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Just when I think I'm over the hill: Guy drives up today, gets out, crips in the office (a bit unsteady - says "I've been sick.") He's 103 - yeah, one hundred and three). No cane, no walker, no wheelchair. All health is mostly intact, but requests I write for pickup instead of calling (his hearing is shot). He's a widower, buys mutual funds (his son/sole heir is a churn 'em and burn 'em broker but doesn't lose too much) and there's enough money to last another century, so everybody's happy (including me - decent fee guaranteed & no complaint). Maybe God's in his heaven and all's right (well, mostly) with the world after all.

A visitor from Holland was chatting with his American friend and was jokingly explaining about the red, white and blue in the Netherlands flag. "Our flag symbolizes our taxes," he said. "We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bill, and blue after we pay them." "That's the same with us," the American said, "only we see stars, too." ...Why I had to quit doing tax returns...

I was waiting for the punchline, but here is something to cheer you up: Losing His Memory The man looked a little worried when the doctor came in to administer his annual physical, so the first thing the doctor did was to ask whether anything was troubling him. "Well, to tell the truth, Doc, yes," answered the patient. "You see, I seem to be getting forgetful. No, it's actually worse than that. I'm never sure I can remember where I put the car, or whether I answered a letter, or where I'm going, or what it is I'm going to do once I get there -- if I get there. So, I really need your help. What can I do?" The doctor mused for a moment, then answered in his kindest tones, "Pay me in advance."

My grandmother lived to be 103. The funeral director said he ran out of magnetic flags for the cars, because he never had so many great-grandchildren old enough to drive!

I almost lost it with a relative-in-law that said she could not figure out how to open my drop box, the same box she's used for 5 or 6 years now and that has a sticker on it that says "OPEN HERE." She insisted it was a new box because of a new black rubber rain cover over the lock that she was using as a push button in trying to open the box. I swear, a lot of people have rocks for brains.

We know how reliable tax advice is coming from brokers, bankers and lawyers, so I would take it with a grain of salt. In the supposed case of the airline issuing a 1099-Misc, that can be dealt with later.

I can only see this as taxable income if it were first deducted as an expense. So if this is a business trip that they paid for last year, and they are cash basis taxpayers who deducted it last year, then potentially it could be income if they get a refund this year. BUT I don't see it.

Maintenance. Expense it.

I want to add this for everybody.... the most secured computer is the one that is encrypted and shut down. Please make sure you secure your computer by shutting it down everyday.

Give me my eye shades and sleeve protectors. Old accountants never die, they just get out of balance.

"A grim old accountant lay dying, his briefcase supporting his head. His pinstripes were all of a tatter, as he rose on his elbow and said, "Wrap me up with me brolly and briefcase, and bury me deep down below, with me files on the floor of the file room, in a place where the tax men don't go." First verse of "The Dying Accountant" sung to the tune of "Tarpaulin Jacket" and performed by the Inland Navigators Bush Band of Sydney Australia. At one point he puts a brick through his video screen. Great song.

I relate to them all too, especially the explaining over and over and over to the point of feeling like a robot, probably sounding like one too.

Except, as jklcpa already noted, the Sec 121 exclusion maximum is reduced, depending on how many years it was used as a residence and how many years it was rented.

That does sound strange and wrong info. I'm with you on them trying to entice him to take the voucher. I have a client who works for a big travel agency that books big groups and she said they may go out of business, or at least lay everyone off. My cousin teaches in Milan and she said they are doing virtual classwork. But many of the people in the north decided to go south to escape so the government shut down the whole country. They had to, there were over 100 dying each day. Now I need to polish up on my Italian to call all the relatives, they need support, this too will pass, I hope.

Correct do the worksheet on the sale of residence tab on 8949. only recapture depreciation .

I can't tell you exactly how to enter this in your software, but the description below is from the 4797 instructions and describes that the gain is reported in Part III and the 121 reduced exclusion would be a negative number in Part I:

I think you start with Schedule D and then go to the "sale of primary residence" then it will take you to form 8949. After you enter the info, the exclusion will be transferred to the front of Sch D. Since your client lived in the house prior to renting it, you don't have "non-qualified days".

If as you say there is no change in the in the numbers, I would just mark the the 2019 return as "cash" and move on. It's what I did when I had a kind of similar situation some years ago.

Assuming the message is shown "by" ATX, it is likely their fail safe error, triggered by something they do nto plan for (handle gracefully). Hard to say. I would view the details, then ask ATX for an explanation. If you can trigger the error by exact repeatable steps, then send ATX those steps.

I guess I continue to be lucky. I have never had any ATX issues and I have only closed and restarted the application a couple of times in the past 10+ years. I do shut down everyday and barely ever I open two clients at the same time. Also, I never add another program or application to help ATX and I only use my computer for work. Last year my Windows 7 machine took about 15 minutes from the moment I pressed the power button until the time I could input data on ATX... changing to Windows 10, 16G of RAM and SSD has changed those 15 minutes to less than 2 minutes.

Right about now, we could all use 2 1/2 minutes of remembering how much fun we are having.

The two they missed is explaining to clients that their barber, brother-in-law, and/or co-worker is wrong and they can't claim that credit that "everyone" else is claiming. And why you have no idea why their neighbor is getting a bigger refund then they are!

Explaining the difference between total tax and how much is owed. Several times. Whew.

Did they act like a partnership in 2019? Guaranteed payments? Business bank account/credit card? What name was on the checks they received from clients; do they have a partnership name/dba? Did they register with the state as a partnership or MMLLC?

I have and hate it as well. I have one client now using QB Enterprise and not the online crap. They cannot share with me, their accountant, or send me an accountant's version unless I purchase my own copy. Thanks QB, I pushed them into this crap and shot myself in the foot at the same time. The payroll program???? Way too much, QB Pro-Advisor??? When I got out it was up to $800.00 per year. Well I guess one thing might be good, the client using Enterprise wants me to make office visits most likely quarterly. What I will charge them may cushion my frustration a bit.

If you file a partnership return, in 2 years you will have wedding or a liquidation of a partnership. Both events are not partnership friendly so why don't you just give her a 1099-misc?

This person made a video of the issues he was having with QBO, now enjoy:

The list is too long to post, but I will say that everything takes 4x as long to do and the reports SUCK!

My granddaughter just asked me why I do this for a living. I didn't have any good answers left. I remember it sounded like a good idea when I was explaining to my dad why I was switching career paths and colleges right before my freshman year began. (It was actually over a boy.) Very dumb!

Amen to this!!!! I been working with QB since 95-96 and it's my go to software to recommend to clients.

Hear, hear! I agree that QuickBooks is a ROYAL pain in the patootie. However, if you ever work with the online version, you will KISS your computer when you go back to the desktop version. I loathe, detest, and abhor the online version. We refuse any new clients using QBO, and are working to get our remaining online clients onto a desktop version. Even the Apple version of QB is better than QBO!

Having said my minimum is $175, I do one 1120S for $750 and it's pretty easy also. I do some accounting work which I also charge $750.

No - you add the amounts from BOTH 1095A forms to arrive at the figures to put in columns A & F of Form 8962. Both 1095 A forms should have the same amount in Column B so you use that amount (don't add the two forms) for column B of 8962. Be sure you actually have two different 1095A forms and not 2 copies of the same form.