Lee B

I hope it helps because I have CP 2000 that I replied to over 10 months ago. I received a letter back in April telling me they needed more time and I am still waiting.

For those clients who want to use the 100% Bonus Depreciation deduction to buy a new Cadillac Escalade they have until December 31st: "But starting next year, the deduction falls to 80%, then by another 20 percentage points each year until it dwindles to 20% in 2026. In 2027, the regular, less lucrative depreciation schedules restart. "

Yes, the IRS and the state DORs make too many mistakes and when they do we can explain the situation to our clients. I remember 5 or 6 years ago I obtained a $35 refund for a client from Oregon, no fee to my client since they are one of my larger monthly writeup/payroll/tax clients. Today, it's unlikely that I would do that. Today, I would explain to my client that it would be an exercise in futility. For a larger amount, let's say more than $200, I would try, but I would tell my client that it will take a long time and it's uncertain if they will get the refund.

All we can do is admit that we're not perfect and we make mistakes too.

Lion, we being accountants are used to being precise. Given the stressful conditions the IRS and other governmental agencies are dealing with, "reasonably close" may be all we can expect.

I had several instances 3 years ago both federal and state where I had to recalculate the interest amounts in order to explain to my clients their refunds, due to no explanation from either the IRS or the ODR. In these cases my interest calculations were within one dollar of what my clients received.

Unfortunately our elected representatives put off dealing with extenders until very late in the year or even worse early next year.

Yeah, Uber, Lyft and other gig tech high flyers spent Millions and Millions of dollars on misleading ads getting that passed. Money gives you power

You need to fill out Part III of Form 8606. In some cases you can avoid the penalty but not the tax.

Given the overall current circumstances that the IRS employees have to work under, it must be a really frustrating place to work.

Yes, underpayment of SUT, Workers Compensation Insurance Premiums & other state and local taxes plus penalties and interest.

I did a little research into that and the TMP is now the "Partner Representative" which is not a legal designation with respect to making financial decisions. The Tax Advisor has a lengthy article about the issues: https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2019/jan/appointing-partnership-representative.html The real question is, "Can a 40% partner designate themselves as the "Partner Representative" when the other two partners aren't really paying attention?

"The IRS has initiated a pilot program that now requires Practitioner Priority Service callers to repeat phrases before being transferred to an IRS assistor. This pilot uses speech recognition to help ensure a live person is calling and not a mechanical device. The new process is intended to improve customer service by reducing unnecessary wait times" Well this would definitely short circuit CallENQ

Yeah, I remember when I used to go thru Form 1040 with my clients page by page. Now I use Drake's 3 year comparison summary plus Schedule C & E

Longtime business clients for 29 years, just finalized their divorce. They each are 40 % owners ( Son owns 20 % ) of an LLC which has a mixture of 9 commercial and residential rentals. For 29 years I have communicated and met face to face with one spouse. My communications with the other spouse and the son has been pretty minimal. Since the spouse I have been dealing with is a minority owner, how do I handle this situation going forward? Hopefully you have some good suggestions Thanks in advance, Lee

Recently there was a lengthy article detailing multiple security problems at many different IRS programs. A recipe for failure: Too many tax law changes, not enough employees, not enough funding, lurching from one tax year to the next tax year putting out one fire after another. As I have said before, 'A slow moving train wreck headed downhill." Long range planning is not a strength of our elected representatives!

"Only "Send Submissions" for 1040 (both State and Federal) will be affected by this shutdown, all other services such as "Get Acks" and all state services will be available after the shutdown."

Now that the risk of winning the "Audit Lottery" is so low, both taxpayers and professionals are being seduced with the lure of "Easy Money" which in their minds justifies all sorts of creative schemes and alternate realities. Every day in the media, we see hucksters being glorified and getting rich. It certainly makes the explanation of "how to comply with rules and regulations" seem dull and unimaginative. It's hard for the satisfaction of being competent and doing a "good job" to compete against the thrill of saving thousands of dollars.

Margaret, Just so you know, your end of post quotes are well chosen. Thanks!

"1040 MeF Production Shutdown Schedule Shutdown begins on Saturday, November 26, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, to prepare the system for the upcoming Tax Year 2022 Filing Season."

I believe CPAs in Oregon are required to take 4 hours of Ethics every 2 years.

I think the last several years it's been about now.

I wonder if they have started outsourcing their support which was predictable after they accepted the very large overseas equity investment.

"The IRS said Thursday it will sending out the letters to millions of families who haven't claimed the Earning Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, the Recovery Rebate Credit or other benefits, and it will be leaving open its Free File program until Nov. 17 to enable families to file tax returns to claim those benefits, depending on their personal and family situation." "For this mailing, the Treasury' Department's Office of Tax Analysis identified individuals who don't typically have a tax return filing requirement because they appear to have very low incomes, based on Forms W-2, 1099s and other third-party statements available to the IRS. The letters are similar to an earlier mailing the IRS sent in September 2020 encouraging 9 million potential non-filers to submit a tax return to claim the initial economic impact payment. They're part of an ongoing effort to spur people who aren't typically required to file to look into possible benefits available to them. Every year, people can overlook filing a tax return when they may be entitled to tax credits and a refund. They can also file a tax return even if they haven't yet received their letter." Can we make this any more confusing?

This reminds of an ex client that I sent a letter at the beginning of tax season telling him I wouldn't be able to prepare his return this year. So he ends up at H & R Block freaking out when Block tells him he owes $10,000. So he calls me begging me to review their return because how could he possibly owe that much. So I reluctantly agreed since he used to be a long time business client. The Block tax return was accurate. He had paid no attention to the changes in his taxable income during 2021 . When I asked him whether he had asked the Block preparer to go over the return with him, he said , "No I just took my documents back and called you.