BulldogTom

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

@kathyc2This is a known problem with the CA FTB. They don't get the 592Bs electronically, so they can't match the withholding to the return and it kicks it out with a balance due notice. A lot of times, the taxpayer is from out of state and challenging the FTB will cost more than the amount of the tax bill, so they just pay the bill. If you want to get the money back, you have to mail a letter to the FTB with all the documentation and wait for them to read the letter, respond to the letter, and then issue the refund. Takes time. Every morning when I wake up, I thank God that I did not wake up in California. Tom Longview, TX

The accountant in me rebels at that statement. I have always lived by the motto "keep track of the pennies and the dollars will follow". I think it shows professionalism that your reconciliations tie out, to the penny. When I see recons that are close, but not exact, I question whether the accounting person is competent. Just like spelling and grammar errors on a resume, it says something. However, I do know when to throw in the towel and just write it off to Misc Expense when the amount in question is small and I can't identify the reason for the variance. Tom Longview, TX

I have one client that is already asking when the K-1s are going to be available from the trust. To be fair, we have been gathering all the documents during the year for the final year of the trust and I have everything but the forms in ATX. The tax return is mostly done, but I have no CA trust forms and of course efile is not open yet. The Trustee is sick and tired of her half brother making demands on her during the entire process. It is a thankless job to be the trustee of a decedent trust. And so it begins...tax season 2024 arrives in 2023. Tom Longview, TX

@artp this is the post @Catherine put out a while back. PM her. Tom Longview, TX

@Catherine has been raving about her guy. You should send her a PM and look up the post she started a few weeks back. Tom Longview, TX

What is open office? I use Excel, but you can't buy the office program anymore, you have to subscribe and I am looking for an alternative. At my day job they use Google Sheets and I hate it. I download every one of them into excel because I can't seem to navigate Sheets. Maybe I am just too set in my ways. Tom Longview, TX

Sorta on topic, I think the "reduced penalty" amounts are actually a way to start applying the penalty. I have never had the penalty apply because when you find out they missed, you have them get caught up and you send a penalty waiver request with reasonable cause as "the client is old" and the penalty is always abated. The new rules do not have a reasonable cause exception, or they did not when I looked at them a few months ago. I think this a a slick way for the IRS to say they are reducing an overly punitive penalty while actually increasing revenue because there is no way to abate anymore. Tom Longview, TX

I always amazes me how red tape gets cut fast when the person writing the letter is a lawyer. All the BS corporate requirements seem to fade away when the actual law is cited to someone enforcing corporate policy. Tom Longview, TX

@Terry D EA Thanks for this conversation. @DANRVAN I do enjoy reading your analysis of an issue. It reminds me of something I know but sometimes don't follow - Always start with the code, then move to the regs and then to lesser authority. I really enjoyed reading this as it unfolded. Tom Longview, TX

Overwhelming demand for knowledge and compliance guidance.... Tom Longview, TX

I took a different approach. I am not including it in my engagement letter. I sent the BOI instructions to each of my affected clients and told them in the email that I could not prepare it and I was letting them know about their requirement as a courtesy. Not being argumentative, just asking. By putting it in your engagement letter, are you in a backhanded way telling your clients this is a tax issue? I did the above because I don't feel it is a tax issue and it is not my responsibility to even notify them of their requirement to comply. In the same way I don't tell my clients it is their responsibility to file their annual SOS report or their county property tax returns. Tom Longview, TX

I think you are reading that incorrectly @Lee B. I think they were testing to see if the system worked properly for taxpayers filing for Tax Exempt status and they got an 80% success rate. I don't think they were trying to see if the IRS would catch 5 obviously bogus claims. If that was the case and 80% of the bogus claims for tax exempt status were being approved I would whole-heartedly agree with you. Tom Longview, TX

I think you have a good grasp on this. They need to do a couple things: #1 DON'T MESS UP THE CURRENT PAYMENT AGREEMENT. Stay on schedule at all costs. #2 manage the withholding so that he pays more and she pays little or none. Then you don't have to worry about innocent spouse #3 make sure the property that has a lien on it stays out of the marital property. Those liens can be vague and apply to "all bank accounts" so a joint account might bring her assets in a joint account under the lien. Make sure you client knows what the lien covers. Tom Longview, TX

Did they collapse the LLC because there was no longer a partnership? What form did the company use to report its tax obligations? If you file the 568 returns and show it was still a partnership but do not have a federal 1065 to back it up, you have a federal problem as well because CA will share the information with the IRS and the IRS will come looking for 1065s for all those years (penalties for not providing partners K-1s?) I would do some digging to find out what happened and when with the entity. Take it slow and make sure you have all the facts before you start filing the old 568 returns. Tom Longview, TX