GLJEANNE

I'm sorry Darlene, I'll hold you and your family in my prayers.

Some businesses will have to - if they brought back people while they were closed or semi-closed, based on the 8 week period, then they've used up most of the funds. And depending on the area, they may not be fully opened for quite a while yet.

I'd hold it, because while that's the rule for taxpayers, it can't hold true for the deceased. I heard last night about another couple of folks who has the same thing happen. I suspect it's not the weirdest thing we'll see before this is over!

Judy, they fixed it for those who apply refunds to estimateds! Call it a refund but enter 0, and it works!!

No date extensions on 941s or 990s.

I thought the site was down today? It was supposed to be offline for a couple days to do major updates, with many more returns uploaded and who know>s? maybe even a fix for us SE folks (not holding my breath).

Oy, there go most of my SE people, and me. Sigh.

Judy, have you read that for certain, or is it just based on experience so far? I know they still haven't upload all of 2018 and 2019 returns into the new system, but I hadn't heard that they were automatically going for paper checks for those SE folks.

So many emails on this.... And a lot of SE folks all in the same boat - any refunds would have been applied to estimated, so not sure if they should be using zero or the original over payment amount. Haven't gotten that far myself yet, I still get the message we-don't-know message (can't remember offhand what it actually says), so my return that was e-filed on the 2nd might still be getting processed. Since there's nothing odd about my return that would slow it down, I'm telling people that if they filed in April, it will probably take awhile.

Gail, based on everything they've said, it SHOULD go to your joint account. But they won't have your 2019 processed yet, so they won't be able to verify you for a few more days.

Well, in their defense, they're trying to do something in the quickest manner possible. Jackie, I'll be in the same boat as your client, so if you hear anything, I'd love to know.

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments This is the site for entering payment info. BUT, that's not intending for people who should ahve filed but didn't, it's supposed to be for folks who weren't require to file. So I'm not sure if she should/could use it.

And next week the "Get my Payment" link will be available, for people to check on the status, or change bank or address info. But of course, everyone will just call us. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

Yes, it's a way to get employees off unemployment and let them keep their insurance benefits. But yeah, all of these programs are poorly explained. Much like tax bills, Congree passes some of this without a lot of input from experts, so the agencies are scrambling to figure it out so they can explain it to us.

My understanding is that the intention is to encourage companies to bring everyone back on full payroll now, even if they aren't working. I'm curious how that's going to work for health insurance though - since in most cases these companies will have already laid off employees, are the health insurers going to be making an exception and letting them go back on plans without waiting periods? We'll see....

Well good grief. I tried 85 times to get through to them today before finally getting to hold for over an hour. What they said was ignore it. So why the hell is it in there??? She said that since earlier in the process you say that you're applying because of COVID; so since "Suitable FT employment" doesn't exist now, it negates what you're certifying to. But she said that's the question on a huge percent of their calls, so why they don't have someone re-word it, who knows. Now I get to email back all the clients who got hung up on that....

Nope. It's listed as a requirement for SE folks. I still may try to call them when they have an open period (they have assigned reasons for calling during various days), to see if they can tell me more. The owners I know have spent their time trying to find ways to still make even a little income (like turning to mail order, or takeout for restaurants), plus hours trying to figure out and apply for any of the programs that might help, plus dealing with vendors and trying to get payment plans, plus helping employees file for unemployment. Not to mention only now finding out this is a requirement,.

Well, this may work for some contractors, but none of our actual business owners will qualify. After you spend all the time registering and go through their weird steps for figuring out your earnings and hours, AFTER all that you get the disclaimers, which are identical to those of employees - you have to be actively seeking FT employment in addition to your SE work.

Yeah, that's not even a question, any client I found with that situation would be fired on the spot. And I'm sure most could - sometimes with a ton of work - come up with what's required. The problem is being asked to request benefits before we even know what's required.

Has anyone tried to apply for this yet, or helped clients through it? MN is telling everyone they should sign up this week, and then when the state knows more from the feds they'll share it. Once an application is finished, the next step is to Request a Benefit this week for (presumably) the previous week. This has t be done each week, if you don't request you don't get paid. Well, based on what?? First of all, how are they going to measure SE income - work billed or received? And then how is the loss measured - by comparing to the same week last year? That's going to be fun, since I'm guessing not many people can run reports for a week. Plus the application process itself tries to shoehorn SE folks into the same questions employees use, but we don't all work the same way. If you asked me what my hourly rate is, i couldn't begin to tell you - I track hours for some accounting clients, others have a monthly fee, or a project fee, or tax clients pay by-form fees. I'm guessing a lot of other fields have similar disparities. And because that's not fun enough, there are strict schedules for when you're allowed to call with questions, based on your SSN. Oy! Has your state issued any guidance yet?

Ok, so just like IRAs. But I'll probably have them leave it for now, if they can afford it, and wait til the end of the year to withdraw it; hopefully they'll get new jobs and become eligible for it again.

Has anyone run into this before, during a normal year? I have a couple clients who normally fund their HSAs in full in January, but now they've lost their jobs and insurance. At least one has low prospects of getting another job any time soon (non-essential industry). Is this just handled the same as excess IRA contribs would be? At this point, I've told them both to leave it for the time being, in hopes that further COVID legislation might address it.

Due dates are fixed!

I read somewhere along the line that one of the loans required that the company had already applied and been rejected for a normal loan. I'm glad they're specifically mentioned the re-hire part, though; I know the earlie one assumed you hadn't laid off anyone yet, but it came after many business had already been shuttered for a week or more.

I can't recall the cite, but my understanding is it will be an advance of a refundable credit on the 2020 returns, so it's a wash on the return. But no idea how they're going to make that work for people who would get different amounts based on 2018 vs 2019 vs 2020. Good luck figuring that one out, IRS.