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Judy - I think we all wish your husband the best. There's not one person on here that won't tell you family first. And at this point of tax season, we all wish we could get rid of some of those nasty clients! I'm behind farther than ever at this point of early April. I've had clients calling that have been spoiled in the past with relatively quick turn around. Between paperwork coming late, PPP loans demanding attention, unemployment turnaround, quarantined employees, and a daughter sick with Covid, I've about had it. But I will leave early today and enjoy Easter with my family and trust that it will all get done one way or another. So Judy, and everyone else here - let's hang in there. And remember No Work November will be here soon enough. Happy Easter!

Yes, that is clearly supported by Revenue Ruling 93-86 and case law.

Taxpayers do not have to repay any of the advanced premium tax credit they received for their health insurance in 2020. Tom Modesto, CA

My bad. Neglected to check part year resident box. Thanks for responses.

Since it's not a "temporary location" but a temporary job, that's not deductible. His new job location is his new tax home. "Generally, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. For example, you live with your family in Chicago but work in Milwaukee where you stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants. You return to Chicago every weekend. You may not deduct any of your travel, meals or lodging in Milwaukee because that's your tax home. Your travel on weekends to your family home in Chicago isn't for your work, so these expenses are also not deductible. If you regularly work in more than one place, your tax home is the general area where your main place of business or work is located." If OTOH, his regular job where he normally works, sends him to a temporary location, you might have a deduction, provided other criteria are met.

The other side of a client getting a notice is that you get to be the hero by solving it quickly and easily, usually at no charge but sometimes there is a charge. Clients remember the panic and how we rescued them and made the big bad IRS go away. Then they send us referrals.

Most importantly, best to you and your husband Judy. I hope his recovery goes smoothly the rest of the way. As for clients like the one you described, they ultimately pay the price for the AGITA (Italian word for stomach acid) for the issues they cause. My fees tend to go up significantly for those type of people. If they leave next year, no problem at all. If they come back next year, well my fee doesn't go down any.

I have filed a couple with no issues.

Correct, if it was a new job for an indefinite period. Sounds like that was the source of confusion.

Not correct, how do you support that position? Not at all, it is temporary vs. indefinite since he took the job knowing it was going to last 4 months. If on the other hand he had taken the job not knowing if it was going to last for over a year, it would be indefinite instead of temporary. There is lots of case law to back this up.

Years ago when I worked at a firm, I did the accounting and taxes for a place here in Wilmington DE called "The Stamp Center" that is now called "Dutch Country Auctions". The owner at the time was Keith Marsh who is now listed as a senior appraiser. They buy, sell, appraise, handle consigned pieces. https://dutchcountryauctions.com/about-us/

Just posted from Massachusetts: (other info at mass dot gov / dor and then click on the FAQs section) Does Massachusetts allow a deduction for unemployment income? As a result of a recent state law change, taxpayers with household income not more than 200% of the federal poverty level may deduct up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits from their taxable income on their 2020 and 2021 tax returns for each eligible individual. Federal law allows a deduction of up to $10,200 if the taxpayer’s federal adjusted gross income is less than $150,000. Since the Massachusetts income threshold is different from the federal income threshold, some taxpayers may be eligible for a deduction on their federal tax return but not on their Massachusetts tax return. See chart below for income limits based on 200% of the federal poverty level. # Persons in the Family/Household 200% of the Federal Poverty Level 1 $25,520 2 $34,480 3 $43,440 4 $52,400 5 $61,360 6 $70,320 7 $79,280 8 $88,240 For families /households with more than 8 persons, add $8,960 for each additional person.

HOLDING Under section 162 (a) (2) of the Code, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, if employment away from home in a single location is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for 1 year or less, the employment is temporary in the absence of facts and circumstances indicating otherwise. per Revenue Ruling 93-86

I certainly don't; nor do I know anyone who does. The American Philatelic Society does have a page listing locations of their clubs, which could be a useful source for your client. https://stamps.org/collect/clubs I did a search on New York and found 23 clubs across the state.

OK; I did some more research on this one. The client I have has a big refund due; waiting a year to get a letter saying "we didn't get the 1310" when they obviously DID get it is not an acceptable option to me. If you have a court-appointed PR, you DO NOT NEED the 1310. What you do need is a pdf of the court appointment appended to the return. The software companies largely insist on the 1310 because the IRS rules are NOT clear as to whether the pdf (that the instructions say to append) is enough, or if they want a paper-filed return even though the 1310 instructions say nothing about that being required. So the work-around I'm going to use is this: Form 1310 with choice C (no court-appointed rep) plus whatever question responses are needed to allow e-file. PDF appended to the return showing the court appointment, and Disclosure statement (8275, yes? it's been a while since I've needed one and you guys all know the form I mean) stating I answered the questions to allow e-file since instructions say to attach pdf; not that paper-filing is required. May add verbiage about not adding to their paper-file backlog for a straightforward final decedent return. Still debating this one - include this or leave it off? Comments, concerns, anything else I should deliberate on including the disclosure? Let sleeping dogs lie?

I am so mad right now and have been since 10 am this morning. I was going over a return with clients and it was missing an IRA distribution. Husband accused me of losing the document. Guess what they found when they got home! So I fixed the return but luckily had another appt and didn't reprint it. It gets worse, read on! Return also had new activity on a Sch C and surprise, surprise, three hours after the email with the missing 1099R, I received a list of more Sch C exps! Uh, it's not like I didn't ask about more expenses when they dropped off and on the phone during prep with other questions I had! Guess they didn't like those balances due! I was still fuming from earlier and this came at 3:30pm. Part of the expenses were rents paid to locations in two other states! So I checked and found a website under her DBA name that said it's a collaborative effort with her daughter, and Linked-In shows her as co-founder. So, a little nothing Sch C turned into a multi-state *something*. What? A partnership, joint venture, or what? Also, expenses didn't mention anything about other states' licensing or collecting/remitting of sales tax. I know darn well that this business activity would NOT have even been mentioned to me had it not been for a 1099 issued by Square! I suppose it's possible with last year's work environment to have all credit card and no cash sales if all activity is via internet, but NOT when the expenses now provided list retail locations open to the public. I know I'm tired and cranky, but I have some really nice clients and don't need this aggravation from someone that lies straight to my face and thinks I don't know or won't find out. Well, they are seeing my wrath of old that I try to keep a lid on, and came out today! If you made it to the end of my story, I applaud your effort and thank you for listening! PS - it's been a really bad week. Husband is finally recovering from AAA EVAR vascular surgery (5 trips for me to the hospital) after being sent home too early and developing an infection over last weekend. And my printer broke on Tuesday in the middle of a return, but I got a nice HP that arrived yesterday at lunchtime and is already installed.

What we have here is "a lof ifs and not enough facts"

It is deductible if he expected the job to last less than one year and his expectation was to return home after the job had ended. There is plenty of case law to support this.

Yes, it took a LOT to get all the info out of him, but I was happy it was available!

So is this an assignment related to a current ongoing job, or is it a new job that's 4 months long ? The IRS when it defines temporary with respect to a job, it means for an indefinite unknown period of time .

Yeah, cause, you know, I can see them getting denied on the marketplace for failure to file the 8962, and trotting right into our offices later.

Let's ALL move to TN! @RitaBjust had a heart attack.....

So, now I have to wait for guidance from CA. We have our own CA ACA form with its own calculations and it interplays with the 8962. I have a client who owes APTC for Fed but is due additional CA PTC. CA is driving me nuts this year. Texas, Nevada or Tennessee are looking better and better to me all the time. Tom Modesto, CA

But, charge the client for that form!!

Looks like you called this one. That's today's IRS guidance, per TW. If there's a PTC repayment (an amount on line 29) then discard Form 8962. Yay, more files out the door!!

The key language is the UNLESS in this paragraph: Taxpayers do not need to file amended returns unless the calculations make the taxpayers newly eligible for additional federal credits and deductions not already included on the original tax returns. And of course they are not going to examine to see if filing a superseding return to go from MFJ to MFS provides a better result now. We still have work to do. The IRS is only going to grab the low hanging fruit.

NY's been too busy voting on marijuana to vote on unemployment.

Tell them in no uncertain terms that IF you agree to keep them (uncertain at this time) that they are going on extension and you won't touch a thing until June. They are to get the prior returns and/or full information from the prior accountant and NOT contact you until the information is in their hands. Or they go elsewhere now. Pick one. You have thirty seconds. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. I have NO time any more for jackasses who expect me to pull a hat out of a rabbit.

Judy - CONGRATULATIONS on finding out before that return went out with your name as preparer, that the clients were lying scum who do not deserve your time or expertise. They would only taint you by association. Anything you said to them was most likely far more mild than they deserved to hear (after all, they sent you more after, right?). My prayers for a full and speedy recovery for your husband. And strength for you, to stand by and help him. Take a nap, put the phone on silent, and make a vow to fire any/all PITA clients this year. (We're real close with two back-to-back; I think we're going to try the jack-up-the-fees trick and see if we can drive them away, though.) I really liked the way @Lion EA put it - Q6 2020. Wow, is that a perfect term for this craziness, or what?

Well done, Judy. Life is too short for have this kind of people in your hair. Best wishes for your husband's speedy recovery.

This only gets resolved between your new client and the previous accountant. Without a magic wand how do you fix this? I have a prospective new business client where they and the previous accountant aren't talking. I have the prior years tax return with the necessary information but the prior accountants work quality is questionable. What's really bothering me is the new prospective client isn't making any real effort to assist me with the transition. They have signed the necessary authorization forms and they have informed the previous accountant that I am taking over. Unfortunately now the previous accountant is so mad at my client that are providing the absolute minimum of assistance. So now I find myself in a position where my new client expects me to fix everything. I am seriously considering having a"heart to heart" talk with my new client and telling them to shape up go elsewhere.

Thank you, all, for the support and well wishes for my husband. Today's emails were some whining about being so upset, asked me to provide a copy of the *missing* 1099R that wife sent to me via email yesterday, and asked for a referral. Not ever happening! Then a bunch of garbage about the daughter forming an LLC and taking over the business, and more BS that I don't care about. Then late this afternoon a blank email with a bank statement from last summer attached. Why, to prove expenses were legit and not made up? My focus was on the deposit column that had deposits from many sources including Venmo, Shopify, Paypal, none of which she disclosed to me previously, plus some from Square that were part of the 1099K. I thought I was clear last night. Guess not, so my reply today was: "As of last night, I terminated our relationship. Please do not send me any more data or documents."

Is there no balance sheet financials they may have received during the year? ask for several years of back tax returns you may find one in prior years.

Best to you and yours Judy! I may just let one go myself. Another result of how the manipulation of withholding starting with 2020 has someone blaming me for the employee not having enough withheld... An employee who was claiming M/0 prior to 2020 wanted to add 250 in FWH, and submitted a new W4. The FWH only went up ~130 because of the new W4 (the new W4 is similar to M/3 the "old" way). My customer is furious, and cannot understand why "I" have altered the withholding incorrectly. I have tried rewording the situation via several messages this morning, but I am out of ideas and patience, so the next message will be a refund notice.

I think Gail's on to something. This tax season with all that we've gone through now into 6Q2020 it's a wonder we haven't seen a tax office on the 11 pm news with police leading a preparer into a squad car! Maybe that's only because a lot of tax preparation is still virtual. And, this is a virtual safe place, outlet, with people who understand. I'm glad we have this place for our education and for our mental health. Thank you, Judy, for saving us all from what we really want to do right now!

Judy, another and another deep breath. Family first so hoping your husband's recovery is back on track now. And good riddance to bad rubbish. When I think of all the super nice clients I am lucky to have, I know that having clients that lie simply is not worth the money or mental energy it takes to even try to keep them in compliance. They don't want to so I don't want them. If needed, keep venting here. It's a safe place and we all so appreciate all you do.

I am so sorry, Judy. I hope that your husband gets better very soon. I know how hard it is to have loved ones ill. You do not need the stress of these idiots. With the new 1099K rules for 2021, I think that we many of us are going to find out about previously unknown businesses and I am sure that they will be a mess that our clients will want us to straighten out. I am really glad that you have a new printer that works. Bonnie

I never check before 3 weeks and that is today for my last fax. It was not processed yet, so I'll check again in a week. We used to be able to do these online, instantaneously, and that was so nice, but not enough tax pros used it so the IRS shut it down. Too many tax pros are Luddites and they ruin it for the rest of us.