Lee B

Key Question: How was the Square account set up, under the Corporate Name or personal name or ? What was the reason for requesting abatement?

No, my post was the IRS position regarding the business expense deduction of educational expenses.

July 15th would be welcome because right now I have 4 PPP Loan Forgiveness Apps to deal with plus 2 Second Round PPP Loan Apps to prepare and submit. I have told my handful of 1040 clients, no appointments until after March 16th.

Yeah I have seen multiple articles. Generally I try to avoid discussing potential legislation unless it's fairly far along. This leigislation still has a long ways to go.

Your client could have fixed this problem by closing though a real estate attorney before year end. Don't try to fix this for your client because then it's becomes your problem.

I used to have a long time client with multiple businesses that always brought his tax info late and always expected me to have everything done quickly. For years I put up with that behavior although I did raise his fees well above my normal fee. Finally last year now that I am semi retired I told him 3 different times that I would have his return or project done a week later than he wanted. Thankfully he has moved on to inflict himself on another accountant. It just got to the point where the money didn't matter any more.

IRS Letter 1444 B dated Feb 18th, showed up in my mailbox today. Amazing , definitely wasn't expecting to even see one!

Excerpt from IRS Topic 513: "To be deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves skills needed in your present work or (2) a law requires to keep your present salary, status or job. However, even if the education meets either of these tests, the education can't be part of a program that will qualify you for a new trade or business or that you need to meet the minimal educational requirements of your present trade or business."

I have been doing this on my own tax return since the first year it was allowed, just as Lion described. Very easy. Also have most of my clients who qualify doing this also.

Copied from IRS Website: "The IRS is now opening mail within normal time frames. The IRS has also made significant progress in processing prior year returns. As of January 29, 2021, we had 6.7 million individual tax returns in the processing pipeline. For refunds that could not be issued in 2020 because the tax return is being corrected, reviewed or awaiting correspondence from a taxpayer, the refund will be issued as a paper check in 2021 per our normal processes. Taxpayers are encouraged to continue to check Where’s My Refund for their personalized refund status. How long you may have to wait: It depends on where you sent your tax return and where it is in the process. We are processing returns we received over the summer due to the extended July 15 tax filing due date and, in some cases, are processing tax returns dated as early as July 15, 2020. However, we are rerouting tax returns and taxpayer correspondence from locations that are behind to locations where more staff is available, and we are taking other actions to minimize any delays. Tax returns are opened in the order received. As the return is processed, it may be delayed because it has a mistake, is missing information, or there is suspected identity theft or fraud. If we can fix it without contacting you, we will. If we need more information or need you to verify that it was you who sent the tax return, we will write you a letter. The resolution of these issues depends on how quickly and accurately you respond, and the IRS staff trained and working under social distancing requirements to complete the processing of your return. What you should do: Other than responding to any requests for information promptly, there’s no action you can take. We’re working hard to get through the backlog. Please don’t file a second tax return or contact the IRS about the status of your return. SPECIAL NOTE E-filing your 2020 tax return: To e-file you will need to enter your AGI from your tax year 2019 tax return. If your 2019 return has not yet been processed, you may enter $ 0 (zero) as your prior year Adjusted Gross Income. If you used the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool last year to register for an Economic Impact Payment, enter “$1” as your prior year AGI."

The instructions for 1120S just say that it should be a separately listed line item under 17V.

Excellent point

Partners with self employment income can also deduct office in home as UPE.

The taxpayer should have additional info i.e. a letter from the Dept referring to the specific program under which the loan was cancelled

Are you referring to a Schedule C "office in home" ?

The IRS has announced they are finished making additional "expedited stimulus payments" even though payments may still be in the mail. "As of January 29, 2021, Get My Payment will no longer be updated for the first and second Economic Impact Payments. " This apparently means that the "Get My Payment " tool will not reflect any of the expedited payments made during February. Well that really throws sand in the gears!

I posted a copy of a detailed article from Forbes about this issue in the Covid 19 Forum on Feb 7th.

Really, give me a real life example that makes sense?

How is this a legitimate W -2 ? No combination of these numbers make sense!

According to The Tax Book, IRA - Yes, 401K - No

Rita, I really like your insight on all the stuff we deal with

That's what what is so insidious about them. They have learned how to spoof any email address, just like scammers spoofing any phone number. Last year my wife received phone call from a scammer and the spoofed phone number was her own cell phone number!

In my experience that won't work Abby has you pointed in the right direction.

Be very careful, there are a lot of scam emails just like this, purporting to be from will known businesses that we all deal with. In years past these emails were a bit crude with obvious grammar errors and were easy to spot. I was reading an article several days ago about how the majority of these emails were coming out of Nigeria. They did an in depth interview with a Nigerian engineering student who said he made $ 50,000 last year doing these emails.

When you open the return in last year's program, also update the forms, which may clear the mismatching error message.