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I'm finishing up a joint return for a couple both under 65 and who were about $600 shy of exceeding the standard deduction. It appeared on the surface that the standard deduction would give the higher refund, however there was a need to "force" itemizing temporarily (or so I thought!) in order to split the data and create a separate file in my program for only the wife to generate her married-separate nonresident DE return, and then I planned to remove the checkbox to again switch back to the (higher) standard deduction. When I went back to the joint federal return, I found that their refund had increased by over $2,200 because using the slightly lower itemized deduction figure allows them to claim and use up the remaining AMT credit carryover on form 8801. If the wife didn't benefit by filing that nonresident state return on a separate basis, I may have missed this and the $2,200+ credit would have continued to carry over.

This just came from Drake. Beware of Stimulus Payment Scams Tax Professionals — here’s what taxpayers need to know about stimulus payment processing in order to protect themselves from scammers: Be alert for phone scams. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury Department, or any other government agency will not contact you by phone to collect information for stimulus payment processing. Period. Be alert for phishing scams. Government agencies will not email or text you to collect information for stimulus payment processing. Watch for suspicious emails or texts with links or attachments requesting information for processing stimulus deposits or checks. If you receive one, do not click the link or open the attachment. It’s a scam. Delete it. Be alert for state-related scams. State agencies will also not call, email or text you to collect information or a fee to process a stimulus payment. To date, no state has introduced their own version of a stimulus payment. As of now, we are only aware of one communication a taxpayer will receive from the IRS. No later than 15 days after distributing a stimulus payment, the IRS is required to mail a notice to the taxpayer indicating the payment amount, whether the payment was mailed or deposited, and a phone number to call if the taxpayer did not receive the payment. Victims or targets of stimulus payment scams should report it immediately to the Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov/complaint.

Or are out of ink/toner.

CCH's eSign is IRS compliant and compliant with all states except NY that does not accept any electronic signatures. But, I have clients that fax me 8879s or shove them through my mail slot... (Although, the last two using my mail slot signed them on the hood of their car in my driveway, so I watched them through my window!)

This was through an email from my state society. There was a link with other IRS changes that I'll post about separately in a different topic.

I have e-filed one, was quickly accepted, state transmitted to agency. Hope you get it figured out soon!

I am not sure if you are still having speed issue or are still using Drake. I have supported a customer that has used Drake since the 90's. They have five stations accessing Drake files saved a dedicated computer in there office. They don't have a speed issue. But I do understand why some computers would. Drake uses thousands of small files and this can be tough for some computers with slow hard drive to handle. Then many computers have utilities that monitor and protect the computer that will cause performance issues with Drake. I understand how fustrating this is. I highly recommend that the hard drive in your computer be an SSD. The SSDs are a night and day difference when dealing with lots of small files.

I use Taxwise. I need to study this more and see why this 8582 isn't biting. The numbers are on the form, but not anywhere else. I'll repost when I figure it out. Now, where are those BIG GIRL panties?

I don't know how people bill in short time increments at all. Don't you spend so much time keeping track of time that it's hard to get any work done? We try to keep track of our time but actually bill clients by complexity. I start a return, get two must-take phone calls, a client or two drop in with docs and questions, the printer jams, a colleague needs help, the boss drops in to vent or tell a joke.... Three hours later how do I know how much time I devoted to the return on my desk? And did I have to keep track of the time spent on those calls or drop ins to bill those clients? Do you keep a stop watch on your desk? I once got the probate filings for an estate, and the attorney's bill actually listed the time spent on opening the mail. I am really curious about how those of you who bill in short time intervals do it.

I'm really surprised at how many clients I have that do not have printers.

Abby, all good reminders. I think I will stick with physical signatures and Verifyle (advertised as IRS acceptable) but transmitting documents may find easier ways with some of what is mentioned here.

I'm using Docusign, which according to my research meets the IRS standards noted above. It's working well except in the case where MFJ clients share 1 email address . . . can't verify identity on each separately then. Downside is $40/mo cost.

The box says 'complete disposition of a passive activity' on Sch E.

I just learned you can use Google Drive to do the same thing. Open Google Drive app on your phone Click the + sign Choose scan Take picture Click checkmark At this point, you can click the + sign to add more pages, click the circle arrow to take a better picture, or click the checkmark to say you're done. When you're done, you name the file and it's saved to your drive. It does a really nice job of turning a photo into a nicely cropped PDF scan, and even tries to make the PDF searchable. Clients could share a drive folder with you, or you could share a folder with them and you have a free portal! After you download files from Drive, you can delete them, if you like.

They call those people LAWYERS. Tom Modesto, CA

There are Traders who are a business, but there are hoops to jump through, such as declaring a year ago and mark-to-market at year end. But, the fact that this is his IRA and deferred to retirement would make his trades NOT current income. So, he has no current income, Schedule C or Schedule D or otherwise, to deduct any current expenses. NO.

Very nice summary of the tax stimulus checks. I have been sharing it with clients who have questions. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/03/25/all-you-wanted-to-know-about-those-tax-stimulus-checks-but-were-afraid-to-ask/#5c537d2b1f9c