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Why would any of us want to retire now when things are just getting fun. But today I received in the mail a letter from the blockheads that they have flexible options and will even hire my staff. (my dog?) They will help reduce my fears and make goals of retirement a reality. I'm telling you, HRB has given me a significant amount of amending work over the years. Perhaps I will ask them to just keep me on as their fixer-upper preparer......

Big Charts won't help if the company merged, or went out of business. Once a stock is delisted, BC drops it. Info may still be available on the company website until that disappears for non-payment of web/domain fees. However, the information might be on the company website with which it was merged. The details can sometimes be found on business news websites. Sometimes it takes a lot of searching.

I received this letter and laughed my butt off. God knows that I want to retire from tax preparation within the next several years, but I love my clients too much to turn them over to HRB. 2020 has been enought to make me shut down right now, but I have to stick it out.

This may not be in issue for your client, but for future reference remember that most real estate agent estimates only provide the FRV for the residence as it sits. There needs to be an upward evaluation to allow for what would be charged to a renter with the home being fully furnished and with all utilities & maintenance expenses paid. That can be a useful calculation in some situations.

I ran the figures and her expenses were more than her allowance at least for 2019. Local real estate agent gave me a figure for the rent on her home.

Remember that the income tax-free housing allowance is the lessor of the three detailed in earlier posts. You should compare the three to make sure you're using the right amount. Actually, if ATX's worksheet follows those in the IRS's directions and you make use of the ATX worksheet, you should be fine. But you do have to know the Fair Rental Value (something like a letter from a local realtor on her letterhead) and the actual expenses (add up your client's receipts) to know for sure which amount to use.

When I started working as a FA in 1992, I generated a spreadsheet which gave the cost basis information on the AT&T split up. It took me several Saturdays to complete it even though I had a book that had all the percentages. I went around to estate planning attorney's and CPAs pitching to them that we'd generate their cost basis for $200 - free if they became a client. By about 1997 it was so freakin complicated I had to give up on it. When they started buying back / merging with their own spinoffs I became lost in how to do it. The spinoffs from the spinoffs were coming so quickly I couldn't keep up.