BrewOne

you are correct. Tell her to look down at the bottom of the front page of Pub 547 Limitation on personal and casualty theft losses

Folks who aren't well-positioned for retirement don't tend to listen to advice...they've already made up their mind to sign up ASAP.

Seems to me to be anomalous--the IRS records are "reasonably complete" by August. But I recheck all of my clients (who've given me authority) in October to make sure something hasn't popped up. You cannot be absolutely certain until Jan 01 of the following year. BTW, if you see Code 922 on a transcript, it means they are going to get a CP2000 within 5 months.

no 1065's ever filed? I guess I don't understand, what is the discrepancy? 75% of the basis = $600k and then report 75% of the proceeds (minus cost of sale)? Also, this is a good example that a client with investment property should be looking at capitalizing property taxes along the way--annual election, Section 1.266-1(c)(2)(i). Most software has it built in to the elections/statements worksheet.

part of the irony of being a Circular 230 practitioner--Office of Professional Regulation can throw the book at us.

up to five years in prison? Not nearly enough, grrr.

A good start for simplification would be to end Head of Household as a filing status. It confuses taxpayers and is needlessly complicated. Increase the standard deduction and the 10% tax bracket (main benefits of HoH) and no one gets hammered and one less thing to worry about. Of course this will never happen.

I've used Track1099 and now tell any clients who need 1099's to use it. Good to have an email address on file for recipients and Track 1099 will take care of everything.

even before the decline of the USPS, I'd get 30 day letters from the IRS that were dated 3 weeks prior to receiving them, leaving little time to respond. The postmark on our correspondence is the official record of the date received--maybe their correspondence should have a postmark as well?

Maybe it's an attempt to encourage employees to pay workers on an hourly basis, rather than call practically everyone "managers" with a paltry salary (and no OT)? There was an attempt at legislation a few years back to end Walmart et al from paying someone a salary circa $20-25k a year and working them 60 hours a week.

the gory details are in Sec.1.1.1031(a)-1 of the IRC. This situation doesn't appear to involve an acquisition of real property, so I'd agree with Dan.

the first time a couple files jointly, they may find out something unpleasant about the other's past. However, with no withholding, then there's not much chance of losing a refund. But as a rule of thumb, I'd probably want an 8821 for the new client to check their account.

yes, you have to create a duplicate, won't let you have entries for 1 and 2 on the same K-1

is it against State law (cohabitation)? Is there common law marriage in Oregon?

Definitely a common problem with no elegant solution. The can of worms is pretty much bottomless. The workers could get an ITIN and file a federal tax return but as an employer you're also supposed to have an I-9 filled out (attesting that the worker has shown the employer "acceptable documents") and my State just passed more punitive actions against employers hiring illegals. The workers probably paid a huge sum to a coyote to get into the States, it's doubtful they would be willing to go back to try and re-enter legally (although I knew a contractor that did this years ago because he had such a good crew)--probably a whole different ballgame now with getting a worker here legally. Just thinking out loud here, not much help I know. One possible is the health insurance premiums are deductible and if they get a policy from the Marketplace (which is probably one of the few places they can get a decent insurance policy), along with retirement contributions lowering their AGI, their premiums might be above the 8.5% (or whatever the current ceiling is) and they could get a premium tax credit.

I think it's currently a pilot program. So if they don't offer an electronic response, you are stuck with phone, mail, fax.

brand new--should work but haven't tried except uploading 2848's/8821's. It's what the IRS wants to move to.

I listened to Commissioner Werfel last week at the Atlanta forum and was impressed with the direction he wants to take the IRS. Some preparers might be leery of IRS free-filing, but if all you are preparing are simple returns...you didn't have job security anyway. The new hires should at least be able to figure out how to feed a scanner.

I know a full-service broker is expensive, but I have seen enough issues at tax time where they would have made a huge difference. For example, fairly intelligent client with a discount broker that had allowed him for years to put 100% of the max contribution into a Roth IRA and a 100% of the max contribution into a Traditional IRA (yes, double the allowed amount). His explanation when I finally heard about the excess contribution, "I didn't think you needed to know about Roth contributions because there's no tax benefit. What a mess to straighten out.

Look at the instructions for Form 8990 (especially "Exclusions from Filing") and see if you think they apply in your case.

I sent an email alert to my clients. The phone numbers on the email are real, they are hoping that helps fool people into clicking the link. I used the email to remind my clients that if I have an 8821 on file for them, I can check their account to see if there is any money outstanding and I will also receive a copy of any actual correspondence from the IRS.

no need for Schedule E, but taxpayer should keep a copy of the depreciation schedule generated for the time it was a rental property. Will be a factor when the property is sold (but not if inherited).

Gail, you may want to reference code Section 642(c)1 I believe the sequence is: 1) determine the amount of distributable net income (DNI) that the charity receives 2) enter that amount on Schedule A (deducted on page 1 of the 1041) 3) remaining DNI goes to non-charitable beneficiaries. As I understand it, the church would not get a K-1.

Gail, I have experience with a trust trying to claim a charitable deduction on a 1041--the rules are very strict on the language of the trust document, and in my case, there was no deduction for a $100,000 donation. Not sure if same goes for an estate, but I suspect that the charity must be named in the will and possibly it must designate that income go to the charity, otherwise it is assumed to come from corpus. I'll take a look see if no one knows the answer off the top of their head.

I would first get a Form 56 on file with IRS if that hasn't been done. Haven't been asked to provide a death certificate in some time, but if they hadn't reached retirement age, not sure if there is still automatic notification from Social Security. One general note: registered mail is for items with tangible value over the limit for insured mail; although a lost tax return could be costly, the IRS will not reimburse. Certified mail with return receipt will do the trick.