BulldogTom

Did you get a new computer this year? Seems to me I had to do that same thing the last time I got a new computer. Tom Longview, TX

You are correct. If there is no refundable portion of the credit, it will not be affected by the changes. What is proposed is that the refundable portion will go up by $200 per child to $1,800. So your lower income folks who get the refund on the credit will get more if they wait. Or they can file now and get the difference later when IRS goes back through and fixes the refunds. Tom Longview, TX

https://www.guidestone.org/Updates/Ministers-Tax-Guide This is my go-to for ministers issues. We used to have a clergy tax expert on the board but I have not seen him in years. I think he is the one who gave me this resource many years ago. Tom Longview, TX

House is set to vote tonight at 8PM eastern. Toss up as to if it will pass. Senate is a toss up as well if it passes the house. Don't forget any of your Businesses that have R&D costs are affected as well. I am going to be sitting on one because I don't know if the R&D costs can be deducted or have to be amortized over 5 years. Also affects bonus depreciation for your business returns. I think that will apply to rentals as well for new business property installed in 2023 (stoves, refrigerators, etc) So, if you have any business returns or any individual returns with dependent children or rentals, you need to consider when to file. Tom Longview, TX

There is one that I get regularly that comes from an email that is .corn instead of .com. Pretty sneaky. I think that extension allows them to use legitimate company names. The email address will be [email protected] or something similar. You gotta be vigilant on email. Tom Longview TX

Why do people make their estates beneficiaries of their retirement accounts? I will never understand that... Life would be so much easier if people named a person as their beneficiary. Tom Longview, TX

Who was the final beneficiary that the funds were paid to? The estate or the son? I think this determines where the income goes and where the deduction for the charitable contribution. I am pretty sure that if the son's SSN is on the paperwork as the beneficiary, he takes the funds into income via a 1099R and provided he files a Sch A and the charity gives him a receipt, there is no problem with him taking the deduction. Did the son write the check from his personal fund? Or did the check come from the estate of decedent? This is a real stretch, if the funds were paid to the estate, could you argue that the paperwork showing the attempt to make the contribution was an addendum to her will? It was clearly her intent and if she knew the trustee was going to deny her wishes, she could have amended her will. Tom Longview, TX

My clients are increasingly taking pictures on their phones of their documents to upload in my portal. We discourage as much as we can since the pictures are hard to read. The big issue is with iPhone photos. I have no way to open them (I can open a jpeg). Is there a tool out there that converts HEIC photos to pdf or jpeg that doesn't require me to get an apple ID and join the Apple universe? I encourage my clients to use Genius Scan or another app that will create a pdf, but clients will be clients and I don't get a lot of cooperation. And no....I can't fire them, I need all my clients. Tom Longview, TX

You are a great American! Tom Longview, TX USCG BM2 1984-1987

No problems here. About 8 rolled over. Tom Longview, TX

If, BIG IF, this bill passes, looks like ERC claims will be shut down on 1/31/2024. Statute of limitations will be extended on all ERC claims. Tom Longview, TX

I keep reading articles that says that Congress will "pay" for these credits and deductions by pulling money from the ERC program. I wonder what that will entail? Deny all claims? Put a shut off date for claims in place? Audit the ones already completed and try to claw back? Something else? Tom Longview, TX

The 5 year amortization of R&D costs is pushed out in that bill as well. Wonder if Apple and some of the other giant tech companies and drug companies are lobbying hard in an election year for these changes. I am sure they will take this all the way to Jan 28th which for some dumb reason congress thinks is the deadline for getting these provisions into the tax code giving the IRS 1 day to update their computers and the software companies 1 day to update so e-file can start on the 29th. Dumb and Dumber in Washington DC... And I was so looking forward to a "normal" tax season this year. But I guess I got it because there is no "normal" anymore so "not normal" is the new normal. Tom Longview, TX

Are the bonus depreciation changes retro to 2023 as well? We were supposed to go to 80%. Tom Longview, TX

My first experience with an IRS audit was in college. Doctor went to India for the holidays for the entire month of Dec. Came back to a stack of checks in his mailbox. Payers issued 1099s for the amount paid including the checks not cashed. IRS assessed for the entire amount. CPA I was working for claimed the checks were not received until he came back from India in January. IRS asserted that DR had staff that could have deposited the checks, and just because he did not trust them to make the deposits, the checks were still in his possession. Audit loss for the client. Over $150K added to the return, with penalties and interest. Tom Longview, TX

I have a "travelling" laptop that I sometimes take to client homes. But I never e-file from it. I do the return, export it, import it to the main office computer and efile from that machine. I carry a small printer and a large monitor with me when I take it on the road. I don't have a lot of issues, but I miss the second large monitor, especially if I am working off of spread sheets while entering the return. My laptop is 17" so that helps some. Tom Longview, TX

^^^^ That Tom Longview TX

I was doing a Spidell update seminar yesterday and the presenter said that one of his friends got hit by a cyber attack. He went to his carrier to file the claim and the first question the carrier asked was for his WISP. He did not have one and the claim was denied. This is second hand, but Spidell is pretty reliable source. Just something to think of... Tom Longview, TX

Help if you can please. We set up a new company in QBO at my day job. I created the company, set up the COA and then gave my staff permissions to use the company. When I log into Projects and pull up a project, I get the following tabs: Overview Transactions Time Activity Project Reports Attachments When one of my staff members pulls up a job, she does not see Overview. The other 2 staff members see Overview just like me. Why and how can I fix it? It is a very handy tab as it gives you the snapshot of the Revenue, costs and profit. QBO is killing me..... Tom Longview, TX

That would be a huge loophole. 69K from second employer and 46K from first employer tax deferred until retirement? 115K total tax deferred, with no FICA tax withheld. Something about this does not seem right....but I find a lot of things in the tax code that don't seem right. Tom Longview, TX

So who gives the receipt for the donation to the speaker? The church who actually sent the money to the charity or the charity who received the donation? Since the speaker is going to get a 1099 for the income, they are going to want to get a deduction for the donation. Thanks for the discussion. I learned something new today. Tom Longview, TX

BiBerk Tom Longview, TX

The 2023 total limit for contributions (employee + employer) to a 401K plan (assuming no top heavy restrictions) is $66,000 under age 50 or $73,500 over 50. The total contributions may not exceed the employees compensation for the year. Employees are limited to $22,500 (under 50) or $30,000 (over 50) of the amount contributed to the account. Tom Longview, TX

And just going off the rails a little bit....is the prospective client subject to K2/K3 reporting? Tom Longview, TX

@ETax847 Does that handwritten K1 make you queasy? Does it substantially change the return, as in it is going to generate a great big refund? Was the original K1 (if there was one) also handwritten or was it computer generated? Is the original return also handwritten? Who prepared the original return and why aren't they amending (always a big flag for me if there is not a good answer to that question)? Who prepared the entity return that spun the K1 to your prospective client? How much of that entity does your prospective client own? Lots of questions, very little info in the OP. Trust your gut. You should be able to distinguish the BS from a legit taxpayer just trying to do the right thing. Tom Longview, TX