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Sales of privately held stock may be reported by the installment method (I don't have a cite handy but many years ago had a client in similar circumstances).

Hey Y'all! I'm still here, but I sold my business last September. I'll be working for the new owners for a few more years. The sale was a sale of stock, and they will pay me installments with interest, in case anyone was wondering how that goes. He could have purchased my client list and depreciated it himself, but instead chose to make it a stock purchase so I'd get the better tax advantage. I think I can simply report the stock sale on the Sch D and interest on the Sch B each year without having to do the "installment sale" form 6252. Correct me if I'm wrong. Not owning the business was an immediate weight off my shoulders. I'm glad I trusted God on this one. Donna

Congratulations & God Bless You!

And, chocolate, lots of dark chocolate!

Whether correct or not, at least we can be reasonably sure they won't disagree with it! Whereas if their figures are wrong, we all know we'll be the ones having to prove to the service that they are wrong. Ugh. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, CBD tincture, red wine, and a brand-new bottle of Lagavulin 16 year. That's what it's going to take!

Red wine, maybe an extra glass for soothing purposes.

In looking over the various increases in what will be our workload this season I am going down to the store and buy several additional bottles of ibuprofen or acetaminophen. I wish you all good luck as I feel sure we will need as much of it as we can get.

Thanks, y'all. The sale truly was an answer to prayer. Now I can sell my house and rent a nice apartment. It is the only way I can afford a salt water pool and 24/7 fitness center! LOL

If the sale price includes future payments that are contingent on earnings, you might want to read the following article: https://www.cpajournal.com/2020/06/16/accounting-for-sales-with-contingent-obligations/

I have already heard from clients who have received two letters; one for the husband and one for the wife. Can things get any more messed up than they already are? Two is almost worse than none. They just aren't going to "get it"

Just as an opener. How many of your clients are going to locate must less remember those Child Credit letters and EIP letters from the Service. I am reading a married couple will receive a Child Credit letter to the wife and one to the husband. Am I reading this correctly ? It appears so illogical to me. I don't know about youall but my fees so stable for years are going to take a considerable jump.

I've upgraded to CBD tincture to keep me sane, calm, and focused. Auto-delivery.

I wonder if this would fly? PITA Fee - whatever it takes to make you go somewhere else next year Tom Longview, TX

Installment sale on 6252 that will flow to Sch D unless you elect out by reporting entire transaction on D in 2021. Interest goes on Sch B and purchaser should issue you a 1099INT each year it exceeds threshold.

Yes there was thread discussing this, last month I think.

I think that it depends on how you are reporting it. If you report the entire sale and profit this year, then you can report the interest directly on the Sch B and there would be no reason to do the 6252. I am really not sure you can report the sale of stock as an installment sale - I would want to look that up before I expressed an opinion.

If you are trying to keep the cost down, large capacity thumb drives on sale are very inexpensive. You just have to develop a regimen and follow it.

You can't, at least not to the almighty IRS. Trace the payment. It's early days, as they say on my Brit Box mysteries.

I hired an IT guy to set me up with back-ups when he set up my new computer. Well worth the money. I got a recommendation from a small tax prep firm in my NYCTATP group back when we were live; he raved about the guy he'd used for 20 years. IT guy set me up with an external hard-drive plus cloud backup. I pay him a small retainer ($150/quarter) plus his hourly rate is low for any extra work for his retainer clients. He taught me how to maintain the system; I changed the time on one drive to 4 am because I work late, I upped the frequency during tax season, and I check to make sure the backup folders contain data and check the dates. But I still ask him to check on it during his monthly checks on my system. One less thing to worry about. I can do what I do best, and use him for what he does best. Ask around to find a local guy you trust.

How could I have forgotten the chocolate?!?!

Online backup is a good choice, it won’t slow down the computer after it has fully backed up all your files, I would recommend starting on a Friday night and not touching the computer until Monday. FYI like any other backup software, make sure you know what is backed up, you might be surprised to find out your software was not part of the backup.

RE: the letters regarding EIP and Child tax credit. The IRS did send them to both parties. I have them in hand from one of my clients now. They have 10 children so you can figure they say on top of this stuff.

Yes, definitely bring back the good old days. I don't do the satellite or cable subscriptions to watch TV. Cust the cord many years ago. If you can get the ME TV Channel, they play a ton of the old shows. Spectrum has picked up this channel but mainly it is available on an antenna. I always watch Perry Mason twice a day and of course, he always wins. It is interesting to see the cast of characters who played on his show(s). Will never stop laughing at Tim Conway and Harvey Korman in the Carol Burnett show. Good old clean wholesome shows. Antenna TV is another one. For us, the antenna, a Roku stick with hulu and Philo for a total cost of about 35.00 per month works perfect. I digress.

Not only our workload, but the increase in cost of supplies. Paper has doubled and tripled in price. I use a lot of paper as noted in another thread. I shopped online for a couple of hours and ended up finding the best deal by far at Sam's Club. An employee delivered it after dark, but I have 2 cases sitting in my office now. I was sure I had more in the storage room. The only thing that is going to keep me sane is my assistant, Lisa.

Yes, when a sale price is spread over more than one tax year the default reporting method is the installment sale method reported on 6252. The election to report the entire transaction in the initial year of sale is accomplished by reporting the entire sale transaction on schedule D.

The article was helpful, but almost over my head. The sale isn't contingent on income. I can take the money and run if I want. But, I want to work a few more years. If I stay and pull in a specified amount of gross receipts cumulatively, over 3 or four years, (as long as it takes me to reach that goal, but within 4 years) I will get a bonus payment after 4 years. As I read the article, this is not a contingency, so those rules don't apply. I think it's in my best interest to do the 6252, and not take the whole hit on one tax return. That's what you mean by "reporting the entire transaction on D in 2021," right? I just hope LTCG rates don't go up in the next few years. THANK YOU, JUDY!

I use Acronis to back up on-site, and iDrive to back up to the cloud. Acronis does an incremental backup nightly and full backup weekly. iDrive backs up all new files to the cloud nightly. Carbonite requires you to choose each and every folder you want backed up. Both Acronis and iDrive default to all folders, but allow you to choose any you don't want backed up (mostly temp files). At some point I may switch to using Acronis' online backup system, just to have it all the same, but I've been very happy with iDrive. Some years ago I used Mozy and that was also set as a daily backup. Strange thing was, sometimes it only took a minute or two, and other times it took hours and did slow my computer down on those occasions. They could never explain the difference, and I did not like that. They may well have changed since then, so I would not discount them because of my experience over 5 years ago. Hope this helps.

If the IRS records say my client received their stimulus rebate and my client says they didn't receive the rebate, how do you prove a negative?

None of the online backup services should slow down your computer, if you set up for once (or even twice) a day backup, rather than continual. PC Magazine gives high ratings to Mozy. iDrive. Acronis. OneBackup.

I usually buy a external hardware from Costco and use the software included, an 8TB drive is priced under $150.00, not bad for the amount of TB and software.

1099-MISC, INT and DIV are still 2 to a page. 1099-NEC is 3 to a page

A snippet from one of the IRS letters (bold is mine): How the IRS determined your payment amounts Monthly payment amounts were initially based on information from an income tax return you filed or information you entered in the IRS non-filer sign-up tool in 2020 or 2021. Your monthly payment amount or how or where the IRS paid your payment may have changed based on information you provided the IRS through your 2020 income tax return if the IRS processed it after June, the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, or the dedicated IRS Child Tax Credit phone line. Review each monthly payment, including any changes, at IRS.gov/ctcportal, and click “Manage Advance Payments.” If you did not receive one or more payments, contact the IRS at 800-908-4184 before filing your return. We all know how well the IRS is at answering their phones!

My kids do mine and in spring all gets plowed under in garden. Tomatoes seem to like the stuff. Of course I have to have the soil tested for acid content.

Congratulations!!!

I don't know of any way trace a payment made by the IRS.

I don't know how to setup automatic back up either scheduled at a fixed time, or continuously real time when I am working on my computer to external hard drive. I did is I will export tax returns and copy & paste client folder every once a while. I knew it is not a good way to do, so, to simplify my process, an online back up seems good. especially, the WD external was not shown on my computer, which is so scary, I didnot figure out how to recovery it yet. now, I will have to arrange something before I lost another external. But, got some idea here and made decision to go with at least two online back service to keep my data safe. Thank you all for kindness.

Trusts are usually "residents" (the term is "situs") in the state where it was originated and signed. Not required to be the same state as any trustee, or any business activity. Sounds like an Illinois trust with IL situs. Also sounds like filing is required in Georgia for the business activity there.

It’s funny if you work completely remotely! Like the posters I had to put up for employees. Hung them in the bathroom since it was the only room with wall space for the poster.

I agree, but it would be nice if all credentialed preparers, EA, CPA & Attorney's could fall under some type of exception. Granted, just because you have the letters behind your name doesn't mean you are 100% honest. Just with a license on the line, I would one would give deep consideration to doing anything that would end their career. Just sayin.

I know this isn't what anyone wants to hear, but though I do some in-office shredding; we have an outdoors wood burner for heat and my husband's job is to take boxes full at a time and immediately burn in wood burner. Since I am a paper person, this is MY perfect solution and those old files do double duty.

Hi Tom, I'll put my 2 cents worth in. First, I agree with all of the previous responses you received. Personally, I would want to see all of the previous worksheets regardless of what the taxpayer has to do to get them. They were his at the time the returns were prepared anyway. Like you, why does the 4797 exist if there were no sale or a scrapped asset? Abby is correct distributions reduce basis and I don't see how they would release the suspended losses either. It sounds as though the previous preparer may have been confused as well or maybe they were privy to information you don't have. Can you see the K-1 forms from the previous years? That may help with deciding what to do. Your idea of assuming ordinary passive losses and netting the losses against ordinary income in the future would seem to be the best approach. However, I would want to cover my *&^ a bit. I literally hate that word assume.

Drake offers it, but I opt out, since I am a one person office.

The additional information you provided confirms that this is an expense.

There was a board meeting last night and they decided that it may be a repair, because it was started with a leaky valve in the bathroom and then pipes started to fail out to the street. The whole place will be falling apart, because it is an over 60 year old swimming pool. I will still keep researching, but it does not prolong the property's life for sure.

This really falls in a murky gray area. It doesn't meet the requirements to be called"Qualified Improvement Property." I would argue it's a repair and expense it. 1. It does not prolong the property's life, a fully depreciated building. 2. It doesn't really add value to a fully depreciated building, no one evaluates water shutoff valves, they either work or they don't work. 3. All it really does is keep the property in good operating condition. Therefore it's an expense. Sometimes we get hung up on the details when we need take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

That will be my next step to learn, right now I am just using it to send out 941/W2 packages but I will be using for efile. Thanks

I find Verifyle pretty easy to use especially now that there can more easily be two signatures as on a joint return. It took a while for me to get the Workspace feature with threads, say for each year, and inviting contacts to that Workspace and thread. Fortunately the support (no calls, just email) is excellent and very willing to explain things more than once and in more than one way and maybe even give a call (ask me how I know!) if truly needed.

Thank you, I see it now, I am glad I asked.

When you prepare the document for the client to sign, you highlight the signature line and highlight the date line and can even choose the date format. It is automatic if you highlight that field.

If the IRS just scans all paper returns received, perhaps they need to let individuals scan their paper returns and upload them securely. Would prevent mountains of mail sitting in trailers.