Gail in Virginia

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm just curious - if you notify the bank as soon as you get the statement, but that isn't soon enough, just how soon do you have to notify them of fraud? And while i would want to deduct this loss, doesn't it have to be done as a casualty and theft loss?

According to the NATP update webinar I was in last week, there will be a lookup site.

One error in what I said - I should not have used Congress and reasoned in the same sentence.

I understand your reasoning, Tom. But the point of the PPP loan was to continue payments to employees so they did not wind up getting the enhanced unemployment benefit. Therefore, the tips were part of what they were getting and counted towards their earnings, and towards the loan forgiveness for their employers. At least, that would be how I would justify it. Congress may have reasoned differently.

If the son had insurance through the marketplace, even though the policy was in his dad's name, then when he filed and claimed himself he needed to report that 1095A on his tax return. The insurance can be allocated anyway that is agreeable to both the son and the father, so you can complete the son's return showing an allocation of 0% since the father's return already shows 100%. At least that is how it worked for me on the one of these I had a few years ago.

In Virginia, this is normal for the real estate not to be re-titled on the death of the spouse. When my mom passed away, all of the real estate held personally was still in joint name with my dad and I don't recall any issues with selling the property. We did not have to deal with any mortgages as they had no debt to speak of. I think mortgage originators are either lazy or just looking for something to question so they can "demonstrate" they are doing their job of checking everything thoroughly.

I should have said 990 is the same as business efile. Brief shut downs only - couple weeks around end of year, sometimes over night or on a weekend for maintenance.

I don't think that the efile system for corporate or 990 returns shuts down, so you should still be able to file the return. The modernized efile system for 1040's is the one that shuts down for a couple of months.

There is no penalty for filing late, and the only penalty is for missing three years in a row, upon which the tax exempt status is revoked. So if you filed 2017 and 2019, I would wait to see if you hear from IRS about 2018.

I am not a big fan of QB online, but I wonder if a chromebook would run the online version and be a relatively cheap solution?

I have that problem with phantom unread posts after Judy has moved something to a more appropriate topic. Usually if I just go back to the menu and click the button beside the heading so that I mark all topics as read, I don't have the problem (until the next time I do.) YMMV.

I did not remember that, and the real question will be can I remember this when I actually want to be able to use it.

If it was a tax-exempt entity, would they be listed in the IRS website database at https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/tax-exempt-organization-search-bulk-data-downloads

Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought that ILLMAS set everything up on his desktop version of QB, and charged them for that. Then they decided, against his advice, to go with QB Online and do their own payroll. I assumed they would be setting that up themselves. If he has do the work over again on the version they purchased, of course he will charge again. It is new work. BUT if they are setting it up themselves, I am not sure he can charge them even though he more than likely gave them a break, however slight, for setting it up because he thought it was an ongoing revenue generator. And LIon, anyone on here would help you if we really thought that you needed our help.

If you already charged them the set up fee, I don't think you can charge that again. But I agree with Lion, that all the questions they ask so they can do it themselves and save money have to cost them. Just my opinion.

Actually I have loaded transcripts for deceased taxpayers IF I have a POA from the executor/CTA for the estate. But the POA signed by the taxpayer is no longer valid once they are deceased.

It is just hard for the executors to be patient when this is the last thing they are waiting on to close the estate out. And now they are concerned that when they finally get the refund, six months later they will get an interest check for the refund.

We prepared a final 1040 for a deceased taxpayer that was due a substantial refund. The return was completed June 3, 2020 and mailed June 4, return receipt requested. The receipt shows the return was received June 18. However, the refund tracker on the IRS website shows that the information entered to track a refund is incorrect. I don't know if this means the IRS has not processed the return into their system, or that the refund tracker cannot be used because the taxpayer is deceased. One of the executors called the IRS and was unable to get any additional information about the status of the return. Does anyone know more about how the tracker works? Or a way to find out where in the process a paper filed return is?

I think the break for the military is that they can extend the five year period to up to fifteen years, such that they need to have lived in the house for two of the last fifteen years instead of two of the last five. But I am not positive - not as many military in this end of the state as in your neck of the woods.

I am glad this turned out as well as it did. I have always had my share of mistakes, but it seems like it is getting harder for me to accept that. And I don't want to stay in this business past the time that I can keep up with the changes. As fast as they are coming these days, I don't know how much longer that will be.

Makes me wish I did not do payroll!

I totally agree with what Sara told you. We aren't perfect, we are just doing the best we can in a stressful situation. We try to do enough work between February and the middle of April (most years) to carry our business the whole year. So no matter what procedures we put in place to make sure we get things right, something eventually is going to slip though the cracks. But boy do I hate having finding these errors. And I can tell you do to, which tells me you are trying the best you can to do it right the first time. Hang in there, and remember - it is only money! As much as I stress over these issues, imagine if I were a doctor and my mistakes cost lives!

Ouch. So far I have been lucky enough that the marketplace insurances I have missed were because they did not give me the form and I had no reason to know. I hope someone can offer something to help cause I got nothin'.

I have a client who is having problems with this for her son. He filed a return about three years ago, and not again until this year. He doesn't have a home loan or a credit card. He doesn't have a cell phone in his name. I don't know what she is supposed to use. On top of everything else, he is in jail right now. She has filled out a 2848 so she can talk to the IRS, but they won't take that when she calls - it has to go to the CAF unit first and be set up. So 6 weeks or more for that, and 6 weeks or more for processing the refund after they establish identity.