Catherine

Hi @BulldogTomno I didn't figure it out. Got derailed by other problem clients and never got back to this one! The guy's in France until Monday so I tabled it. Looks from what you wrote that I need to pull that one out (tomorrow; too fried tonight) and see if I can make heads or tails of it on a second go-round. I'll report back, either way.

If we didn't know your statement was tongue-in-cheek, that would be dangerous. Asking for a bunch of ATXCommunity-ers to show up at your office with pitchforks and tar. Fortunately for you, we'd all have been too busy anyway!

I usually recommend filing with the "final" box checked, as I did have one trust years ago that had no requirement for its last year - and got a letter two years later wanting to know where the return was. For such returns I charge next to nothing because it's just name, address, EIN, and "final return" box checked.

Thanks for all the sympathy, empathy, and commiseration. My letter clearly states that if I don't have all materials in my hands by March 15th, all bets are off, *and* that every return not ready to file *will* (not may) be put on extension the first week of April. So it wasn't even deadline pressure that day. It was just all of a sudden the floodgates gave way and I was inundated with other people panicking, being stupid, or both, and I needed to rant. Thanks, friends, you're in the same boat so you get it.

I've always liked, "Couldn't pour sand out of a boot with direction written on the heel."

I'm glad you found what you needed. I have had clients make a partial payment by debit with filed return, and included the IA request (for under $10K) with the return. Done that way, it can take several months before the IRS starts taking the monthly debits. But eventually they do.

Since about 3pm, it has been utter lunacy here. I can't hang up the phone without it ringing again. People who have been agitating for signature documents are only signing 1 of the 3 sent, despite being told in the email with the docs that there are three required. Not optional; required. Colleagues calling who need advice or calming down or both. People showing up at the door, without warning, with papers to drop off. Several of my foreign-based clients decided to send docs too. I'm ready to crawl under my desk with a bottle of whiskey and a bag of Skittles and not come out until May. Except I gave up Skittles (and more) for Lent, so I can't even do that. I really want to scream right now. Rant over. Mostly. For a while, at least.

Yes, but they always have a form to prolong the pain! No form, no way to collect $.

It started out great and got progressively weirder and weirder.

One this year; adult child of client. Married, W2 job, new twins and mom stays home so no child care. Sounds like an easy one, yes? Stock options with basis missing (at least not ISO's with two bases) Consulting for dad Consulting for mom Unemployment for mom from before twins were born. The condo they moved out of for a bigger place (with twins on the way) is now a rental. "Repairs" for rental neatly listed but capital and expense intermixed and had to be teased apart. Partnership K-1 Various carry-forwards from 2020 return - easy except he sent me the wrong file three times. Signature pages don't help get carry-forward figures. This one took substantially longer than one would have thought, based on the description at the top. Typical for my practice. Oh, and the parents? Another "Simple" return; they sold their house (a duplex) and weren't sure how to handle the sale because of the rental portion. 2020 NOL not carried forward. Depreciation on all manner of items never taken. Form 3115 needed, as well as amended 2020.

The "All States" edition of the tax book doesn't even have a listing for South Dakota.

I think I'm going to go with Schedule C. These pets instead of any kind of herding/farm animal or livestock, and there are no hand-spinners or BBQ places around here that would consider the cats as source material. Not too much fur off of a kitten before it's placed, either.

Cats are not livestock, true. I got sidetracked by the common theme of "raising animals for resale" which she does with her sheep and goats.

It's a business, not a hobby. Already making far more money than the farm, which is also a business not a hobby.

MPAI; most people are idiots. On top of which, it's all too frequently the higher-IQ clients who don't read the (very clear!) instructions because they know better. And then claim "I never got X" when you have a reply from them quoting X. Anyone see the Dune movie? (I didn't, but read the book a gazillion years ago.) That Bene Gesserit box thing - take your hand out and you die? I'd like to use that on clients; they try to do anything before reading the directions, they die. Or at least have pain - as much pain as they cause us! (A girl can dream, can't she?)

If I ever manage to do 12 or 20 returns in a day, they'd be the "one W2 and $3 in bank interest only" types. I spend 2-4 hours on each return, not including emailing the client telling them they still owe me documents X, Y, and Z.

Thanks, @BulldogTom and I'll look at the 8990 when I get back to this client later today.

Husband has a Sch C; he makes furniture, so definitely doesn't have anything to do with his self-employment. She has a Schedule F; raises sheep and goats and poultry. Sells grown animals and maybe a couple dozen eggs a year. For 2021, she added in breeding some fancy variety of cat, but they're not out in the animal barn! She keeps the records separate, too. (Green ledger paper for all of it; his and both of hers - and praise God for that, because her ledgers are clean and neat. I've seen her computer "communications" and they're a total jumble.) Does that help?

Client's wife started a new business in 2021: breeding cats. Is this Schedule C or F? If the answer is F, the next question is since they also have a small farm, could I include the cats in the existing Sch F or would it need its own, second, Sch F? (Made more money on the cats in the first year than the farm has ever made, and already have a two-year waiting list for kittens. Who knew?)

Everything is tagged in the Master File using the first 4 or 5 letters, only, of the surname. I have two couples (parents, married son) from India, whose names go on for several paragraphs (maybe that's a tiny exaggeration) and while Drake will truncate on its own, back in my ATX days I just whacked off letters until it fit and filed. Never had an issue.

This item came through as a Box 20 Code "N" item on the K-1. I have no idea what to do with "excess investment interest." Can anyone point me in the right direction? Form 49-whatever for investment interest?

Well, you now have a known liar as a client. Your requirement for documentation just skyrocketed, because you can't trust a thing from him. Good luck! Hug him; maybe that's the best thing to do.

On our calendar for tomorrow is an all-day event: "Everyone gets an extension!" Every client whose return is not complete and ready to submit will be put on extension. We'll send them payment coupons *if* we've gotten that far. Not our problem if folks who owe didn't send us their docs in time. Our cutoff for completion by 4/15 is 3/15. That means all docs in-house. Nothing outstanding (missing statement, missing basis, missing DL dates, missing whatever). Which nearly no one meets. But it's in our letter every season, too, so it's not a surprise to anyone. We'll spend the day prepping and submitting extensions for everyone on the list noted above, and then move one with the season, completing as many returns as we can without regard to the 4/15 (18, 19, whatever) date. When I started getting seriously hard-nosed about extensions, a lot of the season-end pressure evaporated. I still work hard, and long, but without that horrible feeling of "gotta get more done!" that hounds us.

So either the drone on the phone didn't know, or it was an internal IRS screw-up and they were not going to admit it. Glad your client will get his refund!

Hooray and congratulations!