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Cigarette smoke and couldn't wait to get them out of my office. The firm I worked for early in my career had a seafood market, and the stench from its papers was nauseating. The owners knew it too because they and the kids would shower and change clothes after work. AIr out as best you can, keep the docs sealed up and in a separate area until ready to work on them, and get the work done sooner than later. Maybe you could put a box of baking soda or some odor absorber/neutralizer in a bag with the papers.

Had one lady years ago who would bring her docs in one of those Dutch butter cookie tins. Everything smelled of cookies. Finally told her that if she was going to do that, to leave me a couple of cookies. The next year she brought an envelope, doggone it all.

The worst I've had is cigarette smoke. But I did have one year where the envelope the client dropped off included one of those perfume samples that are small, porous cards attached inside magazines. Really strong after being enclosed.

Thank you, that's what I was remembering, but the only thing I found in my searches was trade publications and not IRS. Going to save that release. And that same executor just wrote to me this morning that 2021 is due in two weeks, and now has me second guessing myself. Let me write it out for my sanity: 2021, due 2022, so +3 = 2025. Is my mind still working? And, that was the July deadline in 2021? And, what if deceased client filed an extension, let's say 2021 (she filed extensions every year and then actually filed a couple or three or more years at once!) but did NOT end up filing 2021 yet, because she died in 2023. Do we get 3 years from October 2021? Executor told me lawyer filed 2023 returns. I had her confirm that yesterday, and he told her he filed only Form 706. Client died January 2023, so did we miss that due date/extension possibility?! I am so tired of this client. I'm so tired. I have an S-corp shareholder still questioning me for the last two weeks (again this afternoon) on individual lines from his 3-page P&L, but he has his own bookkeeper who created the P&L. Thank you for letting me vent !!! My daughter sent me an You Got This gift box, so I'm going to light the candle and eat chocolate and get some work done!

10 years ago??? Seems like yesterday. Wow! Yes, this has been the best team of resources that I have ever had since I started with ATX back in 1998. That was when the tiger roared when you opened the program. Some of the folks on the ATX Board have passed on or retired and I certainly hope retired. KC Jenkins was one of the best. Janitor Bob from Ohio was a hoot too. William Tasker was the best support guy around. Of course, I am dating myself here but those were the good days. I am a member on a few other boards and don't browse them hardly at all. The Drake board takes too many hoops to log on. NAEA is ok and there is one fellow there that is a walking talking IRS code book. He is a professor, retired IRS agent that wore many hats inside the IRS. He is very helpful and pleasant to work with. So, yes folks on this board has saved me too many times to mention. Judy, you and I go back quite a few years. I'm sure there are others too that I just can't remember right now. It is great to have all as colleagues.

Simply viewing an email will not infect your computer. However, clicking on links or opening attachments can. Even when I get an email from a a company I do business with, I don't click on the links. I go to their website and login.

They are monthly fees paid to a Doctor or a medical practice for routine medical care in lieu of being billed for the same care. How is it any different than me billing my monthly write up clients every month or paying a retainer to an Attorney. IMHO I would consider them to deductible medical expenses.

One important distinction is that originally filed returns must be filed or postmarked by the due date, but amended returns must be RECEIVED by the due date. Efiling, thankfully eliminates this distinction.

And I busted my hindquarters all afternoon on Monday and got abso-bleeping-lutely nowhere. Might as well have gone to the movies. And I detest movie theaters! Anyone else so fed up with this season that there is just nothing left to give? Everything from all my clients is in more disarray than prior years - and by a lot, not a little. I have come so close in the last several days to telling a raft of clients just what I think of them at the moment that it's not funny. Maybe I ought to stop answering the phone for a few days.

IRS press release--file by May 17 2024

They don't actually have to use the distribution for medical expenses. There is not even a requirement that they take the distribution before paying the expenses. They simply have to have expenses that qualify for the medical deduction in excess of 7.5% of AGI (whether or not they itemize). So you can count all qualifying expenses, deduct 7.5% of AGI, and claim the remainder on Form 5329.

I'm as confused as everyone else by this. This sounds more like a partnership with one partner selling to the other, and that this was incorrectly handled as two proprietorships. If not, how does your client explain the shared checking account?

I believe if injury or disease prevents one of a married couple filing MFJ, the spouse can sign the return. There is a checkbox that will allow you to attach the required dated explanation. In Drake, this is found on the Misc tab and then on the screen entitled MISC-Miscellaneous Codes/Notes. Look to the right side of the screen where you will see "Special Signatures". Check that box and click "SCH" to attach your explanation. I used this method for several years where husband suffered from several alzheimers and was in a facility, and the wife didn't have POA, and at that point husband lacked mental capacity to grant POA anyway.

Anyone else have this problem--certain clients' documents reeking from what I assume is a "generous" use of air freshener in their home and car? I don't think the clients have a clue but I have to let the papers air out for a few days before I can deal with them. Any ideas of a polite way to broach the subject?

My clients so far have been reasonable but a few - the few - seem to take offense when I ask about missing document X and list of Y expenses. And get annoyed when I have to remind them again after they inquire as to the return status. Just a few cranky folks can spoil the day. Then there are the super nice ones who express real gratitude - they are a gift.

Nicotine in the past but not so much lately. One client (the guy of a married couple) reeked of BO. His wife must have finally got on him. I haven't smelled it the past couple of years. One lady recently smelled of onion. Years ago in LA when I was auditing, I went to a fish place, processed fresh fish. They put me in a room at a table. The room was where they cut up the fish but it wasn't being used when I was there. When I got home, my clothes reeked of fish smell. I hung them up outside the closet. I had to go back a couple of more days and just wore the same clothes. After the assignment, I had them dry cleaned.

Did anyone here find out when the last day we can file for a 2020 refund is, straight from the IRS? Is it 15 April 2024 or 15 May or...? What if client had a 2020 extension, is it then 15 October 2024? I really tried finding the answer on irs.gov. And, searched here, too. (Have a client who passed away a year ago, and her sister-in-law is trying to gather information for this late filer who ran about 3 years behind all the time.)

How about smelly clients? I had one older woman in particular that practically bathed in this sickeningly sweet perfume. You could still smell the perfume lingering in the office 4 hours later. And sometimes, she would hug me and slime my clothes. Eww.

Awww. That's a letdown!

Yep, hadn't thought to look there at first, because I'm giving the now-former client away and NOT preparing a tax return for her. I do get my biz ELs from TTB, so I should've gone there first. Thanks, everyone!

No, I'm firing clients, telling them to pick up their folders if they don't want extensions! (I do have a local guy with availability who'll pay me for clients, if I'm in a mood to make a referral.)

I've been using Drake since the 2012 season, and it is not the first time I've seen crashes - but there are more this year than in previous years. Earlier years were once or twice a season, this year it has been less than once a week but maybe three times in a month. I have found that if it freezes, If I just let it alone it wakes up after an eternity - or, ten seconds or so. The times it has frozen or crashed I have never lost anything, so that's a good thing. My email program has far more troubles than Drake, and it has a lot less to do. And when email crashes, it takes a long time to re-load.

Maybe some deep breathing exercises, imagining yourself at your favorite vacation spot would help

The Tax Book has one, as well.

I agree to some extent. It was not a partnership in legal terms and the second guy (now buyer) was on wage and was placed on checking account as any other business would have a second person on the account. So only in the first few months of 2023 did this idea of selling come into play. Bring in the lawyer, and we "sell the LLC". Which it is a sale of assets.

and yes, if they filed an extension they have three years from the filing date to claim a refund.

Look up qualifying models here: https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax2023.shtml But not every vehicle qualifies (even of the same model). For example, MSRP must be <= $55,000 for sedans.

Well, Terry, I have been with ATX since 1998 as well and knew all the folks you mentioned. And the roar. And the appreciation barbeque we sent to Maine to those great folks that treated us all as friends and were so kind and helpful. The experience with them made a huge difference in setting up my own practice and having confidence that I wasn't alone. And here some of us still remain. I'm good for maybe 3 more years. The more recent group has also been great and, of course, many of us had a wonderful time in TN a few years ago in the back 40. Memories....

Buyer and seller are friends. Seller over years had buyer's name on joint business account. No stealing. Seller actually still has access to bank and can see what's going on. All on the up and up. They've been keeping track of the money/draws/equity. I got hung up on the seller still getting a draw each week. But I think this chat has helped me understand that that was still his money to draw. And we have an accounting at date of sale of equity and we keep a separate account for his draws. This tax season just seems a little sticky, doesn't it?

I just submitted a ticket to Drake on this. The "See Statement 1" prints over top of the spouse's signature wording on the form 1040. When printed looks pretty bad and can't really be read at all. Second time this year I've had to report something like this to get it fixed. If you include a late election form 2553 with a 1120S form, The required wording does not print at the top of the form. The support agent at Drake agreed it looked bad and unprofessional. However, the programmers said they couldn't change it cause it would be out of the print range. Well, I used Pro Series last year for some 1120S returns that included a late election and it didn't print that way. As I said, I love Drake and have no plans on changing, they just need to clean this up a bit.

I think the phaseout you mention is for earlier model years. The 2023 Model 3 qualifies for 2023. Some models will qualify for 2024.

I use Drake, but yes it was easy. The hardest part was entering the very long VIN

Also don't click on "unsubscribe" links. Just send it to your spam folder.

I just did a return with a 2023 Model 3 which qualified for the $7,500 credit I won't efile until tomorrow morning after I meet with the clients.

Override. For some reason PA returns in the system got more complicated a couple of years ago. I feel like PA used to be a breeze to do, but now you have to search thru worksheets. So, when the system ain't working smoothly this time of year, override in PA!

Yikes! I hope you managed to shut down everything with lightening speed. Several years ago something similar happened to me and the computer guy said to just shut down everything and bring it in. He checked it all out and said I was lucky. I hope you are, too!

That's federal law https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-bill/394/text

Okay, if it's not a hobby I guess you can't lump it all together because you can't take any losses, you can only zero out personal items sold at a loss. You need to report the total amount from the Schedule K-1 but you should only pay taxes on the profitable items. The IRS says if you get a 1099-K for a personal item you sold at a loss that you can put it on Schedule 1 (8z) and then put a negative amount on Schedule 1 (24z) to zero it out. This is going to be a big problem going forward and I would look at Schedule 1 before I tried to put everything on the 8949.

ATX shuts down every so often. It actually gives you a warning to close the program. I just close and reopen. It's a hassle. I just assume with all these programs, they just get overloaded at times. Too many "if, then" statements criss-crossing themselves.

If there are bunches, or bleepity-bleep bunches, then do a profit for each month and a loss for each month. In your case of 6 months, you'd have no more than 12 lines, fewer if not all months had both gains and losses. It's almost April, and I do less typing as it gets closer to the deadline. Not right, but it's practical. The more lines I have to type, the longer it takes me to proofread. Don't tell the IRS. Or, my clients!

No offense taken. I've always resented being included among "you guys," perhaps because after growing up in a household of three girls, my own family was all male (even the cat). I did not want to be included with those creatures that eat over the sink, miss the toilet, and think armpit burps are hysterical. I was just trying to inject a bit of fun into the decidedly unfun days we are all having right now. EVERY return I started today had things missing. Grrrrr

I received an email with a pdf attachment this morning from "Department of Public" stating that the FTC has evidence that my SSN has been used in NM and TX for international wire transfers to blacklisted bank accounts. The sender's email addy is some gibberish through gmail. I never click links in email or open attachments, but unfortunately when I moved my phone out of the dog's way as he tried to jump on me, I touched close enough to it on the screen this this morning to open it.