Catherine

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.

and that is EXACTLY the problem! I share your rant. As do many of us here, most likely. Even (maybe even especially) those of us who also have law degrees and law licenses. The good lawyers I know are the ones who get the *most* frosted about mis-steps by other lawyers.

I could wish (were it of any avail) that lawyers who give tax advice were hit with the same penalties that we would get if we gave legal advice. Parity and fairness...

A Rita-style hug?

Good luck!

Not necessarily as simple as it sounds. Some states (MA and NY among them) want the total income taxable to that state listed. It frequently doubles or near-doubles the Box 1 wages, since those two states (depending on circumstances) tax on state income/total income for allocating exemptions and/or give a (partial) credit for income taxed in two states.

Sad news yesterday; my 27-year-old nephew Eric, who had been battling depression for some time, killed himself yesterday. Please pray for him and his family.

You must be very proud!

Client with Sch C business bought a new iPhone in February 2015 for the business. Come August, he managed to drop it out of the car while on the freeway and had to go buy a replacement. Form 4562 with asset bought and "sold" for $0 in same year? Form 4797 for the destroyed/lost phone with $0 sale price and 4562 for replacement phone only? Casualty loss (but then how to tie to Sch C not the 1040)? Bundle the costs for the two phones (lost and replacement) and depreciate as a single item with purchase date of first? "Other expense" on Sch C for cost of lost phone and 4562 for replacement phone? Something I have not listed? Thanks! Catherine

MalWareBytes, AVG, CCleaner.

I remember, as a kid, I owed my brother ten cents and he owed me twenty five cents. So I told him to give me fifteen cents and we'd be even. He was absolutely *certain* that I was trying to cheat him out of the money I owed him. Even after taking the coins and showing how it ended up the same both ways, he was still convinced something funny was going on and would not budge. For all I know, he feels the same way now, forty-five or more years later. Sometimes I think we are doomed.

My first "real" job was as a cashier in Woolworth's. My only entertainment was with the cash register - the ones that calculate change for you had *just* come out (and boy oh boy did they confuse the elderly folks!). So I would try to beat the register at calculating the change. I got really fast at it and can still figure faster than the machines. Confuses the dickens out of the math-impaired ninnies I hand the money to.

I try to make subsidiary worksheets for all those break-outs. Specifically because of the items that I would otherwise forget to ask about. Just this year, a client who pays a monthly fee for "suite maintenance" (basically the landlord bills separately for cleaning and snow removal) forgot to include it. It was in my worksheet, so off went the email query. Those worksheets prevent the "Other" section from getting overcrowded; another benefit.

I have a four-page document checklist that I have used for years. This year's version is attached. If you would prefer a Word version to customize, just let me know. 2015 Checklist - short organizer.pdf

Unfortunately, it IS that bad. One of my acquaintances makes a habit of asking high school and college age kids wherever he sees them (bagging groceries, clerk at a convenience store, etc) what years were World War One fought, and who the US fought against. Not a one of them has ever been able to answer him. A few have been able to answer for WW2, but some of those gave answers learned from that alternate-history movie, Inglorious Basterds. So they are learning false history if they are learning anything at all.