Gail in Virginia

Plus, with the perception that everyone else is doing such schemes and getting away with it, most taxpayers feel like they are just leveling the playing field and that it is only fair.

Congratulations, Joel! I am so jealous!

If I understand the question correctly, the FSA is irrelevant. The employer has been deducting an amount from the employee's wages for the partial cost of the health insurance. There is no written plan for the health insurance deduction, and yet they have been treating this as a deferral of income not subject to FICA, FWT, Medicare, etc. A section 125 plan should be in place for this to be tax deferred. Are the employees actually signing an election for the amount withdrawn for health insurance? That is a written document, although I don't believe it is what is typically meant by a plan document. I am wondering if the election the employees' have signed can be formalized as a plan document and if a determination letter could be requested from the IRS that would clarify this and perhaps eliminate the need to change 15 years worth of W2s and other employment tax documents. If the only benefit under this 125 plan is health insurance, no 5500 is required if I remember correctly. i do agree that this forum might not be the best place to seek a definitive answer. And perhaps I have misunderstood some nuance of the question.

It has been a while since I have had one of these. Does the NOL he is carrying forward contain any preference items? I think that it may have to be adjusted for any preference items but then is entered on the 6251 as a deduction and can be used to reduce his income.

If all of the sales are reported under his social security number on the same consolidated 1099B, then I would report them all on his final tax return. HOWEVER, i would report as nominee on all of the sales after his date of death so that the return shows no gain or loss on those sales and instead they are carried to the estate's 1041. Yes, the basis would be the value on the date of death but the holding period for inherited assets is assumed to be long term even if it sold as soon as it is transferred. At least, this is how i would handle it.

My opinion would be that you sign as the successor trustee. You are not her POA any longer because of her death, she can't currently sign for the same reason so even if you were still POA you can't do something that she would not be able to do, and you can't back date them to a date when she was still alive and you were still her POA. But that is just my opinion and I am not a lawyer.

I am just wondering if he has any extra business licenses or taxes that need to be addressed as a contractor working in New York, even if it is only one job for two months.

I hate to say this, but if your son has friends who got really taken to the cleaners I would try to find out who represented their spouse.

Was any of this award due to discrimination based on disability? It seems that I remember there used to be some exception related to that. I don't know if that is still the case, or if I am remembering correctly but if this pertains you might do some research to see if there is any help there.

And also congratulate themselves for saving the taxpayer's money by cutting funding to the IRS for new staff and computers.

I can see this either way. But I don't think that whether or not Partner A can serve as general contractor would mean that he would be limited in terms of the partnership. He seems to have exercised management responsibility by choosing the site since he bought the lot. And he could be providing oversight of the financials, especially since he seems to be providing the money. I am not sure how that is determined/proven after the fact.

Wow, Judy. I am sure those old writings are precious now, but I can't imagine still having tax returns from the 70's. I filed then, but they are long gone. Kind of wish I had saved my very first return, though.

They certainly waited long enough to question this. I hope you will keep us posted about any outcome from this, especially if they do adjust his earnings for 1992 (!).

Considering that most taxing authorities, if not all, won't even accept credit cards unless you go through a service that allows them to have the fee taken from the payer rather than the payee, I don't understand why they are accepting the risk of the market fluctuation on virtual currency.

Very interesting discussion. Thanks!

Working on it but this is not my favorite client - poor organizational skills when it comes to their own company's records.

I guess we use a combination of Lynn and Sara's methods. We do have a sheet that we fill out for each client when they bring in their return. Mostly this is a way to verify name, address, changes to dependents or filing status, and any other questions that I feel every client should be asked either every year or in relation to that particular year. It also has a place to indicate the fee for the return, refund/balance due for the return, when the client was called to pick up the return, when they picked it up and when it was paid for among other internal information. Hopefully whoever takes the return in also has access to ProSeries and can roll the return over so that we have a record of when it came in; then the preparer can update the client status to in progress, need information, sent to review, done, ready to e-file and complete. Mostly it works well, but occasionally when we are reviewing for extension someone gets missed. Usually, it is someone who has not brought their information in at all but always gets an extension and expects me just to know that.

I have a client that we first prepared a return for 2019. The copy of the 2018 return was an 1120S, and showed a "date of incorporation" of 2017. We filed 1120S for 2019 and 2020, and have an extension to do an 1120S for 2021. Client got a letter for 2019 return, and for 2020 and 2021 form 7004 stating that as an LLC they should be filing a 1065 unless they make election to be taxed as S, and that they time for relief has passed unless they apply for a private letter ruling. (i hope this is clear in spite of trying to shorten to provide just the gist.) My question is to wonder why they would not have gotten a letter for the 2018 return. I have not seen a copy of the 2017 return so I don't know what was done then, but I am wondering with the shape the IRS is in how likely it is that the 2018 return was correct and sometime between now and then the IRS "lost" the election that was accepted earlier. I am not wanting to re-do the 2019 and 2020 returns, for the business and the owners. But I may not have a choice unless we go the PLR route. I have not looked at what that will cost yet.

Of all the exams to cheat on....

I believe the requirement states Gross Income over $27,800 for them for a federal return. I would consider that they are required to file. However, if they did not, there would most likely be no consequences assuming basis was reported for all of the income from their stock sales.

Is correcting the address one of the things they can do online if they set up a verified account with IRS?

I think the hours to make times some hourly wage factor would be replacement cost, not necessarily fair market value. Is the museum that they will donate the item to going to insure it? How will they determine the value for insurance purposes? I know more standardized baskets made by a certain company now out of business are not worth as much they once were in my area, BUT this is a one of a kind item and I have no idea how to establish a value unless you can find an appraiser that specializes in unique items of this type, and for an extra couple of thousand dollars in deduction, would it be worth the cost of the appraisal?

I thought maybe they were making butter, or ice cream, and the sheep was doing the churning for them.

I think that unless the child was claimed as a dependent on the parents' return, you do have to enter the 1095A as received, and then indicate that the % allocated to this return is 0. I think -- I have not had one of these that wasn't a dependent for several years now.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=android+phone&_sacat=0&_sop=15 This is the page I was looking at - I don't know if you can get there through this link, and the first one listed doesn't seem like any kind of deal to me.