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I instituted a $30 paid-in-advance fee for copies of returns years ago. Astounding how many "I looked everywhere and can't find it!" complaints never call back after I tell them of the fee and they say "Let me take another look first." So it just means they know I have it and can't be bothered to paw through their own sloppy files first. Sorry, I'm not your secretary. Want that and it's cash up front, thank you very much.

I never made mock-ups of W2s, but when preparing returns from transcripts, of course there's no state withholding. A call to MassDOR would invariably get the answer, "We don't have any information on tax withheld." So I'd make up a reasonable sounding amount, and we'd file the return. Funnily enough, MassDOR would always know the correct amount and adjust as needed. They just won't let anyone else know it, in advance. I tell you if they were competent they'd be dangerous!

I've found that Verifyle and my portal are now distant early warnings of encroaching dementia. Couple of clients who never had issues in prior years suddenly "can't get it to work" so I'm watching them carefully and need to get permission to talk to family soonerer rather than laterer.

I had given her the estimated vouchers for 2021 and when meeting with her the other day I asked about her estimated payments and her answer was I didn't make any. Oh well what can you do. We can just suggest.

I'm old and have had other careers. Now that I have my clients trained to drop off in ways I approve (portal: yes. text: no) I keep the clients that are nice to me and raise prices for those that are not. I'm still virtual, so don't have to be nice if client's not in front of me electronically. And, I'm not nice when I have to ask more than once for missing documents.

He thinks the opposite about it being obvious. Have you read the instructions? After reading the definition of qualifying child on irs.gov, it seems obvious but I'm not sure how trustworthy constantly changing irs webpages are. https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/qualifying-child-rules#Tests for a Qualifying Child Age To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be: Any age and permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year. For more information, see Disability and Earned Income Tax Credit. or Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return) or Under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return) Relationship To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be your: Son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child or foster child Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsister or stepbrother Grandchild, niece or nephew

@NECPA in NEBRASKA Bonnie, I spoke to a friend (not a client) today who is an airline flight attendant domiciled in TX. She confirmed what I thought...the airline assigns her wages to her home base assignment. She was based out of CA for a portion of 2020 and 2021, and her W2 reflected earnings to CA for that period of time, even though her flight hours in CA were actually a small percentage of her total flight hours while she was based in CA. I have a feeling this is what you will see when your son gets his W2. Not sure if this helps... Tom Longview, TX

I have NO patience. I won't start a return until I have everything from the client (or I stop when I discover docs missing and put that client on the bottom of my stack). I've had the same thing to my portal, 27 files uploaded. At least they're all in a row, so I Click on them all to download one zip to put in that client's folder on my computer. I do want to encourage portal usage, because it saves me time delivering to them as well as receiving. I do NOT accept blurry phone picks, which is why I require them to use Scannable or something similar to send a nice, flat, readable doc with a white background and all its edges in frame that I can send to their folder. I also don't accept emailed docs with only 1/4 of the doc showing and no easy way to print the full doc to their folder. (Although, another thing I like about Scannable is that IF the doc will show correctly on my screen, I can scan it with Scannable and then save or print or whatever I need; but I don't tell my clients that.) Almost none of my clients have scanners. I've scared enough of them that they drive to Staples and pay to fax me copies of their docs or snail mail or more often FedEx overnight or 2-day; the locals drop off through the mail slot in my front door. By the way, my old iPhone 6 died in January, battery won't hold a charge, and no time to get a new one. But I never texted my clients, so I don't miss it. I doubt I have more than three clients that even knew that number. (I used my cell for a few days back in 2007 or so before I got a land line into my home office.) I'm not very pleasant during tax season and don't put up with annoyances, and never put up with texts from clients except in their car telling me they're on their way to drop off !! But if you have clients that text you pictures, require them to use Scannable or a similar app.

CamScanner, also free, is another good one.

Sometimes the best you can do is the best you can do. Especially when you cannot get the information from any source.

Tell your clients to get FREE Scannable on their smart phones. It takes great pictures -- straightens, gets rid of creases and gray, etc. The free version stores documents for 30 days on your phone, so you do have to move docs to a folder on your phone, or backup to the cloud or your computer or where ever you backup, or to a folder on your computer, or send it straight to your tax preparer before you lose it.

Thanks for the link. The TIGTA report is a real eye opener. IRS did indeed destroy loads of paper filed information returns, betting that the risk of needing them in any eventual audit was minimal compared with the risks created by not doing all the other things employees had to do instead of processing this paperwork. As we all look at the piles of work towering over us right now, this report makes me feel like I have no right to complain. The overworked IRS employees are facing what we have times millions; it's a wonder they can even find their desks.

Bummer - trying to file a 2018 for a woman with dementia onset in 2018 who was told (heard) that she didn't need to file tax returns any longer because tax was withheld from her retirement distributions. Turns out she actually had a 2018 W-2 and substantial withholdings so is due a $5000+ refund but I need to see if there are outstanding other income reports. Her brother was able to get a duplicate W-2 from the university (really good luck!). In the ensuing years she discarded all, and I mean all, financial information and documents. I figure worst case is that we paper file by April 10 and if I can't find out any other documents like 1099's, IRS will find it/them and reduce her refund. I'm thinking the interest earned would offset it. Then on to 2019, 2020, and 2021 after April 15. Her retirement 1099's were able to be downloaded and lots of extra withholdings so all good.

This is another strange season, for sure. Many more of my clients dropped off their information earlier than ever this year but no one is in any hurry to pick up the completed returns, even those that have nice refunds or tiny balances owed.

Lion, we're not old, we just have lots of knowledge and experience

You can extend as an 1120 and it will count for an 1120S. I know the due dates are different, but it works. So efile the 1120 extension then paper file an 1120S extension, and refax the 2553 to the IRS with explanation.

I get it. Only option for efile that I know would be to file with the 2553. I wouldn't file a C corp extension. I would probably paper file an S corp extension with proof of mailing before I would file a C corp extension.

Lion, Have you considered a career change

Lion, you have way more patience than I do. One thing that is causing me angst right now is these piecemealed bits of returns. I can't remember 33 emails ago what you sent me. I have gotten so paranoid about missing things that now when I start I return, I sort my emails by sender just to be sure I have what they sent or told me. Please wait and send it all at once!!! And when you do send it, please mark the box to combine the files. I got one this week with 25 separate pages. I refused to open them and asked for a combined file or drop your stuff off. For those of you who use client portals, would that help? And Lion accepts phone pics. I do not. They are rarely readable and often impossible to print to paper or electronic file cabinet. Scan it, don't take a pic please. Maybe I'm just getting testy right now when I'm so buried with work that I don't want to deal with anything that unnecessarily makes my job harder. Lion is still being pleasant and putting up with annoyances. She has lucky clients, or maybe they're just spoiled.

Words to live by.

Found these, maybe will help: https://www.tingwimberlycpa.com/2019/07/qbi-issue-when-your-s-corp-is-a-partner-in-a-partnership/#:~:text=Guaranteed payments are not qualified,income from an S corporation. https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Content/QBI-and-Self-Employment-Tax-Savings-for-S-Corp-as-a-Partner.aspx

This has been an ATX bug for at least 5 years, but in years past, reprinting the return after closing/reopening always fixed it. This year, that no longer worked for me. So I opened a case and Brent from support called me back two days later. He was able to see the bug by remoting into my computer. This was great because in years past, I was never able to show the bug to support. And what we discovered was that if you print preview before printing, these worksheets will print. And, you don't need to preview each packet. Just previewing any packet will fix all of the packets. But more importantly, he now has a good example of the bug to show the programmers, so they'll have a chance to diagnose this.

I've found posting completed returns to the portal has saved me a ton of time. I still put together paper packets for a few clients, but the majority have transitioned to electronic and it is much less time consuming.

Oh, I move scans to my computer immediately. But, I know clients that've taken pictures on their phones to send to me (or their mortgage company or their broker or...) and never delete them. So, I use the limited-time storage to remind them to get the pictures off their phones after they've sent them where they need to be. They're the same people who don't delete emails from their phone, don't delete texts, etc.

I wouldn't do that, smart phones are very easy to hack. There is nothing on my smart phone that is identity related or financial related.

Or buy a scanner, or use a phone app, to create PDFs of all important documents.

Newest temp regs say you DO need to take annual RMDs from inherited IRAs and then the remainder by the end of year 10. Prior, but still very new, regs said take any amount(s) in any year(s) or none at all as long as entire account is emptied by the end of year 10. So, those that inherited in 2020 and 2021 may have some prior year RMDs to take. Or extend 2021 to see what happens with March's proposed change. It's so hard to keep track.

How do people lose these things? The identity protection PINs are sent out in Dec, so it's not like they got it months ago and never thought to put it with their tax stuff. It's scary that people can be so cavalier with the very document that is supposed to protect them from tax ID theft, letting some crook who gets a hold of it do the very thing they were trying to prevent. The same goes for people who can't seem to find their prior year tax returns. What did they do with them? This year we finally instituted a fee for copies of returns that we've already provided to the client, as well as fees for tax docs like W2s from prior years (mortgage companies often want them). $25 per return and $10 per tax doc. Almost every single client we told what their fee would be was able to "find" their prior year tax folder(s) with their docs in it. Better that it was under the car seat than tossed out with the trash I guess.

What was that change. I am like everybody else, pile to go, a lot of missing info.

Lots of drop offs earlier than ever. Huge HOLD stack on my floor for missing info, waiting on IRS/software (did you read about the March change to inherited non-spousal IRAs?), or just need to re-proofread now that that last schedule/form is finally in the software. I'm buried but very, very backlogged.

Individuals dropped off early, but many of my corporates are saying things like 'Oh, whoops ... I'm in Tahiti ... I'll be back on the 27th and get you my 'stuff''.

It's insane. The same thing is happening here. I have a huge pile to do. and a huge pile done that need picked up.

I’m noticing something similar. Did more returns in February than in previous years but my revenue is behind last year’s.

PM sent

If the 1099R is in the name of the estate, you must report on the estate. If you try to report it directly on the 1040, you'll never get that $300 of tax withheld back. I usually just let the estate get the refund, for simplicity. If you choose a fiscal year and mark it final, all the income will pass out to the bene's. It doesn't matter that the distributions were not made yet. And there probably won't be enough income between 1/31/22 and now to even have to file a 1041 next year. Just make sure the source of the 1099R is switched to bene's ASAP so no more distributions are made to the estate.

https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/retrieve-your-ip-pin

I feel your pain. We have the easiest secure email I've ever used and we still get people saying, "It doesn't work." I so badly want to tell them they're stupid, but that's why we have these forums to rant in.

I think these 2 just can't figure out that part. I'll send them the link. Thanks, Abby!

They can still use Direct Pay to make a payment. They'll need to use 2020 1040 for verification since 2021 isn't processed yet. Trust me, the IRS wants to take their money. https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay

IR 2022 - 56 "IRS unveils voice and chat bots to assist taxpayers with simple collection questions and tasks; provides faster service, reduced wait time" "The bots are now available to help taxpayers with: How to make One-Time Payments Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Collection Notice Clarification" It will be interesting

I hope they're better than most of the other chat bots I've used. Some of them are just horrible and I end up typing curse words at them.

If the initial return is not also the final return, the cap loss will stay in the estate until the final return. If there's no income being earned in the estate, I'd mark the return final, let the estate pay you and the attorneys, etc. then distribute the cash now.

In a final return, all income tax liability, even on capital gains, rests with the beneficiaries of the estate. The final Schedules K-1 will carry out all the income. Source: https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2012/may/estate-planning-20125011.html It's a good article. I never thought about choosing accrual method for an estate, but it would have come in handy a few times.

Nol worksheet for 2021 is now updated.

I was filing a late MD return with only an IRS transcript. MD asked for copies of the W2s, so to mock up a W2 to feed the bureaucracy, I had to call MD and ask THEM how much MD withholding there was on each W2. I think I just edited a PDF of the IRS transcript to add a line for MD withholding and MD processed the return. And, yes, that does sound like the basis for a Monty Python sketch.

mcbreck, I said if this was the estate's only asset and has been sold, the money should be distributed. You are bringing up other scenarios of other assets out there somewhere. The two year rule is the IRS's, not mine. It's easy to explain that it took that much time to fix up the house or empty it out or whatever. I don't know how one would explain that the proceeds just sat around in the estate when all it's other business was finished because the executor didn't get around to writing the checks.

I have a 79 year old client who can't figure out how to use her email anymore.