BulldogTom

Where does it say "boyfreind" in the OP? It says father and mother. I guess I am old fashioned and I assumed that they were married. Tom Hollister, CA

Back at you buddy! I love having ministry experts on the board. You and Mike Malody are two of the great resources on this board. As for researched or off the cuff, I try to comment only on the things I am pretty sure of the answer. When challenged, I go to the code and regs. When I am guessing or trying to help someone with where the reasearch needs to go, but I don't know the answer for sure, I pretty much say so. If I don't have a clue, I don't post (normally). Tom Hollister, CA

Yes, I do have a business plan, but it is in a spreadsheet and goes back to the first year of business. So do all of my mileage logs. Sadly, I do have a swindling social life - oops, I meant dwindling. Tom Hollister, CA

I think the tiebreaker rules say that if the child qualifies as a qualifying child of more than one person, and one of the persons who can claim the child is a parent and the other person is not, the child is the qualifying child of the parent. Double check me on that, cause I am doing it from memory. Tom Hollister, CA

Uh, that would be me in my tax business. I have been working at this for 15 years. 4 profitable years, 11 loss years. First 5 were disasters, and the first year after I moved into an office outside the home was a huge loss. Don't call my business a hobby. I do however gain a certain degree of enjoyment from doing it. And I have had a full time job the entire time I have been in business. Tom Hollister, CA

Glad you got to where you needed to go. I could not tell you what you needed to find out, which is "what does legal separation mean in OH"? The tax law follows state law on that one, and I don't know OH law. Tom Hollister, CA

I don't know what a legal separation is in Ohio, but divorced on the last day of the year is single for the entire year. Just like married on the last day of the year is married all year. Tom Hollister, CA

Please check me on this, because it has been a while. TP is 79. Spouse is 77. Son, age 54 passed away last April and left retirement plan to parents. Designated beneficiaries on the plan docs. They rolled the plan to an inherited IRA. They are taking withdrawals from TP IRA that exceed minimum requirements. Balance of Traditional IRA is approx 120K Balance of Inherited IRa is approx 150K My take: They may not aggregate the amounts. RMD must be taken from each account. They must use the Single Life Table using the oldest beneficiary (TP age 79) for the factor (10.8) on the Inherited IRA. Next year factor is 9.8, then 8.8, etc. They use the Uniform Life Table for the Traditional IRA. They did not have to take a 2012 RMD from the Inherited IRA They must take the RMD in 2013 from the Inherited IRA If they do not take RMDs from the inherited IRA, they must take all the funds within 5 years. Am I missing anything? FYI, taxpayer brought in the 1099R with code G for the rollover into the Inherited IRA. When I asked him about the RMD on it, he said the IRA Plan advisor told him they had plenty taken out from the traditional and not to worry about it. I begged him to go back and double check, which he did. Now the advisor is saying they need to take both 2012 and 2013 RMD in 2013. I think that is wrong. I think as I have laid it out above is correct. Financial advisor wants to talk to me. Thanks for double checking on me. Tom Hollister, CA

What is generating the negative AGI this year if your business made a profit?

Yeah, I see that, but where do you go to mark the box? I can't find it. Sorry about my first post. It did not explain my problem very well. I see the check box, but there is no way to click on it without doing an override. I know I am missing something very simple, but I just can't see it. Thanks Tom Hollister, CA

I have been all over that form and I can't find a place to enter the information to request a waiver. help please. Tom Hollister, CA

KC, Please give jasdlm a warning point for that post!!!!! Seriously, that is the best thing you can come up with to like about the software? Wow, we are easily pleased this year. Tom Hollister, CA

Ranger, If the rules were as cut and dry as you make them out to be, then the IRS would be able to assert that every loss is a hobby and every profit is a gain. It is not that cut and dry. Intention does play into it. You must be "in business" to be subject to the self employment tax rules. The code makes that very clear as well. I won an appeal where the IRS asseted that line 21 treatment for occasional income reported on a 1099 was subject to SE. When I pointed out that he was not in the business of that activity, they issued a no change. It may be that the OP client is in the business of flipping houses. But it is not a slam dunk and the facts and circumstances need to examined before that determination is made. The existence of profits does not automatically subject the profits to SE tax. Tom Hollister, CA

OK, just to cover this fully, assume that the sales fall through, the client puts the properties back on the market, and does not make any profits and wants to claim losses related to his "business". Losses that will offest his W2 income. But he also says he is done with this stupid flipping phase of his life. What do you tell him then? What are the factors that will allow him to call himself a business and deduct the losses? The same ones I posted above. My take is you have to be in business to have a business. What was the tax court case that said a grandma taking care of her grandchildren (for pay) was not a business. Same principal. Tom Hollister, CA

When researching CA agricultural universities back when I went to school, it came down to 4 realy good Ag Schools: 1. If you want to learn how to breed a cow to give more milk - Go to Cal Poly SLO 2. If you want to genetically engineer a cow to give more milk - Go to UC Davis 3. If you want to sell the milk - Go to Fresno State 4. If you want to find out how to tip cows while partying - go to Chico State Anyone from Chico who takes offense, I am sorry. That is just what I was told. Tom aka Bulldogtom Hollister, CA

Why? To pay the SE tax? Why would it make sense to expose your client to a tax that may not be appropriate? Tom Hollister, CA

Davis Vet school may be one of the toughest to get into as well. Congrats. Tom Hollister, CA

Easy on that "has to be on a schedule C" talk. Go back and look at all the factors that make up a business. We usually look at them for the purpose of convincing the IRS that it is not a hobby, but we can use those rules and court cases to prove our clients "are not in business" as well. Here are my questions? Does he have a profit motive? Does he keep books and records like a business would? Does he get significant personal enjoyment out of the activity? Does he have a history of success in this or a similar busines activity? What percentage of his income does he derive from this activity as compared to his full time job? Does he advertise? Does he seek advice from other professionals on how to increase his revenue/profits? If your client is doing this for the fun of it and is not really concerned if he makes a ton of profit or a little profit or even loses a little, he is not in business. Just my 2 cents. I am suprised Jainen did not write this post. Tom Hollister, CA

Catherine, As an aside, we are still on track for son #2 to attend MIT. He is still a junior in high school, but he has risen to the number one ranking in his class. Potential valedictorian. Also won an award for best physics student at his high school. The physics teacher is offering to teach my son physics C next year, even though the school does not offer the class. It will allow him to take the AP Physics exam which the MIT website says they will accept for credit if successfully completed. MIT is all he dreams about. Next year is going to be a nightmare. He is taking 6 AP classes (if you count the physics C special class). I hope someday we can meet you and your husband in Boston when I drop the kid off at the school. Tom Hollister, CA

Start working on a client OIC that needs to be made by the end of April. Fun...yeah! Tom Hollister, CA

Actually, I think it shows her respect for you that she told you she was leaving. We get so busy during the tax season that we don't always notice who did not come back until late April when reviewing the year. That is when I get bummed. No idea why the left, they are just gone. At least you know she is leaving and she told you where she went. That is more than some of us get. Tom Hollister, CA

Catherine has deleted me - and I am crushed. She called me a "bunch of ancient stuff". Tom Hollister, CA

Is anyone else besides me sick and tired of clicking on that little green arrow only to find that it doesn't really take you to another field or form? Everywhere you go in the Sch. E, Passive activity loss pages and At risk pages, you click on the green arrow and go nowhere. Was working on a return with several out of state rental properties for a CA resident. I thought I had it all tied out. When I e-filed, CA rejected. Took me forever to find the entry that I missed. But I kept clicking on the green arrows to get me to the associated forms and input sheets and they never took me there. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR at ATX. BTW, it was a pretty simple adjustment that did not affect the return, just the CA adjustment that I thought I entered but missed on the CA 3801. Rant over. Tom Hollister, CA

I finally had a chance to look at the instruction on the IRS website. Dental coverage reporting is Optional. Tom Hollister, CA

Should dental insurance be included as part of the calculation for the DD code on the W2? Setting up payroll software to track for a client and don't know what to include. I think Vision is included. Anyone know for sure? Tom Hollister, CA