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Oh to have one of these for every time I heard: "This is a W-2, it's from where I worked. This one is where I took money out of my pension to buy a fishin' boat... BUT, BUT, BUT, it's already been taxed."

Why Are You Still Standing Here Wine Pick Up Your *Stuff* Sangria Oh, So YOU Have Been So Busy Frozen Peach Margarita * That last one wasn't too creative; I just want a Frozen Peach Margarita.

I have just called it a day and am drinking a nice cold beer. (Could be classified as any of the above.) Soon I will get ready for bed and have a hot cup of tea and see if I can get through ten pages of a book. How I miss reading good fiction, although some of my clients' tax docs might fall under that category.

Wine or Whine? Tom Longview, TX

pointless explanation is high on my list this year.

Thanks for reminding me that my now-room-temperature tea is still sitting here!

I remember you posting about this family. I would keep any explanations very short and to the point. Don't make any excuses or point any fingers. Just say you have decided to work by yourself and leave it at that. The more you say the longer the conversation will get. Good luck

I had a client bring me some wine yesterday! I never get gifts. I'm so happy.

Yes.

I love the Why are you still standing here wine! That is my favorite so far.

Ha, I usually can't read this time of year. Too tired. I did have some wine last night though.

Neither! It came through as an email from my web site vendor, and I looked while taking 5 minutes to have some tea before it got stone-cold. Of course, I then had to scramble to finish my tea to drink it still warm once I stopped laughing.

There are no current amnesty programs that I know of. I had a client who requested amnesty when it existed, and IRS requested six years of returns. They did look at them and asked me lots of follow-up questions, so be careful. Well, they asked the attorney, who asked me. It was the one time in my career I was a Kovel accountant.

Catherine, so are procrastinating or do you just have too much time on your hands

I would be drunk as a lord!

link: https://thebusyseason.com/blog/5-beers-that-should-exist-for-accountants For those who won't click, here are the names, without the other cute label notes: Last-Minute Lager Easy Returns Ale Screams of Perdition Porter Pointless Explanation Pilsner Stout Refusal The descriptions are very funny, as are the "on-label" comments.

This company has a space that holds up to 20 people. The lady showing me around told me that when Covid hit and a local tech firm went "remote" that they had a team come into that space 7 days per week to work together on a project for 18 months. They were told to work from home - worked in this space and the company could turn their head. When they were done and allowed to go back - they picked up their laptops and left everything. She said they had printers, about 40 monitors and stands, huge TVs, cameras and special lighting for zoom calls. They left everything and told them to give it away.

I think your mud is clear on this one, and you can use up the 2015 NOL to offset the entire 2022 income. But then again, I'm speaking from within the mud myself.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/net-operating-losses Example: "Alternatively, assume a corporation was formed in 2017. In 2022, the company has $200 of income and has NOL carryforward of ($20) from 2017 and ($180) from 2021. Section 172(a)(2) provides that the NOL deduction equals the 2017 NOL15 plus the lesser of the 2021 NOL16 ($180) or 80% of $200 ($160). In that case, net taxable income would equal $200 less the 2017 ($20) NOL and less the ($160) allowed NOL from 2021 = $20."

"Screams of Perdition Porter" - LMAO!!

She may have used banks that are located in both NZ and USA, and that had accounts that treated her as a US account holder that would not require reporting? Maybe she never had $10,000 in her name on one day while they were living in NZ, at least not in NZ accounts. I would look to see if there is currently any kind of amnesty program also.

Corp Taxpayer has NOL's from 2015-2019 that have not been used up as well as a 2021 NOL. The 80% rule does not apply to any of the earlier NOLs, correct? Only the 2021 NOL is limited to 80% of income. It has been a long Month. Seems like April 1 everyone decided it was time to get their taxes done. I have been going non-stop since then. Thanks Tom Longview, TX

client made a million dollars home repairing and has 4 vans. Auto deductions using miles is $34K. For some reason the officer sought it was only one van and thought it was excessive. She was always asking about personal usage and I explained to her that it was a van full of materials, tools and you name it. The front seat of those vans barely have space for the passenger. She wants logs but she said that she would take amounts from the bank statements. Actual expenses are $25K in gas and maintenance plus 5K in car insurance. I told her that without depreciation, we are almost to the amount claimed but she wants to see the charges, which we are highlighting for her. Reporting a million dollars, I wonder what the industry average for auto expenses is. I told her that auto expenses for construction people was ordinary and necessary but she didn't entertain that thought. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

How the heck did your co-worker's entire family ever get involved? You don't have to explain, it's just weird!

That is something I considered but there are already 2 CPAs working out of the space, a financial planner and multiple healthcare professionals (they do their billing and schedule appointments out of the space). I also take my computer home every evening now so I don't have that as an issue. It would be physical files which I have VERY few of anymore as everything is digital. I'd need a locked secure box better than the filing cabinets they provide. I think I'd need the private office all year as you can't have a client conversation in an open space. I'm concerned how many older clients I'll lose but there is a space near my home and there is a space 3 miles from my current office. I could have my office near home (2 miles) and work in their co-working space 1-2 afternoon per week near my current office just to meet clients. As an example I could declare I'm working out of the other location every Mon and Wed afternoon for client appointments. I offer a LOT of housecalls now and people refuse, people might take me up on it. If a client wants privacy for the meeting, they need to come to my private office. I have a meeting with my co-worker's entire family tomorrow and their son is going to "put the foot down" on what he needs. The rest know what that means for me. It means their father will be forced to retire but the son doesn't care (or hasn't thought about that).

As Gail stated, were you able to confirm if she had foreign financial accounts exceeding $10,000? If she didn't, I wouldn't bother with filing...but that's just me and I readily admit my experience with FinCEN FBAR is limited at best.

Have one before or after your corresponding customers!

Client just texted wanting to know if direct debit date can be changed? Return was submitted and accepted with a scheduled payment date of 4/14/23. She would like to change the date to 4/18 but I believe that once the return is accepted that's it. Any thoughts? Thank you

That's the better way IF there were estimated tax payments made - because those will be attributed to the primary taxpayer's account from the prior year. I changed them around once for an elderly lady who lost her husband and doggone near lost *her* when she got an IRS nastygram demanding $16,000 in tax, because the computers never think to check the other taxpayer for ES payments. Frankly, I considered that letter as elder abuse and (politely) reamed the agent a new one when I called them about it. Back when they still answered their phones.

Correct. She can contact her bank to see if they can refuse payment similar to a stop payment on check.

I have not, but in my office in the next town, we "rent" a corner of the outer office to a CPA who generally works from home. Perhaps a CPA office in your town might be another option? I'd be concerned in a Regus-style shared office about the higher level of privacy/security that tax pros need, and if they are really up to covering that. Or maybe they are, since their business model depends on reliability in several areas. Just, don't limit your options to one kind of shared space.

After start of Covid, I closed my office and I was all set to go with one here...and the company went bankrupt. This is my 3rd year working out of my home and it has gone well (so far).

Leaving for Kauai on April 17th for 2 weeks

I use my cell phone to text clients because it's convenient for ME. I also like getting answers in writing and send text messages to my email for documentation purposes. (No, most of my clients do not use email effectively.) I know to ignore all, and I do mean all, client calls to my cell phone, my greeting says hang up and call the office. I also know not to respond to text messages I get beyond office hours. I have saved many, many hours by NOT talking to clients. Thank you for the advice, but I can tell you, I do what works for ME.

Not too bad here. I am vacillating between feeling like "I've got this under control" and "Oh dear Lord how am I even going to get extensions filed in time!" This is my crunch week to finish up. As of next Monday, I do nothing else until everyone outstanding is on extension. Then I get back to work with all the pressure off. I am finally learning, as I try to ease into retirement, that I cannot allow myself to care more about people's taxes than they care. I still do my best, but don't let myself get turned into a pretzel for people who can't be bothered. And I go see my granddaughter (and daughter and son in law) every week for a couple of hours.

I get to play with my 3 year-old grandson this weekend, so that's fun!

I am so sorry for your load.You are going through some very hard personal and work trials. I doubt that the client that wants you to pay P & I didn't tell the other CPA the entire truth. Please take care of yourself and your family. I totally understand not caring as much. After 44 years of making myself sick by not sleeping and working ridiculous hours, I had to slow down and just say "whatever". I'm telling everyone that next year is it and I've been lucky enough to have a few doozies help me out and leave early. Some of them said that I'm only 65 and should not leave yet but I just don't have it in me. I am praying that I can work part time outside of the house doing something else, but who knows if I will be able to leave the house without hiring a caregiver?

Similar. Memorial service last weekend, and the family asked me to be the liturgical assistant, so I had readings and prayers to prep. "Kids" coming for Easter weekend. Clients have passed away, and their families need lots of information and help. Son going through a divorce, and that affects their partnership returns as well as their personal and makes visiting the granddaughters much more complex. Clients inheriting multiple partnerships with multiple real estate and step-up elections. Clients opening businesses and closing businesses and receiving corrected Forms K-1 and corrected Consolidated 1099s. I entered this season still behind on 2021 returns. It will be more extensions than ever. I'm trying to calculate all the extension payments I need clients to make tonight. I have one who didn't make her ES payments and now wants me to "do the ethical thing" per the CPA that lives next door to her re her balance due with P&I because she brought me her 2021 documents in November 2022; not only is she not paying me, but she wants me to pay her. I thought this would be an easier year with Congress doing a bit less about tax, but too many of my clients upped their complexity an order of magnitude. Hubby scheduled our exterminator tomorrow for a time when he's down at church with the organ tuner, so Tuesday will be a stop & start day. I need an uninterrupted block of time to prepare an S-corp on extension to get the K-1 to the personal return preparer. I've simply stopped caring as much.

I am sorry for you. I am afraid that I will have to file more extensions than last year. My clients seem to have more tax strange issues than normal and are missing more information than normal. I'm not doing great. I have had two cousins die, 4 clients pass this year already, my husband is really failing physically and mentally. I know that I am depressed, but don't have time to deal with it. Thank God I'm retiring from this 12/31/24! I need to try to get caught around the house so that we can move in a couple of years

Honestly, you wouldn't believe the drama this family is about if I told you (really it's just the wife and son). I'm just guessing but I'd say the sole purpose of this meeting is to show how important the son is and exert his authority (which he literally has none) and put his sister and the father in their place as he takes complete control. I posted it on here previously, he has an ivy league education and couldn't figure out why his father's gross income on his W2 didn't match his net paychecks and he made accusations about it. It's that level of idiocy, I called him out on it and now he's been slighted and needs to put me in my place. (the co-worker is OLD and doesn't actually work - he just likes being able to say he still works and collect a small check)