BHoffman

I don't know why these CPE salespeople think it's a great idea to call and pester us during tax season. I think it's rude and just chewed the head off some twerp from CPE Solutions. They call every....single.....day.....from different numbers so I can't use call blocking

Tick, tock. I have lots of drop offs this week and lots of pick ups next week. Anyone dropping off next week will be given an extension form and a Rita hug with my gentle kiss of death if they start making any noise about needing the return by the 18th.

I'm waiting for details from clients on many forms 8283, specifically on how they determined the valuation and their estimate of their purchase price. I also receive information from clients like $950 total goods donated, and then pages of details like "shorts - 5 pairs", "shoes - 10 pairs", "pots and pans - 7", "knick-knacks - 25". If I charge for time it takes for me to look this stuff up for them is a lot more than the tax benefit Huh. Maybe I'll start pointing that out to get them to agree to an amount under $500. My grasp of the obvious is still firm.

Thanks! That is the easy part of this tax return. Small commercial contractor to large (over $10m average revenues) this year (my first year preparing their reviewed financial statements and 1120S tax return). I don't know why I tried to make that 481 adjustment harder than it is. The HARD part was switching them to PCM. The prior preparer reported everything, including long-term contracts, on a straight cash basis. All of those 2015 contracts were completed in 2016 except one, and they were small and short enough to avoid the lookback. I am using the cutoff method to account for the unbilled costs going forward. Oh, and there is a GAAP entry to account for a loss contract that needs to be adjusted to tax. I'm just about done with this, but my aching back!!!

I have to say that my clients are nicest people! I get tired, achy, grouchy, etc. They bring me things and tell me funny stories. After tackling the BEAR (3115 and POC) and subduing it with my #2 pencil, these 1040s are a breeze.

I'm still waiting for someone to answer that stupid cash to accrual question. Pretty sure you just basically subtract accrued expenses from accrued income to get the 481a adjustment. Broke the pointy part off the top of my head to figure that one out.

No way. It's a hard question to answer. And, I am the queen of dumb questions around here so don't get any ideas

Here are the form 1041A destructions so you can see if you need to file it. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-access/f1041a_accessible.pdf

I'd love to except they have lenders demanding it yesterday. I think cash to accrual is pretty easy. Just basically add the 2015 Accts Receivable and subtract the 2015 Accts Payable and that's the 481a adjustment to spread out over 4 years?

Hi grandmabee - Contractors are treated differently, unfortunately. I cannot figure the 481(a) adjustment from cash to accrual to save my life and I used to do these.....ugh. I need some sleep....

Crap. One of my SCorp contractor clients cracked over the $10m average and I have to start reporting them on accrual and POC, so I'm going to be tackling the dreaded form 3115 and then have to keep track of the look back period. I haven't done one of these in at least 10 years. I'm scared.....

Talked to the client. He doesn't understand this PTP thing and thinks he bought ICAHN stock and will receive dividend checks. I explained that's not how PTP's work. He's going to talk to the broker.

Thank you, Max

If medical marijuana is not a qualified medical expense, then are the HSA distributions used to pay for it taxable and subject to penalty?

Don't forget to paper file form 1041-A.

If you spent 3 hours, bill for 3 hours. "My mind and my time is my merchandise". The good old "Billing Time" song.....

I have a PTP K-1 here (ICAHN). The client's investment advisor put him into this. He invested a whopping $4700 and the K-1 is full of tiny numbers, like ordinary income $-7. I want to ask my client to tell his investment guy to get him out of this PTP. Am I out of line?

The phone call today with my 86 year old deaf client was worthy of an Abbott and Costello skit. "Who's on first?" This so I could answer his question on where his non-working, no income at all, stay-at-home daughter could get tax forms, and after shouting at the top of my lungs that she didn't need to file if she didn't have income. She wants to file, he said, because she has a child and believes she will get a big tax refund. I screamed out the local VITA phone number three times before he got it right, hung up, and then fainted from hyperventilating.

My Clients are partnerships and SCorps Whew and thanks again so very much!

Right. That's the stuff my brain can't assimilate and I've read it a thousand times today...

Thank you so much!

I have one Partnership and one S Corp with the same question. I'm so tired. I'm trying hard to read IRC sections and instructions, etc and my eyes see the words but my brain is not translating the information into anything I can understand, and I can't seem to stop thinking about this and so I can't rest...like a snake eating its own tail... It's a simple question: When determining whether a business is required to change their method from cash to accrual due to gross revenues, what 3 years am I supposed to look at? If the answer is 2013, 2014, 2015 then they are under the wire for 2016 but must change in 2017. If the answer is 2014, 2015, 2016 then I have some 3115 forms to file. Can someone help me out?

RitaB, I suggested 8332 because it's a way to get them discussing, between themselves, who claims which kid. I think lying liars are intimidated by IRS forms. I agree with you that if each parent qualifies as HOH, then 8332 isn't needed or appropriate to actually send with the tax return. I like that form anyway because it just means the parents, custodial or not, know who is claiming the kid and I have it my file with a note saying I asked for it only to avoid confusion.

SFA - I think we are allowed to talk to our clients about potential tax issues in general. You don't have to discuss any specifics in order to talk about IRS response in general when, for instance, two parents claim the same child. EFile rejects, the definition of custodial parent, qualifications for filing as HOH, etc. Give each of them Pubs and highlight relevant paragraphs. Then, I would send them both away to hash this out between themselves. It isn't who files first that decides which kid appears on whose tax return. They have a failure to communicate regarding who claims which kid. You simply need to be told that information by each of them after they reach an agreement. It's the HOH status that is the hard part