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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/19/2019 in all areas

  1. Here is a link to the actual notice: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-19-07.pdf One section says that residential and commercial rentals cannot be commingled in the same entity and qualify. If true, this will knock out one my larger clients out because while I am reasonably confident that they could meet the 250 hours for all rentals combined, its doubtful that they will be able to meet 250 hours if commercial and residential rentals have to segregated.
    2 points
  2. The trouble with a nine-page letter is that the judge will sympathize with the guy who says "Nobody could read that amount of legal mumbo-jumbo." That's the reason the life insurance companies no longer get only a signature on your four-page life insurance policy app; they make you go through the list of illnesses and initial each one - thereby nailing it down that you don't have each dread disease listed. I agree with Roberts that mine is a blatant attempt to avoid liability, but even if the judge doesn't like it he can't hardly go along with a client's claim that my paragraph was too much to read. I think he'd have to ask "Did you read this? It's fairly straightforward." Still, it's a horse race either way. A lawyer once told me "A million-dollar insurance policy is best. Litigants will sue you, your wife, kids, and anyone possibly or remotely involved." Ha! A couple used to come in every year-hubby never said a word (no hello-no nothin'-stared at the floor). Wife handled all talk-everything. One year they itemized and I got the med records; he'd been a diagnosed schizophrenic for years. Then (comes the dawn) I remembered that every year she slid the engagement letter across the desk for him to sign.
    2 points
  3. Off to a good start. Questions everywhere. Has anyone that ordered the tax book from ATX for 2018 received it yet?
    1 point
  4. I ordered mine from TTB directly. It arrived yesterday. About 6 days from order to receipt. Tom Modesto, CA
    1 point
  5. I don't think "interesting" is the word you're looking for. Yeah, they're people too, but their circumstances are quite different from you and me. People here would kill for a government job, but you can't get one unless you "know" somebody or are related to them (it's pretty much closed to applicants without a connection). They have pay, benefits, insurance, and retirement that private sector people can only dream about. One low-level government worker's wages would hire three clerks in private business. Plus, as Catherine notes, about the only way to get fired is to pull a gun on somebody. I also have been laid off a few times and there was no pot of gold waiting at the end of my unemployment rainbow. As for the tear-jerking paycheck to paycheck angle; give me a break - many responsible private sector people (with notable exceptions) making much less than the fed group can weather the storm; why can't they?
    1 point
  6. You might want to join NY/CT-ATP to network with CT preparers who might want to acquire your clients. The membership fee is amazingly low ($80 ?) compared to NAEA and NATP, for instance. https://www.nyctatp.org/
    1 point
  7. That is EXACTLY my point. They have jobs that pay better than what most of us make. Those jobs come with benefits most of us can only dream of from afar. They can NOT be fired, under usual circumstances, even if they goof off all day surfing kiddie porn, very much UNlike you and me. But people are bemoaning their fate as if they are being made to walk the plank into shark-infested waters - when what they are facing is far LESS than a regular garden-variety lay-off. With NO guarantee of call-back, NO guarantee of back pay eventually, and no one publicly mourning their dire fate. Sorry; they got nothing from me. NOTHING. I've faced nasty lay-offs too many times, where I quite literally had NO idea where my next job was going to come from, or how I was going to survive until then, with no savings (used up in the last lay-off and just barely caught up to zero with no reserves yet) to help at all. In desperation taking crap jobs doing what I did to put myself through school, running a cash register at nights at a gas station ALONE (young and female), substitute teaching knowing I was working that day because of a phone call at 4AM, day-work bookkeeping via an agency running a paper-tape calculator. Quite a come-down from the supposedly well-paid engineering jobs I had spent years qualifying for. Work a high-school dropout could do. All for minimum wage but nowhere near 40 hrs/week - not just for lack of work, but also because I had to keep up the job search. Yeah, it sucks being out of work. It sucks worse when you don't have a call-back with pay waiting for you in a month or two. I got NOTHING.
    1 point
  8. I have found www.efile4biz.com. Reviews are good and prices very reasonable.
    1 point
  9. In our state those who are furloughed can collect unemployment but have to pay it back when they get their back pay. At least this can help tide them over until their pay comes. Those who are working without pay are not eligible because they are "not available for work" meaning not looking for another job because they are already performing one. I know a couple who both work for IRS, one an auditor and the other in upper level. Both must be home with no income so unemployment should help them. I think there might be a lot of resentment in all gov't agencies when some coworkers get to stay home and play and get unemployment while others have to go to work every day without pay or UE. A private company would never get away with that.
    1 point
  10. It will knock out all my clients if they have to keep a log of their time spent, when, what they did, etc. It's hard enough getting them to understand the necessity of mileage logs. And the "separate books and records" means what? Most of them give me a handwritten sheet where they list taxes, utilities, repairs, etc (always forget the rental income so I have to ask). I guess this is a separate record, likely gleaned from their personal checkbooks. What does everyone think about that?
    1 point
  11. I am pleased to announce that I am member in good standing. No Warning Points so far. This tax season may significantly change that.
    1 point
  12. It would be great if I had a subscription... so I'll wait until the same info comes out free elsewhere.
    1 point
  13. Going through the NTPI program is very helpful to those who wish to, or already are, doing a lot of IRS representation work.
    1 point
  14. One of the best quotes I ever heard was at a training session for an accounting software we used at the company. The operations Manager started asking if the software could do this and that and all kinds of things. The trainer replied "There is no PFM button on the keyboard" We all looked a little perplexed until he explained "PFM = pure frikkin magic". I use that line all the time now. Tom Modesto, CA
    1 point
  15. While not in the prep business, for us, change is what "changes" things here. Some we lose because they go out of business or find someone to offload to, some take on the work, to not have to pay someone else. Just today, I had to steer someone from ordering from us, as they thought they could lose their payroll service by finding "software" which could do everything for them (despite no experience, training, or even really reading over their service provided reports). I don't mind educating, but some simply do not believe there is no magic software which they can feed numbers into, prevents lose nut at the keyboard errors, makes their deposits on time, etc. Back "in the day", only experts used computers, and some, like us, wrote their own software. Now anyone can get a computer and software, and believe it is the holy grail. If that were true, I cold pick up a surgeon's kit..., or buy that perfect race car... Not complaining mind you, just pointing out, as the steward of our software, I have an obligation to be honest if someone clearly is not prepared to use it, even when the money is for my taking. I see no stewards at Costco next to the bin with tax software...
    1 point
  16. What's the problem with using your software company's engagement letter and modifying it to suit your needs?
    1 point
  17. Yardley, does your E&O insurance company provide sample engagement letters?
    1 point
  18. I'm still waiting for my first tax return to get my hands on. So far not one client has received their W-2 yet. #PatientlyWaiting
    1 point
  19. With taxes, I wonder if one has 20-30 years experience or one year experience 20-30 times.
    1 point
  20. Some of us will try to bait you into saying something inappropriate, just so you can join us in the doghouse. But if we don't succeed, we have confidence in the ability of our government to do the job.
    1 point
  21. Hi Jack - thanks for responding. I can't file 1099 forms via Drake and found an older thread that suggested efilemyforms.com Tried that, and it works great! I only have about 5 or 6 forms to file.
    1 point
  22. All I've told people is that my interpretation is that we can use the QBI deduction unless the IRS specifically gives us an opinion otherwise and as of right now that hasn't happened but it could at any time.
    1 point
  23. Ha! To everyone...Keep up the good work!
    1 point
  24. I agree with you. But the evil side of me wants to say..."Now you know how we feel. You have been pushing us to do your audit work at the preparation end and not paying us. Now you can do your work without getting paid as well! Serves you right." But I do feel for them. It sucks to be the property of the government. They do live their lives just like the rest of us and it must be hard on their families. Tom Modesto, CA
    1 point
  25. Slacker. Anyone worth their salt should have a few warning points. We have to keep @jklcpa on her toes. If @kcjenkins was still moderating, we would see a boatload of warnings hitting the members. I think we should have a very nasty political fight on the board to get some points flowing. Just kidding Judy. Please don't shut me out from the board. I need you all this year. Tom Modesto, CA
    1 point
  26. 1 point
  27. Really....anyone who watched the process of this bill getting butchered by the Washington political process knew it was going to be a cluster fudge. SNAFU is a very appropriate acronym for the tax laws of the US. Tom Modesto, CA
    1 point
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