Christian

I called ATX tech support and he advised efile will start a few days before February 12th. I see a lot of disappointed clients.

I am not the most up to date but I thought we were encouraged to go ahead and efile and ATX would hold and forward them on February 12th.

I see Form 8879 is still in draft form. Any info on when we can begin efiling?

Soooooooooooooo filing season starts February 12th! I am assuming I can still go ahead and efile these early birds who fly in and ATX will forward them to the Service on February 12th. I'll have to explain to the clients that any refund due will be late in coming right ? Like most of you I too am expecting fewer clients this season. I usually advertise in February but have decided not to do so this year. At 78 I haven't been dependent on the business for income in ages but I enjoy it and interacting with those I serve. My family have been involved in some form of small business for four generations and some 150 years and it sorta runs in the blood. Sadly I am the last Mohican.

Well I see they will not start processing returns until February 12th. I am sure there will be a lot of long faces this year.

A quarterly 2210 ? Not familiar with that. My quarterly payments are pretty close until the last quarter when these gains are dumped. Good Lord this year my capital gains exceeded by nine times my last full year salary at my former employer !! I swear I'll need to take a darn bank loan !!

Let's see. I am going to again pay substantively more federal tax with my final quarterly payment than I owed and paid last year. In Virginia if you pay the same or more than was paid the prior year you usually owe no penalty. I am not certain if this is applicable under federal law. Last year I called the Practitioner Priority Line and got my penalty excused and still retain a first time waiver if needed. These end of year capital gains are causing distortions with my estimated payments to say the least. Attaching the Form 2210 does not always work as some wise bird at the Service comes back with a quarterly calculation that in no way resembles the actual receipt of my income.

That is pretty much the answer I was thinking about. I'll pass that on to her as she can use the assistance. In reading your reference above I find much in agreement to other material I have read namely that she will not receive a dual benefit only the higher of the two. Still a good attorney versed in the law may be able to get her a better deal. It still begs the question of why she cannot draw the benefit she earned herself which she was already drawing for a number of years. I find as I grow older I really try to help those of my clients who have fallen into some form of governmental black hole such as this one.

A client recently widowed her husband died in January last year called me. He was a railroad retiree for twenty or so years. She had worked as a fast food manager for fifteen or so. He also held a part time job at the local army fort for twenty years and was employed there until he died at age ninety. Last year they received a W-2, a railroad Tier 1 and Tier 2 pension for him, railroad Tier 2 pension for her, a Norfolk Southern Pension for him (a company plan offered to employees many moons ago but no longer available), a union pension for her from her work in the garment industry locally, an IRA payment for her, and lastly Social Security for her based on her years as a fast food manager. Since he worked under Social Security at the army base she thought she would draw a separate Social Security benefit from that. Here's how it all shook out. Her railroad retirement benefits were raised to what his were for Tier 1 and Tier 2. Social Security would not pay any benefit for his twenty years work at the army base nor add in his work record there to his record on the railroad which would have greatly increased his widow's railroad benefit. Her Social Security benefit was discontinued totally even though she earned it herself. She still gets half his Norfolk Southern Pension benefit and her tiny union pension along with her small IRA benefit. Personally I am mystified as to how this was arrived at and place it here to possibly see if anyone has a direction she can take to obtain a better deal. The Railroad Retirement and Social Security reps basically threw up their hands out of ignorance as what was to be done. Some professional somewhere would likely effect a much better deal for her but I have no expertise with any of this. Anyone have any ideas.

Thanks so much Max. This information is great news for this lady as her husband has come down with rapid onset Alzheimers disease. She can use that $6,000 as well as that 20% state credit. I rarely have reason to compute one of these credits and basically scanned the credit until I had more time to look it over. I have printed out the needed material and will be able to help her out. I've got to send my annual donation to the website owner as this just illustrates how valuable a resource this site is.

A client called to inquire about a possible energy credit on solar panels installed on their roof last year. In connection with this they also installed a generator all to the tune of some $43,000 dollars ! In researching this I can find a possible credit for the solar panels but I do not see a generator qualifying. Most generators bought here are for back up power in case the electric power fails for a time. The contractor sold them a bill of goods advising them they would get a credit of $6,000. I told them I would need to see any paperwork related to such a claim. He further advised this would eliminate their electric bills. So much for gullible folks as no such savings have materialized. What do you think ?

Abby I rarely have need to provide an organizer as my clients are pretty well accustomed to what info they need. The one I pulled up has columns for the prior year info but the amounts did not populate. Oddly enough all other prior year amounts did which was the reason for my question. In any event I spoke with the client this AM and will simply forward the one I have as it will provide her with the forms she needs to provide. Her husband has developed cognitive problems and the organizer will assist in he collection of these.

Good afternoon and a Happy New Year to all. I have started early to shake off the rust in my preparation skills. A task which does not improve with age. I placed an organizer on a client return and am surprised that it populated all the client entries except the pension amounts although it shows all pensions and spousal pensions but no amounts shown for 2019. If anyone can advise a solution I would much appreciate knowing what the solution might be.

I find no federal deduction. As best I can determine they can contribute to a Virginia 529 plan. Each parent would need to establish an individual plan into which the max contribution is $2,000. This money plus accrued interest could then be withdrawn tax free to fund the child's private school tuition. How soon after setting up the plan the funds can be withdrawn I do not know and the parents will need to carefully review the plans with their fiduciary to iinsure no slippage in the rules.

A client called today stating he and his wife have taken their child out of the local public school system and are going to be paying some $6,000 per year for home schooling. He wanted to know if this is a deductible expnse. In so far as I know it is not a deductible expense on the federal or Virginia return. I plan on looking a bit closer but I do not think I will find any law change which permits it's deuction. He asks if it may qualify for the child care credit but had I to nix that idea as well. If any of you know that this reading of the law is incorrect please advise.

P.S. She finally made contact with the correct area of the Service and wallah! they provided her instructions needed to set up a new account. Chalk up another victory to the friendly forum members on here. I finally resolved the clergy issue as well.

Y'all have basically reenforced what I thought. She needs to have a chat with the folks who handle these accounts and get a new account set up. I've got as much as I can now take care of and I ain't gonna do it. And this wireless keyboard is causing more spelling errors than I can deal with !!!

I volunteer at a local tax exempt museum. It's a tiny local musuem celebrating the history of our small community and a has a tiny income. The member who handled the annual tax filing died last year. He filed an annual Form 990-N which is apparently efiled only. I do not prepare tax exempt returns but was called by his successor for the following problem. The museum has a laptop for it's use. Instead of using this the former member used his personal computer inputing the tax info on it and identifying his computer as the only one to be used for submission of the museum's tax account. His successor had his name and password but was rejected as the computer does not match the Service's info. I asked her why she simply did not contact the Service and inquire about establishing a new account explaining that the prior member filing the return was now deceased. If anyone here has any information as to how this can be resolved I would appreciate it. The 990-N looks to be a simple filing but the former guy did not print out a paper copy of his work. It would appear as not to hard to resolve but his sucessor can't seem to get it resolved.

I am always saving and stuffing the information I receive from this forum. You can be sure I too will always be extending in future although I think I will be able to get any penalty excused. I simply thought the couple would get a refund based on what I had and the size of the refund I was looking at. I should have known better. My bad.

A lady brought me her tax info at the very end of the season. Her husband had always prepared their taxes but like no few others has now become unable to do so. She knew almost nothing about the taxes. After getting together most of the info it looked to me they would receive a refund so I saw no need to file an extension but was lacking one item which took some time to get. I thought it would not change their getting a refund. Lo and behold after working the new info in they owe tax. I'll get this back to them on Monday and as they have a good record I am wondering if I could get them a one time waiver of the late filing penalty. I cannot recall the last time I applied for this waiver and would appreciate any info on the needed form I will need to file. In fact I am uncertain whether a waiver is granted for a late filed return.

The paraagraph below sorta sinks the ship so to speak. The loss in question generated by the wife's business is effectively lost. Their standard deduction was greater than their agi so no income to apply it against. Well worth a try. NOL.pdf

My reading is that since the business was disposed of in 2019 the client's wife having died in May and the business simply closed (no sale) the loss cannot be carried forward. But it never hurts to check yourself.

A new client has come in whose wife passed on in 2019. She was a beautician and operated a small business. For 2019 the business shows a loss and , of course, was closed. The standard deduction eliminates any federal income tax for 2019. As the loss is not deductible can it be carried forward or is it simply dropped. If memory serves this matter has come up in here and the loss is simply lost.

I will photocopy the exact words from the Taxbook on the HA.What is crystal clear is the salary is fully subject to SE tax and not placed on Schedule C. Fees, baptismals, funeral services are the items placed on Schedule C and are of course allowed deductions on that. The HA not exposed to regular income tax is indicated to be fully exposed to SE tax but I will photocopy it and place it into my next submission.

P. S. I now have had time to look over what the client's former taxperson did in respect to her salary and HA. In prior years returns I noted Form 2106 showing mileage expense and a few other miscellaneous expenses incidental to being a minister such as uniform maintenance, telephone calls, etc. These expenses subject to the 2% limitation normally appear on Schdule A. A recapitilation sheet I found showed the following. An addition of the salary and HA into a single figure. The total reduced by unreimbursed employee expenses which ccomprised most of the amounts reported on Form 2106. This greatly reduced the HA exposed to SE tax although the salary remained fully taxed. In reading material in the large Taxbook I received with my ATX renewal it states that the entire HA is taxed for SE purposes and allows no deductions period. In asking how long her former taxperson had been preparing her taxes I was told twenty years. Unless I am greatly mistaken this was an egegious error but would like to hear what y'all think.