Catherine

No major (retroactive!) tax law changes for them. No such excuse for estimates; without completed returns it's a total guesstimate instead of a calculation. They did not think. No surprise there.

As soon as the giver said "I should have sent a 1099-NEC" it turned into self-employment on Sch C. The good news is that she can now deduct her mileage to and from, and any out of pocket expenses.

Not quite. Had a client who took a course in eastern Europe. Accredited college, but not on the US list, so we couldn't even take lifetime learning credit.

As long as she paid a school in the USA, yes. If she paid a foreign school, then it depends on whether or not they're - I forget the term, registered, qualified, something - with the US Dept of Ed.

One guy yesterday had a zillion questions on why they owe so much. Gee, he cut back his ES payments but his income was up $60K, I wonder why they might owe money? Thought I had him settled, then today he started in on more questions. I haven't opened any email from him since before lunch because I'm too close to telling him I don't care about his stupid questions, just figure out how you're gonna pay and just. shut. up.

But company does not reciprocate. LOL. We are SO far behind. We lost multiple weeks this year with the retroactive changes (and belated state changes) and the panicking clients needed sedation by phone and email. Plus waiting for software updates, then going back to look at returns untouched for so long we had no memory of what was still to be done, what was finished, what we should expect to see... Worse yet, I have absolutely NO patience anymore for any clients. I've caught myself ready to chew someone's head off, more than once just barely before the words left my mouth. I am so unutterably DONE with this season. Realized this morning that I had not even looked at my own Q1 ES payments (what they should be, or scheduling them), and what's worse, I really don't give a flying bleep at a rolling donut either. I'll get to it in a week or two or three. Whatever.

Square works well but has some oddball quirks. Dump the whole account and set up a brand new one will be the only way to fix this.

Yes, it's an installment sale.

And yet one of our clients got an NOD because Appeals has NOT seen fit to act on the full response sent in back in November of last year! He's self-filing a tax court petition and I'll take over again once the TC sends it back to Appeals with a spanking to settle the thing. It's a dead-simple response, too; two corrections, one they were right about and one they were wrong about.

Most places sell for 90-110% of one year's gross receipts, frequently paid as 1/3 of receipts from transferred clients per year for three years (plus additional if you work for the new firm, hourly or whatever). The idea being that clients are more likely to stay with the new firm if you are seen to still be involved, and you get paid more for clients that stay.

What I do is enter it on two lines: 1. "personal transactions $x" followed by 2. "personal transactions $(x-1)" so the info ends up showing $1 taxable income. Why add taxable income? Because a lot of detail fields don't transmit if there is $0 total. Leave in the $1 and they get the details. Many states require 1099-K be explained.

Simple! If we make a mistake, it's our fault. If they make a mistake, it's still our fault! Just keep that in mind and it all falls into place.

I've seen applied refunds get messed up, too (yes, with e-filed returns). I DETEST applying refunds forward. Let each year stand on its own - else a problem with one year then involves a second year and doubles the problems that need fixing. That said, on rare occasion it's the best option for specific reasons.

Since when has that small fact stopped them! Eventually, yes. Had a battle royale with the IRS some years ago when they had a payment that was not properly applied (by them!) and they were getting nasty about late payment penalties. We had the cashed-check copy clearly showing the right year and quarter in the memo field, yet the IRS still fought and fought hard. Had to go to a supervisor! That person cleared it up instantly, and I hope the agent got reamed a new one for causing a couple of weeks of trouble.

I've prayed with clients, held them as they sobbed, helped them handle their deceased friend's/relatives' estate, rejoiced with them over kids' graduations and weddings, and more. I've had clients tell me, "I've told you things I haven't told my therapist." In some regards, we are more ministers than financial professionals. Yes, there are good tax pros all over (this group is a great example of just that!) and I've made inquiries, at times, for clients moving who want someone local. And gotten referrals from here from others in the same boat. But there are also plenty who move and want to stay with us - the history, familiarity with how we work, already have the file portal account and know how to use it, etc - and we don't refuse them. And a few who mean to change, then at the last minute come back to the familiar "for now" and some of those eventually leave. But we certainly end up knowing them better, in many ways, than just about any other professional they deal with.

I've met almost all of them. There are a few I haven't met - some of whom I've been doing their taxes for more than a decade.

Dunno about ATX, but Drake has a checkbox on the 1099-R form to EXCLUDE from regular reporting because it's reported on the 8915-E. Perhaps there is a similar checkbox/election/entry in ATX?

I searched goggle (sic) and the NYS tax dept and found nothing on that code. Obviously, it's one of those "if we tell you, we have to kill you" codes that no one knows. Put it in as "other" and you should be fine. Those are almost always informational only, anyway.

Yes, but subtract the annual gift exclusion amount, too. Father gave son $65,000 but $15,000 is the annual exclusion amount, so the reportable gift is $50,000.

Add in $1 of interest income, and see if that works. I run into this all the time with foreign-dwelling clients 100% of whose income is excluded with FEC. If there is no taxable income (before deductions) you cannot e-file. Add in that $1 of bank interest, not excluded under FEC - and bingo you can e-file. Very important tactic, especially for those clients living in countries where the mail service is nearly guaranteed to be pathetic at best. (Australia, most of South America, central/eastern Europe, some Asian countries - send a tax return in from there, by mail, and it's nearly 100% guaranteed never to arrive.)

This bit is key. Does she have emails to/from the new owners, expressing her surprise, or offering to help settle the affairs of the defunct company specifically making it a FREE help offer? Get those, and save them to pdfs, with the headers and date information etc, now. Then if/when a letter comes, that helps show it was an offer out of her goodness, and the money was an unexpected surprise.

I am 100% with you on the first and the third, but less so on the second. I have several friends who were only children, and I am "aunt" to those now-grown kids and refer to them as niece or nephew. It's a courtesy title. Interestingly enough, in centuries past, "niece" or "nephew" was used as a euphemism and familial acknowledgment for an outside-of-wedlock child. It was especially commonly used by members of the Catholic clergy, who were not allowed to marry.

Ah, but how many times have you heard the word "contumelious"?

I think I side with Dan; in some ways this is like winning a prize. Not expected, not predictable, no for-profit motive.

Withhold their Christmas and birthday presents until you are paid up!