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The key question is, "When do you cross the line from the proper recording of client transactions to making decisions which should be made by your client?"

Family deals are the ones to worry about the most - to me. Lack of usual practices seem to always come back for a big bite at some point. I guess I have seen the demise of too many family entities because of lack of planning and documentation. The old "if it is not written, it does not exist" line has a purpose. What if the partner acting as the bank passes and the remaining partners and heirs differ on the existence of any loan balance?

Whether or not they are lying, a total reconstruction is almost impossible. If you are going to take on a client like this, the best you can do is nail down all the balance sheet accounts and move forward.

and it can now only be filed directly from IRS website.

The wording is not clear, but after reading it again it appears you are correct Judy.

Why would partners who were not a part of the estate of deceased partner get a a step up in basis? Seems to me you do not understand the difference between inside and outside basis and why section 743(b) is used to equalize. What makes it out of proportion to reality?

I had a class mate who ended up working for Grant Thornton. She was assigned to the team auditing the Social Security Administration and she told me the materiality threshold was in the ten's of millions (can't remember the exact amount). Leaves a lot of room for errors and fraud.

Depends. Did company pay with cash or making payments? If it has only been two years I would consider amending to properly account for during that time period. Those two statements do not line up.

Maybe it's an attempt to encourage employees to pay workers on an hourly basis, rather than call practically everyone "managers" with a paltry salary (and no OT)? There was an attempt at legislation a few years back to end Walmart et al from paying someone a salary circa $20-25k a year and working them 60 hours a week.

Truth is, ALL of us have had new customers with difficult circumstances. I believe if we back away simply because of difficulty, we are beguiling our calling as tax professionals. There are most likely some of us who fear the possible liability, and that is a business decision incumbent on each of us. Having said that, there are some situations I won't engage. Potential customers who are obviously lying, customers who switch preparers because they haven't paid last year's bill, etc. But for difficulty? I won't back away if there is any way to make the client well going forward. Our blonde colleague from Florida definitely has a train wreck. I agree with CBS, establish a balance sheet that will enable future compliance. And explain that it will require extra work, and don't go too deep without getting paid.

Huntsville AL has a substantial number of NASA employees. During space missions, most of these employees work horrific overtime hours. Even salaried employees who are "exempt" for USDept of Labor purposes are paid, or else they will quit. I would estimate that a majority of these people work overtime at straight time pay (1X) but possible some of them are getting overtime premium (1.5X). If I understand this correctly, any overtime pay of any sort over 40 hours will be tax exempt. This reeks of lobbying somewhere in the state capitol.

I read the original post as the home that taxpayer owned and later rented was owned solely by the taxpayer. She has children and may or may not have had a step-up in the past from a deceased spouse, or she could never have married, or married and divorced. I think that is the property now being sold that the kids were living in until 2020 that was then turned into the rental. The original post makes no mention of that or a previous spouse related to the home/rental being sold. Taxpayer moved out of property being sold in 2014 and then married the now-deceased husband and moved into his home. To me, it sounds like she may still be living in the home of the now-deceased husband.

I've made it clear what I expect of them moving forward. They are more than willing to obliged it seems, they have just never had an accountant educate them on what is truly needed to have proper records. They want to do it right so I'm doing my best to get them on the right course.

Shark Tank has taught all who watch that investors want to (usually)have the business acquired within a 5- 7 year period, so they can get theirs and move on. What one sees with big likely profitable family run entities (like Drake probably was, Adam Drake, unless the family wants to keep going, without cashing out, when there are no family members willing or able to buy out others, the entity gets sold. A great example is the recent sale of Tiffin Motorhomes. Tiffin was actually PERFECTLY timed as they got theirs right before the start of the during/after COVID lull in MH sales.

I have never been impressed with TripAdvisor since they got caught multiple times suppressing negative reviews. I do think it sends a message about the strategic thinking of Cinven since private equity investments firms usually expect their investment to be returned in 5 to 7 years.

Hmm, Form 1023 is the application for tax-exempt status.

"Users of tax preparation websites in seven states have filed a class action lawsuit against Google, claiming it engaged in wiretapping, following a similar complaint against Meta. The complaint alleges tax prep companies like H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer sent private tax return information to Google using Google Analytics technology, which may include email addresses, data on users' income, filing status, refund amounts, buttons clicked and year of return."