Catherine

For reference, this home based business does use water, including a steamer table that uses quite a bit.

Your post did it!

you put your right foot in, you take your right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about! good grief.

So what else is new?

I should do that, @jasdlm!

They only time they remember something they do not want to hear is if their barber's wife's brother tells them!

Additional cost of heavier-gauge pipes was a couple hundred bucks over the many thousands of dollars in cost. The huge cost was the sideways drilling under the state highway without disturbing traffic or the roadbed. Plus, that heavier gauge is now required by code. Old pipes were very old, and might even have pre-dated the paving of that road decades ago.

The home is not livable without water. Water as a utility cost is allowable on Form 8829 as a utility cost, just like oil, gas, electricity.

The difference is does the case blow, or suck? It's a computer after all so it might be either!

Thank you @Lee B and @schirallicpa - this did not extend the life, but rather restored the water supply to the house so that it was livable. I don't agree with @Margaret CPA in OH as it was not amelioration of a defect but rather repair of pipes that just plain old wore out and started leaking. They did not have to dig a new well (determined after the existing well was evaluated). Whole issue was the location of the leak (from the well to the house, under the state highway) leading to the huge expense. I didn't think, and found nothing to support, a requirement to capitalize it simply based on how much it cost, but wanted to run it by fellow experts before making a final determination. Probably confused in my mind by the initial concerns, last summer, of possibly needing a new well, too.

Well, then it's reasonably clear that VITA/TCE is assuming the historical data cannot be accessed in a reasonable manner in a reasonable time, therefore the only option is zero.

My starting price on those is roughly $900 at this point. If I have a state estate return to file (not estate income, but estate), those start at $6,000. MA starts from the federal 706 as of 2003 (1998 form) - only available as a pdf at this point in time. Once that is filled out you can move to the 6-page state form.

Last time I had something that convoluted, the bill was over $1,200 and that was years ago. Today, probably closer to $2,000 - $2,500 for 1040 series. More if 1041s (with or without K-1a) are part of the mix.

TLDR version of post above: DUMP the pita clients. Your life will be so much better.

I did that this year with one client. Couple, he thinks I'm great, she doesn't understand numbers at all and is suspicious of everything. Plus she is (only vaguely competent) trustee of five family trusts left by a parent. Royal PITA getting anything out of them except "why aren't you done yet?" queries. Told them last year - after their payment checks cleared - that they needed to find someone else for this year. When this thread of "rough season" started up I realized the entire reason this season, while hectic and full of its own upheavals, seems so much better, is because this one family went elsewhere. And yes, husband called in January, asking pretty please if I'd take them back. Told him, very politely, no.

$450 - $500

If you know a good broker (as opposed to the customer service "broker equivalents" who answer phones at big houses, they can dredge up old merger & acquisition historical data from tools they have but we don't. I have a broker I've worked with for years and years who has helped me in just that way several times. The good ones see it as a treasure hunt (and maybe a way to show off, a little bit), and probably enjoy doing something more challenging than selling the latest big thing their house is pushing brokers to sell. Look for a small local or boutique firm as that's where you are more likely to find someone with the tools.

There should be a place on a fiduciary return to put situs (tax home of the trust or estate). Then it doesn't matter where the trustee (or executor) lives, and frequently they do not live in the same state as the entity. You should not have any trouble. If NYS sends a letter, the response to them it "Trust situs is Florida; no NYS assets, income, or exposure. Mailing address of trustee only."

I mean, it's the IRS. They will have a way to pay them money!

Give them no-amount-printed payment coupons to mail with checks? Or use the "Balance Due" choice that should still exist?

Ah, the tricky issues always wait until the very end, don't they? Client in a rural area; has well water. Well is on the other side of a state highway from the house. The copper lines from the well to the house were leaking very badly; both water quantity and quality were suffering, plus all the water under the highway wasn't good for the road, either. Home-based business so at issue is Form 8829 treatment of the expense. In the end, a new well was not needed. Old well was repaired and lines replaced - "upgraded" in the sense that heavier gauge of pipe is now required by code. Materials cost was the smallest part of overall. Drilling, excavating, sideways drilling under the two-lane state road, plumbing, refilling all the excavated areas. Total cost over $20,000. (Ouch!) Repair (restoration to function, of water to the house)? Or does it need to be capitalized because of the cost?

New movie trailer: The Accountant ^2 Has promise.

Use micro script? Seriously, "See attached" with a nicely typed list works. Although the fill-in pdf I used last time I needed one of these put everything in place nicely. The Tax Book has one, if you need.

Thank you, @Gail in Virginia and @Abby Normal - I'm so used to the home sale worksheet in the individual return I didn't even think of the basis adjustment columns for reporting the closing costs.