Christian

With respect to the EIP3 issue. After reviewing what the client was able to ascertain and ended up saying they received no payment or did not know if they had. I simply advise them I can file them for a refund OR they can wait for the letter coming from the Service with the clear understanding they can get a rejection notice since they did in fact receive the payment. Most are in a hurry to file and don't give a rip if they get the rejection notice. And a few are likely being less than honest and hope they get a second payment. Imagine that.

I had a grandparent couple come in this week. In 2019 they apparently claimed two grandsons living with them as dependents. In 2021 they got a deposit of $5,600 EIP3. The grandfather dropped one of the dependents for 2020 and the Service disallowed his second one due to a filling error but sent the former dependent $1,400 after notifying him of his dependency change. The grandfather filed a 2020 return claiming $3,600 in UNPAID EIP3 payments apparently thinking he had been cheated by the Service but this was denied. I don't know about the rest of you but I am encountering what I had earlier feared namely massive misunderstandings of the law and blank expressions when clients are asked how much EIP3 amounts they got. If the client can't provide proof they received the payments I add it to their refund and the Service sorts it. No one to date has received the letter noted by the Service indicating the EIP3 they got and of course everyone has thrown away the one which came with the payment when or after receipt.

Thanks for the help. Apparently it is much the same here. How they arrive at these figures is beyond me. Some time back a former client's wife died leaving a sizable estate but the heirs needed no certification but then sizable parts of her estate passed directly by transfer on death setups and county land taxable land values are largely below market.

Lately I am encountering heirs who record their parent's wills but are not certified by the circuit court as evidently the estate assets do not require it. In looking at one of these currently I am going to check box C of the Form 1310 and answer yes to question 3 in Part 2. I expect this to go through but if anyone knows any reason it won't please let me know.

This has been a problem return in the past. The wife was adjudged deceased after the death of her first husband. It finally got resolved and she subsequently remarried. She and new hubby's return went through flawlessly in 2019. Her single filling had done so in 2018. In 2020 their efiled return was rejected indicating she was deceased. It took the intervention of our State Senator's office to get it corrected this time. However she still did not receive her EIP3 payment of $1,400 which I added to their 2021 filing. I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping we are not going to have a problem this year.

To date my efiles have gone through routinely but one which was filed around 3:30 yesterday 2/12/22. No acknowledgement as of today. Are they working on the system or something ?

Y'all have confirmed what I was thinking. Namely you need a transaction to use the box not just a purchase.

Kentucky bourbon usually fills the bill here.

In reading the rules for checking this box I am wondering if simply buying Bitcoin or whatever requires it be checked. A client purchased two Bitcoins but still holds them in his account. It does say received so I assume that qualifies to check the box.

I don't know what Lagavulin is but I am game to try ANYTHING ! To date the service has LOST two of my client's mailed returns after cashing the payment checks included with the returns. They advise they have not received the client's return for the referenced year. Last year a client who filed in October 2020 got the same letter in December and had a certified mail receipt from the Center where the return was received. He finally got his refund in July of 2021. The season is off to a great start. I have pulled a muscle in my lower back and am sitting at my desk with a pillow stuck back there to give it support. I've not had a heating pad (good grief) in the house for years but will likely have to trundle off to Walmart and get one post haste !

Just as an opener. How many of your clients are going to locate must less remember those Child Credit letters and EIP letters from the Service. I am reading a married couple will receive a Child Credit letter to the wife and one to the husband. Am I reading this correctly ? It appears so illogical to me. I don't know about youall but my fees so stable for years are going to take a considerable jump.

In looking over the various increases in what will be our workload this season I am going down to the store and buy several additional bottles of ibuprofen or acetaminophen. I wish you all good luck as I feel sure we will need as much of it as we can get.

It's always great when you see a child realize his dream and succeed. Congratulations you did good.

I wonder where the backlog of returns now sits. A client signed his mother's return some years back as POA. Even though a POA had been included in a prior year return and was on file he got a letter. It took two years to get it resolved.

The withdrawal rules with a few exceptions require non spousal beneficiaries to withdraw all funds over a ten year period in whatever amounts they elect as long as it exhausts the account. I have a lucky client who stashed away over $1,000,000 in her accounts and about fainted when she found out her only child will have to withdraw it over ten years instead of over her estimated life time. So much for following the established rules and then Wallah Congress scuttles them and changes the facts.

Back when IRA accounts were first created there was no Roth IRA account. In retrospect If I had been able to contribute to a Roth back then I would have NEVER contributed to a regular IRA account. The line back then was something like "You get a tax deduction by contributing now and on retirement you will likely withdraw your earnings at a reduced tax rate". I am sure that rang true for many. For me my RMD's place me in a higher marginal tax bracket. Frankly I would have been better served by simply buying regular mutual funds and paid the tax. All my capital gains in my IRA accounts are taxed at my highest rate instead of the 15% or 20% that would otherwise be the case. If they came from a Roth no tax. If I were a young taxpayer just getting started the Roth is the way to go.

I have no clue whether my client the father has an income greater than his girlfriend the mother of his child. In any case she claims a child from her prior marriage. Good grief. I just attended an IRS webinar today and it looks like tax simplification has gone south yet again. I came away with a brain fog not unlike these people who have had Covid. For my part I am with cb my client list is moving toward the easier returns as I simply no longer have the stamina to research all these opaque rules.

I have a couple who live directly in front of me. He a fireman and she a public school teacher. They have a child and have never married and live in the same home. He claims HOH and claims his son and she claims a son from her former husband and files HOH. I do not prepare her taxes and have not bothered to check if this arrangement provides a greater benefit than their being married but I will bet a dime to a dollar it gives significant advantages. If the Service was on it's game a simple match would show two people claiming HOH at the same physical address duh. Another client whose is single with AGI in excess of $160,000 woke up one morning to discover the Service had dropped $1,400 of EIP into his bank account. I inquired if he planned on sending it back and got a hearty laugh and the reply "Only if they request it".

Y'all gotta admit my state does field some unique tax folks ! I shoulda said Saber squeak.

I too used Saber back in the day. When I converted to computer prepared returns I think. Normally with ATX I renew in May online and if any issues arise I try dealing with tech support. I've looked at other programs over the years but stayed put as using ATX is for me simple and since I know what forms are needed for a given return it's time efficient. Sorta miss that roar when the program boots up though.

What was it Jackie Gleason used to say "Oh how sweeeeet it is". I ,of course, realize many of you do not know who he was.

Well Wisconsin is kinda cold especially in winter (-30). Maybe she might like to move to a warmer location.

When I began preparing taxes in 1983 an instructor in the tax school asked if anyone might want to join their staff in the upcoming tax season. If so he advised I can promise you the biggest can of worms you will ever encounter. After now almost forty years I can attest to the factual accuracy of what he said so long ago. A Happy New Year to all.

You may very well be correct. I have read free file is restricted to five filings by the various providers but ,of course, have no clue how rigidly it is enforced. My thought was the Service might have some way of checking the number of returns efiled from a given IP address. I note that Intuit has discontinued participation in the program this season.

I have often wondered if the Service has any means to ferret out the likely legions of tax preparers who do not obtain a PTIN and merely file returns through the free file system using the self prepared info at the bottom of the form. A few practitioners in our area have simply sorta disappeared and my thinking is this is where they have disappeared to.