Catherine

Gail has it exactly. No doubt it's taxable income. I just have a hard time seeing this as being subject to SE tax. It was a favor that went longer than expected, so turned into a paid favor. That is NOT being in the business for profit. Which is where SE tax kicks in.

Trust has to amend the K-1, you can't do it. There is still time for a newly-submitted return to supersede the previous return (assuming that dodge works for trusts as well as individuals) and the only change would be the incorrect ssn. The trust can issue that corrected K-1 to your client immediately - even before submitting a paper amendment, if it has to be done that way. What if they refuse, is the big question. I'd include the K-1 information and disclose that it was issued with the wrong ssn and that the trust has refused to re-issue with corrected information for 2016.

You have a point; my thought was not based on "getting out of tax liability" but rather just that my client was not engaged in a for-profit venture of being a temporary office assistant. And one of the employee-versus-contractor questions is who chooses work times, and my client was definitely in charge of when she was available to help out. So I see that as fundamentally different from hiring on, finding out that if you stay you will hug everyone there, and quitting in short order, never to try similar work again.

A couple of weeks, on a *very* as-I'm-free-to-help basis, to help out s-i-l who got behind on her filing during a busy time. My client and her husband moved and client was actively job-hunting at the time but had some time between job search tasks and interviews to lend a hand. That's why I am thinking NOT subject to SE tax; she is NOT in the business of hiring herself out as office assistant for fun and profit. S-i-l asked for help; it was a little more time than initially thought, so she paid her s-i-l for the time and trouble. Caught up; done; and my client now has a job so she'll not be repeating the activity for her s-i-l or anyone else.

That I have to agree with. It still has somewhat of an olde fashioned "DOS" feel to it. However, since I used DOS for years and years, that feels familiar to me, rather than kludge-y or inelegant.

Absolutely NO ego problem there. I wonder what that lunatic in North Korea thinks *his* titles are? Somehow, I think "a legend in his own mind" is NOT in the litany.

Client helped out her sister-in-law briefly while s-i-l was swamped at her office. Did some filing and copying, basically office grunt work. NOT in the business of hiring herself out as temporary office help. S-i-l gave her a 1099-MISC (rightly) with total in Box 7. Except to my thinking it should have been Box 3, and not subject to SE tax. I'm thinking I need to do a C-EZ, show the 1099, back it off, and then show on Line 21. Yes? No? Other? I'm starting to over-think this one - stop me!

Plus, if you need support they answer within THREE rings, and help you right then and there. I have, on rare occasion, had them need to bump things up a notch and get back to me. Longest it took was two days (after they had told me "about three") and they apologized profusely for the delay. In the meantime, I am still awaiting a promised 48-hour callback from ATX Tech Support, promised in February of 2013. But it's OK; I am not holding my breath. (But that was the return that sent me to Drake; I switched mid-season and have NEVER regretted it.)

By which you do *not* mean "she drives over them without a second thought" I take it?

I tell you, there are times I am SO very tempted to simply scream into the receiver. No words, just a blood-curdling scream. At the least, that caller will be out with a ruptured eardrum for a while. But I don't.

Other option is to use Adobe (or similar) utility of "typewriter" to "type" directly on a blank pdf;.

Thanks, Judy. That helps a lot. The other twist is that what he paid is NOT what's on the 1095-A, so I have to make that correction as well.

In theory it is possible - my software (Drake) specifically asks if the bank is located in a foreign country. However, there is another question here: is this *really* the last US return they'll need to file? The rules say that if you are subject to US taxation, you file a return based on world-wide income. That applies to US citizens *and* to permanent legal residents (green card holders). Don't let your clients be so sanguine about "we're outta here; no more US taxes!" quite yet.

Client got marketplace coverage and a whopping $300 in advance PTC. However, family income hits 401% of poverty level so the whole $300 will get paid back (added to his taxes for 2016). So far, so good. Or at least comprehensible. Client is working for a small employer that does NOT offer health insurance. How much of the premiums he paid out-of-pocket can I deduct on Schedule A? The entire amount, or do I have to adjust by $300 for the premium tax credit that he will be paying back? If the latter, do I have to remember that $300 to add to 2017 insurance costs? I've researched and found all kinds of info on self-employed and semi-retired and on and on but nothing that pertains to this situation.

Well, yeah - but you know that is NOT what they mean...

You just can NOT save some people from themselves.

ff buckets of bits on the bus, ff buckets of bits, take one down, short it to ground, fe buckets of bits on the bus! fe buckets of bits on the bus, fe buckets of bits, take one down, short it to ground, fd buckets of bits on the bus! We made the mistake of teaching the girls to count in hexadecimal, and they proceeded to sing that song on the way up to VT on vacation one year. We were astounded at how far they got before losing interest. We think it was the challenge of keeping track in the new counting system.

Thanks for the reminder to look for these! I wonder how it's going to work when clients upload photos or scans of their W-2's that are not *quite* in focus. It's hard enough, sometimes, to see the wages and tax figures!

I'm with you there. But I have found that there is a huge difference between being happy with the pretty new light fixture and being disgusted with the tax returns that are now completed. The latter brings very little satisfaction, and it has to be done every year, taking tons of time you could spend doing other things you enjoy more. Plenty of my clients came the first year saying, "I'm only going to come this year because of special situation X; hope you don't mind" who later (usually on pickup) then say, "This was SO much easier - may I come back next year?" They realize they did NOT waste three lovely Sunday afternoons wrangling with the doggone forms (that of course took me about 45 minutes total), and that the fee I charge is well worth the missing headache(s).

My personal favorites are the "Can I ask you a simple question?" ones where the "simple question" is "How do you do payroll?" Yeah, the *question* is simple - but the answer takes three weeks! lol

Maybe, but they do NOT do enough to strip bad "advisers" of their licenses - or even "just" penalize them with some type of preparer-penalty analog. I have myself seen several utterly egregious cases where the family lodged formal complaints against bad advisers, and NOT ONE of them was made whole and not even ONE adviser even got a blemish on their U-4 record. Disgusting; utterly disgusting. If any of us pulled the type of shenanigans I have seen over and over again, we would have our EA or CPA licenses rescinded and multi thousand dollar preparer penalties assessed.

Sounds like a good candidate for a hug.

Any time! You know where to find me.

I thought about that, but it's just too simple a return. Wages, $1 interest, social security, capital loss carry-forward but no brokerage transactions or dividends. That's it. It's close to a 1040A and I'd gag trying to tell her she owed me $375 for that return.

My husband keeps telling me that. New client this year paid $750 last year to [big box store which shall remain nameless] when my fee for that same return is about $280. It only took me a half hour; I felt bad charging that much - until I saw the prior-year bill.