Terry D EA

No support test for EIC.

Yep, I like it totally. Good point Jainen

Agree with JohnH totally. Disagree with Pacun totally. Had a guy get mad and tell me it was my responsiblity as his tax preparer to tell him which documents he receives in the mail are related to his tax return and I should have told him which ones to bring to his appointment. Hmmmm, let's see, lights out in the crystal ball and clouds have moved in. Took him off the organizer mailing list apparently he doesn't know what that is either. Oops my bad, I forgot to tell him he needed it. We have all had these kind of experiences. In the heat of the moment, whacking their heads off is appealing along with any other form of get even punishment we can muster. After the dust settles, you will be the better person for letting it go. I agree to send him a bill for your services. Chances are he won't pay and it will be more aggrevation to file in court. Expecting an apology from morons like this is useless. In the past, for every one of these jerk clients I loose, three new clients usually take their place. Good luck and look forward to a better tomorrow.

Perhaps they are looking for the amount invested if any.

Yes all preparers are under circular 230. For all my schedule C clients as well as others, I utilize an engagment letter that contains a paragraph stating that while I do not do an independent study of their records and that by signing they indiciate they can substantiate all expenses and provide the necessary documents should any of the tax authorities so choose to ask for it. I was told sometime ago, that this was the best way to sort of CYA. Again, the new items that Jainen mentions is interesting. I still feel it is appropriate to ask questions when something just doesn't seem to pass the smell test. When I do this, I keep notes of questions asked.

Okay here is the process of getting the client copy of the return to print in the order that you want. 1. Open any client that you want from the Client Profile screen 2. Click on Review to get the screen where you create the e-file 3. Click on the Advance Icon that is next to the incon with magnifying glass. The printer icon is one position left of that. 4. At the bottom of the Advanced Form Delivery window, click on the the "Sets" butoon 5. Click on the set you want to arrange, example: "Client Copy" 6. The forms in the client copy open in the window to the right. You can click on the plus sign by each form to see what is there. Use the arrow keys at the bottom of this window to move the form up or down in the print order. Click apply and that is it. Everytime time you print the client copy, Click on the Advanced tab, choose client set in the window to the left be sure there is a check mark in the print box in the upper left hand corner and click on start job. From this point forward, each time you print the return using the Advance tab, the client set will print in this order. I have the client set as the default setting. Hope this helps those who want to do this.

Has anyone seen any updates to Pub 970? The latest one I have seen is 2010. I had a client call regarding the inclusion of room and board as qualified education expenses to claim any of the education credits. In Pub 970 2010 room and board does not qualify as an expense when calculating the credit. It does, however, qualify as a deductible expense when it pertains to student loan interest.

What supporting documentation do you have to support your position? I am in agreement with Jainen on this one. Look at example 1. Also, I agree it depends with looking at the terms of the scholarship as well. I don't read or see anything regarding a pro-rated calculation. I think the simple answer is you can't claim expenses for tax free assistance.

If you choose any of the above designations on the 2106 then the amount should flow to the 1040 line 24

Yes, I will tomorrow. Just shut the other computer down and am too tired tonight to fire it back up. Try this first, when you are in the review screen, click on the advanced icon. This is located just to the right of the printer icon. This is where you begin to set up distribution sets to print. I chose client copy and then put the forms in the order that I wanted them to print in the right hand side of the window. When I post the steps I will create a file that will have screen shots.

Hey Margaret, did you see the new form to be attached to the Schedule D? The number is 8---- something. It is lines and pages listing all barter transactions as well as any other transactions that a schedule D can contain.

Do you know that you can set the print delivery settings to print the entire tax return in the order that you want it? With the "CLIENT COPY" watermark as well?? I will post how if anyone wants to know. I set mine and I love it when I reach for the printer, grab the return and don't have to sort pages!!!

I do agree with Jainen again with the original post from Lucho as it is a different scenario then what I posted. It just proves that we should agree that each scenario is unique and there is not a one size fits all scenario. My situation , is the parents did choose and agreed to the choice simply because they will be getting married this year. The currently share all expenses and put income into one checking account so they "Chose" which way would benefit them the most. Again, confusing and I am sure that I will miss some questions on the competency test or EA exam with these scenarios.

Lucho, this stuff can be so confusing and if you read it enough times you can get even further confused. I think there still is a choice here and it depends if they each want to claim the EITC then the tie breaker rules apply. Here is an example from the EITC pub. Note if a choice is made then the party who gives up the right to claim the child as their qualifying child also gives up the other tax benefits associated with credits when claiming a dependent child. You, your 5-year-old son, and your son's father lived together all year. You and your son's father are not married. Your son is a qualifying child of both you and his father because he meets the relationship, age, residency, and joint return tests for both you and his father. Your earned income and AGI are $12,000, and your son's father's earned income and AGI are $14,000. Neither of you had any other income. <<<Your son's father agrees to let you treat the child as a qualifying child.>>>>>> This means, if your son's father does not claim your son as a qualifying child for the EIC or any of the other tax benefits listed on page 16, you can claim him as a qualifying child for the EIC and any other tax benefits listed on page 16 for which you qualify.

She does receive SS disability benefits which is her only source of income. With that said, I think you are correct. I will ask her about the disability to be sure.

I have a client who is disabled and has reached the age of 59 1/2. Client DOB: 3/29/1952. Client claims she took distribution from a retirement plan after she reached 59 1/2 years old. She gave me two 1099R forms. One form has code 7 normal distribution and the other has code 1. This is Fidelity and I have seen them screw these things up in the past. Because of the coding, there is a 3k+ balance due to the Feds. Can any of the exceptions apply here? My first response is to as the client if she can show or prove the date she took the distribution and that date should be after 9/29/2011. If she can, how do we proceed? My thoughts are to ask Fidelity to reissue the 1099R with the correct coding. I looked at the 5329 form to see if any of the exceptions may apply but am too tired to think. Any help is appreciated

I'd say go ahead and try to amend the return. It appears the time to petition tax court has passed and nothing obligates the IRS to accept an amended return. However, in this situation, what is there to loose? Not being able to give the client anything position out of this is might be hard to jusity a fee, but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Wouldn't this fall under the same category as attorney fees for either refinance or acquisition??? I don't think you can deduct them.

Must be strictly an ATX problem. I am using TRXPro and do not have that problem.

Agree, file the final return for all the above reasons

This will definitley be nice to find out. Will this apply to 1120S returns? I am anxious to find out.

Ryan, Don't knock yourself out on this. I found the answers and was able to get all the information entered into the return correctly. Transmitted it this evening and all should be fine.

Thanks Joan, I assume you are talking about the taxpayer who is moving to another country. It is not clear at this time, but he may not be employed where he is going. He is going to take care of his ailing sister and plans on living on the withdrawals from teh 401K. As far as the military couple, I have completed that return and entering the information is TRXPro was a challenge. When you tell the program what the military pay was, it did not add one half to the spouse's income. I had to do that manually so column E of the forms showed the correct amounts. Glad I don't do these kind of returns every day. :wacko:

I agree with Catherine that it is most likely taxable. You do have to complete the SS benefits worksheet to determine that amount that is taxable.

Just a thought. The print problem I was having has been solved. I started this year using a new computer and didn't realize that Acrobat Reader wasn't installed on the machine. Now, I don't understand why the Federal forms printed fine but not the State, but since I have downloaded Acrobat Reader, all is well.