Gail in Virginia

Even if the lawsuit prevails, and the IRS can no longer force us to pay for our PTIN, I feel like it will be quite some time before the dust settles and so I also am going to renew as soon as I am aware that the website is available for 2015 renewals. And maybe they can't force us to have a PTIN, but I infinitely prefer it to providing my Social Security Number as identification on every tax return that I prepare. That is what we used to do, and I was very relieved to not have to do that anymore.

Jack, I did not use ATX in 2013 so this may be way off. But in 2012 when you went to the E-File menu in the task bar within the tax return, clicked on Attach PDF, and scrolled down to the state e-file info, one of the choices was to attach "other state return 1" (and 2 and 3). When I used that for 2012 it attached the PDF of the return to the proper state return and eliminated the error message. I hope this helps.

My electronic copies of signed 8879s are organized by the client, then by the year they are for. My paper copies are stored alphabetically by the year in which they were actually filed regardless of the year they relate to. That way I can burn a whole group at at a time without concern that some of them may not have been held for three years from the date of filing. But even if something gets misfiled, I should still have my electronic copies.

Thanks for sharing. Someday I may even have time to use this information!

I don't think that you can ever get in trouble for sending a 1099MISC when you are not required to, but if you fail to send one that is required there are definitely penalties. So I strongly encourage my clients who even remotely might be required to file the 1099MISC to go ahead and send it. As long as you get the numbers right, the other party should be reporting the income whether they receive a 1099MISC from your client or not, so it should not make a difference to them and might keep your client out of trouble. So why not?

Even if you purchase your insurance from the marketplace, if you are not receiving a subsidy isn't the only question still "Did you have appropriate coverage for 9 of the 12 months in 2014." And if they purchased it on the marketplace, isn't it a given that it is appropriate coverage?

And shortening the amount of time that preparers have to get W-2s filed is only going to result in more corrected W2s IMHO. We already have to have them done and out by the end of January for the employees, but we typically hold the copy for SSA for about 15 days in case the employee notices an error in his social security number or address. (He could have noticed it on his paycheck all year long, but of course they don't look at that except to cash it.)

I am not sure from your explanation if you are talking about the penalties for under-reporting/underpaying or if you are including the penalties for early distribution. I have not typically had any luck with first time abatement for this type of situation, but it does not hurt to try. And I do normally pay the penalties and interest if I feel that it was my fault. But knowing for sure if they had included the information and you missed it, or if they failed to include it and put it in afterwards is tough unless you routinely copy or scan everything they bring to your office, even the stuff that you know you are not going to use. Like MDEA, I have never used my E&O insurance - it would take a really large claim to cause me to do that instead of paying the penalties myself. I feel sure a claim would cause my rates to skyrocket.

Rev. Proc. 2014-42 describes a new, VOLUNTARY, program that if you take a 6 hour refresher course which includes a test of material with a minimum of 100 questions that you pass with a minimum score of 70%, with a total of 18 hours of CE that includes 2 hours ethics, 10 hours federal tax law and 6 hours of federal tax law updates you can receive a record of completion. The test is not required if you are an EA, CPA, attorney or have passed the RTRP exam or are licensed or registered by any state, etc. after passing an examination on federal tax matters. I don't know if you get a certificate suitable for framing (/s).

I wonder what would happen if one year all of the professional preparers decided that it just wasn't worth the hassle, and none of us prepared tax returns....

I guess it's time to add that lawn mower repair business for the off season. /s

You shore do talk purty.

I'm not sure I understand, Michael. Are you saying that 100% of his salary qualifies as Housing Allowance (Parsonage exclusion)? Subject, of course, to him being able to show costs for housing of that much?

Instead of the beneficiaries getting the personal residence exclusion, they should get a stepped-up basis. There may not be any gain since the estate's basis in the residence is the value at the date of death (or 6 months later if the alternate valuation date was elected.) For most estates recently, this has meant a slight loss once the closing costs were factored in since even though real estate values have recovered somewhat they are not trending upward in any great hurry. At least this has been my experience.

Eric, that sounds nice. Truthfully, some of the political posts were getting so mean-spirited, IMO, that I was about ready to quit visiting this site altogether. (It was kind of like a train wreck - I could not NOT look, LOL.) I too enjoyed the post about Fibonacci numbers - I love any post where I learn something completely new. And I like the pictures of people's kids, dogs, cats etc. The idea of keeping it "private" is very appropriate! And I am glad that you took a vacation where you got away from it all. Maybe you can start the new forum off with a peaceful picture of your idyllic vacation spot!

Thanks for the reminder, KC. I have withdrawn authorizations in the past, but it is time to check again!

I found a little more information by Googling, and I quote: At its heart, this whole matter is about the fact that Sundance Television Ltd was an S Corporation. Such a status means that the privately held entity doesn’t pay federal taxes because its profits and losses are directly passed on to it small group of shareholders. They, like Redford in this case, report that information on their personal income tax filings. Redford owned all of Sundance T.V., which owned 20% of Sundance Channel before the 2005 sale. “Plaintiff did not use his ownership interest in INC, nor did he use his indirect ownership interest in Limited or Channel, in any trade or business carried on by him in New York,’ the July 30 filing for Redford by Stephen Solomon of NYC firm Hutton & Solomon says. “Further, plaintiff did not have any property, payroll or receipts located in or deemed attributable to the conduct of a trade or business in New York.’ Redford’s lawyer wants a ruing that his client doesn’t owe NY the money plus all legal fees paid for by the state. What makes this more complicated is that in 2008 Sundance T.V. and its Sundance Channel co-owners CBS and NBCUniversal sold the outlet to the Cablevision owned Rainbow Media. Now known as AMC Networks, they gave the Channel the new moniker SundanceTV starting in February this year. In that 2008 sale the state of New York agreed with the very argument that Redford is making now over the 2005 partial sale.

As far as the residency issue, I noticed that Redford had partners "at NBCUniversal and CBS" and I wonder if they had enough nexus with New York to cause New York to go after the profits on the sale from all of the partners. Even if Redford is a non-resident, if the LLC is either formed in New York or has sufficient nexus to New York, he could be personally liable for taxes to New York I would think, since an LLC is typically a pass though entity. Hard to do anything but speculate without more details.

I think that is why he is fighting this - he did not choose to live in New York, he lives in Utah. While not personally acquainted, I don't believe he has ever lived in New York. But I could be wrong, I don't follow stars' lives. But the OP quotes the lawsuit as stating he is a "nonresident of the State of New York."

I got that email, and this one too: I know 2012 was a rough year for you with ATX and we want to make it up. How does free software sound to help you out and for you to gain our trust back? Please let me know and I can explain the details to obtain this offer. I have been assigned to your account and would love to see you back with us. Andy Arrieta | Bilingual Software Consultant | CCH Small Firm Services 770.857.5500 ext. 1017 | [email protected] 225 Chastain Meadows Court NW, #200 Kennesaw, GA 30144 I don't plan to answer either of them.

I would love to see people held personally accountable, fired if needed, and pension revoked if warranted (or at least reduced to a return of what they have put in plus interest). Not the people who are just trying to do their job get punished by having to do twice as much work in the same amount of time for the same pay.

Do your clients ever question your choice of occupational title for them?

I want one of those!

It doesn't necessarily follow that 100% exceeds 25% of the last 2 months. If you have a tax preparation business, and 90% of your income for the year comes in February and March, then if you make your year end 3/31 100% of your 12 month income is not more that 25% of the last two months. Make sense?

Thank you, KC. That is so simple and reasonable and obvious in hindsight. But I never thought about it. I will now!