Catherine

Thanks, Judy @jklcpa. It's what I figured - but of course this was a DOD over a Christmas holiday weekend and markets were closed day for like four days straight. And there was a huge jump in stock price on the stock that was sold by the executor, too. Got to over-thinking it and needed a hand-hold to extricate myself.

I faxed one in on Feb 18th, and as of two days ago it still wasn't in the system.

MassDOR is famous for demanding proof of withheld tax from the Mass Teachers Retirement system. Who administers that system, sends out the payments, and withholds the taxes? If you said MassDOR, you'd be 100% correct! So they ask retired teachers to prove to MassDOR that MassDOR withheld the tax they say they withheld. One poor lady they demanded the same thing every year for about four (or five, or six) years, when I finally got a POA from her and lambasted them for harassing her. Politely, but I reamed them one. They did not ask the next year...

When a decedent dies on a weekend, we are supposed to use an average of the valuation of the day before, and the next market day open. Anyone know of any special rules if it happens to be a major holiday weekend where the markets are closed for several extra days?

It is further limited to income above a threshold specified in the OIC.

If he had a Future Income Collateral Agreement, there can be a bump in payments for an OIC. These tend to be limited in duration (3-5 years) and I do not recall if they include socsec income, or just wage income, in the calculations. If memory serves (and they have changed nothing), it's tagged off of AGI. This is ONLY the case with a FICA/OIC. You fill out Form 3439, that is (or was) sent on paper, new every year, by the OIC office.

You are very welcome. I frankly trust CCleaner to find the right drivers more than Windows.

Does CA accept debit payments? I had an issue with entity (trust, 1041) returns with a NM balance due. Turns out NM will take e-checks on their web site, and checks, but not debits. Drake can't surmount that one.

Bingo!

Link to IRS: IRS News Release And, what it says: February 21, 2022 The IRS announced today that a new option in the agency’s authentication system is now available for taxpayers to sign up for IRS online accounts without the use of any biometric data, including facial recognition. This is consistent with the IRS’s commitment earlier this month to transition away from the requirement for taxpayers creating an IRS online account to provide a selfie to a third-party service to help authenticate their identity. Taxpayers will have the option of verifying their identity during a live, virtual interview with agents; no biometric data – including facial recognition – will be required if taxpayers choose to authenticate their identity through a virtual interview. Taxpayers will still have the option to verify their identity automatically through the use of biometric verification through ID.me’s self-assistance tool if they choose. For taxpayers who select this option, new requirements are in place to ensure images provided by taxpayers are deleted for the account being created. Any existing biometric data from taxpayers who previously created an IRS Online Account that has already been collected will also be permanently deleted over the course of the next few weeks. While this short-term solution is in place for this year’s filing season, the IRS will work closely with partners across government to roll out Login.Gov as an authentication tool. The General Services Administration is currently working with the IRS to achieve the security standards and scale required of Login.Gov, with the goal of moving toward introducing this option after the 2022 filing deadline.

We save pic of the DL in every client file. Or a text document with the information, and the file name is "Joe DL exp2025" so we know when we need a new one. Yes, it's a pain. Like supposed to ask for socsec card annually. As if it changes year to year? Gimme a break.

I was just going to say what Judy already said. There is a difference between having a home-based business, and being eligible for the difficult home office deduction. Plenty of businesses don't get over that sole-and-exclusive-use hurdle. Let's face it; not many have two desks and two chairs and two computers, one to pay the house bills and the other for paying the business bills. That does not make the home-based business any less of a business.

CCleaner and other utilities will check your drivers and install updates as needed, if you don't want to do it yourself.

I have also seen letters when payments have been made using Direct Pay as well as by direct debit scheduled when the return was filed. It seems the computers are just not picking up all the payments, and I have no idea what the solution is.

There is a difference between running a home-based business, for mileage purposes, and the sole-and-exclusive space requirements for the home office deduction.

The most persnickety of clients have karma attached to them, attracting mistakes on our part. Seen it time and time again over the years!

Obviously, JohnH, they did it to see if you were paying attention! Congratulations; you win the kewpie doll. Include its FMV in your income for 2022.

You might recommend to your client that they (not you!) call. I've had two clients who called; one had their refund approved but not released and it took the phone call to release the hold so the IRS would actually send the check. The other never got (or so they said) the "we need you to prove who you are" letter. In both cases, the processing would never have proceeded without the calls. But yeah, most of them are just cases of take the deli ticket and wait in line to order your half pound of roast beef.

I have a couple of clients for whom we file every year without official requirements. One wants that SOL to be started. The other lives in subsidized housing and requires a copy of her return every year to prove her continued eligibility for the subsidy. If we have to prepare it anyway, it's dumb not to file it too. I charge very little for those returns (and no charge for the 2nd paper copy for the lady getting the subsidy - and she gives it to the board, or whoever demands it).

The problem is the state in question has to approve the use of the forms. There is nothing we, the software companies, or even the IRS can do to force the states to act more swiftly

A tax attorney I know said their recommendations to pros was to wait until mid summer (when e-services was going to start using it) to give them time to work out the bugs. So I had held off. Perhaps they will go to the login.gov system that cbslee mentioned. We'll see!

I use Drake, and we're still waiting for approval on those forms in Drake as well.

It is. It's an independent online (and print!) newspaper founded by anti-CCP groups and dedicated to independent reporting. Their bias is anti-CCP and pro-Falun Gong, but they do a remarkably good job as independent and neutral news source in any other area of interest.

MA has always had major delays on its non-resident/part-year form. I'm also still waiting for Form 2 (trusts; 1041 equivalent) to be approved. Fully 1/3 of MassDOR staff are permanently assigned to dealing with wage garnishments for child support. Most of the state tax is individuals, full year, followed by businesses (Forms 355 and 355S). So that's where they put all their efforts. Once those three (Forms 1, 355, 355S) are approved, then they turn their attention to the others. All we can do is wait.

More details from ZeroHedge (quoting the Epoch Times, which requires registration but not payment). ZeroHedge on IRS and ID me