Chowdahead

Wow, I was wondering about FeeCollect since I remember it was alot cheaper than RTs from the banks. But I had to use the banks for RTs because it was required by them if I wanted to do RALs. Does anyone know the exact cutoff date to sign up for FeeCollect? I want to wait a few days to see if another bank extends their deadline. I called Chase tonight and they said no. But I waited on the line for 25 minutes to talk to someone, and when the guy answered he said that the phones were off the hook with calls from SBBT customers. I would be surprised if Republic, Chase, or Riverz City don't extend their deadlines. They would be crazy not too. Metabank chose the worst time to buy SBBT's Tax Division.. because it will be abandoned after this tax year.

I got the letter too. This is total B.S. This is going to take a a bite out of my business. I only do about 30-40 RALS a year, but still, this leaves me at a disadvantage compared to my competitors. What really pisses me off is that I decided to go only with SBBT this year because last year I was signed up for both River City and SBBT and I found SBBT to be much quiicker so I decided to stick with them. I have also been receiving solicitations from Republic Bank and decided to stick with SBBT because I had minimal problems with them. Now this. I just called Republic Bank and their cutoff date to sign up was Dec. 20. There is no indication that they will extend it. The representative said that every call that she took today has been from SBBT customers looking to switch. This would be a golden opportunity for them to get alot of new customers because I definately won't be returning to SBBT. This was a knife in the back. The reason this is a even worse is because the last deadline for RAL sign-ups was yesterday with Chase, and SBBT decided to wait until 4:00 EST to drop this info on us? This is a debacle.

Under your scenario, the person actually lost $100, which they can claim as a loss, since their winnings were also $100 at the end of the trip. If they had lost $500, they could only claim up to $100, because that was their total winnings on that particular trip. Under this new interpretation, if they come back to the casino the next day they cannot factor those winnings and loses into their next day's transactions. To make it really interesting is what if the person actually spend 2 or 3 straight days in the casino before cashing out? I have a client who actually slept in the casino.. I kid you not. Would this be considered 2 separate days or 1 trip?

I would concur the same in RI. All 3 of my leased vehicles have had the leasing company's name on the vehicle registration and title. My name was nowhere to be found.

I received both, but I purchased Max direct through ATX...

Thank goodness for the auto-update. There was nothing worse then sending a bunch of RALs and then having it get rejected because a form version is out-of-date. :angry:

Actually, given the current state of the economy, I know quite a few people who are collecting Unemployment Benefits and going to school (usually junior college or tech school), which is all being funded by the Recovery Act. So I expect to see alot of 1099-Gs from clients from situations that will not be the norm from past years. Wait till I have to break the news to them that Unemployment Benefits don't generate anything under the Earned Income Credit, and their refund will be little to nothing. "Call your congressman!" I'll say.

I've been doing this since the 2003 Tax Year. I'm pretty organized. But in the madness during the peak tax season,and those very late nights of transmitting, I always seem to have someone fall through the cracks, in terms of not getting e-filed after the return is done. There is no worse feeling than to have a client call you weeks later and inquire as to why they haven't received their refund, and when you go check the program you realize that although the hardcopy was filed away, the electronic file was never e-filed. Doh! Or an e-file could be rejected by the IRS or ATX and never gets corrected and re-transmitted properly. What type of system do you guys use to document that every return that was supposed to get e-filed, was transmitted and accepted, And every return that the customer was supposed to mail, was handed to the customer. Or if you are simply waiting for a customer to return with additional documents. What is your system? I figure I don't need to reinvent the wheel here, since there are probably plenty of good models to follow.

Do all returns have to be paper-filed after Oct. 15? I have a client with a large refund due. She didn't get around to doing it until recently. Does it have to be paper filed?

Thanks!

I've got a client coming in to file several previous years income tax. Is it correct to use the 2008 mailing addresses listed in ATX for all of the years? Or should I be using the mailing addresses listed within the various ATX programs (i.e. 2007, 2006 etc). I know the addresses have changed from year to year, sometimes the entire city is different. For example, Rhode Island used to be processed in Andover, MA, but now they go to the Atlanta Service Center.

However, the divorce decree affects who the IRS interprets federal tax law, and that is key. Additionally, according to the IRS, they accept a divorce decree in-lieu of the 8332 for divorces decrees/agreements signed after 1984, and before 2008: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02....ublink100041862 If the decree/agreement was signed after 2008, then they require the 8332, or a signed statement similarly worded.

I'm going to guess that the Treasury Secretary will be getting a call from the White House on these "interpretations", whose logic I find baffling, especially since "formula supplements" are allowed. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancon...by-formula.aspx IRS to Mastectomy Moms: No Tax Relief for Baby Formula Newsweek By Jenny Hontz The IRS has ruled that a woman medically incapable of breast-feeding after a double mastectomy may not set aside the cost of infant formula as a pretax medical expense, NEWSWEEK has learned exclusively. “To explicitly deny women this deduction is a shameful interpretation of their regulations, especially when they’re interpreting them to accommodate footpads and condoms and Viagra,” says Dan Harrison, 39, of Los Angeles, who asked for the IRS to rule on the issue. “I think women should be pissed off.” Harrison’s wife, Libby, 39, had both breasts surgically removed in 2006, two years before the birth of her second daughter, Hannah. While Libby breast-fed her first child, she had no choice but to purchase infant formula for Hannah, which cost about $1,000 over the course of a year. Dan Harrison, an executive at NBC Universal, was looking through a list of approved medical expenses under his flexible spending account provided by Ceridian, the company that manages his employee benefits. Flexible spending accounts allow taxpayers to set aside up to $5,000 per year as pretax income for medical expenses not covered by insurance. Dr. Scholl’s footpads, sunscreen, birth control, and prescription sunglasses all qualify as medical care for the “diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease,” according to the IRS. People with hearing impairments are allowed to include the cost of equipment to help them watch TV, and anyone who has lost a limb can count the cost of modifying a car as pretax income. Hypnosis, yoga, colon cleansing, massage, and even dancing lessons are also considered medical costs with a doctor’s note. However, infant formula for women medically unable to breast-feed because of breast cancer or HIV is nowhere on the list. Harrison wrote to the IRS asking for clarification, and he received a letter last September confirming his suspicions that formula under no circumstances is considered a medical expense. “Food, including infant formula, that satisfies your nutritional requirements is a personal expenditure,” the letter said. Harrison saw a double standard at work. Breast-milk supplements are considered a medical expense with a doctor’s note, as are breast pumps and hot and cold packs to ease breast-feeding pain. Patients allergic to wheat may also count as a medical expense the difference between the cost of wheat-free and regular foods. “This special food is deductible with a doctor’s certification,” Harrison says. “How is infant formula any different?” The IRS had never considered a case of a woman who had to purchase formula because of a double mastectomy, and Harrison believed a principle of fairness was at stake. He challenged the IRS by requesting a formal ruling and traveling to Washington to make his case last November. Former California governor Gray Davis, a family friend, put Harrison in touch with Rep. Henry Waxman, who wrote a letter to the IRS supporting the Harrisons. The breast-cancer survivor organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure, also urged the IRS to reconsider, and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis took the case pro bono, putting one of its top tax attorneys, Todd Maynes, on the job. Despite having such heavy hitters in his corner, the IRS ruled July 1 against the Harrisons, saying infant formula is food, and because it’s for the baby, it doesn’t mitigate the disease of the mother. The Harrisons received the decision in the mail this week. “It’s food for a healthy infant,” IRS branch chief Christopher Kane told Newsweek.com. “The mother is the one with the medical problem. It’s the same expense a [healthy] woman who chooses not to breast-feed incurs,” Kane said. That argument doesn’t sit well with Harrison. Buying infant formula was not a choice for his family. Without it, his child could not have survived. “There’s no doubt, if you don’t have breast tissue, you can’t breast-feed,” he says. “There is no alternate product to give the baby. It’s not like the baby can eat a granola bar and get developmental nutrition from a prescription product, which would be deductible. It’s breast milk or formula or the kid dies.” Harrison also takes issue with the idea that formula is merely food. “Infant formula is so highly regulated, in my mind, it’s closer to a medicine,” he sasys. “They tell you what ingredients must be in infant formula [and in what amounts]. There’s a real care that goes into the manufacture and oversight that you don’t have in the traditional food chain.” To Kane’s assertion that formula doesn’t mitigate the mother’s disease because it’s for her child, Harrison points out that the health of mothers and young infants is intertwined. “This has a lot of support in medical literature and even in government hospital regulations,” he says. “It is called the mother-child dyad.” The tax code, however, treats mothers and infants as separate people, Kane says. “We’re constrained by the law. That’s our job.” Harrison isn’t giving up. He’s taking his case to Congress and has a receptive ear in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), herself a breast-cancer survivor. "This ruling clearly shows a lack of understanding of the medical implications of breast-cancer treatment in young women," Wasserman Schultz says. "I am exploring options that will allow women adversely affected by this ruling to utilize the money they've set aside in their FSA accounts for what is clearly a medically necessary expense."

Personally, if I was her, I would take the risk. Her name isn''t on the mortgage, nor on record with the municipality. She never signed a purchase and agreement for a home in her life. She may even qualify for First-Time Home Buyer status under FHA rules. You may wish to run the question by a reputable mortgage broker to determine if she would qualify for under FHA for programs for first-time home buyers. This is important because I believe it could be a valid defense in the rare instance in which the IRS conducts an audit. In these economic times, $8,000 is a real help in a home purchase. Her name is not connected to the property in any way that would trigger an audit with the IRS. So any audit would be random. And if she is audited, she would have a reasonable defense since she never signed a purchase and sale agreement on a home, and the home wasn't purchased while she as married. Delving any further into applicable state laws of marital property would require her to hire a lawyer, on to whom she'll end up paying a good portion of the $8,000. This is one of those classic cost vs. benefit scenarios.

Well this was bound to happen to me at least once I guess. I had a rollover client from last year and the husband was first on the return and his spouse second. She received a 1099-MISC for about $700 and I forgot to check the spouse box, so the 1099-MISC and Schedule C input sheet was transmitted with his name on it. There were no expenses on the Schedule C. I realized after I sent it, and all of a sudden had a bad feeling and I opened the return to check it and realized the mistake. I did double check the return before I sent it but apparently I only checked the W-2 inputs. I am very paranoid about this happening and that's why I usually scrutinize married jointly returns even more. How do I fix this? They are planning on filing an amended return in several months anyway because the will be purchasing a house and will be claiming the first-time home buyers credit. But in filing an amendment, there is nowhere on the 1040X to change this type of thing, since the amounts are all the same, but only the "payee" is changing. I was thinking of calling E-Services or the Practitioner Priority Line and seeing if they could do it over the phone, but they are hit or miss depending on who you get.... Any thoughts?

Thanks. The client will instead just file and get their refund now and then amend later if they buy a house.

Thanks for the info!

I have a client who will not owe. However, they do not wish to file their return yet because they will be buying a house in the next couple of months and don't want to have to file an amendment to claim the First-Time Home Buyers Credit. I told them I was pretty sure that an extension is not required because they will not have a tax due. I just want to confirm here, is that correct?

A month or two ago someone posted a quick question about what the per diem meal allownces for a child care provider who provides meals to the kids. I have been searching for that thread for 2 weeks to no avail. I also can't find it in the ATX 1040 Express Answers book or on IRS.gov Can someone please give me the per diems please? Thanks!

If a person purchased a multi-family home in 2008, under the current rules they would be eligible for up to a $7500 credit, which must be paid back. However, there are certain qualification restrictions, which are not readily advertised. One of the bigger ones that I noticed was that a person may only qualify for a certain percentage of the credit based on their business use percentage of the property. The IRS references the rules on Sale of a Principal Residence for Capital Gains Exclusion, for a definition of what "principal residence" means. My question is, that if a person buys a 2 family home and they live in one unit, are they eligible for only 50% of the credit? If they purchase a three family home, are the eligible for only 33.3% of the credit? Separately, if a homeowners sells their principal residence and the property is a multifamily, are they eligible to exclude only the applicable percentage that is non business-use? Do they have to report the business portion (i.e. the apartment they rented) as a capital gain?

When filing a 1040X, I have never attached the original 1040, because I could find no mention of this requirement in the 1040X instructions. Is it required? The instructions say only to attach any additional schedules that have been affected opr added to the return. I have never had a client return to me with a letter requesting the original return.

I have a client who received a 1099-S with $175,000 in Box 2. They had their single family home sold in short-sale on 12/23/2008. They lived in the house the past 5 years. Since it is a single family, does this have to be reported on the return? If it does, which form or schedule is used to report it? While I'm on the topic, which form/schedule is used to report any amounts on a 1099-C "Cancellation of Debt" form? This client didn't receive one, but I'm pretty sure I will see at least one between now and the filing deadline.

Still sounds vague to me. Especially the phrase "may allocate the credit among the individual owners in any reasonable manner". Does this mean that since he is a first-time home buyer, and it's his return, he can reasonably take the $7500?

I have a client who purchased a home with his girlfriend in 2008. They are both listed on the 1098-INT. He has never owned a home before. But she has owned a home before within the last 3 years. They are not married, so he is filing his return as Single. She is not on his return. Does he qualify for the $7500 credit (aka loan)? Does he have calculate the credit at 50%? IRS Website doesn't mention anything about non-married co-owners:

It's already available on IRS.gov. Using 2007 won't help me since I need to amend return that is saved in ATX 2008. I have about 5 people waiting for me to amend. Not because of my error by the way... thank goodness.