Corduroy Frog

The newsfeeds have stopped since I followed Lee's instructions.

I followed Lee's instructions, even though some of my icons were different (probably I have a different version than Lee). So far, so good. If they recur, I'll holler. Thanks

Have been using Firefox for years, instead of Google Chrome. After years of use, all-of-a-sudden I'm getting interrupted by News messages from Firefox. They are all news, but rather obscure in the current stream of current events. And of course, you can click on the messages to see more (I don't). Can anyone tell me how to block these messages, or if this can't be done, maybe recommend another browser? I've been hearing a lot about DuckDuckGo.

Thank you ladies.

A client has approached me about changing her LLC from a partnership (1065) to a subchapter S (1120-S) She believes this will reduce SE tax. I know this is not totally true. Admitting to my ignorance, honestly I don't know how to do it, or if it can be done without shutting down the partnership and beginning another entity from scratch. Can someone furnish a link to IRS code or reg if it is allowed. A link to a published commentary containing advice would also be helpful.

If I remember Farmington is on 8 mile rd. Thank you, and stay warm up there.

If you don't wish to publicly publish Brighton as your town, you can send me a private message.

Mr. Pencil - you remind me of some tax guy I met in Michigan. By chance, do you (or have you) practice in Brighton, MI?

Good points from this group. I wonder if it is my responsibility to file an amended return for the error. Probably my ethical responsibility to inform him it should be filed, but I don't think I should be required to do so.

Correction. My edit timed out. He is not my employee. He is my customer. Dan, thank you for your response. You are quite authoritative.

Dan, to specifically answer your question, he is now my employee. I saw this in reviewing a prior year return. I understand there are problems with a 1099 and a W-2 for the same year. The 1099 payment was made prior to start date of employment. I was told the CPA did endorse the plan. There are times I am mistaken but don't deal in untruths.

In this new age, only military personnel can deduct moving expenses (I think. Correct me if I am wrong). A taxpayer from Nashville moved to Huntsville Alabama to take a new job. Prior to employment, his new employer gave him $10,000 to move, and issued him a 1099-MISC for $10,000. The $10,000 was to pay for moving expenses, and he was allowed to apply expenses against the $10,000 in revenue. He claimed the revenue on a Schedule C, as well as the expenses appertaining thereunto. Is this allowed? The question is NOT whether the IRS likes it or not, nor is the question whether it is ethical. The only question is whether it is allowable. The deductions are not business expenses, but personal expenses. But the revenue is claimed as well, and is not business revenue. Not my customer. But a CPA at the new employer endorsed the idea.

Does anyone remember how H&RBlock started? And why their home office is in Kansas City? I'm not old enough to remember, but apparently the 1954 tax code was brand new, replacing the 1935 code. In those days the changes did not occur every year - they didn't have software whereby congress could get away with screwing around with tax law (even in the middle of tax season). But the changes in the 1954 code were prodigious and people needed serious help. So H&R Block was founded to meet the needs of the people, and were located close to the IRS service center in Kansas City. For H&RB, the rest is history. The original box office tax store. I haven't seen much of Jackson-Hewitt and Liberty in recent years - maybe TurboTax has eaten their lunch. Yes, the often-advertised "free" TurboTax. Get it and [poof] you will be just as smart as a CPA.

Does anyone remember Roni Deutsch? Never saw as many litigious charges against a firm in my life. Deservedly so, if you believe the fallout. All industries have ethical concerns that can fall by the wayside in the light of enhancing revenue or puffing their wares. Bankers do not necessarily have your best interest at heart - in spite of any outward image. Life insurance industry, ditto. Stock brokerage firms as well.

If you do right and act right, there will always be those that will disparage you. I myself have had times when I was not the most popular kid on the block. Once I went nearly 12 months without posting at all because some were indignant with my questions. There is a benefit to continue - to help others and receive help yourself. I don't know who or what has made you feel unwanted, but unless it is a substantial human element, there is no need to stop.

Yes a divorce is needed but he won't do it. The tax preparer can't fix stupid. It's all I can do to fix myself.

He will not file for a divorce. I've been telling him this for 2-3 years. This is his second wife from China. The first Chinese wife divorced him after he was injured big time in a motorcycle accident. Go figure......his tax preparer should avoid getting sucked in to his personal oddities.

I've been doing taxes a long time. Makes me wonder if I started all over again as a green person, would I choose to become a tax preparer knowing what I now know? Will there be a supply of new preparers to replace us when we quit or retire? Getting into the business now is worse than several years ago. In addition to tax law which changes more rapidly (thanks to Congress and politics), there are now requirements which drag us into a modicum of IT. And EA requirements because the laws change so frequently. And dealing with the IRS is no great pleasure of life either.

Thanks to all respondents. Sounds like most of you agree with me --- MFS. If he wants relief he needs to get a divorce.

A high income taxpayer (pharmacist) married a woman from China (Peoples Republic). She made frequent trips home and got caught in the pandemic in 2020-2021 and couldn't leave the country. I filed joint return for the pharmacist based on a sworn statement that she was living with her parents and had no income in China. Fast forward to 2023. She has not returned and refuses to come home to her husband in Alabama. He has begged her to return but she simply refuses and is never coming back. For 2023 I filed Married filing Separate and it cost him a wheelbarrow full of money. As of 12/31/24 she still refuses to come home, and says she will never come back to America. The pharmacist will NOT diveroce her. What filing status for the pharmacist.

I encourage questions in the off-season, because it usually involves selling something. I would rather inform them than to deal with a surprise at filing time. I will not charge unless research is necessary, and I don't go through the misery of collecting until the next tax season. I put a reminder in their file so I won't forget. Almost all those calls involve a taxpayer selling something. And it's amazing how many people believe if they replace the property with more expensive property, they are off the hook. That treatment has been gone for decades.

How many such avoidance answers do you encounter? "Same as Last Year" "Deduct as much as you think I can get away with" "Little Johnny stayed exactly 50% with me and 50% with my ex-wife" "Don't claim any more revenue than the 1099s I received." "I paid Hernando Valaquez exactly $599 for the work he did." Government overreach? Some of my customers are as honest as the day is long. Others are questionable and give answers such as the above. (if they do this, I never let them off the hook) Others are basically good but take the position that "I am as honest with the government as the government is with us." i.e. not honest at all.

Not at the time of the gift, but by the time the return is filed. Thanks folks for the correction.

Haven't heard any grumbles in awhile about the need for a "contemporaneous" receipt needed to support charitable contributions. Supposedly a taxpayer under audit could not go back to his church/charity and ask for a receipt at the time of the audit. Instead he had to produce a receipt given to him at the time of the gift. A so-called "contemporaneous" receipt which had to be issued on the spot instead of retroactively. Depending on your point of view, this was justified so a taxpayer could not defraud the govt of tax money by getting a buddy at church to issue a phony document after the fact. My thoughts are that it is a government overreach and a just-as-phony document could be issued contemporaneously as not. Is this audit mindset still around??

It's incredible how far removed these people are from the real world.