NECPA in NEBRASKA

I don't know about anyone else, but I would welcome it. My mother passed away much sooner than expected on 2/18 and we had the funeral yesterday. I am waaaaay behind, because I spent as much time with her as possible. Most of my clients have been very understanding. We still have so much to do in her house, but my sister took a leave of absence to help out as much as she can. I really wish that this was going to be a normally difficult tax season, but no such luck.

Bonnie

I'm just alerting anyone that is preparing a Nebraska Tax return, individual or entity, that there is a new form PTC that will be extra work. It is a credit for school property taxes paid and you may not receive the property tax forms from the client. You will need to use the new property tax lookup tool to get the correct school district tax amount for the parcel(s) of land owned. Here is a link to it.   https://ndr-1107parcel.ne.gov/parcelldLookup/faces/search.xhtml

If you don't have the parcel numbers, you will need to go to the different county assessor websites. Fun! I know that the Nebraska Society has been in touch with the government to see if there could be an easier way to do this, but I have not seen anything recently. I just looked up an individual and the research took me about 6 minutes to on both websites. Then it all has to be entered on the PTC form. Very few people bring me their tax statements. They write it down or just bring me their mortgage statement. It will be much longer for anyone that owns multiple parcels. I am absolutely charging extra for every return. 

For some reason, neither of the tax update schools that I attended in December talked much about this credit. The Nebraska Department of Revenue does have a couple of videos on their website about it.

I'm holding off. My clients are not normally in that big of a hurry. If they were, they would do their own or go to a big box shop.

25 minutes ago, Lion EA said:

I did some reading of instructions/etc. this year, because I have a new IT guy who bought some items for my Schedule C business that I reimbursed, so provided more than just services. My understanding, and what I did for my own company, is that everything you pay to an unincorporated person/entity that provided services to your business goes on the new Form 1099-NEC. He'll deduct his expenses on his end, and that'll lower his SE tax.

If paying ONLY rent to a non-corporation, for instance, then use the old Form 1099-MISC.

By the way, more state DOLs (as opposed to the IRS or state DRS/whatever your state's revenue department) flag accountable plans as an EMPLOYEE benefit and conduct employee vs IC audits. Employee vs IC has been a big issue in the northeast.

I'm answering off the top of my head, because you want to get it out the door. But if you want to research, start with the instructions, the IRS Pub addressing Forms 1099, and your own research service. Or hold through the weekend in hopes of more experienced posters responding.

Thanks! I did read quite a bit last night and was leaning towards everything on the NEC since my client was not actually paying rent on the lease, just repaying what was billed to them. This is the last year for this 1099, since they have moved everything in house to cut costs.

I have always issued a 1099 Misc for a subcontrator for one of my clients. I expected that this year I would just issue a 1099 NEC. They have a new bookkeeper and this year the amounts to the same person are split on the checks into contract hire, rent, insurance, telephone, utilities and various other accounts. The rent is reimbursement of the rent that the sub is paying, as are the other expenses. I am unsure if everything but the contract hire would belong on the 1099 Misc or not. Maybe I'm just making it too complicated. The sub is adamant that the entire amount be reported on the 1099, I just don't know if they are aware that rent would go on a different form and not reduce the S/E tax. Thank you for any ideas. I just want to get it out the door. I know that reimbursements don't have to be reported if there is a reportable plan and provides the invoices. This is not the case, because I checked. The sub just shows the amounts on the invoice.

I would not mind, otherwise I will have a ton of extensions. I will have to warn my clients again up front. Last year my sister had a brain tumor and my dad broke his hip. Yesterday my mom had a surgical procedure and they found that her bladder is full of tumor. She had been cancer free since 2012. We don't know why it came back. The doctor just told us that there are no good options, so we don't know yet how long we are looking at, but we want to keep her at home, if possible. It will be a struggle for us, but Covid has already messed everything up and we don't want her in a home where we are limited in the time that we can be with her. We can get in home medical care, but I want to spend as much time as possible with her. I am going to have to read up on trusts, because I will have to file for her when it becomes irrevocable. I have not prepared a trust return before, because I always farmed them out. My 26 year old son tested positive for Covid today is very sick. They just gave him codeine cough syrup and supplements. He said that he never expected to get this sick, but he can barely stand up. I hate that he's 500 miles away and we can't even drop off my husband's famous chicken noodle soup. I really hoped that 2021 would be better than 2020, but it's not looking great for my family again.

19 hours ago, Lion EA said:

I think Notaries can perform marriages in some states, such as FL, or so I read once! 

My son's dog married them in Colorado when they had to postpone their wedding here twice, due to Covid. 

I appreciate the help. They are going to do more research. 

I saw them. Thanks!

Thank you. I've been checking reviews and I am going to try to get them to look around.

Thank you!

Has anyone dealt with Blue Brick Financial or had dealings with their mortgages? I am asking, because it seems too good to be true. Does anyone refinance a mortgage with no fees? My son just bought a home in September and is looking at refinancing. I am seeing good and some really bad reviews. I just don't want him to make a huge mistake when he has a huge mortgage and is so young. Thanks to anyone that may know something.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I would be happy for an extension, because everything will take longer again. I will be training clients to use my new portal. ( I have to learn it later this month.) I won't be having in-person appointments indoors, since I work out of my home and I can't take any risks with my husband's health. It will be back to driveway pickups and dropoffs. Hopefully, I won't lose too many more. I've lost three in a month due to Covid and every one of them has been heartbreaking for me. I've known most of them since I was much younger. I just hope that these vaccines work. 

Those calculations left the Total Tax Office a few years ago and went to their enhanced version. It is super expensive, so I was just figuring everything out myself. It was not a big deal, but could take time on returns with several states. When they offered it the add on this year, I went ahead and ordered it, since it does save time and was not several thousand dollars. I think that they were trying to steer everyone to their expensive version, but it was too expensive for my practice.

I wish that I could help you. I bought it, but have been so swamped with extensions, family stuff and random client issues that I have not been able to use the tutorial yet to figure it out. I have some clients that are not happy about not being able to come in, but we rarely let family in the house, so I'm not making exceptions yet.

I wish that I had received this offer. It would be worth it for me. I am going to try my sales person.

Thanks,

Bonnie

Darlene,

I am so sorry for your loss. I'm very sorry that your family is not cooperating when this is a time that they should pull together. 

We don't even have any 7-11s left in town. I don't even know if there are any in Nebraska. We have a bunch of new convenience stores. 

I am happy to hear this. I just purchased it when I renewed, but I'm so swamped that I don't have time to learn how to use it. I really wanted something that should be fairly easy for my clients and myself. 2020 has worn me out.

9 hours ago, Yardley CPA said:

I have been using it for two years now with about 70 clients subscribed to it.  Of the 70, a fair number are senior citizens. Overall, my clients are very happy with it and find it easy to navigate.  I've started to use this as my primary means of exchanging information with clients which has helped reduce paper.  I also now post a copy of their successfully efiled return (client copy) to their portal for them to download and save which has significantly decreased the number of packets I have to mail.  

I'm very pleased with how it works.  Hopefully CCH will continue to improve it.  

I am so sorry, Darlene. I agree with everyone here. Your family comes first and everything else can wait. Spend as much time with her as you can, get extensions and take care of them when you are able. Hugs and prayers to you and your family.

Bonnie

I received this letter and laughed my butt off. God knows that I want to retire from tax preparation within the next several years, but I love my clients too much to turn them over to HRB. 2020 has been enought to make me shut down right now, but I have to stick it out.

My IT guy set it up with my new computer. I hope that it's working. After the initial encryption, I don't notice anything.

29 minutes ago, BulldogTom said:

NOT!.   I just enjoyed reading a new novel my son gave to me.   Sitting in the air conditioned room in an easy chair with a cold beverage on the side table and wasting away a hot day while reading a good novel is superior to sitting in front of a computer or tablet any day.  And not a single ad or popup or message from my book ever happens.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one my friend.

Tom
Modesto, CA

I love real books. I read in the tub every night to wind down and I don't want my phone or tablet in there. I've already had books fall in. I'm currently reading a chapter or two of the Outlander books a night. I'm just finishing the third book and have the next one ready. I know that half price books has opened here and have a large stack to trade in. Our libraries are not open yet, but they are working on curbside pickup. I do read ebooks when I'm traveling or don't want to bother anyone with a light. 

On 5/29/2020 at 11:03 AM, Abby Normal said:

First year doing taxes, 1979 tax season for 1978 tax year. Firm was top 10, just outside big 8. We used the IRS provided paper forms that were so flimsy, you ended up erasing holes in the paper, and had to use white tape to fill the holes. Reviewers used blue lead for tick marks because blue doesn't show on a photocopy.

And, because I was the new guy, I got the 20 lbs adding machine. Smoking was common in the office.

There was a blizzard that tax year. I lived 35 miles west of the office, and when I woke up, my tires were already buried, so I called and said I would not be in. It was a Monday and they always had a one hour staff meeting to start the week... in a windowless conference room. It was only flurries when the meeting started but when the meeting ended, there was so much snow, some people got stuck going home.

My first tax season was as an intern through college in 1979. We prepared them by hand in pencil, then used copy paper and ink after review. I was the grunt that filed all of the CCH pages in the tax library.

In the early 80s, we had an ice storm and I crawled across the parking lot to get into my car. It slid down my parking lot's hill on the ice and I could not move it for anything. My boss said I had to come in and he would send somebody to get me. A client with a tow truck came and pulled my car up the hill and carried me across to their truck to take me to work! I guess I was essential.