kcjenkins

An older, white haired man walked into a jewelry store one Friday evening with a beautiful young gal at his side. He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring. The old man said, "No, I'd like to see something more special." At that statement, the jeweler went to his special stock and brought another ring over. "Here's a stunning ring at only $40,000" the jeweler said. The young lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, "We'll take it." The jeweler asked how payment would be made and the old man stated, "by check. I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I'll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds and I'll pick the ring up Monday aftern oon," he said. Monday morning, the jeweler phoned the old man. "There's no money in that account." "I know," said the old man, "But let me tell you about my weekend! Don't mess with Old People

At a recent visit to the reptile house at the local zoo, I counted a total of 27 heads and 70 feet. I was counting snakes, lizards and people and I know that there were exactly twice as many lizards as people. How many snakes did I count?

The IRS has a method available to tax professionals to obtain blank deposit coupons. According to the Internal Revenue Manual tax professionals may send a letter to the IRS on their stationary and obtain up to 25 blank coupons. Sample Order Letter For Form 8109-Bs Internal Revenue Service National Distribution Center P O Box 8901 Bloomington, IL 61702-8901 Re: Request for Blank Copies of Form 8109-B Dear Sir: As allowed in the Internal Revenue Manual I am requesting that I be sent 25 blank Form 8109-Bs. It is requested that they be mailed to me at: [Put your address here] If you have any questions please contact me at: Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx Fax: zzz-zzz-zzzz Email: [email protected] Thank you for your help Sincerely,

Well, now that you finally told us that he was not related in any way to the t/p you just might have a slim chance of winning the argument for no constructive receipt. Although I still think you have a better chance of making the bank make him whole. Good luck. [And next time, give us that critical info up front, OK?]

Don't feel dumb, it is easy to overlook a simple step from time to time. Dumb would be not asking!

:bday:

I'd say you have an excellant chance of getting the penalties abated, and even some chance of getting the interest abated, in a case like this, where he did not, in fact, have the use of the money. The taxes, however, are based on statute, not on 'fairness'.

Did you make sure that the 'business %' was set to zero?

She might want to seriously consider moving back briefly, and moving to TX, TN, FL, etc, a state which has no income tax, and establishing residency there. Then, move her voting registration, DL, change the address on her medical and other insurance, etc. Then when she goes back to Australia, she will go as a resident of that new, non-tax state. Otherwise. assuming she is keeping her citizenship here, she'll be a 'resident' of the last state she lived in, until she moves to another state.

As Mike just pointed out again, Pacun, the real issue is that the BANK has a responsibility not to deposit funds made out to Joe Doe into an account in the name of John Roe, unless they have verified that the endorsement is valid. The very nature of this transaction is highly suspicious, so the bank had a duty to your client, which they clearly did not exercise. I'd be hiring a good bulldog attorney and threatening them with massive bad publicity, over this one. It's one thing if it was a check for $200, but when the amount is so large, and the money is going into an account that your client was not a signatory on, that is a real problem. While this is a great example of why someone who has to travel out of town should put a hold on his mail with the PO, that does not mean he has no leverage with the bank. Do you think any bank would want this sort of publicity? Yes, the guy does have 'constructive receipt', as the IRS will see it. He asked that it be sent to his address, and that was done. The check was endorsed, and cashed. He's going to have to prove that it was stolen and never in his hands, and even then he may not win with them. I'm not saying don't try to fight that line. It may be the best you have. But don't accept the bank's 'not our fault' argument, either. Banks do have a fiduciary responsibility not to just blindly accept any deposit, when the check being deposited does not go into an account belonging to the person the check is made out to. And that is the best chance he has of actually getting his money.

Here's TaxBilly's post explaining the situation as it affects most of us: [copied from the general board] This is a copy of an e-mail a colleague received from the IRS regarding the questions she submitted (see below): Thank you for sending me your question regarding the new rule issued by IRS on Monday, July 30, 2007. The purpose of this rule is to develop a comprehensive list of valid websites used by EROs to prepare and e-file federal returns in order to guard taxpayers against phishing and pharming sites that may result identity theft. This rule applies to All authorized IRS e-file providers that obtain taxpayer information via the internet directly or through third parties in order to e-file federal returns. Taxpayer data is defined as any information that is obtained or used in the preparation of a tax return (e.g., Social security numbers, names, and addresses, dates of birth, income statements, and notes taken in a meeting). The following EROs are not affected by this rule: a.) EROs that do not have an internet website that obtain taxpayer information via the internet for the purpose of e-filing returns. b.) EROs that do not have an internet website that obtain taxpayer information from a third party (not from the taxpayer directly) for the purpose of e-filing returns. c.) EROs that only receive taxpayer data via e-mail. d.) EROs that prepare returns and transmit their returns through third party transmitters e.) EROs that prepare returns and use their providers website to e-file their returns (This site will be registered by the Provider) Based on your description that you file your taxes through Tax Works, it does not appear that this rule applies to you. We hope that this answers your question. For further information and the answers to additional questions about this rule please check the Frequently Asked Questions located on the IRS website or re-submit your question to this address. Please be as specific as possible to assist us in answering your question. Justin J. McCarty , Sr. Program Analyst Internal Revenue Service ID: 50-24246 Electronic Tax Administration - Strategic Planning Division Relationship Management Office Original e-mail inquiry to the IRS: What is this all about???? I am a one person office. I go on line via either AOL, or internet explorer, and go to the E-services site and get information. I e-file via my income tax software TAXWORKS. Do I have to have that for you? What is a portal? How do I encrypt? What is WINZIP9? I am the only person here, I am the principal officer. Your notice says that an official must submit the excel spreadsheet and the password via separate e-mail messages.... what password?

The biggest problem is that a self-directed IRA can not invest in a business that the beneficiary runs, and most of these 'pitches' include setting up some slight-of-hand to hide the self-dealing. Besides, I would never advise a client to even consider such a deal, even if it were legal, tax wise. Because this is their 'safety net', their retirement income, and way too many new businesses go under in the first five years. That is NOT the money they should be gambling with. If the business is a sound one, they should be able to get normal financing for it. If they can't, they should be thinking again about why the bankers don't think it's a viable investment.

It depends on how the particular 401K plan is written. Some allow you to withdraw funds while still working, but many do not. Ask your plan administrator about what is allowed. You may only be allowed to withdraw them if you leave that employment.

Pacun, actually, he has NO BASIS in the account, if it was an IRA, because that $8K was pre-tax contribution. As for the income, if he had a check coming to his home for an amount that large, and he left on a trip and made no arrangements for having it held at the PO, or directed to another address where someone responsible could safe-guard it for him, or deposit it for him, perhaps he can get consideration on the basis of mental disability. [This is not a joke, it's a serious suggestion.] How did the person who cashed it get the check? Did he have permission to enter the house, or did he break into the house and steal that along with other things? Is the person known to the client? Was a police report filed? If the endorsement was forged, has he talked to a lawyer about bringing suit against the BANK that allowed it to be deposited into a bank account not in his name? You are leaving us with a lot of unanswered questions, many of which answers would affect the advice we would give you. Perhaps you can give us more of them?

While Jainen is not always the most diplomatic poster here, he's trying to help you, Daisy. It would have been nice had he included the specific cite, but I imagine he thought that you would learn from looking for it yourself, once he had headed you in the right direction. Please don't get your feelings hurt. Sometimes, WRITTEN answers can seem harsher than they are intended to be, since there is no way to hear the tone of voice of the responder. But just remember, everyone on here is offering their help freely, without compensation. So it's always best to assume the best intentions, unless the poster is CLEARLY intending to insult you. It that is what you think is happening, click on the little "Report" button at the bottom of the post, and the moderators will consider warning the poster about his/her tone.

Yeah, I figured that you had probably already done that, and just got the order one step out of sync.

Yes, Bill, your post was extremely valuable, in fact, I added an icon to the post for that reason. Thanks again for your contributions here. You get a gold star in my book.

Not enough information to answer that question. Depends on a lot of facts not in evidence.

I'd have to say that the WIFE sounds like the predatory one to me.

Once they are filing as MFJ, all those old child deduction issues will go away, Tom. That's the good part. And it's always worth it to try an amendment for open years. Although, as you know, the IRS does not HAVE to accept any amendment, they often do. The basic problem, IME, is that the Service seems to have almost a pathological bias against fathers who claim their children on separate or HOH returns. Good luck to you. And let us know how it all comes out.

I'd add that step 2 should actually be step one, since if you do not actually have the right version, you need to fix that first, by doing a manual download of that form. And that might well fix the problem when you reopen the return after making certain you actually do have the 19 installed.

He used to post on TaxTalk, but it's been a long time. I've sent him an invitation, but have not heard back from him. Hope he does join us here.

:bday:

Sad to say, Tom, I have to agree with Jainen's last paragraph, at least the last two sentences. Good luck.

Write the letters, then if that does not get the desired result, call TAS and ask them to help you. You might as well ask for the transfer at the same time as you ask for the reconsideration. The very fact that you want to deal with several years, that were handled in different offices, is one good reason for the transfer.