fault and I needed to monitor her trading. I have absolutely nothing to do with her account and he couldn't really figure out how I would monitor it. Have a new client this year who admits he has day traded for years and has a massive loss that carries over every year. $125k I think and he literally has less than that in total net worth from what I can tell.

I just sent a return that was on extension but is short and easy and I wasn't as tired as I thought so did one more. I have a ton of extensions accepted. But, I have some new CA clients that I don't know their info to e-file CA extensions, and at least one of them has owed CA the last couple years. Trying to reach them and prior, retired preparer who "gave" them to me. Hubby is out mailing our IL extension with a check (IL won't let NR do either of those electronically). Might throw in a load of laundry or might do very little after I work out the CA situation. I need to package up a bunch of folders to mail to remote clients; I let them stack up for the last week or so. Then it's a bunch of doctor appointments I postpone until after tax season and weekly PT for my replaced hip and payroll taxes and I'm a liturgical assistant on Easter so have readings to prepare. Maybe even get out to see my toddler granddaughter. But, back to work on those extensions, because sometime from Memorial Day to very early July we have two new grandbabies arriving, one in CT and one in PA; so obviously I'll take time off then. I hope to get most of the clients that are griping about being on extension prepared before the babies arrive.

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

I agree, if a clients home internet goes up, oh well I need it anyway, if I increase my fees, guess who will be out of work?

Yep, do like Medicare and base it on the prior year's tax return, or two years ago, or whatever it takes to have the returns in the system and be a known income instead of predicting next year. That girl with the wealthy boyfriend, she can't just drop marketplace insurance during the year when she weds. Has to drop it at the end of the year before the wedding to avoid paying back her APTC.

Torvill & Dean, "Oscar Tango" - not the "Bolero" performance that got them a series of perfect scores at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. Five minutes. Oscar Tango

Very said. What a tremendous loss.

This Has Been Bugging Me My Whole Life..Abby....

You know me, Rita. I have had health insurance my entire life, mostly with the same company. My premiums were getting completely out of sight, and I am still 5 years away from Medicare (if nothing changes). When ACA came into effect, my cost was cut in half even though I am paying the entire premium and receiving no credit. It has been going back up every year (just like it did before the ACA) but it still has not reached the high point that it was at before. I agree that there are some problems with this particular piece of legislation. but instead of trying to fix it one side wants to eliminate it and the other side wants to get a pie in the sky impossible to pay for plan. Who is on my side?

I've been following too. Very sad.

I caught up (somewhat) on church bookkeeping this morning. Gonna take a walk before the afternoon rain comes through, then toss in a load of laundry. Not going near the office today. They've moved up the Patriot's Day parade so crossing that street to *get* to my office would be dicey at best. And we had a 2-hour power outage early when the first set of rains came through, so I'll double-check for any clocks I missed fixing earlier. Everyone is on extension; if they missed it, it's not because we didn't try to get through to them and that is NOT our problem

His buddy bought a portable garage which obviously made a difference. Buddy did fail to tell CPA he paid cash to put it on a slab so it's actually a permanent structure but that's not my problem. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Greatly appreciated.

I am still waiting to watch it. I have to stay away from spoilers.

I'm the Spouse and the Paid Preparer. Hubby gives me lots of dark chocolate to get me through tax season.

no problem with proseries or lacerte today

I'm not sure what you mean. As Jack said, inside the return, the extension form has it's own efile set up. Then when creating an extension, the Fed and state options are there as well as the extension option. Just click on the extension only and an extension efile is created. Then in the efile manager, you'll see the efile for the 4868 or 7004, whichever applies.

Yep, that is the way I am going. Thank you for the assistance.

You can only file an extension, from inside the tax return.

Yes, and I'm moving this to its own topic so that any answers you receive there will be on topic.

This may clear up the above confusion. From the treasury direct site: " Unlike EE bonds, HH bonds are current-income securities. You paid face value and receive interest payments by direct deposit to your checking or savings account every six months until maturity or redemption. ... Do I have to pay taxes on my interest earnings? Yes, you must report your interest payments on HH bonds as interest income on your federal income tax return each year. This interest isn't subject to state or local income taxes. The U.S. Treasury issues an interest income statement (1099-INT) by January 31 of each year showing the interest you earned the previous year." However, if you purchased the HH bonds with matured E or EE bonds and deferred the interest on those, that interest is reported in the year of redemption: Is there any tax liability when I cash HH bonds? If you (or the original bond owner) deferred paying federal income tax on interest earned on EE or E bonds you exchanged for the HH bonds you're redeeming, you will need to report this deferred interest for the year in which the bonds reach final maturity or are redeemed, whichever occurs first. You will receive an IRS Form 1099-INT showing the deferred interest, which is reported to the IRS. That appears to be the case with your client, since the 1099 showed deferred interest. The cleanest way to do this is to file an estate return and pass it through to the beneficiaries. At least you can deduct the cost of the tax prep (which is allowed, even if not paid in the fiscal year), which may save the Bs some taxes on the interest. There may be some other expenses too, like probate or attorney fees.

Generally speaking, the sale of depreciable property to a related party cannot be reported on the installment method. "Exception: The installment method is allowed if the seller can show that tax avoidance is not the principal purpose of the sale." This was the rule prior to the TCJA, don't know if it still applies for 2018 ?

I want the $995.00 rep !

grandmabee, find out who your friend's rep is and share! That's a pretty big discount, I think.

If father died in 2017, I believe you can either elect to report the interest on his final personal return or file a fiduciary return and report the interest there. If the income is all distributed from the estate account, the beneficiaries would get K1s for the part of the interest distributed to them and pay the tax on their share. You can elect the fiscal year for the fiduciary return with the filing of the first return. So if dad died in, say June 2017 you could elect a fiscal year ending May 31. If there was no income for the fiscal ending 5/31/18, no return would have been due. If the bonds paid interest sometime in late 2018, they could be reported on the fiscal year ended 5/31/2019, and would go on the beneficiaries return for 2019. Just as an example, and I think it would work this way. Hard to say without actually know all the facts and circumstances. And someone may know more about this and why this won't work.

SO sad about Notre Dame in Paris. Notre Dame burns