Catherine

I will second @JohnH's excellent idea. This whole area of concern is a Circ230 weak spot and minefield, and we get caught. On the one hand, you cannot let this client sign a return in her increasingly confused state. On the other, technically you cannot reach out to the daughter. If you do have any recollection of mention of a POA, then JohnH's suggestion is an "out" for you. I have had similar instances. One recent case, the son-in-law contacted me after laboriously convincing f-i-l he needed "just a little help" with his (many years of back) taxes. I had not yet accepted him as a client; we just had our initial meeting. Using that "out" (non-clients on all sides) I told s-i-l it was high time for the man's daughter to get a POA while he was still competent to grant it. He's *fine* is you're just talking to him about the weather and the garden - but oh dear heavens the papers. I've seen it too many times. The multiple xerox copies of the same things, the notes running in seven different directions on one piece of paper (also copied), the important pieces intermingled with junk intermingled with charity solicitations, all jumbled with multiple years. Dementia. Just saw early signs again this morning with an existing client - who fortunately told me of her own volition about her grown child who now has a POA. (And I have an address in my files from something or other some time ago...) I will be reaching out for a copy of that POA.

That doesn't follow working from home. The client MAY be a statutory employee, where a Sch C is appropriate. See their employment contract.

Nope, I must disagree with Margaret. With a Roth IRA, once the account has been in existence for five years you can take your basis in the money out free of tax or penalty. So yes, subtract the basis from the distribution, and the balance is taxable. There should be a field on the 5329 about what amount is subject to penalty.

I bought ESPP shares back when I was a young engineer at GTE (Labs). I still have all my basis paperwork. LOVE your chart @Roberts !

Married filing singly double jointed as long as spouse is filing separately.

Solid documentation being IRS code, not pubs. But their own code - now THAT they would have a very hard time arguing with!

We use iDrive, where we can configure what backs up - including networked drives. It also can (checkbox; simple) send you an email for any backup hiccup - which can be as little as one file not being accessible. A colleague uses BackBlaze, and found out the hard way (drive failure) that it only send you error messages that backups have failed after TWO WEEKS of consistent failures.

RitaB would remind us that it is OK to kill these clients. I would recommend putting them all on extension. Training to give ALL the documents next year.... tell 'em since this is new information, the returns need to be re-done and you're going at the bottom of the queue. Extension, and next year give me everything the first time (as if they'll do that, hah). I get less forgiving as time goes on.

There is a difference between what is technically correct, and what is as close as one can come given a particular set of circumstances. What is likely to happen - at most - is a tentative suggestion from employee to boss saying some version of "my accountant says next year this should go through payroll" with no request to change it for this past year.

I have bitcoin trading clients. I used to use a spreadsheet for tracking, and had the client provide me a list of all his buys (very few) and sells (more, but not tons until last year). A year or three ago, he signed up for one of the basis-tracking services. Since then, he provides that spreadsheet for me. I rework a copy of the spreadsheet for a bit (getting the columns in the right order, and the date in US style rather than Euro style), then import (into Drake).

Get the trust document and read it. Typically, revocable living trusts say something on the order of "upon my death, all my assets go into the trust and get split according to Schedule appended" or something. That should tell you how to proceed with all the stuff that went in to the trust.

Write up all the details now, so when the letter arrives in six to eighteen months, you won't be trying to remember the details. Get statements and confirmations, too, to back up the case.

Thank you, @GraceNY - that's where I thought, but bless me if I could find ANYTHING discussing the issue of where/how to report. Limits, testing, vesting, who qualifies or doesn't, the current phase of the moon, best time to plant anise - but nothing on where to report the deduction.

Client has self-employment; simple sch C. She started a safe harbor 401k (broker advice; she could have put more away with a SEP...sigh). How on earth do I report this on Sch C? SE pensions etc all say SEP and SIMPLE but not 401k. On the "pensions" line of Sch C (which would lower SE tax, too, and which I don't think can be right)? Or as an adjustment to income on one of the new schedules?

Attach a pdf to the return! That's an easy fix.

With all of Judy's cautions, of course none of us should be doing legal work. However, I had never considered asking to SEE the black book. Considering the repercussions of it not being properly filled out, I can see (a) asking to see it, and if it's not in good shape, (b) cautioning the client - in writing - about the possible dangers of leaving it undone. NOT legal advice, but rather "in a case on audit, IRS disallowed corp status and s-corp election, result major penalties that shut business" because those statements are TAX advice - which IS our job.

And don't forget the Section (whatever; I forget - it's late) election to treat distributions in the first 65 days of the year as having been made in the prior year.

Get a copy of the trust. There may be provisions allowing distribution of corpus as well as current income. If so, then yes it can be passed on a K-1 to the beneficiary.

I have also seen requests for Form 56 (assignment/statement of fiduciary), to go with the 1310.

You found it *because* you asked!

And here is one version of an old story. WARNING: potty-mouth terms used as you get farther in. Password reset A man was was unable to log into his online banking account and he pulled up the online chat support. "I put in my password and I cannot access my account" "Sorry that password has expired - you must register a new one." "Did anyone discover that password and hack my computer?" "No, but your password has expired - you must get a new one." "Why then do I need a new one as that one seems to be working pretty well?" "Well, you must get a new one as they automatically expire every 90 days." "Can I use the old one and just re-register it?" "No, you must get a new one." "I don't want a new one as that is one more thing for me to remember." "Sorry, you must get a new one." "OK, roses." "Sorry you must use more letters." "OK, pretty roses" "No good, you must use at least one numerical character." "OK, 1 pretty rose" "Sorry, you cannot use blank spaces." "OK, 1prettyrose" "Sorry, you must use additional characters." "OK, 1fuckingprettyrose" "Sorry, you must use at least one capital letter." "OK,1FUCKINGprettyrose" "Sorry, you cannot use more than one capital letter in a row." "OK, 1Fuckingprettyrose" "Sorry, you cannot use that password as you must use additional letters." "OK, 1Fuckingprettyroseshovedupyourassifyoudon'tgivemeaccessrightfuckingnow" "Sorry, you cannot use that password as it is already being used"

I became an EA in 2004 and an ERO a year or two later. I had to do fingerprints.

I was going to say Abby's script is probably ALL curse words! (joke, Abby)

THAT subset has gotten easier since the invention of the online services/utilities that track basis and create reports. I have one client who can send me an importable csv file, another whose software spits out a properly sub-totaled report that we can append as a pdf like we can do with brokerage statements. They also like that they're not paying ME to calculate gain on every frimping latte they bought with crypto all year long.

Not me, sorry!