rfassett

I would tell them to first show evidence of the referred to mess. In this highly litigation society we live in, I would be cautious of any potential client that asked to see my e&o before even meeting me. Even after meeting me i would probably send them packing.

I have completed 13 once - on a Saturday with nobody present - but it was an awfully long day. (We do not have office hours on Saturday.) I have heard of guys doing nearly 1,000 returns in a season. The other day I figured out how they do it. I had the opportunity to do a return for a Florida resident. It took me one-third the time that it would take me to do the same return for a PA resident. That would explain why I can not put out more than 500 in a season and whey they can do over a 1,000 in a season. Everything is relative to its perspective.

And it could be a split basis with mother's original basis and step up on half the basis when inherited. As Gail states, that should have been established on the gift tax return. If not, some investigation will need to be done. At any rate, the daughter's basis is most likely north of zero.

12 hours? I would be happy with half that much straight through. But then again, I am healthy as a horse. Hope you get to feeling better soon! I am so looking forward to my Easter nap!!! Just two short weeks from tomorrow! Yeeaaaaa!!!

Must be specific form issues because I have filed a few NC returns this year with zero issues.

Reminds me of a client that dropped off his stuff a couple weeks ago. I know he is in the midst of a divorce but the couple wants to file a joint return. No problem so far. This is a very long term client and all the associated risks and issues have been addressed. He calls last week and needs to see me immediately. I already had a very full day and told my secretary to make an appointment with him on the morrow. No way, he says, this is a life and death issue. That got my attention and I carved out some time for him an hour later. He comes in, we go to the conference room, and he starts crying and he hands me a 1099-K from a massage parlor (not the business that I do the work for). Turns out the girl at the massage parlor talked him into putting his information on the credit card processing because she does not have a green card, etc, etc blah blah blah! Turns out this girl - who has to be 40 years this client's junior - is the impetus behind the divorce. The life and death issue was he did not want the 1099-k showing up on the joint return for his wife to see. He was right about the life and death issue - I almost killed him myself for being so stupid.

I will be filing 32 business extensions this week. Our cutoff for personal returns is March 23rd. Anything coming after that date is not necessarily guaranteed to be extended, but we tell then there is a better chance than not. And the closer we get to the deadline, the more likely the extension will be done. And I also tell them, "and oh, by the way, at 4:30 on April 13th, I will be locking the door on the office (from the outside) and will not unlock it again until the morning of the 19th." (It may be the 18th but the client will not know that.) We will prepare personal extensions on April 9th and 10th (and maybe 11th).

I just write in "Form 1099-C Cancellation of Debt" and the amount

I would not be asking this question now. I like to get paid when I work. So if the project goes beyond one month. I am progress billing at my normal billing rates.

It is these things that can suck the life right out of tax season. It is because we care so much for our clients. I am often told that I know more about a client's life than even the client's doctor. Why? Because the client will tell me all about his/her medical issues but would never dream about telling the doctor all about his/her financial issues. Don't take that relationship lightly. But when you take that advice, plan on days like the one Judy is having today. Know that you can and do make a difference in your client's life. Judy - here is a hug from northwest PA.

There is a link at the bottom of the w-2 input screen to a knowledge base article on how to make this work. I just went through this two days ago. If my memory serves me correctly, the article suggested creating a second W-2 and putting federal wages at $1 on the second W-2 and reducing the first W-2 federal wages by the same $1.

If I am understanding the scenario correctly there would be no addition to basis fro the $200,000. Or I guess you could increase the basis by $200,000 if you first reduced the basis by $200,000. It sounds like the courts or the facilitator simply redistributed the assets. The family member would have received $200,000 of the building and your client would have received $800,000 of the building. When your client writes the check, his basis then goes to $1,000,000. I do not see the legal fees as being a Schedule E deduction. Maybe schedule A because your client is trying to protect his assets - but Schedule A might even be a stretch. I would probable lean toward increasing the building basis by the $50,000 of legal fees.

Nothing to do with the test because I can not speak to that since I have never studied nor taken it, but I just wanted to state a comment that is on my wife's exercise bulletin board. It seems to apply here. "If it is important, you will find a way; If it is not, you will find an excuse!" Sounds a bit harsh but there is a lot of truth to it. Grab the bull by the horns and go for it. Good luck!

I would just put it on the return in his name (since he received the money and all that) and tell him he needs to submit a new W-9 to the royalty company so the problem does not resurface next year. If the property was truly in her name alone, he may have to send the royalty company some kind of evidence that the property ownership passed to him. But for the current year, I would do as I suggested in the first sentence and move on.

The two receiving the cash would have gain based on Mother's basis - unless they ponied up money at the time of transfer from Mother.

I don't need to reread it. I read it properly the first time. I was not disputing that part of your post. I was simply clarifying for anyone that might be prone to do just what was absolutely required. Sorry if you misunderstood my post.

Good points Max W. But business returns play off each preceding year. So the only way to get a good starting point for the 6 year old return is to prepare the older ones first. The 1040s would be a different issue unless the 1120s or other things on the return threw off carryover issues.

Nothing sticky about this. How would you justify payroll being paid under an S-Corp EIN showing up on a Schedule C? Keep this very important thought in mind: YOU DID NOT CREATE THIS MONSTER! Your job is to bring him compliant in the best way possible. File the prior year 1120S's and 1040s. But before starting any work, give the client an estimate of the total job, that you will need a 50% retainer and the other 50% will be due when you have completed 50% of the work. Give him hard deadlines as to when you need information. As to him not knowing the returns were not filed? Bunk! Unless the old preparer used the old preparer's address on everything, your client would have received non-filing notices.

When did it become permissible to have fun during this season? I must have missed that memo.

What Expenses Can Be Used to Justify the Housing Allowance Exclusion? Generally, any expense to provide or maintain the home can be used to justify the housing exclusion. Regulations do specifically state that expenses for groceries, paper products, personal toiletries, personal clothing, and maid service cannot be used. You may legitimately include the following: (1) rent, principal payments, or down payments plus the cost of buying the home; (2) taxes and mortgage interest (even if these are includable as itemized deductions); (3) utilities (heat, electric, basic telephone, water, etc.); (4) the purchase of furniture, appliances, dishes and cookware, and decorating items including rugs, pictures, curtains, bedspreads, sheets, towels, etc.; (5) insurance on the home and contents; and (6) miscellaneous expenses including improvements, repairs and upkeep of the home and its contents, snow removal, lawn mowing, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, etc. Here is a link to where I found that information. https://www.ecfa.org/Documents/TheMinistersHousingAllowance.pdf I

Current year software only two or three times per day during tax season. The only time I get timed out is if I go into a meeting and don't close the program. Other than that, the program is opened and being worked in all day. Prior year to check something - just once so far this year (yesterday) to check on a 990 schedule that did not get to my file cabinet last year.

I feel ya! Sniff sniff - I still have 29 outstanding from the 30th and 2 from the 31st. Additionally I have 3 that were transmitted for derelict clients that were transmitted after the 31st. But I have moved on to other things and trust that the acks will come through when the IRS can get to them. So no more sniffing here. I will check periodically over the next several days - but at this point in time, that is about all we can do.

Not a problem here. I have been in and out of the fixed assets and disposition tab on four different clients so far today and nothing like what you describe is going on.

I have received all of mine that were transmitted before the 30th. I still have some from the 30th and 31st that are still in transmitted mode.

In the same boat here. Apparently it is just sit and wait and keep checking. This is from the "latest news" on the myatx support site: Outstanding 1099 Acknowledgements We are currently processing 1099 acknowledgements and posting them to your mailbox as quickly as possible. At this time approximately 99.8% of all processed files are accepted. The batches are sent 500 at a time, this is the nature of the process mandated by the IRS. We appreciate your patience. You are able to check the status of your return on the solution center by going to https://support.atxinc.com and clicking E-file Status. This is the same tool used by our customer care representatives.