Catherine

I had a robo-call message on my machine a couple of days ago. This one was different! At the end of the "you have a fraud case and the IRS is going to arrest you unless you call blah-blah" the robo-voice ended with "God bless you" -- now THERE is proof the IRS did not make the call!

Well, yes. But what I frequently do is make a note of what needs investigation, to be done in a non-time-crunched period. To get to that spot, though, sometimes I just need something that *works* for when I know what the result should be and just can't get it there.

I am a Drake user as well. Put it on a dividend screen and check the box that says no 1116 is required. Make sure you put foreign income in the div/qualdiv boxes up top or it won't flow through.

I do, too! That really was one of the *best* movies ever. Right up there with my other favorites, "Real Genius", "Undercover Blues", "Joe versus the Volcano" and "Amazon Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death".

Has gone to join Gilda Radner. RIP, Doctor Frankenstein et al.

We need Maxwell Smart's "Cone of Silence" for all our conversations! Who remembers "Get Smart"?

Good point.

I had one of these calls on my office voice mail this morning. But there was a NEW twist -- it was a robo-call! A *very* electronically-generated-sounding voice left a message about my non-response to the IRS over a fraud case and since I did not respond they had issues a warrant for my arrest. Please call number boopedy-boop immediately. I need to put that on my web site as the latest twist, warning people. And I saved the voice mail in case it is useful to someone somewhere.

That's when you turn the ringer off at night and set the message machine to scold fiercely.

Let us know! We have digital phone lines thru the cable company but not VoIP.

Ain't that just the truth!

Just looked them up - they only work through VoIP lines presently. That won't help at home, nor will it stop the calls to my cell phone - yet. Apparently they are working on a cell phone version - but it may only work for smartphones if the interface requires internet access. So I'd still be out of luck. Phooey. Oh, well!

Actually it's Gear Up. https://checkpointlearning.thomsonreuters.com/GearUp AES is here: https://www.aestax.com/

BINGO! Working in a one-person office (or with an assistant who is a wizard at collating returns but not so much what goes IN to those returns) there is no one to bounce those ideas off. I also sometimes ask for help for something when I have looked online and can't find what I need. There is something in my brain's make-up that seems unable to use the right search terms; I use what makes perfect sense to ME to fill the whole in my knowledge. It rarely gets me what I need. People online have more success in that regard than I do. I have also found that once I have searched long and hard for an answer - and then give up and post a question - the answer pops up from wherever it had been hiding about ten minutes later. Like it was just waiting for me to cry "uncle!" before deigning to allow itself to be seen.

AES (accountant education services, I think) and Top Gear (?) are both highly regarded. I took an AES update seminar some years ago when my regular class did not fit my schedule and it was very good. On another forum I use folks there rave about Top Gear classes. Also look at your state EA association; most of those hold classes and some are excellent. Perhaps not as specifically topical as you are looking for, at least as a general rule.

@jklcpa thanks for catching that!

Sometimes we learn our limitations by doing a (simple for its type!) return. I did a couple of 1040NR's about a decade ago - for two sisters here on some special learn-and-work visas; I don't really remember the details. For that type of return, they were dead simple. I researched and fretted and fumed and went 'round in circles and tied my hair in knots and went nuts with them. Got them done; clients were happy and went back to Taiwan happy. I was and am as certain as I could have been at the time that they were correct. And never again will I touch a 1040NR. Great learning experience. (Had they been *any* more complex I would have handed all the paperwork back with an apology and a good luck wish.)

This is why lawyers need to get involved. In my understanding, the only way the cousins can retain the IRA nature is if your client disclaims a portion of her inheritance in their favor. In that instance, the IRA custodian would handle the transfers directly and your client has no 1099's to send. Else your client would be taking a distribution to hand out money to cousins and the 1099's would be needed so that they, and not your client, get hit with the taxes. Your mileage may vary; get a good estate attorney involved.

But I (smugly) note that Drake scored higher in every category but one - where it tied ATX. I did find it very interesting that the much-more-expensive packages did not score higher in general. So they only real reason to jump up in price is if your client base presents situations complex enough to need a more powerful system.

I love it, too. And CFS Tax Software has one of their tools that tracks basis in case you need it. It's a worksheet; you do all the entries and it tabulates. But better than designing your own template, especially if the other tools in that package (exactly which one escapes me but likely Small Business Tools) are useful to you.

There are two aspects here: legal and tax. Once the legal aspects have been/are being dealt with through disclaiming or whatever, and the amounts are appropriately distributed (note: I am not a lawyer and don't even play one on TV so none of this is legal advice), you are left with tax aspects. Your client will get a 1099-R for full amount. She should send 1099-R's to the two cousins showing their portions. Details will hinge on how the transfers actually happen. Online vendors like eFileMyForms and others can handle the form printing and e-filing for you for very small money (on the order of less than $4 per form). On your client's 1040 put in the entire 1099-R amount and a second 1099-R for the (negative) amount of distributions, annotated as "Nominee Distributions" or something similar. Specifically how to make those entries varies by software. If your software does not allow a negative 1099-R, then put in the amount your client got and attach the disclosure form (8275? I forget the number) to hopefully stave off the mis-match letter.

Taxpayer bought a condo in 2014 to be mixed-use. However, in 2014 it was only rented for three days. OK; that comes under the "personal use" category so mortgage interest and RE taxes go on Sch A, and no expenses or income on Sch E. Phew. However, that three-day rental in 2014 started on Dec 29th and only ended on Jan 14th of 2015. In 2015, we definitely have mixed-use, with about 60 total days in rental and about 30 total personal use days. I know the allocation methods for expense; that part is no problem. What do I do about the *income* for the January 2015 portion? It was *paid* in 2014 when we don't report income but it was *for* a 2015 rental. Do I include it? Or not?

I can *never* figure out the right search words. My brain must work very differently from those of the people who tag for searches.