Lee B

Wow, you must really crack the whip! Say, can I swap a few of my clients that don't listen to me.

I quickly reviewed the course materials from my second online class and "Gross Tips" are allowable as wages!

The only thing I can add is that tips one way or the other were not mentioned in the 3 or 4 online CPE classes that I took.

I received this email late yesterday which also has a supposed "Security Update" link plus Microsoft logos etc. As far as I can tell it's a scam or hack of some kind PLEASE NOTE: YOUR EMAIL WILL BE SHUT-DOWN IF NOT UPDATED AS IT WILL BE ASSUMED AS NO LONGER IN USE. Thank you for using our services. We respect your privacy. Windows team 2020

Every time there is a new Win 10 update, I see a lot of tech news articles about a long list of problems caused by the updates. Just curious, have any of you actually had any of these problems? Or is this similar to y2k ?

It's very interesting how many different opinions exist among tax professionals about this topic and the thread about"mileage logs". Business mileage and mileage logs are something that we all deal with every tax season with multiple clients. Yet there are so many nuances that many of us adopt a simplified interpretation so that we can get thru tax season.

If he goes home home and returns to the same site, I believe that mileage is considered to to be commuting.

Your hurdle is to establish that his tax home is where he lives and that he is not a "transient" worker. If you can establish that, then home office is not required. There are examples and from what I remember court cases to back this up.

First, just let me say, while I give my clients general advice about estates and trusts, I don't do estate and trust returns. My client's spouse passed away 5 years ago. Her house and the related mortgage still has both her and her deceased husband's name on both the property and the mortgage. Now she is trying to refinance and it's creating some issues. What should have done after her husband passed away?

Last month my brother in law's email account was hacked. Everyone in his contact list received an email requesting a personal favor. My wife replied and asked what he wanted. She received another email asking her to help him by buying a gift card as a present for a relative, which she didn't do.

Be alert, your contact information may have been sold some where in the hacker universe. You may end up having the same issues on your cell phone. You should probably check your credit information and be actively monitoring your financial accounts for awhile.

Don't know about Form 990, but last year business efile was shut down for the last week of December thru the first week of January.

I have a foggy memory that the biggest issue is that the way it's disbursed may affect the way it's reported on the FAFSA affecting the amount of financial aid ?

I can see that the details of your post makes sense, but I don't think what you propose passes the "exclusive use test".

Copied from IRS eNews; " Update on $500 per child payments for federal beneficiaries To help people who were unable to provide their information in time to receive Economic Impact Payments for their qualifying children, the IRS announced that federal beneficiaries who did not register to receive $500 per child payments earlier this year now have additional time. If eligible, anyone who registers using the Non-Filers: Enter Info Here before the 3 p.m. E.T. Nov. 21 extended due date will receive an EIP. This includes federal beneficiaries who already received an EIP but did not receive a supplemental $500 payment for qualifying children."

What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want it to be a gift or not?

You may have a problem, because under current law, employees can no longer claim home office use as a misc itemized deduction on Schedule A. In order to deduct home office for your freelance work, you have to meet the "exclusive use test". So the question is if you use the same space for both functions, have you blown the "exclusive use test" requirement?

Copied from the Journal of Accountancy: "When reporting total Social Security wages paid to an employee on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, employers who deferred the employee portion of Social Security tax should include any wages for which the employers deferred withholding and payment of employee Social Security tax in box 3, “Social Security Wages,” and/or box 7, “Social Security Tips.” Employers should not include in box 4, “Social Security Tax Withheld,” any amount of deferred employee Social Security tax that has not been withheld. Employee Social Security tax deferred in 2020 under Notice 2020-65 that is withheld in 2021 and that was not reported on the 2020 Form W-2 should be reported in box 4, “Social Security Tax Withheld,” of Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement. On Form W-2c, employers should enter tax year 2020 in box c and adjust the amount previously reported in box 4 of the Form W-2 to include the deferred amounts that were withheld in 2021. All Forms W-2c should be filed with the Social Security Administration, along with Form W-3c, Transmittal of Corrected Wage and Tax Statements, as soon as possible after the employer has finished withholding the deferred amounts. These rules will be in the 2021 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (which will be published in January 2021). The IRS says that Forms W-2c should also be furnished to employees." Having to file a W-2c for every employee who has deferred a portion of their 2020 SS, which then is withheld in 2021 is just insane! What a mess! I am so glad I don't have any payroll clients who are doing this.

Whether there is 6 or 11 counties the same logic applies. There was a thread about a month ago discussing the topic, if you want more information.

You don't. The IRS will handle it automatically based on your client's zip code being within one of the 6 qualifying Oregon counties.

I am curious. Is Google Voice easy to use. If you get a call, is it easy to tell which line is active ?

Just Google "Reimbursement of employee phones" and you will find lots of stuff

When I first read your post, I agreed with what you said. But after thinking about it, I think that it's quite likely that a law will be passed next year that will make the these expenses deductible. Second how do you record forgiveness income as of 12/31/20 if the application hasn't been filed? Third, where do you show nontaxable forgiveness of debt income on the tax return?

Last year or the year before the IRS decided that when an employer pays for a cell phone and the monthly bill, that the personal usage by an employee was no longer taxable. Unfortunately, this is not your client's situation. Other nontaxable items are one time payments like Safety Awards or the proverbial "Thanksgiving Turkey" Your client's socalled stipend is not one time but monthly so from my point of view this is taxable income. Actually many years ago I was an Accounting Supervisor for a good sized Forest Products Company, who would buy a truckload of frozen turkeys and then give them out to the employees.

I wouldn't do that. What you have is a M-1 adjustment, a Book Tax Difference. No changes on the Books.