Lee B

Was all of this activity finalized before January 1st 2018 ?

I think you have posed an imponderable.

Under the TCJA, I don't believe any theft losses will be deductible. Also, Casualty Losses will only be deductible if they occurred due to a Federally declared disaster.

According to an article in Tax Pro Today, the IRS plans on targeting S Corp Distributions , "As part of the S corporation distribution campaign, the IRS noted that S corps and their shareholders are supposed to properly report the tax consequences of distributions. The service has targeted three issues as part of this campaign: When an S corporation fails to report gain upon the distribution of appreciated property to a shareholder. When an S corporation fails to determine that a distribution, whether in cash or property, is properly taxable as a dividend; and, When a shareholder fails to report non-dividend distributions in excess of their stock basis that are subject to taxation. For this campaign, the IRS plans to conduct issue-based examinations, suggest changes to tax form, and conduct stakeholder outreach"

What I do in a situation like this is I tell the client there will be penalties and interest then I let the IRS calculate the numbers, which I double check of course. This approach lets the IRS be the bad guy, instead of me. Then if I find a mistake, saving the client money, I can be the bearer of good news, sort of.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to post a link. This is the lead item on the council's website, which will pop up if you search.

From the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability: We are circulating a position statement for nonprofit organizations (including churches) concerned about a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that taxes parking benefits provided by many employers. A new provision in the tax law requires tax-exempt nonprofit organizations to file federal income tax returns and pay unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on the cost of parking provided to employees, even if the organizations do not actually conduct any unrelated business activities. The law states that the Treasury Department is to provide guidance on the complex issue of how cost is to be determined for this purpose. In addition to filing federal income tax returns, many nonprofit employers affected by the new law will also be required to file state income tax returns and possibly pay a state income tax as a result of the new federal income tax. By signing onto this position statement, you will be advocating for the repeal of this new burdensome provision in the law...either by legislation or effectively by action of the Treasury Department. The position statement may be used to communicate these concerns to members of Congress and/or Treasury officials. Actually, the TCJA's language also includes, Travel Reimbursements and Meals in addition to some other fringe benefits which would be subject to taxation. The consequences of rushing through a complicated tax bill in a few weeks without a single committee hearing will be coming home to roost for many more months.

After so many years of using ATX and other forms based software before ATX, seeing the $ amounts that I expect to see on the the same lines year after year helps me as I work me way through each return before I actually perform a detailed double check. These changes will lower my productivity next year, because I will have to take more time.

It is a big deal, because they could just have eliminated the alimony and the DPAD adjustment lines at the bottom of page 1, replaced the exemption line with the 20 % PTE Deduction at the top of page 2 and left the rest of Form 1040 unchanged. Then added 1 new form to calculate the PTE Deduction instead of creating 6 new supporting forms ? What a waste !

This is a solution in search of a problem. This is totally nuts, just so some ******** can hold press conferences, pat themselves on the back, wave around a postcard and tax about tax simplification.

And here it is without the 6 supporting schedules

Terry, Are using Win 7 or Win 10 ?

Excellent article in the CPA Journal : https://www.cpajournal.com/2018/06/22/first-look-at-the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-8/

According to an article on the Moss Adams website, there are 22 states that maintain a rolling conformity with federal law using AGI as the beginning point. There are 20 states that maintain a fixed date conformity with federal law, using AGI as the beginning point. Then there 5 states that use Federal Taxable income as their beginning point. First ,any state that has rolling conformity and uses Federal Taxable Income as their starting point will be allowing the PTED. Second, any state that has fixed date conformity and uses Federal Taxable Income as their starting point may allow the PTED depending on their date of conformity.

Oregon has 4 personal tax brackets, 5 %, 7 %, 9 % & 9.9 %. In Oregon the 9 % rate is reached rather quickly. Oregon never allowed the DPAD deduction at the bottom of page 1 of the 1040. Four years ago Oregon passed a reduced PTE tax rate of 7 % for any S Corps or Partnerships who employed at least 1 full time employee ( not an owner ) in each calendar quarter.. Therefore the TCJA's 20 % PTE Deduction created a double dip situation. Oregon's response was to not allow the TCJA 20% PTE Deduction. Instead Oregon decided to keep their reduced rate of 7 % for PTE 's with at least 1 full time employee plus allowing Schedule C filers with at least 1 full time employee to also use the lower rate.

I read an article yesterday explaining that several Central American Governments were in the process of passing laws that would require all businesses to give each government's revenue agency direct access to each business's financial records. From that information, the revenue agency will prepare the tax returns.This would certainly increase the amount of small business write up work. I could see this spreading to other countries, like India and Italy where it's estimated that only about 60 % of Taxable Income is actually reported.

Oregon is the same, no tax on SS. However itemizing for state only isn't less work, so I am not lowering my fees.

In Oregon, where you are allowed to itemize on the state return even when you are taking the standard deduction on the federal return and the state standard deduction is very low, I anticipate no effect on my practice.

Normally, if the election was made in April, wouldn't the effective date be January 1, 2019 ? Or is this a brand new entity ? It's not clear from your post.

"The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a section of the Tax Code that allows taxpayers to take advantage of a new investment vehicle called Opportunity Funds. The purpose of this new investment vehicle is to help direct resources to low-income communities, known as Qualified Opportunity Zones, through a more market-driven approach." At first I assumed that this would never apply to one of my clients. However as I read the this article in Tax Pro Today, I realized that in the right situation, significant tax deferral plus actual tax saving could be realized. First a taxpayer can create their own Opportunity Fund and second the taxpayer self-certifies with the IRS that their fund meets the requirements. This is big because other vehicles in the past required the involvement of third parties who, of course, charged very high fees, which meant that only the very wealthy could justify participating. This strategy appears to be actually useful for any taxpayer willing to reinvest capital gains for 5 years or longer. I actually have 2 or 3 clients that might interested. For more details, click on the link: https://www.taxprotoday.com/opinion/opportunity-zones-an-innovative-investment-vehicle-created-by-the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act?feed=00000158-3f5d-dcbd-abf8-ff7f12270000

Wow, we are really getting in deep doo doo here ! How many internet based apps and functions will we have to avoid in order to keep our data safe and secure ???

At least with the 2018 W - 4, most employees ignored pages 2 thru 4 and filled out page 1 the same way as in prior years. Bookkeepers and Payroll personnel will be pulling out their hair with millions of employee questions.

New phishing emails from scammers are posing as state accounting and professional associations to lure tax pros into volunteering sensitive info, the IRS said. Tax professionals have reported getting emails that tried to trick them into disclosing their email usernames and passwords. Cybercriminals targeted tax pros in Iowa, Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina. The IRS also received reports about a Canadian accounting association.

I have filled these out for years for my write up/payroll/tax clients. I filled one out several weeks ago, but I had to call the census bureau and get a temporary password so I could log on to the website and fill out the pages of information for my client.

I guess I will have to suffer thru, we don't have any of those in our area.