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I listened to Commissioner Werfel last week at the Atlanta forum and was impressed with the direction he wants to take the IRS. Some preparers might be leery of IRS free-filing, but if all you are preparing are simple returns...you didn't have job security anyway. The new hires should at least be able to figure out how to feed a scanner.

I picked up a new client a couple weeks ago. Not complicated, so I thought. Interest, dividends, cap gains and a couple rental properties. I ask for the prior year return and I notice there is almost no depreciation on the rentals, just a washer and dryer on the schedule. She digs up her information on the purchase dates (2008 and 2013). No depreciation taken for all those years. I calculate the missed depreciation over the years at approx. $170K. Client income is in the $20K region. It seems to me that this will generate an NOL, but had it gone on the Sch E all those years, some of it would have been suspended passive losses. Am I looking at this correctly? Tom Longview, CA

Since the accounting change for the error from impermissible to permissble method has gone on for more than the second year, amending would also be incorrect. The proper method is to file form 3115, code 7 if the assets have not yet been disposed of, and the 481 adjustment that will be negative should be shown on Sch E. Doing so will put the prior years' adjustment into the category of a passive activity loss (as if) the depreciation and PALs had been calculated correctly all along, and then take the current year's depreciation on the proper line of Sch E. If the assets have already been disposed of, use code 107 on the form 3115 that basically eliminates the allowed or allowable "penalty" of never having taken the deduction but having to use the reduced basis at sale.

Might be better to amend all of those years, to come up with the passive loss carryovers. Since the older refunds will be lost, I probably wouldn't bother filing those. Just file the last 3 years.

Wow! the (Little) things that nobody (including the IRS) caught. I am thinking of possible lost credits such as EIC, etc. , which possibly could have affected this lower income taxpayer. Makes you want to cry when you get one of these and your hands are literally tied.

On those occasions I do answer a suspect call (frequently the caller "ID" comes up as a town's name - with the wrong area code or exchange) I'll answer with, "Who's calling and what do you want?" which the robo-program can't handle. On the very rare occasion that it turns out to be a real person I want to speak to, I'll just mention I thought it was the umpteenth robo-call of the day. We then usually have a lovely mutual grump-fest and enjoy the empathy.

Very tricky situation since post 2020 NOLs cannot be carried back. Will this client ever be able to use this NOL? If she can't use the NOL carried forward, then it would be preferable to create suspended passive losses. My strategy if possible, would be to take the position that she was not an active participant in the rentals Therefore all passive losses would I believe,be suspended and ultimately deducted against the properties when sold. Don't know whether that can be done, but it certainly is worth exploring. Good Luck,

It appears that if you answer as a business, they will hang up. However, that doesn't cure the annoyance and wasted time to both my landline and my cell phone. If they identify on Caller ID as a spam risk, I just ignore, but it is still annoying and interrupts whatever you might be doing. My patience is getting short.

For example, the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton just received a modernization contract of $2.6 Billion. Last month the consulting firm of Accenture also received a modernization contract of $2.6 Billion.

how much do you want to bet that the IRS needs to outsource the processing...because...like... the scanners will be in the IRS offices and the workers...well...they will be working from home. Tom Longview, TX

The way I learn things is by reading. Others learn verbally which is why they prefer in person seminars. When i used to go to in person seminars I would follow the presenter from topic to topic reading the handout material and adding notes. Here in my state the CPA in person seminars now cost about $50 per CPE hour. Like Sara, I used to belong to NAEA, but even though I am in an area with over 300,000 people there has never been a local EA chapter. The NATP doesn't have a presence in the Northwest so that leaves me with self study or online classes.

I always preferred live. Hanging with other tax geeks was fun, and some questions people asked really helped figuring out things you hadn't put your finger on to ask. Since I moved to VA, however, live seminars are so far away that they would require overnight stays or hours on the road. I've adapted to online and find I get a lot out of virtual seminars if I keep taking notes and stay focused. I dropped my membership in NAEA this year, after almost 20 years. Seminars were way too far away, the online blog was sometimes informative but filled with posters just trying to be the smartest person in the room, and I realized that all I got out of my membership was a quarterly journal. The state chapter fees increased this year, and I decided that paying $365 for nothing but a journal wasn't worth it. In CT, at least I got to go to live seminars and network. They were expensive though, as NAEA spends a lot of its funds on lobbying and doesn't grant much to the state chapters to offset the cost of seminars. NATP seminars were more reasonable in price, but often they were a little too basic for me. I have retained my NATP membership.