Leaderboard

The point is you are trusting them with every piece of your personal identity. "and releases them to third parties, along with location, occupation, language, the list of pages browsed at ID.me, and the URLs visited before and after using ID.me" which is the same thing that google does.

Yes I keep a copy but I mail in my return so ATX has no efile to reference and believe it or not it is not beyond credulity that I failed to include the 2210 in my mailing but I don't think so. Therein lies my concern CB to setting up an ID.me account. I find it beyond belief that the IRS shares (?) this info with private vendors. How secure can that possibly be? Do I really want to accumulate REWARD points in a federal tax account ? Give me a break !

Would you be surprised to know that ID.me uses the information they accumulate to grow their revenue and profits just like Equifax!

"On May 20 the Houston headquarters of R&D tax credit consulting firm Alliantgroup was raided by the IRS, in the weeks since we’ve had plenty of speculation about the whys and we’ve heard countless accounts from current and former Alliantgroup employees about the “evil, toxic, and emotionally damaging company” that employed them. We’ve now learned that the government is sending subpoenas to CPA firms that referred clients to Alliantgroup and is seeking client tax returns as part of the investigation. Going Concern has reviewed a letter from one CPA firm to clients that received services from Alliantgroup advising these clients that the firm has received a federal grand jury subpoena seeking information relating to Alliantgroup. The government’s demand for information is “broad” and includes tax returns and related information in the firm’s possession for clients who received services from Alliantgroup. The government’s demand references R&D tax credits, cost segregation, and IRC Sec 179D and any related information from January 1, 2011 to present. Clients are assured the firm believes the focus of the grand jury proceedings is strictly related to Alliantgroup, not the clients. The letter states in explicit terms that the firm has no reason to question prior tax credits and/or deductions clients took as a result of their relationship with Alliantgroup at this time. The letter does advise however that clients are welcome to consult with their own attorneys to better understand their rights in this legal matter."

$16,000 per person per year. Not $16,000 at one time and $1,000 later in the year and $500 for her birthday. If OP's client did that, a gift tax return would be required. But OP said his client did NOT want to file a gift tax return. Unless his client has been very generous during his lifetime, he's not likely to owe any gift tax with the return.

Why would you use ID.me anyplace other than your online IRS account? I was told in a class that you can use video chat to identify yourself to the IRS, instead of using ID.me

ID.me's policy states, "by utilizing your ID.me Account at Third-Party Websites, you are expressly authorizing [ID.me] to share certain Personally Identifiable Information or Sensitive Information tied to your ID.me Account with such Third-Party Websites." ID.me originated as a competitor to Groupon marketing deals which they still do. Now they also promote their own Digital Wallet which they actively market.

I still have my first tax return from 1955.

From the instructions to Form 709: The value of a gift is the fair market value (FMV) of the property on the date the gift is made (valuation date). I don't think basis comes into play, unless Series H bonds. Your client will report the current value of the bonds as the gift and report all previously accrued interest on his tax return. While he seems to want to avoid filing a gift tax return (even though it is unlikely any gift tax will be due), the bigger problem is adding all that interest to his income in one year, potentially raising his marginal bracket, taxing more Soc Sec, increased Medicare surcharge, etc. You can crunch those numbers for him and perhaps end up advising him to spread the gift over a few years.

When ownership of a US Savings Bond is transferred, the original owner must report all previously accrued interest on his or her tax return for that year. The new owner must then continue to report the interest that accrues each year. The same rules apply to inherited bonds. From Pub 550: Ownership transferred. If you bought Series E, Series EE, or Series I bonds entirely with your own funds and had them reissued in your co-owner's name or beneficiary's name alone, you must include in your gross income for the year of reissue all interest that you earned on these bonds and have not previously reported. The current value of the bonds would be the amount gifted. I'm not sure how you'd calculate basis. Heck, is this guy ever going to reach the $12M lifetime exemption? Just give the daughter the bonds and file a gift tax return. No gift tax owed, and the expense of filing the return will probably be less than looking up the law on basis of gifted bonds and crunching all those numbers.

I wouldn't have left ATX except for ongoing problems with my state Business Entity Returns. I find Drake more reliable, with much better support. There is definitely is a learning curve because Drake is not Form based. Drake's efiling process is much quicker and more reliable. Drake does small frequent program updates which only take 1 or 2 minutes. Drake definitely releases forms and state returns much sooner than ATX. The hardest thing for me to get used to was Drake has very busy input sheets, which can result in overlooking a check box etc. Even now after 3 years, it takes me a bit longer to do a return in Drake. However that's offset by fewer problems and better support.