Abby Normal

The voucher itself or the client letter?

eservices login is my home page when I open IE because for years, you had to use IE to access.

Glad you stumbled upon us! We're like the Shire in Lord of the Rings.

ATX, unfortunately, tries to connect to their servers every time you start it. If your internet is down or their servers are having problems, ATX will open slowly. This is true even if, like me, you have the preferences set to not check for program updates or form updates. That's the first thing I turn off every year.

I was just able login. Try another browser or call the eServices support phone. I use both Firefox and Internet Explorer to access eservices. https://www.irs.gov/e-services

MD has done a decent job of closing down these fraudulent tax shops, some with big name franchises.

My question would be, has the partnership included the cumulative excess business interest expense in the basis adjustments on the worksheets? My gut tells me the answer is no, because they can't know what has happened at the partner level. The next question is, is the adjustment listed just for this year or is it the cumulative amount for all years?

Found this: Perhaps the most complicated aspect of the new law is what happens to the BIE once it is limited. Defined as excess business interest expense (EBIE), the amount becomes nondeductible in the current year and is carried forward to future years. It can only be deducted if, in a future year, the same activity that generated the EBIE in the first place now generates EBII or EBTI. Taxpayer A above, for instance, has EBIE reported to her from her interest in Partnership X. That EBIE will not be deductible in 2018 and will be carried forward to 2019. The only way for A to eventually receive a tax benefit and deduct the EBIE will be if X itself generates EBII or EBTI in 2019 or beyond and reports it on A’s K-1. Despite EBIE being currently nondeductible, A is still required to reduce her basis in X to the extent of her allocation of current year EBIE. Even though it is a carryforward and potentially deductible in the future, basis is reduced immediately. That may lead to basis limitations in other areas, such as the inability to take future losses because of at-risk limitations, or the recognition of gain on a distribution in excess of basis. To the extent that the taxpayer disposes of the investment before getting a tax benefit for the carryforward, the carryforward disappears and is added back to the basis of the investment for purposes of calculating gain or loss on disposition. https://andersen.com/publications/newsletter/Q3-2019/part-i-the-business-interest-expense-limitation-when-investing-in-partnersh

To say that, without mentioning fear of getting sick or dying, or causing a family member to get sick or die, is leaving out the larger picture.

One thing really bad about bitlocker in Win10 is that there's no prompt for a password, so the encryption is useless if someone steals your computer, because it auto-decrypts when you turn it on. We found a way to add a PIN for bitlocker in Win10, but I can't believe MS made it so difficult and techie to do. https://www.howtogeek.com/262720/how-to-enable-a-pre-boot-bitlocker-pin-on-windows/ Otherwise, what's the point? The downside to having a bitlocker PIN or password is you can't remotely reboot unless someone is there to enter the PIN/password for you.

I never use a TB. I much prefer a BS & PL because they give you totals that you need, and TB's do not give those totals.

Go with zero basis. Tell the client what the tax is on the total gain, and let them decide if it's worth it. They might even be in the 0% federal bracket for LTCG.

If income is low enough, you can do both an IRA and a SEP (or 401k, etc). I suppose whoever did the W2's still checked the retirement plan box? Not sure what the rule is on that if there are no contributions one year.

I don't enter 1099MISC unless there's withholding. Otherwise I just put the amount where it belongs. And, like 1099INT & DIV, you may not even need to enter and ID#. And formatting on screens is just for us humans. It doesn't matter one fig for the efile.

The thing I liked least about Carbonite is that frequently changed files, like tax returns, QuickBooks, Excel, Word, etc. are only backed up once every 24 hours. That's a large window for our most precious data to be at risk, and it was totally unacceptable to me. The think I like best about CrashPlan is that it will back up open files and frequently changed files every hour (or 15 minutes or 2 hours per a preference you set). CrashPlan is $10/mo per computer, which can get expensive for a lot of computers. There are a ton of options out there: https://www.lifewire.com/online-backup-services-reviewed-2624712

You need to know the partner's capital BASIS and debt basis. The capital may not equal the partner's outside basis. Did the K1 come with basis worksheets? If not, then ask for them, or reconstruct basis with your client.

Having just the most recent version of a file is very risky. Many times, I've had to restore an older version of a file because the current one has errors or someone (usually me) really screwed up the file. When I close QB, I always create a backup locally and usually keep 10 backups. My backup software then backs up these files and keeps them even when I delete the 11th oldest backup. ATX keeps a backup of every time you close a return, which is why I like to open and close a newly rolled over return to create a backup before I start working.

WARNING FOR CARBONITE USERS: It does not backup the ProgramData folder that ATX uses for it's data and backups, because they deem it to be a system folder. When I used Carbonite, I would copy the entire ATX data folder to another location every day so Carbonite would back it up.

Acronis disk image once a day (at 3am) to 2nd internal drive. Hourly backups using CrashPlan to both external drive and cloud, but possibly looking to switch to EaseUS.

The IRS gets W2 info from Social Security, not from the states. It was a foolish programming decision to not include it on the wage transcript.

I wonder what percentage of those tips went into the Bank of Tom.

Colleges are pretty lenient about what makes you a "full time" student. Did she get a 1098T? Can she check with the college?

I stay informed online, and every time I watch new or read newspapers, they're reporting things I learned about days or in some cases, weeks earlier. A lot of people do crossword puzzles an Sudoku electronically now.

I can never find the right lighting to read a book, or be comfortable holding a book (hand cramp). I read ebooks on my regular sized cellphone with white letters on a black page, which is so great for my eyes. The glare from light shining on a white paper page bothers my eyes. And, if I fall asleep reading an ebook, I never lose my place. And there are no popups in my ebook reader, Google Play Books. If you get books from libraries, be wary of bedbugs. They had to fumigate our local library for bedbugs recently. eBooks don't have the HUGE carbon footprint that paper books do, cutting and hauling trees, processing paper, waste, transporting heavy books around, etc. Trees are essential for our climate, especially now. And a lot of smaller authors can create an ebook whereas they could never get a publisher to do a printing. We're all different, and books just don't work for me.