Margaret CPA in OH

Jainen and Lion, thanks for your replies. He does have a bulldog lawyer for ADA if needed (see my first post) but doesn't want this to get really ugly. He wants to continue working as long as possible and is concerned about a contentious resolution. The ramifications of that would surely shadow his daily worklife which, to date and for 21 years, has been a mostly pleasant experience. At age 55 with no good options to work anywhere else, he isn't ready psychologically to retire.

Adding more money potentially creates issues down the road. At the current offer, including $100,000 in expenses to make the new home "blind friendly" to accommodate his disability, means that he must spend $245,000 for a new place now (doable) but the deferred gain after his $250,000 exclusion gives him a negative basis of $210,000 for the new home (using Table 1-3 in Pub 544). It may be a challenge to sell the new home for $460,000 to allow for another exclusion and owe no tax. He may just have to be prepared for that.

Thanks again for any and all comments and suggestions.

Thanks for the reply. The mortgage was as much for current living expenses as current deductions. He is planning to maximize deferred comp to increase his retirement as much as possible in the short time remaining before retirement. But his gross salary next year would only be about $57,000. With $31,000 maxing out his deferrals, that didn't leave much to live on even including the $250,000 non taxable exclusion from the house sale with a conservative earnings of 4%.

The real estate taxes where he expects to move plus about $1000 in mortgage interest would put him over his standard deduction easily even with the blind additional deduction.

I want to meet with him to discuss how tweaking one aspect of this affects the others and show him that there probably is no perfect scenario. He will need to make some decisions. I do believe that his decision to maximize his retirement funding is correct, however, as he has fewer options than most folks.

Thanks again!

I apologize if this is resent...I didn't see that it went anywhere the first time!

A client and friend is being forced to sell his house to a university which is expanding. The situation is complicated because he is legally blind, works for the university, and bought this house 20 years ago to walk across the street to work. Most issues have been somewhat settled except for his transporation. Anywhere he moves will involve something more than walking across a low traffic street.

The best place for him to move is about 8 miles away in a town where his brother lives. The university has offered to pay for his transportation. Cab fare will amount to about $11,000 annually plus some amount to account for the increase in tax. They propose to issue a 1099 for this. It isn't self-employment so would it just go on Line 21 as other?

I'm trying some projections as he is considering maximizing his options for deferred comp which would leave precious little to live on. The house would be paid for but he wants to mortgage it for the tax deductions and invest what he doesn't need to live on. He is about 55 but the university does not want to offer an early retirement package. He thinks he might want to retire in 2-3 years anyway as the travel will be a strain as will the relocation and having to learn so much about new surroundings.

This is making me a little crazy because every little change in one thing ripples through all the rest. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated! He and the university are both aware that if heavy pressure is applied, it will become a federal ADA case. A good friend of his is an ADA specialist who brought U of GA to its knees recently. However, since my friend is still employed there, he would like to settle as amicably as possible.

A client has POA for his grandmother with dementia. He would like to efile her returns. May he sign the 8879? 8453? Thanks.