Sara EA

Don, estate and trust returns can be tricky, and state laws may differ from the federal. If you think it is beyond your current level of expertise, don't hesitate to tell the client that and perhaps recommend someone who is more familiar. I do lots of 1041s referred to me by attorneys and financial advisors. (I am not looking for another referral! I have more work than I can handle.) At the same time, I refer resident alien and some returns with odd foreign income and a few others to people smarter than I am. I have done only a few farms and nonprofits and would decline any new ones because I'm just not comfortable with them. Tax law is so complicated now that I think eventually we'll all have to specialize just like medical people do.

You don't say what the K-2s are from. If publicly traded partnerships, losses can only be netted against gains from the same partnership. Say basis was zeroed out in 2018 so $4k loss was carried forward. Income of $4k in 2019 would release the $4k loss carried over. A sale would release all the losses, but you said there was none so the presence of a 4797 is confusing.

I always chuckled over that when I saw it in Pub 17 (remember that bible?). In over 20 years I have never had a single client report stolen loot to me. I think I counted a total of five clients who reported use tax. Had one this year who got a letter from DRS demanding use tax, saying it got the info from US Customs (client bought a fancy computer from overseas). That was a new one to me.

Yes, the 2020 version of the CTC will be in effect, as well as the additional CTC rules. No credit for children age 17. What I'm concerned about is that people used to get, say, a $4k tax credit for two elementary school kids. In 2021, it was $6k, but they already got $3k, so on their tax return the credit will be $3000 instead of their usual $4k. I have some clients who purposely have very little withholding because the CTC wipes out most of their tax liability. They may not be happy this season.

I'd want to know a lot more about Google Voice before committing. Privacy and security are not nouns not usually associated with Google. Do they record your calls to teach the artificial intelligence? Do they scan calls and texts for keywords to target ads on anything else Google or sell that personal info to advertisers? I'm just wary about giving more personal info to companies that make their money off of personal info.

THEIR problem, not yours.

You can change your IRS and professional contacts online. Filling out that change of address form at the post office notifies most financial institutions. When we moved, I hadn't yet gotten around to notifying Vanguard, bank, etc, but their mail started arriving at our new address. Landline may come as a package deal with your internet provider so you may just port your number. I am not comfortable doing financial anything on my cell so keep the landline for that purpose plus the fax. Also, see how cell service is at your new location before you bail on the landline. You are not addressing the really big hassles about moving (trying not to think about them?) We moved two years ago and we will NEVER do it again. It is work going through every single thing you own and deciding what the heck to do with each and every one (keep, sell, donate, recycle, junk). Then you have to do those things (pack, sell, donate, recycle, junk). You have to get the old home ready to sell (fix that drip, paint the bathroom, replace that screen, etc.) In your new place, you have to decide where to put everything and unpack it all, realize what's missing and go buy it (shower curtain hooks, door mat, electrician to install extra outlets, whatever). Take as many CPEs in January as you can because you won't have any more time. That said, it can be so worth it! We love our new home and community. As for retirement, weigh how much you love what you do against how much you love to do the things you have planned in retirement. (Definitely have plans.) It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Keep a few select clients, or work at a CPA firm just during tax season, or ditch it all and have fun doing the things you haven't had time to do. They're all good choices so you can't go wrong.

MC, you can allow popups on certain sites in Firefox. Copy the web address, then go to tools>settings>privacy & security. Scroll way down to "block pop ups" and add the site you want to allow in the exceptions box.

We've had clients who expressed amazement that a real person answers our phone. Maybe we should automate to something with 12 menus so we can be more "with it." (We actually considered having a menu option when folks were calling nonstop about stimulus payments, when they'd come, how much, I didn't get mine yet. The message would tell them WE HAVE NOTING TO DO WITH IT and give them the IRS number.)

cbslee, can't you just make Firefox or one of the others your default browser?

I use Firefox for both IRS stuff and Vanguard (and everything else). Very few sites don't play nice on it. The program automatically blocks trackers, and you can turn off animation for each site. I hate bouncing ads!

It depends on what state you're in. It's a crime to fail to file a return in NY, punishable by fines and prison time. Best to let an attorney handle it.

Free tax prep?

You may want to hold off and refer your client to a tax attorney. If the corp should have been filing in NYS and may owe big time, but the state doesn't know about them, they will often strike a deal. The attorney tells them they have a delinquent client who owes $XXX and is willing to come forward and pay $whatever. The state may just agree or at least negotiate because if the client doesn't come forward and never gets caught, it gets nothing. Penalties and interest go away with the deal. (I learned this from a guest speaker in my master's program. His clients found $10 million in cash in a deceased relative's attic--the person owned a lot of real estate in NYC and collected much of the rent in cash. The attorney presented an anonymous deal to the state and negotiated from there.) It will cost your client but you should give them the option. I know what you mean by having to jump through hoops to give away money. Our stupid grocery store with its stupid loyalty card and stupid rewards points gave me the option of donating my rewards to the local food bank. When I tried to do that, I learned I had to download an app to my phone to make the donation. While I had no problem with giving away my points, I was not going to give away my privacy and allow them to track everywhere I go and everything I do.

IRS Newswire today states it will send both Letter 6475 (EIP) and Letter 6419 (Advance CTC) in Jan 2022. Yes! I imagine the agency didn't like correcting the recovery amounts any more than we did trying to pin them down. Because these letters will arrive in Jan when tax docs start arriving, hopefully most clients will know enough to put them aside with their other tax stuff.

You're kidding, right Kev? Transcripts for 2021 aren't available at the start of tax season, so that may crimp your plans.To open an IRS account, you not only have to get through all the security questions but upload a photo ID and send them a selfie taken with a cell phone. Can/will all your clients do that? I can do it, but it would require unfreezing my credit reports, take a lot of time, and I don't want to. Might be better to just say you will assume each client got the $1400 stimulus unless they prove a different amount. As for the CTC, IRS is supposed to send a letter in Jan so require that.

We send a client questionnaire to everyone and an organizer to those who use them. (We got so many blank ones back we stopped trying with everyone.) This year's questionnaire will start with a warning that "Your return will not be started until this questionnaire is completely filled out and returned." First questions will be the 2021 stimulus amount and the advance child tax credit received. We already have virtual currency questions as well as foreign accounts, changes in banking info or address, etc. Last year we added a question about cash charitable contributions and a blank to fill in the FMV of noncash contribs, with an explanation that FMV is the amount you paid for new items like toy or food donations or what the charity will sell them for if used. It saved a lot, but not all, phone calls when clients claim $4k in used clothes.

Interesting that you can no longer contest answers. Every exam cycle some "correct" answers were contested by individuals and the professional associations, and a few were always changed and scores adjusted. (Some actually had two correct answers; sometimes the law had changed but the question hadn't been updated so all responses were considered correct.) Unless the test writers suddenly got perfect, chances are that some of the "correct" answers on the tests taken now aren't the only ones or are wrong, but you have no way to argue. Lion, I too took the HRB EA prep course, taught by Maureen Murray in North Haven. I too did nothing but study for months and HAD to pass all four parts because I was never going to go through that again. And Terry, I had not even had a course in corps when I took the SEE, but I studied everything I could and passed on the first try. It's possible, so go for it!

Lion, you and I must have taken the EA exam together! It was in 2004 at a hotel in Bristol, near ESPN and its huge satellite dishes. I was kind of glad we couldn't take our exams home. When I got back I opened a beer and went out on the deck to enjoy the relief and marvel at the hurricane-threatened sky. If I had had the exam questions, I would have been in the house frantically looking up things I wasn't so sure of. And Gail, not only were no calculators allowed, but no phones (lest you call a friend on the West coast where they started the same exam three hours later and divulge some of the questions). The proctors announced they would follow you to the restroom to assure no phone calls were made, but they never did that. With today's phones, you could probably send pics of the entire exam from your watch. Are calculators and/or phones allowed now? Does everyone get the same exam?

I wish you success, not luck! Back in Catherine and my days, the exam was four parts over two days (8 to 4:30). The third part was corps, which has now been rolled into the business/entities part. That change puts all the worst cougars in one cage. Everyone thought individuals would be a breeze, but that was not at all the case. I too passed all four parts on the first try, but my corp score was barely passing. Back in those days, you got to take your exam home with you because everyone got the same one at the same time. You could contest answers graded wrong, and the professional associations dug in and did just that. After the corrections (two answers correct, all answers correct), my corp score went into the high 80%s. Can anyone contest answers anymore? A disadvantage we had is that passing scores were curved, like the CPA exam, so if a bunch of geniuses happened to take the test when you did you might not pass with the same score you earned at a different sitting. Do your best, answer every question even if it's a wild guess, and do NOT go back and change any answers. Time again, that practice has proven to be fatal.

Contact the IRS liaison for your area. They deal with systemic problems. Explain that the computer is not reading the form and fortunately for this client, the refund will be corrected. How about the other taxpayers who had the same issue but didn't get through to such a patient agent? Ask that all such returns be reviewed. The liaisons can make sure problems with IRS systems get fixed.

I actually prefer the Regs to the Code because they usually contain great examples. Anyone who has taken an EA prep course is well-versed in triple negatives ("underline all the NOs and NOTs and count them backwards).

If they insisted they didn't get the stimulus, I did enter zero. Some did and their refunds were short. Not my problem. The only pattern I discerned of people who said they didn't get the money were MFJ returns where a spouse had died. I had enough of those where the surviving spouse said no second stimulus was received to believe them. I put in zero for the second and in all cases the rebate recovery was paid. At least I believe it was because if not I'm sure I would have heard about it!

Half of taxpayers probably don't remember receiving their stimulus. Most of those discover they did when we make them look it up. I had one who says he did look it up after I asked, still swore he didn't get it, and then looked it up again when he got the IRS notice. Sure enough, he got it. I would trust the IRS on this one. He can set up a taxpayer account and see what they sent him and how. Someone on this board said their client who didn't receive the stimulus discovered IRS had a issued a debit card, which is why it didn't show up on the bank statements. This is NOT OUR PROBLEM to solve but the client's. We've given up trying to help and just give them IRS phone numbers.

I have a client who ELECTRONICALLY paid $5k with his extension. Turns out he had a huge refund, which came in $5k short. IRS transcript shows the $5k received. This coupled with the other comments here suggests the IRS is now so dysfunctional they aren't even keeping track of the money. Okay, so they can't answer phones or timely look at faxes or correspondence or do enough audits, but keeping tabs on the money? Hey, they're part of the US Treasury, whose job is to account for the money. We might need a new accounts receivable department.