Gail in Virginia

I think if your client could have claimed the dependency exemption except for the divorce, then they are still entitled to the HOH status and EIC because age is not the controlling factor - his being a student is in this particular case. It would be the same if the child were over 18 and permanently and totally disabled. I don't have a cite for this off the top of my head.

As long as we keep the conversation positive.

Thank you so much, Rita! We had wonderful food and fellowship, and I was reminded once again how special a breed most tax professionals are! I would love to meet more of you, and see those I have met again. Unfortunately, I am not as brave as Rita to open up my house to an undetermined number of people showing up! You are the best, Rita!

John and I spent the night in Gatlinburg and will head to Crossville later. I keep forgetting it is a different time zone!

And I plan to drive from Virginia to Gatlinburg TN tomorrow, and then on to Rita's on Saturday! Back to to Gatlinburg Saturday night, and back to Virginia Monday. Don't know what I was thinking - I am still so far behind! But this will be fun! (Except for all the riding around, and even that won't be too bad - might make up for some of the time I didn't see my husband during tax season to be trapped in a car with him now!)

I agree with you, John. I think that if I did a lot of EITC returns, or returns with itemized deductions being the main separation from a short form I would be very concerned. And even though I don't anticipate much impact on my business (at least not right away) I do suspect that if I want to sell my business and retire in a year or two, or four or five, this will probably impact the marketability of a tax firm in general. Time will tell - and it would be interesting to see if they anticipate growth in 2025 when the laws for individuals will revert back to their current status. I think it is 2025 - I don't plan to be in business that long.

I think that it depends on your niche in this business. Most of my clients are probably either already filing short form, or they have businesses/farms/rental property and that won't be any simpler. I do very few returns that have itemized deductions only. I may lose a few clients, but I don't think that it will substantially impact my business.

I am trying to get there. My husband and I will be staying in Gatlinburg, and that is farther from Rita than I thought it would be. And I have stayed farther behind than I thought I would - too many graduations and other events to attend. But if the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, we will be there. Please PM me directions. And refresh my memory. I seem to recall we needed to bring a chair; were we supposed to bring food? I know some were offering to bring specialties of their location, but I hate to cross state lines with moonshine so not sure what to bring.

Thanks, Judy. I just kept thinking this was too good to be true for the client.

If this has been discussed, I could not find it but sometimes I don't choose the right keywords. I have a client who has an NOL generated in 2017 by his Schedule C business. This if the first year his business did not have a profit, so I am carrying the loss back. He also has been getting his health insurance through the marketplace with a subsidy. Two years ago, he had to pay back about $1200 of the subsidy he received. Now with the loss carried back to that year, he not only does not owe the repayment but is entitled to more subsidy than he actually received - about $2000 more. I haven't found anything to say that recalculating the income does or does not affect the ACA subsidy and result in refundable credit. Does anyone have any knowledge about this? TIA

I don't think it can be considered a loan, since from the original post it doesn't sound like there would be an obligation to pay the loan back if the investment had lost money instead of making money. Nor was the documentation for a loan done stating when and how it would be paid back with what rate of interest. Sara's answer seems to me to be closest to what he wants to accomplish. Or pay the taxes himself, figure what the amount is that his tax increased because of investments for other people, and have them reimburse him. But if this is going to be an ongoing arrangement, it sounds to me like they should form an investment partnership to hold all the money and report all the income and then each investor would get a K-1 to reflect their share of the gains or losses. But I know that is not helpful retroactively.

Virginia does the same thing. I even have one client that I cannot e-file the state return because the amount withheld exceeds their parameters for what is normal. And the amount withheld is from a Virginia Retirement System pension. Plus VA changed their account number system a few years (maybe 10? Time slips on by) ago to more closely match the federal. Except VRS is still using the old number and has not changed to the new system. Gotta love bureaucracy.

I will drive 18 miles every day for $5000.

That is my understanding of exactly what the statute means. If I know someone only because I do their tax return, I will not even admit that I have met them. And all of my employees sign confidentiality agreements that spell out they are never to admit to knowing anything about anyone they see here at the office, or they don't work here. I have wondered, if I decide to retire and sell my business, how I can do that and still not violate this law.

The 3115 can be a bit daunting at first glance, but it is not as bad as it looks. You got this!

I am still digging my way out from under work, plus the managing of my parents' estates. But I have a reservation in Gatlinburg, which I think gets me to within driving distance (not as short a distance as I would like, but doable) so I am planning to be there if at all possible.

In the state of Virginia, under a will, a contingent beneficiary(ies) can wind up inheriting if the primary beneficiary disclaims all or part of the inheritance. I don't know if it is the same in other states. But I do know that works in Virginia, and you can disclaim all or part of an inheritance. I don't know if it works for a trust, or for a named beneficiary on an IRA or life insurance.

I think you have to send the IRS a copy of the 1095A and the 8962 showing 0% allocated to the son.

Thanks for sharing that information !

I don't feel like I slow down until sometime in May. We have put off bookkeeping for some of our clients that can, and have quarterly payroll tax reports to do, plus the returns on extension and the several 990s that I do that are due May 15. So I usually get to come our of the pressure cooker more gradually, which I think helps avoid such a sudden let down. This has been an incredibly hard season for me, however, and I am looking forward to some down time to recover and re-think some priorities. So many of my clients have been sympathetic and supportive when they found out that my mom (who was also my business partner and mentor and sometimes chastiser) passed away Feb. 1, but I really wanted to just not talk about it with them. Sometimes I find it very hard to accept sympathy without going to pieces.

It doesn't impact the deduction for mileage, but that is how I get the percentage for personal property taxes that are deductible. In our locality, it also impacts how much the personal property tax will be the following year - if business use is more than 50%, then the vehicle no longer qualifies for car tax relief on the personal property tax bill.

I guess the advisor is thinking that the amount was not part of the balance of the IRA at 12/31/17 and therefore will not be included in the calculation because it isn't in the 5498 amount. But I thought the reason 5498's were not issued until May or June was so they could include contributions made in the first 3 1/2 months of the year for the previous year, and I would think that would include rollover amounts. But I am just speculating and thinking out loud. I don't think it is legitimate, but you might get away with it. Like so many other things....

I don't know, but since no one else has answered my first guess would be to see if there is an update available that would correct this. Other than that, I got nothing.

Thanks. I don't do enough NY to be comfortable, and from what I hear they are almost as bad as CA ...

I am doing a return for a kid that graduated from college in 2017 and is playing basketball for a minor league team. Of course, income is low and we are filing several different state returns. My question is about the amount reported to NY. He was not a New York resident, although the basketball league has their headquarters in Secaucus NY (I assume - that is return address on W2). The entire amount of his earnings is shown as NY earnings in the state part of the W2, with 0 withheld. He only earned $5700 last year (roughly) and is paying taxes of $107. I don't see anything else to do but pay it, but I wondered if someone with more NY returns experience (or basketball player experience?) had another suggestion. I keep thinking that if this is right, they would have withheld some state tax for NY like they did for VA, his domiciliary state.