TaxmannEA

That would make sense Pacun. I'll bet that they are needing ITIN's for the family. In that case, my instructions to them were correct. Thanks for the info.

For about the 4th or 5th time in the last 2 years, I have had a hispanic customer come into the office and inquire about getting "nips". (I'm spelling this like it sounds.) I have absolutly no idea of what they are talking about. Of course to complicate matters, they usually don't speak english well and I don't speak spanish so we use an interpreter. He doesn't understand this either. They always have identification documents for dependants in Mexico and claim that they need to get the nips so they can send them back home to their family and the family will get money. I thought that they were needing ITIN's for their family, but they insist that they just need the nips. Any ideas? I just want to make sure that someone isn't running some kind of con game on the workers in this area. (We have a large immigrant population due to a large packing plant.)

The procedure in a case like this is to enter "DIED" in column 2 of line 6a and attach a copy of the child's birth certificate to the return. I think that the return would have to go in on paper. If it makes no difference in the return, I'd leave the dependant off, unless the parents insist.

Thanks for the feedback. At leasr I'm in good company. I might add that this particular client wasn't trying to defraud the system. He really believed that they had done the returns properly. (Lawyer's advice, no less.) He was aghast when I explained things to him.

I had a person come to me this last summer with an IRS notice about his 2005 1040. Seems that he and his wife were splitting and he claimed the kids and EIC even though the kids lived with the estranged wife most of the year.(Wife had only unemployment, so no chance of EIC.) I got a 2848 signed and convinced them to file MFJ on a 1040X and was able to reduce the liability by about $1700 without using EIC. The problem is that the amended return has evidently been rejected by the IRS, but we never received a notice or a reason for the denial. I've called the practitioner priority line, but they don't seen to be able to find a reason either. They did say that they would re-send the letter in 10 to 30 days- 3 months ago. Any ideas on how to get them to address the issue? I really believe that the X was correct, but you can't argue your point when no one will talk to you.

Let's see........... She only gets haircuts because she is a news anchor. If she was unemployed, she would never groom her hair. (Sounds like my sister-in-law!!) And since she doesn't pay for the stylist, she wants to deduct the tips. I think that the IRS would boot that down the hall. Personal grooming expense is usually not considered deductable as you would groom yourself anyway. It's not an extra ordinary expense.

I think that I need to buy a lottery ticket as my luck seems to be good today. I just called tech support with a problem. They answered immediatly and I had my answer in less than 5 minutes (including small talk). Just thought that I'd give a favorable report for once.

Tom, Have you asked the client to contact a former co-worker ? They might be able to provide the information from their W-2.

You need to go over the 6251 and it's instructions manually. Line 26 is for adjustments to the IRA distribution for AMT. You shouldn't have the gross entered on that line. A lot of software has problems with this forn.

She cannot use the son for EIC as he did not live with her. The son would be a qualifying child for the father as he lived with him. Father does not need to be able to claim the son as a dependant to be eligible for EIC.

The last that I heard was that the IRS had pulled 4136 from E-filing and that they would let us know when it would be available. I have done a couple of returns with the 4136 and E-filed without the form, then given the client a 1040X to claim the credit later.

We have a number of these small towns around here. What I do is enter the address with both the street and box address. ( ex.: 120 W Main St PO Box 420) This seems to make everyone happy.

It is that simple. Either the TP can enter the PIN or you can enter the pin for them. I always do it myself, as I don't want others entering data on the forms. If the TP enters the PIN you need to show their 2006 AGI. When entered by the ERO, that's not neccessary. The PIN can be any 5-digit number and can be the same for both spouses if filing MFJ.

Is the header not printing, or is it printing very lightly? My IL1040s print in a light grey shade, not black like the rest of the form. They've done this for the last 2 years or so.

You would probably figure them separatly and combine. You may have another problem however. The M&IE allowance is for expenses incurred while away fron the taxpayer's tax home. I have seen the IRS take the position that a trucker that spends a large number of days on the road has the truck and it's sleeper as their tax home as they spend almost the entire year living it it instead of a physical address. In that case, the meals and incidentals become normal living expenses and are not deductible. Any coments on this please?

It's my understanding that we cannot use the dependant until we have a SS#. You will have to either wait for the number or file without the dependant and amend later.

Not yet, anyway. It may be enabled later in the season, but for now you would need to paper file that return.

The problem that I see with this is that the taxpayer intends for the fire dept. to burn the building as opposed to his demolishing it. If he had given the property as a training structure to be used multiple times intact for SCBA training or attack drills, then there might be a deduction. In this case, the taxpayer is probably looking for a low cost way to demolish in addition to providing the firefigters a valuable training tool. The landowner is providing a service to the department, but he probably will come out better financialy in the process. Our department burns a structure or 2 every year and the lesser cost as opposed to demolition is usually the big selling point to the owners.

It's my understanding that IDOR is "improving" their computer system. Given the general level of expertise in Springfield, we should be getting ACKs sometime around December.

Remember that we won't be getting any ACKS from IRS until 5 PM Sunday. That may have something to do with it.

I would tend to go with your client's wishes on this one. While he probably was a victim in this scheme, his investment isn't totally worthless and the actual amount of loss is not determined yet. When he receives any restitution, it won't be taxable until the recovery exceeds his investment (I can dream, can't I?) so it won't increase his income at that point. The problem is that this would be a capital loss only when you can say with certainty that the "investment" is worthless, and that may be a while in the future. (I often wonder if you could write these things off as educational expense.)

I just tonight sent my next to last return on extension. I have one more hanging, but it's an elderly lady who is fully paid in. Now I can start working on a 2004 (and 2005 and 2006)that just came in (at the request of the IRS). At least I'll have something to do until Jan 1st!

I would say no deduction as life insurance proceeds are usually not taxable income to the benificiaries. He cannot, therefore, deduct the portion that went to the church as it was from funds that are not includable in his gross income. My question would be " would a ratable portion of the premiums paid over the years be considered a charitable deduction in the years paid?".

Thank you for the greeting !

I'll add my prayers to the others. Remember, don't forget to get your rest yourself. I know how trying and exhausting this can be.