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Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/22/2024 in Posts

  1. 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.
    6 points
  2. 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?
    6 points
  3. Just received an email from "Karen" that says "I have uploaded my 2023 tax documents in the workdrive below secure link, please look through it, and let me know if you need any additional information. Also will it cost the same as the last." I'm small enough that I know all my clients and didn't fall for it. Those that deal in volume returns or have staff beware!
    6 points
  4. 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.
    6 points
  5. Prior year returns get my current-year rates, adjusted as always for complexity of the return in question. Won't even look until after 4/15 or they can go elsewhere. Have a new one this year, two amended returns, sent by his brother who is handling their now just-passed mother's final return. He's fine with waiting until May, after discovering an error for 2021 & 2022 (thanks, TTx - the gift that keeps on giving).
    6 points
  6. I feel the same as Bulldog, but I do not take any new clients that are behind in tax returns until after April 15th, they have to go on extension. If they are not willing to do that then they are not the client for me. I feel like the clients that keep up on their returns in a timely manner deserve to be taken care during the regular tax season. For the most part that has worked out well for me, however there is ALWAYS exceptions.
    6 points
  7. 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.
    5 points
  8. Actually winning anything at gambling would also be fictitious if JohnH is involved. Don’t ask me how I know…
    5 points
  9. I don't know what I did, but it works now. Hubby fiddled around with windows updates, but they were all up to date. But then it all updated and the efiles filed.
    5 points
  10. I charge no less for prior years than current year. When I'm running late, I charge the same. When the client was late, I charge a bite more, making sure I take into account my time dealing with past info/forms/etc. (and, of course, more for additional forms/issues/etc. in those prior years). A new client with multiple years, probably the same price, but based on what's in each year. But I'm not taking new clients except good referrals! Schirallicpa charge them royally for your brain power and angst to go all the way back to the beginning of Covid.
    5 points
  11. LOTS of these! But I just hover over the email address or compare the email address with the Reply to address and invariably they're not remotely related.
    5 points
  12. Just did a 2020 and 2021. I feel like there may be need for extra $omething $omething for that. Just wondering how you guys feel. (Had to remember all that coronavirus stuff too.)
    4 points
  13. 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.
    4 points
  14. Where is this money coming from? Existing bank account for the LLC that was not sold to the new owner? Is there income coming into this account. How were the books kept for this LLC? SP draws are not income. By the way, for tax purposes, you have to treat the sale as a sale of assets, not a sale of the LLC.
    4 points
  15. Normally current rates, but if it involves having to refresh your mind with all the covid programs around then, I would charge a lot more.
    4 points
  16. AND could you ask it to explain to my clients why they have to carry forward part of their foreign tax credit when they didn't have to last year? (I mean, while we're askin')
    4 points
  17. Along the same lines but slightly different, my client has signed up for Acorns (that app that lets you round up your purchases and invest the change). And they have like 25 trades of fractional shares of 3 different mutual funds both short and long term and wash sales that don't even add up to $0.50. What a pain for a $2 net loss on the Schedule D. Cost them more for my services than they will ever realize from the investments. Tom Longview, TX
    4 points
  18. 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.
    4 points
  19. 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
    4 points
  20. You'll still see me using guys or folks. Both, to my mind, are utterly generic - like Kleenex is a tissue, rather than a brand. Y'all is a regional term that I've heard people being castigated for appropriating when they are not from the South. Tough noogies. I got no patience for thin skins when we're all just trying to help each other out, and find getting offended to be offensive.
    4 points
  21. I'm with Bulldog Tom and Lion. No matter the year being prepared, if it is current work it is charged at my current rates. If the clients are late because of procrastination or disorganization, then they are paying more for that because I raise rates each year, and if the work involves me working even more on it because of that disorganization, again a higher fee will be the result.
    4 points
  22. I do them at my current year rates. If I am doing prior year returns it is normally for a new client, and I want them for the long haul, not just this engagement. Tom Longview, TX
    4 points
  23. 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.
    3 points
  24. 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.
    3 points
  25. 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.
    3 points
  26. 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!
    3 points
  27. 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.
    3 points
  28. 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!
    3 points
  29. It's always one little checkbox, isn't it?? Those things feel like the bane of my existence some days!
    3 points
  30. Cool. Could you ask it how to explain Passive Activity Losses to my client? Tom Longview, TX
    3 points
  31. 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!
    3 points
  32. I thought it was a sarcastic comment but perhaps I was mistaken.
    3 points
  33. 3 points
  34. I've also seen 50% wrong. But I've seen 90% in the client's favor. The woman who baked and took her entire country kitchen as OIH, saying it's 25% of her house; and then using .25 as the depreciation factor instead of 0.0256 or whatever it is, depreciating in 4 years instead of 39 years, but continuing to depreciate on her DIY return. The man that drove 90,000 biz miles in prior years, meaning he drove 360 miles a day and had no time to actually work (CT's small with old roads, long rush hours, and slow speeds during prime drive times). Those that claim their parents who probably make too much to qualify as dependents, because CT homes in Fairfield County are pricey with high property taxes and large oil heat bills, so don't get me started. Those that failed to start with Federal AGI on nonresident state returns, so their tax bracket was too low. Huge "cash" donations that were actually in-kind and likely not FMV, as well as needing to be on 8283 with details, such as the guy who gave away $10,000 of computers EVERY year. At least I'm not seeing those huge unreimbursed employee expenses on DIY returns now.
    3 points
  35. Ain't that the truth! I used to say, (%'s that have always held true), "50% of all self-prepared returns, I have ever seen, are wrong. And 90% of them were wrong in the IRS's favor."
    3 points
  36. Ahem, I take offense at the title "You Guys." Many posters here are not guys. Did you only want the guys to answer?Now that I've moved to the South, I've taken a liking to the term y'all. It's gender neutral, respectful to both old and young, and sounds friendly. I used to think it was slang until I read some linguists' take on it and I'm now with them.
    3 points
  37. Father didn't own the land in 2002, so father's death didn't step up land basis. But my brain is fried, so keep researching!
    3 points
  38. Yes, because the cash used to pay the expenses, increases the basis by the exact same amount as the expense.
    3 points
  39. I've been getting a ton of these. They're easy to tell they are a scam. Then there are the ones that are kinda vague but could be from potential clients. Those I will respond saying I'm not taking new clients. Then there is the one in a hundred that says: (a paragraph on how they found me) "We registered as domestic partners in January 2023 in Massachusetts, moved to AZ for June and July, and California from August on. My partner just has MA income to report (quit job to go to law school), I have the same job/w-2 but taxed in all 3 states. TurboTax full service couldn’t cover RDP / community property rules in CA and we are pretty lost on our own! " Closing paragraph. I pick them up as clients. I'm a sucker for a sob story.
    3 points
  40. Also don't click on "unsubscribe" links. Just send it to your spam folder.
    2 points
  41. That's federal law https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-bill/394/text
    2 points
  42. This is wierd, but I think I know what is happening. Since the CA 540NR has you recalculate your entire return as if you were a CA resident, calculates the tax, and then takes a percentage of the tax based on the percent of your income from the state, it kinda makes sense that IF the TP was a CA resident, they would have to pay CA the penalty so the NR is calculating it. Since the Income is not CA sourced on the NR, the penalty should not be included. I am not in front of my software right now, so I can't tell you how to over ride the penalty calculation. I would definitely not include the penalty in the CA NR return. Tom Longview, TX
    2 points
  43. From what I remember when disclosure was first required to be written consent, it has to be 8.5 x 11 paper and in size 12 font. But I might be mixing that up with privacy policy. I think NATP has sample forms for disclosure consent on their website if you are a member, or at least they use to.
    2 points
  44. This was a grantor trust until the grantor died, so yes there was step-up basis in 2002. The wording you quoted clearly shows that the father retained power of appointment (he could do whatever he wanted with the trust), so it was a grantor trust. Not sure if it was a complex trust, which can change from year to year, but that doesn't affect your answer to this question.
    2 points
  45. From the code: Windows and doors must meet specific energy star requirements, so generally only the more expensive ones qualify. "Insulation" has the least requirements (must meet IEEC standards) and manufacturers are claiming that things like window shades qualify, but from the instructions for Form 5695: So I think you are out of luck.
    2 points
  46. I get a ton, but I always can tell that they are coming through my website, because that is my only public email. I got a really detailed one yesterday about my website images violating copyright laws, blah, blah, blah. I just deleted it. The funny thing was that I had just notified the new owner that bought the website provider that I would not be renewing and it would be coming down 3/31.
    2 points
  47. Did you try this from a post on another topic? This worked for me. click "Support" and "About" mine says Version 23.1.8752.41567 I used the recommended resolution for EFC Reject 38: close return, click Support, then Customer Service Utilities, select Refresh App Configurations this has apparently not fixed it for everyone, according to what I'm seeing on Facebook
    2 points
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