Catherine

Longish wait but more likely you'll talk to someone with a clue. Only if you are looking for an excuse to tear your hair out. Or give a @RitaB style hug to the know-nothing drone who answers, IF you get answered and not cut off.

Yes. Medical payments can be deducted. TTB says (paraphrased) "taxpayers can deduct med exp's paid for an individual who would have been a dependent except that (thee items, #1 being gross income of $4k or more)."

I think this is one of my new favorite phrases!

I have a cartoon somewhere (can't find it now) on "How Tax Software Should Work" that shows a guy dumping all his papers into a big funnel on top of his computer. It's cute.

Step 2b is the most crucial to follow - yet the most tempting to succumb to.

You won that bet, @SaraEA! I will try the weighted average technique with the one thousand-share trade and see how much difference it makes. All the others were tens or hundreds and with a few cents' difference in price it's likely not worth the bother.

Thanks, everybody!

The price changes in the three funds in question moved by pennies each over the two days. I think the biggest price swing was twelve cents per share.

Oy. Client was managing his dad's money in the man's final years. Looking like the end was near, he put in stock trade requests on a Friday after markets closed or early Saturday; he does not recall which. None of the orders were processed until Monday when the markets were next open. BUT - his dad passed on, Saturday night. So are these trades *before* death, as noted by the time of order submission - or are they part of the estate income, as noted by when the sales were actually done? I can see a good argument each way. Thoughts? Even just a pointer on where to go looking because my initial forays into looking this up have not been helpful at all.

That was my thought - taxable income but not technically "tips" as defined by the IRS.

Over the course of a year, roughly $1K. Maybe.

How does one report tip income NOT from employment? Taxpayer was in hairdressing school. School runs a "clinic" where the public can get super-cheap services from students. Some of those clients tipped the student -- but the student was NOT employed by the school. Nor was the student eligible to be self-employed (in school to get the license to make that possible). Form 4137 asks for employer information; does not apply in this case. Line 21? Something else?

From Steven Siegel, in a CCH webinar on estate and trust taxation. "It's tax law - expect exceptions!"

The IRS announcement says: The Internal Revenue Service announced that the “Get an IP PIN” tool has returned to IRS.gov with a stronger authentication process to help protect taxpayers. The Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) is given to taxpayers who are confirmed identity theft victims and to certain taxpayers who opt into the program. The six-digit IP PIN adds an additional layer of protection for the Social Security number. The re-launched tool uses a multi-factor authentication process that will help prevent automated attacks. Taxpayers must verify their identities using a more rigorous Secure Access process that requires them to have immediate access to an email address, account information from a credit card or other loan types and a text-enabled mobile phone. New and returning users must follow the Secure Access steps outlined in Fact Sheet 2016-20, How to Register for Get Transcript Online Using New Authentication Process. The Get Transcript Online tool was the first to use the Secure Access process, and the IRS continues to review its other online applications to determine which ones warrant the stronger verification process. Use of the IP PIN tool is limited to pre-selected taxpayers. Approximately 2.7 million IP PIN holders receive their number through the mail late in the calendar year in advance of the 2017 filing season. Those taxpayers who lose their IP PIN may use the tool to retrieve their number. Taxpayers who may be victims of non-tax related identity theft and who submitted an affidavit to the IRS may opt into the IP PIN program and obtain an IP PIN through the tool. Taxpayers from Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia also may obtain an IP PIN through the tool as part of a pilot project. End of IRS announcement.

No, because there are alternatives for acquiring CE. The IRS is one of many sources, so in this instance they are merely a vendor.

New client for 2015. Also sent her 2014 return for review as it was the first year she owned/rented a vacation condo, and she did the return herself. Of course she put all mortgage interest and RE tax on Sch A and had no depreciation and no Schedule E. Since 2014 was the *first* year -- can we just amend and fix the whole mess? Or do I need to go through the Form 3115 agony for this? In the unlikely event that she had just purchased the rental condo but had NOT done anything about renting it in 2014 (beyond thinking, "y'know, maybe I could rent this out when I'm not here..."), then it's all moot as the in-service date moves to 2015. Yes?

US citizens/permanent residents are required to file tax returns in the US every year on worldwide income. Yes, there are exclusions, yes there are special provisions when the spouse is not and never has been a US resident subject to US taxation. FBAR requirements as well on ANY account she is signatory on or has a financial interest in. Those requirements do NOT go away and must be addressed. The streamlined disclosure for FBAR might be helpful in this instance. But there are still the prior-year returns. But there are also ramifications in the Canadian tax system, and I recommend you contact Tim Parris in Ottawa who is a specialist in US-Canadian taxation issues. I have an (old) phone number for him in Ottawa - no idea if it's still good - that I can send you by PM if you wish. He is also on facebook and linkedin - you could look there where there may be more recent contact info.

My husband calls these "just" jobs. "I'll just swap this light fixture," or "I'll just replace this faucet washer," et cetera. Three weeks, several hundred more dollars, and lots of essential service interruptions later, it's finally done.

Actually, you can choose ANY drive to install/save to. Tech support will walk you through it beautifully if you have any trepidation. I installed the document manager file location to our networked data drive, and both my assistant and I have access to all files at all times, and can save any file at any time to the same place.

Amended returns regularly take four to six months before you hear back. Your only other option is to call. I recommend the 7AM time, because the on-hold queue gets long, fast. If you are on hold 59 minutes, they hang up on you and you get to start over.

The thing that frosts me is that, instead of going after the bad apples, they instead levy all sorts of extra requirements across the board. Well, that's not going to make a gnats-pee-in-hell worth of difference to a crook or "just" an incompetent -- but it does but all kinds of extra burdens on us good preparers to NO effect. Grrr.... Then we get info like this latest newsletter I just got this morning (see the lines in boldface - added by me - especially): Preparers Plan for Shrinking IRS Budgets and Growing Penalties by Eric L. Green, J.D., LL.M. Budget cuts have decimated the ability of the IRS to perform its job. From exams to collections, the IRS has insufficient resources to work cases and perform basic customer service (the last time I called the Practitioner Priority line I waited over an hour, and I called at 7 a.m.). Nevertheless, Congress expects the IRS to collect revenue. It’s no wonder that voluntary compliance is down and the tax gap has increased. It appears that the government may be seeking to increase compliance by placing new burdens on return preparers by way of increased application of preparer penalties. We have seen several recent instances where preparers, after giving accurate advice and performing proper due diligence, are assessed penalties after their client fails to heed that advice. For example, the IRS has always been concerned that S corp owners may not take reasonable salaries. Thus, most preparers who have S corp owners as clients provide a letter identifying the requirement and suggesting a proper level of salary based on historic income. However, when the client returns the following year for tax preparation, lo and behold, the income level taken was too low. First and foremost, the obligation of the preparer is to accurately report the events that already occurred. Second, the tax year is closed. Fixing the problem would require the preparer to convince the client to recognize more salary, and amend quarterly employment returns, causing the incurrence of large penalties. When confronted with this, and similar scenarios, the IRS is looking to preparers to fix the “problem.” The preparer has no power to force their client to do anything. By attempting to hold preparers responsible for the pre-existing actions of the clients, the IRS can use the specter of preparer penalties and ethical charges against professionals to cause preparers to perform basic IRS audit tasks. When confronted with preparing returns for a taxpayer who will be reporting information that may not be compliant with tax laws, it is incumbent on the preparer to understand available safe harbors and ethical responsibilities. For example, under §§ 6662(d)(2)(B) and 6694(c)(2), preparers are entitled to a safe harbor if they disclose a position taken on a tax return. Preparers should always request that their clients comply with the tax laws and explain how that can be done. Finally, if necessary, preparers should consider not working with clients who chronically fail to adhere to their advice. Having to defend against a preparer penalty assessment or Office of Professional Responsibility investigation is expensive, time consuming, gut wrenching and, simply, not worth it. The new IRS has fewer resources. Do not be surprised if it leans more heavily on return preparers to do its job. Preparer penalties constitute a powerful and coercive tool to force preparers to police their own clients. Preparers must prepare. Eric L. Green is a frequent instructor for CCH® Webinars and the creator of the CCH® IRS Representation Certificate Program.

SurePayroll by Paychex is far less costly and I have been pleased with the service. You could check that.

This is where a password manager like 1Password4 or LastPass or similar comes in handy.

So it does appear however it might have been a default -- in which case it might be possible to roll it back and start over. Especially if the check was not cashed.

Annuities are contracts with the issuing company. You should ask for the documents to see if an IRA rollover is allowed.