Leaderboard

It depends upon the fund company and whether they used an adviser. If it was held at the fund company, they have the cost basis 99% of the time. The client needs to ask. If it's with an adviser, usually they will generate a letter with what their records say (if the adviser can't figure it out, the adviser stinks). Explain to the clients what you need, why you need it and they will almost always come up with a basis. As an adviser we occasionally have a mutual fund which doesn't have a cost basis like this, we'll get a list of all distributions (they are on the internet) and come up with a basis as best as can be determined. With mutual funds it's rare to not have at least 80% of the sale price as actual cost. Stocks (as mentioned) are a very different story. Occasionally you'll get someone with ATT stock or whatever and you have to come up with a cost basis that is a true nightmare situation. Spinoffs are horrific and you can have real difficulty figuring that out.

Just logged in after a vacation - sorry to hear this. Be sure and give yourself time to grieve as losing a pet is a true loss for many of us. My sister in law just told us yesterday one of her outdoor farm cats passed during the night. Glad I was able to pet and play with him a little last weekend - great guy and he also will be missed. They have cows and unfortunately named a few of them. BIG mistake.

I had an awesome cat (thought he was a dog) greeter that managed to hit enough buttons that the computer crashed and restarted. I am relatively sure that he did not know how to use Alt Control Delete, but he was very smart.

The existing login information for EFTPS still works as usual. The only difference is that you can't get access to EFTPS login until you identify yourself with ID.me or Login.gov. They just want to know who is logging into EFTPS before granting you access. As long as you have ID.me or Login.gov, you're fine. If you don't have one of those, then you'll need to sign up for one or the other of them before you try to access EFTPS at any time in the future.

I won't delete Tom's post, but for those of you mentioning security for paying taxes, this isn't that. This is to more secure our financial information that is stored there including banking information, SSNs, EINs, and payment history. Thieves could used all of that in a variety of ways.

I've waived fees several time over the years when I decided it was called for, based on what I was told, what I knew, and also on my intuition. Widows, church members who fell on hard times, etc. I just always suggest that if they ever get back on their feet to make a contribution to a mission project (but not in my name, BTW). Probably have even done it a few times when I shouldn't, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. You've described a situation I'd be very likely to waive the fee. I respect your decision and I respect you for making it. Now if you can just get them to listen to your advice and file. After the assessment, they might be able to submit a penalty waiver request if they have a good filing & compliance history, and an installment agreement might be manageable. And as has been mentioned, CNC might be an option. But they need to take action. One suggestion - print out a hard copy and send it to them ready to file. That set of documents might carry more weight with them than an e-filing form. Let them know they can send it in with a token payment or even no payment. After the assessment, they might be able to submit a penalty waiver request if they have a good filing & compliance history, and an installment agreement might be manageable. And as has been mentioned, CNC might be an option. But they need to take action.

Went to log in to e-services for something else, and saw "Renew Your PTIN" as a new option. I've already done mine. Fee is down to $19.75 for 2024.

Apparently I missed the memo. I began to log in to EFTPS today and was required to log into ID.me before gaining access to EFTPS. Turns out they implemented this change yesterday (Oct 19). Was this info widely announced and I just didn’t notice it?

Bart: If you have any clients for whom you enter the EFTPS info, you can log into each one individually with the same ID.me or Login.gov account. You'll just have to add the MFA step before accessing the EFTPS login for each client. Not really a big deal, PROVIDED you have a Login.gov or ID.me account already set up. But for those clients who do their own EFTPS, they need a "heads up" email, text, or phone call. Each of those clients needs to register with Login.gov or ID.me before attempting their next EFTPS transaction. (They can also do at payroll tax deposit by phone, but I'm betting the phone lines will be jammed since so many people didn't know this was coming.)

I had not set up either until I saw this thread today. I set up under login.gov in less than 5 minutes. As long as I don't forget yet another password I should be fine.

If you can't come up with any records at all regarding basis, then basis is -0-.

Assuming the mutual fund is not covered because it was purchased before the brokerage holding the fund was required to track and report on the 1099B - I have the client get the records from the mutual fund company. If they can't (won't) then I get the client to tell me the date they think they made the first purchase, look up the price on that date and use it as basis. Client loses some basis, but that is the cost of bad record keeping. However, when it comes to mutual funds, I have never run into this issue. It is always with inherited stock that I have this problem. Tom Longview, TX

The never ending tax season keeps on going... IRS extended and CA complies with the extended due date of Nov 16th for taxpayers in 55 of the state's 58 counties affected by the 2022-2023 winter storms. You know, my post about my poor client? They just got a small lifeline. Today I am not mad about the IRS changing the rules at the last minute (even though it is stupid as hell to wait for the last day of an already extended tax season to announce the change). Tom Longview, TX

I was on EFTPS last week and there was no notice whatsoever. What a pack of eejits, to implement this with no warning at all. Frankly, the whole ID dot me thing is, to my mind, less secure than the previous system. Yeah, they send you a code. So what? If bad guys have access to my computer, they probably have my phone, too. Plus, who on earth uses subterfuge to log in to PAY tax? We can comfort ourselves that if they had a brain, and a clue, they'd be far more dangerous than they already are.

Judy is going to delete this, but I can't help myself..... So you don't need anything to prove who you are to vote, but you need to authenticate with ID.me to pay your taxes? Doesn't requiring people to prove who they are before they exercise their right to pay taxes somehow make the taxpayers disenfranchised? How screwed up is this? Tom Longview, TX

As far as I can tell, this announcement first showed up on October 18th on the EFTPS Home Page. I subscribe to the IRS Payroll News and there has been no mention of this change. This is a perfect example of how not to implement a change!

Smooth as silk! One more hurdle over.

I wonder if the system will also offer a 1040-X option? IRS free tax filing pilot: Taxpayers in 13 states will have access next year to Direct File WashingtonCNN — The Internal Revenue Service is moving ahead with a plan to build its own free tax filing program, known as Direct File, announcing Tuesday that a pilot version will be available to some taxpayers in 13 states next year. Armed with an influx of new money approved by Democrats last year, the IRS is conducting a major overhaul of its operations – despite continued threats from Republicans to cut future funding and even abolish the agency altogether. Eventually, the IRS tax filing system could serve as an alternative to private tax preparation companies like H&R Block and Intuit’s TurboTax. ADVERTISING But for now, the online pilot program will be very limited in scope. Only taxpayers in those 13 states with specific, eligible tax situations will be able to participate. The IRS anticipates that at least several hundred thousand taxpayers will decide to participate in the pilot. IRS cannot find millions of backup tax records, watchdog says Critics of Direct File, including H&R Block and Intuit, argue that a government-run system will likely provide a worse taxpayer experience than what is currently available and that the federal tax collector should not also play the role of tax preparer. “I can’t stress enough that Direct File, if pursued further after the pilot, would be just another choice taxpayers have to help them prepare their tax returns,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said on a call with reporters Tuesday. Taxpayers would still be able to use a tax professional, commercial tax software or the existing Free File program, which is provided by seven different private companies. The Direct File pilot program will help the IRS determine whether it’s feasible to offer a government-run tax filing system to more taxpayers in the future. Who will be eligible for the pilot program? Some taxpayers in Arizona, California, Massachusetts and New York will be eligible for the pilot program during the 2024 tax season that will launch in January. The states have opted to integrate their state taxes with the federal Direct File system. The Direct File pilot will cover only individual federal tax returns. But once a federal return is filed, taxpayers will be guided to a state-supported tool that they can use to file their state tax return. Taxpayers in nine other states that do not levy a state income tax – Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming – may also be eligible to participate in the pilot. Washington has also opted to integrate the state’s application for the Working Families Tax Credit with the federal Direct File system so that taxpayers are connected with the state form after filing their federal return. But not every taxpayer in the 13 participating states will be allowed to use Direct File next year. Eligibility will be limited to taxpayers with certain kinds of income that claim specific kinds of credits and deductions. The IRS has not finalized the exact tax situations that will be compatible with the pilot program next year. But Werfel expects those with wages reported on a Form W-2 and who claim tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit will be covered. Overhaul at the IRS The IRS has seen years of reduced funding, resulting in a decrease in both staffing levels and audit rates. But thanks to the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping federal spending package that passed Congress in 2022, the agency is set to receive a steady stream of long-term funding to help crack down on tax cheats and transform its operations. The IRS says the money has already helped it improve taxpayer services. In the 2023 filing season, it answered 3 million more calls and cut phone wait times to three minutes from 28 minutes compared with the year before. The IRS has also put a plan in motion to digitize all paper-filed tax returns by 2025. The move is expected to cut processing times in half and speed up refunds by four weeks. The Inflation Reduction Act included a provision to deliver $80 billion to the IRS over 10 years, but Republicans have raised questions about whether the investment would lead to increased audits for average Americans. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers were able to reclaim $20 billion of the funding in a bipartisan deal to address the debt ceiling. The White House argued that the cut won’t fundamentally change what the IRS can do over the next few years. Biden administration officials have also repeatedly said that taxpayers earning less than $400,000 a year won’t face an increase in audits due to the new funding.