SaraEA

It has been at $5m plus since 2010.

Unless this is a large estate the issue is probably moot. Not many clients have taxable estates in excess of $11.4m (double that for MFJ).

If the taxpayer was in bankruptcy, you don't need to bother with insolvency. Just check the box. If 1099Cs were issued, you definitely have to report it.

No 1099c should be issued if the taxpayer was in bankruptcy. "Should" of course doesn't mean it won't be issued. If it is, just check the first box on Form 982 (Title 11 case). Title 11 is the code section for bankruptcy, not to be confused with Chapter 11, which is a form of bankruptcy.

You have to be careful with naming beneficiaries. ERISA dictates that the spouse is the beneficiary of retirement plans unless s/he signs a waiver. I've pondered this recently regarding a divorced man who named his children as the Bs. He got remarried and later died. I wonder if his new wife has a claim because she never signed a waiver. She may not even know he had it so won't put up a fight. I just wonder if she legally could. It's generally not a good idea to let the proceeds go to the estate because it has to take the whole amount at once so the tax burden can be considerable.

I have also used the 1095s as documentation for the credits and listed them on the 8867. Then a divorced preparer brought to my attention that carrying the insurance does not prove the child lives with you. His children did not live with him but he had to insure them according to the divorce decree. While the 1095 sent to him listed them as having full year coverage, it obviously did not prove their address. Using the form made it easy for us in that we didn't have to ask the clients to scramble for additional proof, but when you think about it we were wrong. Oops.

We had a 67 Plymouth GTX and used to leave your roadrunners in the dust at the drag strip. We've been Jeep people for a couple of decades now and believe that all those other SUVs out there are just Jeep wannabes. I just so happen to be wearing my Jeep sweatshirt right now (not the kind with the printing upside down). I will reluctantly switch to Win10, even though 7 does everything I need it to do very well. Just like the old 1040 did what it was supposed to do in two pages instead of six.

I had a client who voluntarily disclosed foreign accounts during the amnesty program and the IRS wanted six back years. (They asked questions about minutia and asked for supporting docs for well over a year before accepting them, so they really did review them with a fine tooth comb.) I had several IRS examiners as classmates in my MS program, and at the time they were being trained in the then new requirements. They told us that the agency was looking for "back door" disclosures, i.e., people suddenly filing with foreign accounts or amending returns to report them. These were to be flagged as violations of FATCA so are not a good way to resolve the delinquency. On the other hand, the IRS's goal is to collect money owed and not to put people in jail or the poor house. All of the good seminars I've attended on this subject were conducted by attorneys, and you might advise your client to consult one. The penalty for not filing is 50% of the highest balance of the account during EACH year. It could quickly drain the account. Even during the amnesty period, when penalties were greatly reduced, my client ended up paying far more than if he had just reported the income each year and paid the tax. Failure to file FBARs is a criminal violation, but during the voluntary compliance programs the IRS agreed not to pursue criminal charges. That is over, another reason why your client should consult an attorney.

Ultratax has C and E comparison sheets as well as states. It's expensive software though but does all kinds of the fancy stuff.

I fully agree with bbstacker. If the mother held a retained life estate, or one was implied because she continued to live there, pay the bills, insurance, taxes, etc., the heir gets full step-up basis.

We have gotten a lot of IRS letters for clients who had 529 distributions and claimed the AOC. I think it was one of those areas they decided to focus on for a couple of years. Just keep copies of the reporting docs and a worksheet showing the breakdown of where the money went to prove that you weren't using the same qualified educational expenses for the AOC and tax-free distributions. This obviously didn't happen in your case, but you never know what the IRS computers were "taught."

We were trying to get gas service at our new address, and the company does a soft credit check with Equifax of all places. So I unfroze my credit for a few days. This is the only credit bureau I can't do online (it just doesn't work) so I did it over their automated phone system. Called back the utility, still frozen; waited a few hours and called again, still frozen. I had a confirmation number from Equifax but what good could that do me??? I called again today, a few days later, and they got the info they needed so I didn't have to pay a $375 deposit. I asked the utility to deliver my complain to management that they are still using Equifax, the very reason we froze our credit in the first place. I had to unfreeze all three credit bureaus when we bought our new home, got insurance and other utilities, and all went smoothly.

I will soon be moving from CT to northern VA (Winchester area). I need contacts/colleagues/rescuers! I hope I can get up to speed on VA laws by reading the pubs. Can anyone recommend local classes? Do NAEA and NATP hold local seminars where I can meet some of you? I have been asked to work remotely this season, so I may not be seeing actual VA clients (although I have a few who mail me their docs), but I still want to have a network. This board is great, but I feel the need for personal contact. Old fashioned, I know.

Some clients would watch my employer, who was a CPA, rapidly punch in data and remark "you sure are good at math." He would say, "No, I'm terrible at math" and watch their faces.

The widow gets 3/4 of the property at stepped-up basis. Forget depreciation, basis of the inherited portion is FMV on date of death. For her 1/4, basis is her original share of purchase price less 1/4 of the depreciation taken over the years. Hey, you're in this business because you love math, right?