Catherine

I find all caps harder to read in general, and use mixed-case on tax returns. On those rare occasions all-caps is needed, I get the same issue as Tom, and end up with a lower-case letter for first word in a sentence, names, et cetera - and then have to double-back and fix those. Ugh.

Thank you so much, @jklcpa Judy; I was afraid we were looking at an installment sale with $0 received for several years. It is a family vacation property and I don't think it was ever rented out (but I have no idea - as I said, this isn't even my client, praise God). The terms of the note allows her to call the note for any non-payment - and that the buyers (her brothers) have to pay all her legal costs should she do so. Were I this person, I'd call the note. But not my call. The colleague is someone relatively new to the field, so I may end up hand-holding on this one. I'll send him back to make inquiries about prior rentals and depreciation; I've already sent him off to research basis. Fortunately, his wife has extended family in the same county as the property and they already planned on going for a visit, so he was going to research property records at the county registry the next town or two over. Client's dad died so many years ago there's no hope of those records being online.

Bonnie, @NECPA in NEBRASKA my heart goes out to you and I'll keep you in my prayers. Lurk for as many years as you wish, or disappear in a few weeks, as seems good to you. You can always get sympathy here, and advice for those family returns, and more.

Not my client. Thank God. Theoretical for me, real for someone else. A colleague asked for advice handling an issue. T/p (not a NYS resident) got a letter from NYS demanding a return for a property sale in 2021. Property was sold in 2021 but t/p's brothers failed to pay her share of the proceeds. My original thought was report to NYS that no $ was received in 2021, therefore no return needed for a cash basis taxpayer. We will now ignore the NYS computer-letter non-responses, and go on to the weird parts. Stack-o-stuff brought to me to go over with colleague (with t/p's permission). Property was a family-owned cottage; t/p was bought out by her brothers for a whopping $25K total. They had her take back a mortgage for that amount. First payment was to be late 2022 ( a full year later!), with monthly payments from the 3 brothers for ten years. Legal docs notarized plus an amortization schedule, plus ability to call the note, plus more. But no payments were made until 2024 - and then only by 2 of the 3 brothers. Those 2 caught up in full, with hand-written apologies for having forgotten. Whole thing stinks to high heavens but that's not the issue. How would one report this?! Installment sale, starting in 2021, with zero $ in payments until 2024? Installment or Sch D sale in 2024 as that's when first $ was received? Ancient property records will be needed for basis; 4 siblings inherited this cottage from their dad who died in the early 1970s (all these people are in their 70's or 80's at this point). What do people think is the right way to handle this mess? By the time we'd gone through the docs, my colleague and I were just staring at each other, each wondering what on earth to do with this thing. And that's before we try to deal with the NYS Taxpayer Advocate office!

That is indeed the box. I am in fact waiting for a farmer to tell me if he wants to carry forward only.

I had an estate here in MA that was close to the MA $2M exemption amount, and got this question from one the Executor. Exec is a nervous nelly, so I called MassDOR's estate tax unit and asked directly. Their answer was "If it doesn't exceed the limit, we don't want to see a return." Even if it's nothing, they still have to look it over and process it. But that was a state, not the IRS, that I spoke with.

Only until May. Better than nothing, I guess - but nothing is all that many people have left. If they're even still alive. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-relief-for-helene-various-deadlines-postponed-to-may-1-2025-part-or-all-of-7-states-qualify

I don't know, off the top of my head, someone who could do this work. However, I helped out such a company many moons ago. Between that work and keeping them going while it was being figured out, it took a good half a year (that case the guy had been skimming for a couple of years, increasingly badly). Your client needs to know it likely won't be a quick fix. I do know someone who *might* be able to help, but can guarantee nothing at this time.

You will probably be able to e-file once all the external paperwork is in place. Attach 1310 to return as a pdf, and also include the court appointment. They will send a check, no direct deposit, so they'll need to have an account for the estate that will accept that check. As Judy said, have it ready to go. You can accept more paperwork from the (former) POA daughter. You just can't tell her anything other than "I got the documents you sent me" until you have the official notice of her being able to act for the estate.

bump for anyone who missed this

I've sent specific notes to a couple of folks, but it may well be there are people not in CA who do a plenty of CA returns. A client of mine who is resident PY in NY and CA would like to talk to other preparers about switching. I'm not sanguine about CA returns any longer, as he's the only client I have left with any CA exposure, so I made the suggestion to him. If you are interested in a new client, let me know and we'll proceed from there.

If the e-file database rejects it, then correct the incorrect check-box and resubmit.

The requirement for MFA means people will turn back to sending us sensitive documents by plaintext, readable in transit, email. Or text messages. I'll be retiring faster.

Ah, they will "improve the user experience," possibly to non-functionality.

Judy has the track I would take - get proof of application, show it was the government itself that caused the delay. Much better chance of getting approval.

Welcome back @mcb39 - may your strength return quickly.

Oh, yeah - along with all the nonsense already listed, the #$%^ letter also yaks about tax returns, taxable years, taxable income, etc. This is a 100% foreign entity, not subject to US taxation whatsoever. So it seems these nincompoops are expecting to make a buck off of something not under their jurisdiction, half a world away.

Situation: client is originally from Australia and is now resident in the US. His father lived in Australia all his life; no connection with the US other than his son's family was here. Father died a good ten years ago. Left his estate in trust, with his wife (client's stepmother) having a life interest in the home they shared. She has also now passed, and the trust is being wrapped up with home being sold etc. As part of this wrap-up of an Australian trust for an Australian estate, the client received some money as (a good chunk of) his inheritance from his father's estate. Long convoluted name is "trust for estate of the late john q smith" and listed as such in Line 2a of Form 3520 along with the Australia-only address (of one of the trustees, *not* my client). Monies received (in four tranches) listed as "corpus distribution from trust for deceased father's estate." Form 3520 was mailed in back in February of this year. Client now sends to me a CP 576 A notice dated late March 2024, that finally wended its way to the trustee in Australia - mistakenly listing my client as trustee (he is not). The notice says "we assigned you an EIN" and then demands a filled-out Form SS-4, Application for EIN. Does anyone here have any idea what gives? There is absolutely no connection between this trust/estate and the US, there should be no US EIN assigned to it, and I have no idea whatsoever on how to respond to the client's query on "what do I do with/about this?" Advice, pointers to information, instructions on where and how to hide under my desk, all gladly accepted. Can I retire now?

Please note I said flat-out I had no idea if it was true or not (and frankly the comment about a Commodore 64 tends strongly to the "false" category) but simply that I thought it was amusing. Figured we could all use a smile; that's all.

Don't know if it's true, but got a kick out of this one.

State treasurer bought a ticket for one of those European sweepstakes things? Good for them for wanting to figure out what on God's green earth is going on.

Fix the worksheet, or make a note for next year to correct the carried-forward total, and leave it be.

I don't recognize ATX errors any longer, and most new posters here with Ttx icons visible are not tax professionals. Thanks.

This is a professional-only forum and does not support ANY TurboTax (I see the icon on the screen) problems of any kind. Contact TurboTax for help.