MargaretMort

A friend asked me a question today and I told her I would get her a real answer by asking here. She and her husband bought a house 30 or more years ago--it was not a new house then--and it was their personal residence. About 10 years ago they bought a newer house and moved into it. House #1 has sat empty since until this past fall when an enterprising young man started cooking meth there and told a homeless couple he owned the house and they could squat. A fire got started, the house burned nearly to the ground and the owners were contacted to clean up the mess. They spent around $6000 to do so. She wondered if they had a loss they could take on their taxes. Off the top of my head--I was on the golf course at the time--I said no, the house was not income producing and I thought the $6000 would be added to the basis of the property when and if they sold it. Right or wrong? I appreciate any and all help. Many thanks. MM

I can't believe people have all their info already. I don't have mine and I do our return first just to shake the dust off the brain cells and try to make all my mistakes before my clients appear. MM

I just recently decided to renew, called and had my disc within a week. I was flabbergasted since I was so late. It did come in the mail which in my case is our home address so no problem there. MM

I don't often add my Happy Birthday wishes but can't let this one pass. I don't know what I would do without this site and we certainly owe you a great deal of gratitude. Many Happy Birthdays!!!MM

I knew there was something missing in my thinking. Thank you, Jainen. Hopefully my brain will return to semi-normal soon. MM

First of all, let me tell you that I have never had occasion to deal with a like-kind exchange. Because of personal problems, I am looking for help to be sure I understand what I have read and do understand. So here goes: A client bought a lot as an investment. She recently sold it and wants to know if she can put the money into a house in another state with no taxable cost. My understanding is that yes, she can, as long as the house is an investment and not for personal use. Before I put my foot in my mouth and tell her this, I need to be sure in what is left of my mind that I am not giving her the wrong advice. Any and all help is most appreciated. MM

To one and all, may your Thanksgiving be wonderful and your dreams sweet. MM

My thanks for all the help. Yes, the gentleman is 76 and has had no taxable income for years. My decision was to return the paperwork and suggest a CPA firm for him to call. I warned him that it will cost him but nowhere near the $4000+ the IRS is claiming. Normally I would have been more involved but my husband is ill and I didn't feel I had the time to do justice to his problem. Thanks again. MM

A former client, haven't done his taxes since 2000 because they owed no money, called because he had received a notice of deficiency and the IRS said he owes over $4000. I picked up the paperwork yesterday and have gone over the info the IRS provided. He doesn't owe any money and I can't quite understand how this error was made but that is beside the point. I have printed out a POA for him to sign so I can talk to the IRS. However, the POA says that as an unenrolled Return Preparer I have to have prepared the tax return under examination. There was no tax return prepared. I am wondering if the IRS will even talk to me. I think this came about because of the stimulus payments, apparently someone filled out something though I have no idea what. This gentleman is absolutely no good with paperwork or figures. His late wife handled all that and, after she passed away 3 yrs ago he started "cleaning out"! I have several questions I need to ask him before I get in touch with the IRS but there is no point in my asking if I can't do anything to help. I appreciate your thoughts and advice. In my 23 yrs. doing taxes this is the first time I can remember this happening. MM

I haven't been bothered by it so far. I had the regular flu shot about 6 weeks ago--I volunteer at the AF base pharmacy so I was able to get one when they became available for the active duty troops. I have only had the flu one time and it was in 1962, only started getting the shot to keep my husband happy. I need to see about getting the Swine flu shot because I interact with many people and my husband's health is such that we can't afford to have him get it. We are old enough that our ages indicate we may have immunity from previous outbreaks. He had a lovely case of the flu that went around in about 1967, hopefully that will keep him from getting anything more. mm

I, too, have had situations where I said--I'm gonna have problems someday with that. Turned out, in the case of the gall bladder, I was having major problems and had had for several years. Heart problems don't run in my family, I have low/normal blood pressure, but I have had erratic heartbeat for years and years, plus a tendency to light headedness if I got up too suddenly. At my advanced age-73-I jumped out of bed with a leg cramp one morning and fainted dead away. Scared the living daylights out of my husband who is ill. Since then I have been through a battery of tests. We now know I do not have diabetes, my thyroid function is great, I don't have a Triple A, my carotid arteries are clear, I passed all the stress tests, etc. The cardiologist said "You have an erratic heartbeat that doesn't bother you. We have nothing to treat. You are no longer our patient." The reason I fainted was, of course, my blood pressure dropped from jumping out of bed--which is what I said when it happened. You cannot imagine the relief my family felt to learn that Mom is not also ill You know, we are supposed to be invincible and it scares them if we are not. Get problems checked before they become major problems. Learn to listen to what your body is telling you. Don't put it off because you are afraid to find out what might be wrong. Take care of yourself. Taxes are stressful enough without adding to it. MM

Again, my thanks for everyone's willingness to share their insight with me. This is a very small business and I am now comfortable with what I plan to do. I will definitely go to the IRS web site and down load the pertinent info for my records. MM

Wow, Montana! My sincere thanks. This information fills the bill and makes me feel a lot more comfortable with what I wanted to do in the first place. Whew!!!!! I knew the information was out there somewhere, just didn't look in the correct places. The people on this web site are truly awesome and so willing to help one another. Again, THANK YOU. MM

Yes, we don't want to get into employee taxes again. Florida isn't a community property state so that doesn't apply. I assume I would have to do 2 Sch. C.s and split all the expenses down the middle? Oh, and there is no reason to become a partnership, don't think that would be an advantage for the amount of money we are talking about. Thanks for the input. MM

I think I am over-working my brain too hard on this one. Wife has a small business, has had employees in the past, has cut back and no longer has any employees. She took Social Security at 62. Husband has always helped some in the business but had his own job. He took Social Security at 65. She is now concerned that if she makes more than the $14000+ allowed she will lost her SS to make up the overage and asked if she can show him as part owner and split the income in order to keep her under the threshold. He truly does a lot more work with her and I don't have a problem with it. Just am not positive I am thinking correctly. Truly do appreciate all thoughts and comments. MM

You have blessed so many of us that it is too bad we didn't catch your birthday before you did. Thanks for not hiding your birthday candle under a bushel basket. May your coming years be filled with peace and joy and well behaved clients and a kinder, gentler IRS....well, I guess we will settle for peace, joy and well behaved. Happy, happy birthday. MM

I think I will volunteer to come clean your house, Eric. We are under an unrelenting heat wave in NW FL, hate to walk out the door. Our daughter and her 12 yr olds are visiting from Utah. We are trying to find things to do that don't lead to heat prostation. Caribou has to be cooler. MM

Actually, some years ago the local IRS office told him to get his in arrears taxes paid off and not worry about making ES payments. My personal feeling is that he is wasting his money dealing with Holmes but he didn't ask my opinion on that. The majority of what he owes is SS and I don't see how Holmes is going to get that changed. My understanding of owing past taxes is that the IRS takes a dim view of running a balance owed each year and gives taxpayers a hard time if they haven't paid off the previous year before this year's comes due. We have never owed something we can't pay so I have no personal experience. MM

Client called this morning. He owes for 2008 taxes and called J.B. Holmes to see what they can do for him. The person he is working with said they were able to get copies of his 2006 and 2007 tax returns but the 2008 hasn't been filed. I e-filed the return April 11 and it was accepted April 12. The debt code is I. All the other debt codes are N. I don't have any idea what the debt code means nor why the company can't get a copy of the 2008 Tax Return. Any help would be much appreciated. This client also said JB Holmes suggested he become an LLC or Corporation and wanted my opinion. As I am a tax preparer only I don't have an opinion. I must add that his business is lawn care, single proprietor with no employees. I am truly at a loss for any help I could give him. He always owes as he always is making payments to the IRS during the year to pay off the previous years' taxes so he can't make estimated payments. I believe he had paid off the 2007 taxes owed. Thanks. MM

Happy Birthday, Gene. As I recall you sent me birthday greetings the first year of this board, now I can return the favor. You top my age by 2 months and 3 days so we are growing old together. Have a good one, I'll raise a glass in your honor later. MM

Thanks. I am considering working out what it will cost him to show the sale in the year of sale as opposed to what it will cost him when I change 5 years of returns and re-do this years. 2008 is on extension so I have time to do this. What a mess and dumb on my part because I certainly know better. I think I put blinders on during the last two weeks of tax season which is when I get his information. MM

I posted this with a lousy topic title and received no replies and I sure can understand why at this time of year. Really need advice on this one. I screwed up, with a little help from my client. A lot was sold but I never showed the sale. We have been reporting the interest received each year so that is not a problem. Now that I am aware of my error, I feel that I need to amend 2003. I would dearly love to do a 6252 on this sale but I don't know if the IRS will allow that. Of course, if I use the 6252, I must amend all the returns up to this year. I haven't sat down and re-done the returns because I hate to waste my time and energy, of which I have little-energy, that is. I also don't want to send in an amended return with the 6252 only to have the IRS decide down the road that it won't fly and therefore, all the amended returns are invalid and open to question. I think my main concern is if the IRS will accept a 6252 for the year of sale in an amended return. Logically I don't think so but I sure would like some suggestions about this. My sincere thanks. MM Oh, and Taxbilly, I went to the golf course today. Not sure what I was doing but what the heck, the weather was wonderful and I wasn't looking at the computer. I had great plans for next week which went awry when one of my husband's drs. changed his appointment and a neighbor will need my help while she is recovering from minor cancer surgery. Next month!

Many, many thanks. I have always enjoyed this board, both old and new, and learned a great deal each year. I was happy my drool over the cinnamon buns didn't short out my keyboard. This has been a tough year for me and I doubt I could have done it without the community to come to. Eric was a true friend when he stepped up to the plate 2 years ago and all of you are fantastic. MM

Well, I did it again, the question I wrote went off into la-la land so I will start over. In 2003 my client and his brother sold a lot. I misunderstood the sale and never reported it. He has been taking the interest paid each year. This year I realized that I had totally screwed up. I plan to go back and amend from 2003 forward, have the 2008 on extension. Now, I wonder if the IRS will accept the 6252 or if I will need to amend the 2003 and show the entire profit. I will pay the penalty and interest, of course, but I am sure he would rather pay over time. Any help or guidance is most appreciated. MM

Gosh, I am glad someone asked this question and I read the answers. I have two out on extension--first time doing that e-file--and I know I would have had heart failure. Whew! Thank you!!!MM