BulldogTom

Ah, but finding the two to replace the one, when you still have time for all three, that is the trick. You see, my pracitic is not big enough yet to allow me the liberty of kicking them out. I have plenty of room for even the "worst" of clients, so long as they pay. I only kick out the ones who don't pay. Tom Lodi, CA

Oh my, that is almost exactly what we are going through with one client, but SHE took him to the place that will do it for free, and they screwed it up - did not take AOC or 8880 credit. Then she comes to us and can't understand why she is going to have to pay. Pissed that she is being charged the "same as last year, when I don't have my son on the return". Some times you want to just kick them out. But, when you need every client, you just go on smiling on the outside. Tom Lodi, CA

Yeah, there is, but HE doesn't normally fix software. But He might have been here last night working on my brain to help figure out how to make the software work. Tom Lodi, CA

I use a broker out of San Diego called Dimirak. Never talked to anyone. Just sent in the Application. Get a policy from CNA every year at $165. Has not changed in years, if ever. Been with them for about 10 years I think. Tom Lodi, CA

I am still not sure what is going on here. Not sure if there is enough information to give you any type of answers. I think you need to do some investigation first. Start with a list of questions, and then assign a name or title to who should be answering the question. Here is a partial list to get you going: Do I have a copy of the revokable living trust? Who are the trustee and the beneficiaries? What assets are in the revokable living trust at Date of Death? Is there any income being generated from those assets? What Assets were not in trust? Is there any income being generated from the assets not in the trust? Does an estate return need to be filed on the size of the assets, or on the income from the assets not in the trust? Who is the trustee of the estate? Do any of the assets not in the trust need to go through probate? Start with these, and add a few more when you find out these answers, and I think you will have a good handle on what needs to happen. And I like Jainen and Old Jack's answers so far. Tom Lodi, CA

Forget it. I figured it out. It was not downloading to the correct location. Tom Lodi, cA

Setting up my laptop for a trip this weekend to do some tax returns. Update every day on both machines. Export a return from the main computer to the laptop. Can't open because the forms are a later version. Look up the version 92 on the laptop, 115 on the main computer. Update the laptop again. Get up to version 113, but still can't open the return. Went to the website and I can download the form. Have it on my laptop. How do I get it into the damn program? Tried calling support. 45 minute wait. Tried looking on the KB, it does not respond. You guys are my last hope. I refuse to wait on the phone 45 minutes for what should be able to be done in 2 minutes. Tom Lodi, CA

OMG Rita - three years working on a divorce? How could it take so long? And I think "with love and respect" is the perfect answer. (my wife reads this board all the time, I have to be very careful). Tom Lodi, CA

I do believe the Federal Government has the right to regulate the tax prep industry. However, based on their history, I don't think the IRS or the Treasury are the agencies to do so. Why? Because you are giving the agency that we are in conflict with authority to license us. That is a real can of worms. Just like we have the Taxpayer advocate, with separate interests from the IRS, we need the OPR to move out of IRS or Treasury and become an independent arbitrator between the IRS and the tax prep community. It scares the hell out of me that I can put so many years into building my practice, and some beaurocrat in washington can pull my PTIN and I don't have a practice anymore. Just my 2 cents. Tom Lodi, CA

Unless we are talking about building a bar in our office, I am staying out of this one. I think Margaritas go great on 4/15. Tom Lodi, CA

Lion, I actually had an idea for a bar called "uncle sam's" where you could get a tax return done in the back. I think drunk clients would be more cooperative than ones who have been rehearsing how to tell me that they qualify for HOH and EITC while living with their girlfriends. Tom Lodi, CA

this sounds strange to me. When I invest in a mutual fund, I expect to only recieve dividends or capital gains distributions. If I buy one share of Mutual Fund A for $X.xx and I don't sell it, the only thing that comes to my tax return is dividends and capital gain distributions. The Mutual Fund should be figuring all of that out for you. Are you sure it is not a "Bernie" mutual fund? Tom Lodi, CA

Never mind, I figured it out. Tom Lodi, CA

Can anyone who has done this help me? It says press F11 for instructions on how to use this sheet, but nothing happens when I press F11. It is not a big deal, but I want to learn to use this feature. Thanks, Tom Lodi, cA

Covering Personal Assets Coming out of college, I had a chance to go to work for a very prestigeous CPA firm in Fresno (no jokes, they do have them in Fresno). But I was making more as a part time bartender than they were going to pay me as a CPA candidate. Needless to say, I went the other way and got the EA designation. Since I hate, hate, hate auditing (did I mention I hated doing it when I was working for a CPA during college?) I just opened a tax office of my own. Someday, I might even make some money at this tax thing. Tom Lodi, CA

That is exactly the reason I will not join the EA society. I am very proud of my designation, but most of my clients have no idea what it is. The EA society needs to get the word out about who we are and what we do. CPA's have had the corner on the "tax expert" market for too long. My rant is over now. Tom Lodi, CA

Sounds like a good job, but tax preparers are in short supply lately. Would love to come back that way, but I got my own office to worry about. Tom Lodi, CA

1045 because you can charge a lot more. Makes you sound alot smarter if you have to prepare 2 tax returns to fix the mess they made of their perfectly good one from 2 years ago. Tom Lodi, CA

I have the trust document. Very simple trust. Taxpayer assures me that he took care of the 2010 issue. Refund on his personal tax return will more than cover my fees for the amended return. I am almost done with it, and just taking a little break to look on the board, but should have it done in a couple more hours. Thanks for the responses. Tom Lodi, CA

<<These methods are ONLY recommended when you owe money.>> I would add "and when you are not subject to Cir. 230." I am not sure what part of Cir 230 this violates, but I am sure the IRS does. Tom Lodi, CA

I have prepared a few trust returns, but I have never had to amend one. New client comes in and says he prepared his trust return last year by himself and would rather not do that again. He wants me to do the 2011 return. Very simple, not a lot to it. So I start by recreating his 2010 return. When I get done, his don't look like mine. He made a couple of mistakes, and his K-1 is a mess. All of it is handwritten. The letter from the IRS that they wanted more information before they could process the return was probably the final straw. So, I know what the return should look like, and I know what he presented to the IRS and CA. Is there anything that I should know about amending the 1041? Thanks in advance. I think I am going to tackle this tomorrow night. Tom Lodi, CA

Agree with Lion. Tom Lodi, CA

I am sticking to my guns on this one. A child who is away at college, who is being supported by her parents, is a dependent of the parents even if she doesn't come home until the 4 or five years of schooling are up. A part time internship (which implies continuation of the education experience) does not change the dependency situation. Only support and age are going to do that. Tom Lodi, CA

Client came in and we got on the phone with Chuck. I asked why, when the account was held by them prior to DOD, and then transfered by them to the control of the trustee, the basis information was not reported at DOD? They obviously knew what happened because they did all the paperwork. Chuck's answer was interesting. "It is your job as the tax preparer to determine the basis and if DOD is the appropriate date to measure basis." I think technically, he is right. He then went on to explain that when the department that deals with trusts and estates came in on monday morning, the trustee could call and get the DOD "valuations" (Chuck did not say basis) if we would like them, assuming we had decided to use that date to establish basis. What an interesting future we have with what was such a simple form. Tom Lodi, CA

It turned out to be not as big of a deal as I thought. They will file joint, and as she has no foreign source income in 2011, we are not exposing them to any tax liability. What I was after was EITC. But, because the clients have a rental home, their investment income is too high to claim EITC. By bringing in the income from Japan, we were able to pick up the 8812 credits. They were happy. Tom Lodi, CA