Gail in Virginia

I thought to be able to deduct the loss you only had to meet the active participation rules, not the material participation. If the average use is 7 days or less according to Section 1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A), then it appears that it is not a rental activity. So would that not make it a sch. C activity, with no material participation on the part of the owner? But with all investment at risk? I am just asking - this is an interesting discussion. And I am also curious as to how the average is calculated. If 9 out of 10 tenants use if for 7 days or less, but the 10th tenant uses it for 6 months, is the average 7 days or less based on 90% of tenants use, or is it 24.5 days based on 9 x 7 plus 182 days, which equals 245 then divide by the 10 tenants.

In the back of my mind, I am remembering that farmers can defer reporting sales of livestock during a drought until the following year. Have you looked into that as well?

And one point in time, many years ago, I believe that an IRS agent told us that the amount of income was $100 and tax was $10, but my memory isn't what it used to be so I might have those amounts slightly wrong. But I am reasonably sure that there is an amount that makes it not worth their trouble. However, this assumes that everything else on the return is going to match their records and therefore this amount won't be added to some other change to cause them to send the CP notice. As my mama used to say, you pay your money and you take your chance.

I remember at an IRS forum back in the days of paper filing hearing an IRS agent say that he knew it wasn't the preparer's fault when they got returns in with no signature - they could see the highlights and the sticky notes saying sign here, but there was still no signature. I also put the drop off box in at our office because I had a customer that left his papers in the grill out back. Took a couple of years but I finally convinced him to use the box instead of the grill.

I had one this year that was very similar, except the TP had a grand-daughter who was able to verify that the wife did not get an IP Pin for the year. My guess is that it depends on when during the year the H died. If it was early enough for IRS to get notified, they would not have issued the IP Pin. If it was very close to the time they issues those pins, there might be one out there.

If you have marketplace insurance, whether you get an advanced credit or not, the IRS expects a reconciliation. They are looking not only to see if you got a credit you shouldn't have but if you should have gotten a credit you didn't get. I would say that you do the 1095A the way it came without including any reimbursement they received from the Union. I wonder if the amount of insurance premium they receive back in 2025 based on their 2024 situation causes part of the union reimbursement to become taxable income. And if so, for 2024 or for 2025 when they received the reimbursement?

Interesting - the bill seems to say according to your summary that current licensed CPAs are exempt from additional requirements but not mention EA's. Is that because IRS already has authority over us? Or just another example of no one knowing what an EA is.

Never mind - it has been found.

Does anyone know if it is possible to get a duplicate copy of the receipt for form 2290? I know that it came in last year but apparently it has been filed someplace where it can't be located and the Virginia DMV has this account screwed up and every single year we have to send the receipt in for one of the trucks manually even though IRS sends them a copy electronically when we file.

Sometimes I have been able to get them to forward it to my email so I can print it off rather than wait for them to figure out a way to print it. I hate having to go back to one I have started.

Virginia tax returns don't quite follow the federal due date - they are usually a few days later. Since for 2020 the return was due June 1, I would assume the date would be June 1, 2024 but I have not researched that.

Happy birthday in advance!

I think I would vote for option 1. If you use option 2, then dad has still filed a tax return as far as the IRS is concerned and unless he had no income it is an incorrect return.

Even if you get a penalty, it is probably less than if you wait until later to file it. And I would have a problem doing the tax return and checking the box that the 1099s were done, or none were due, if I knew that wasn't true.

I only got this last year on business returns and it seemed to relate to IRS having a responsible party on file. I ignored it. I think to see what it said I clicked on "display selected e-file action required" in the menu under e-file on the e-file manager. If I remember correctly. I haven't e-filed anything but 1099s this year

I haven't filed because I didn't get around to it, and then when they said I didn't have to I thought maybe I would never have to and that would just be one less thing to do. Not that I care about reporting the information, I just get tired of filling out ridiculous government forms.

A lot of what you say is over my head when it comes to software issues, but I have learned from you anyway. Please don't go.

I keep both a pdf and a paper copy, although I destroy the paper copy after three years. I keep thinking about going to just pdf copies but i am afraid I will miss making the pdf copy or the paper copy, so i just prefer to have both for a while. The pdf is easier to work with if someone needs an extra copy or if I need to look something up while someone is on the phone.

I am getting whiplash trying to keep up with whether I do or do not have to file this.

Even the money that I have invested in stock is much more readily available than used to be the case. The last time I requested a withdrawal from my broker, I was told it only took 1 day for the trade to settle, and that if I had linked a bank account to the brokerage account I could have had the money transferred into my bank account in about 24 hours. For most purposes, that is fast enough for me.

Curious why son wants to be paid for time spent working on house - is he trying to get part of the money or trying to save mom some taxes? Wondering if he realizes that if he gets paid for his time working on the house it would be considered self employment income and he would have to pay income and SE tax on that money. Might make getting paid a little less attractive to him, depending on the bracket he is in if he realizes he will be paying half or better in tax.

When I used ProSeries I could do this through the software but it looks like through ATX I am going to have to go through the BSA site. That is a little disappointing.

I am not sure what the business cards and listed as a business in the state where the do business has to do with this. If they are a contractor and are not incorporated, I would expect a 1099 NEC for amounts over $600. If they don't have business cards or otherwise show that they are a business, then perhaps they should have received a W-2 for all the amounts they received and not be considered a contractor. Is that the point that you are trying to make? I do agree that it is not my job to allow or disallow deductions but to point out what they need to do to be in compliance with the law.

The problem with going back to writing checks and putting them in the mail, is that the mail is becoming more and more unreliable, at least where I live. When it sometimes takes 3 WEEKS or more for a check to arrive where you mail it, you cannot rely on that method to pay bills on time. And we have had problems with mail being stolen from not just personal mail boxes but from the blue boxes that belong to the postal service. So what are you going to do?