BulldogTom

Thank you so much for this topic. I was just trying to figure out in my software at my day job how to do this for my owner. His Health Insurance is a very large amount and I did not want him to get hit for the Federal and State withholding on his paycheck (his wife would freak if the check was not the same amount this week). Issuing a second check with no withholding is the answer. I can cut his regular check and then a second check with just the non-monetary fringe, suppress the withholding and viola....box 1, box 16 and box 14 on the W2 completed. Thanks so much for posting this. Saved me a bunch of time screwing around with the owner's last check. Tom Newark, CA

I know that in the year you turn 50, you are allowed to defer the catch up amount, so long as you are 50 by the end of the year. At my day job, I am planning to go in and update the limits on everybody that turns 50 in 2017. My 401K TPA says that is not a good idea because if they leave employment with us before they turn 50, and they are over 18K in deferrals, we would have to return any amounts in excess. This does not sound correct to me. Any of you familiar with this provision. It sounds stupid to me, but then there are a lot of government rules that sound stupid to me. Thanks for any assistance. Tom Newark, CA

Last year I went through the same thing with a client. But she did the unthinkable and made my wife cry. I fired her. She called up and went off on me. I was polite and stood my ground. She called her sister who was a long time client and I lost that one too. Her brother, who was in the middle of getting his last 7 years of unfiled returns cleaned up by me did not even think about leaving. He begged to stay. I think that you should talk to him if you can keep your cool. Explain that you cannot take on his work if he is not going to do his part. You need the records and if he cannot provide them in a timely manner then you will not prepare the return. If this guy "gets under your skin" and causes you to lose your cool, then do it all in writing. Just my 2Cents. Tom Newark, CA

Have you looked at Amazon for a new 1350? You might get lucky. Tom Newark, CA

I like my Canon D1350. Fast, holds a full ream of paper, has a document feeder for the scanner and copier, and faxes if you set it up to do so. I have had it for about 5 years and I forget what I paid for it. Black and white only, no color. I did not want color printing so that is a big reason why I chose this. It is a little big, so I have the D550 in my satellite office. Tom Newark, CA

Yesterday, I am in the middle of my compliance test for Fee Collect when the power goes out. My monitors and computer are fine, because they are on a battery backup. So I decide to finish the exam before I shut down the computer. That is when I discovered that my router to the internet is not on battery backup. The internet was down and I could not submit my answers. I need to put my router on the battery backup. I don't know why that never crossed my mind before....maybe I am getting old. But I passed the test both times.... Tom Newark, CA

Karen, Take a look at Cellutionware https://www.cellutionware.com/index.html Very good for both book and tax including AMT and state. I loved it when I had it. $350 and an annual maintenance fee of about $200. May be too much $ for what you are looking for, but I highly recommend it. If you look on the testimonial page, I am on it on their website. Tom Newark, CA

I am on the summary page. Do I just print the page to my PDF printer? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Wrong Jack. I was on the phone with the IRS this morning. They are cracking down on software providers who "just take your credit card and let you prepare"...his words, not mine. And I was not supposed to forget the username and password that I set up in 2012 because it is important. And he said "if you think this is bad, wait until you see the next one that will require you to give us a link to your cell phone to get access". I got up at 4:30 this morning to call the help desk to get lectured by some bastard who knows diddly about taxes but is proud that the IRS is cracking down on preparers and software providers. But the bastard could still not get my damn username and password to work. Wasted 45 minutes listening to a useless government employee do nothing but gloat and try to belittle me.. ATX will not allow you to efile until you submit the letter Jack. Get used to it. Tom Newark, CA

I think I am going to give up. I have to have a PTIN that I have to pay for every year even though it was free when I got it. I can't efile without it. I have a CAF number, an EA number and an EFIN number all issued by the IRS that I have had for 20 years. I have to give my PTIN and my EA number to ATX and every CE provider that I take classes from. These a-holes at ATX and IRS both know who I am. And now this. Tomorrow morning, I will have to sit on the phone for hours waiting for some jackass in some IRS office to finally answer the phone and tell me how to register for the F#$%^ing service that I don't want because the information I provided doesn't match their F--ed up computer records. I know what my AGI is, and my name, and my address, and my social. It has not changed. But it don't match something. This is just utter bull crap that I have to spend all this time doing this crap. I am sick of this. I think I will throw in the towel. I am tired of clients trying to cheat the tax system and the IRS machine that is too incompetent to find these cheats and the congress who wrote this ridiculously complicated tax code. I think I will go out with a bang and apply all the knowledge I have in order to inflate every tax return refund by 10K and then let the bastards try and catch me. This is the stupidest crap I have ever heard.

This is a follow up on my previous post about distributing only a portion of the capital gains to a single beneficiary. It is a Software question. If I have a Cap gain, and the trust is going to pay the tax on 2/3 and the remaining beneficiary is going to take a distribution and pay his tax on his own portion, how do I make that happen. I know I can make the 2/3 beneficiary 0% and the other 100% and the K-1 will be correct. But if I have other items of income like interest that will be distributed on the K-1, I can't do that. I have been playing around in the software and I can't figure it out. I think I should be putting the CAP Gains into a separate category and separately distributing it, but I have not found the "magic screen" to make that happen. Any help would be appreciated. Tom Newark, CA

There is a similar feature in ATX. It is called a "Bulk Disposition". I am not at my software, but I think I recall it is in the assets module. You can add all of the assets in the group (like the building, land, appliances, improvements, etc on a rental) and sell them in one transaction. ATX does all the calculations for you. It is pretty slick. Tom Newark, CA

Don't forget to include a place for the client to sign that allows the seller to provide you with prior year tax information. Tom Newark, CA

Good Point Jack. Tom Newark, CA

I have not done a corporate NOL, but I think there are 2 options. 1. File the 1120X and mail it in. 2. File Form 1139 with the 1120 for the year in which the NOL occurs. Not sure what the advantages or disadvantages are of each method. Tom Newark, CA

The Trust document gives the trustee power to make unequal distributions, and specifically notes that they can equalize the tax consequences with unequal distributions. The trustee has a great deal of discretion in the trust document to take action to minimize tax consequences. Can you confirm that the DNI will be the full amount of the capital gain, but the DNI deduction would only be for the 1/3 actually distributed? Thanks Catherine. I appreciate your input. Tom Newark, CA

New client. Complex trust, but not very complicated. Trust established by grandfather. Client is the trustee. The beneficiaries are the trustees two children (age 15) and his nephew (age 26). The main asset in the trust was the home in the Silicon Valley. At date of death valued at 500K, sold for 775K 3 years later (per the wishes of the grantor, that the home be sold at the 26th birthday of the oldest beneficiary). If trust pays the tax, the rates max very quickly and the NIIT comes into play. If the beneficiaries take the distribution, because of the kiddie tax (trustee has a great income), the trustees kids get hammered. The nephew does well on the transaction because he does not have very much income. Trustee is also concerned about the kids having all that cash in their names when they go to college (I think that is overblown, because unless he is going to quit his job, the kids are not going to qualify for financial aid). The trustee has asked me if the trust can pay the tax on the 2 children's portion so he can leave it in the trust and the remainder of the income be distributed and paid by the nephew? I think they can, but I have never done this before. Can someone check me on this? I think I can just have the trustee distribute 1/3 of the gain to the nephew. DNI would still be the full amount of the gain, but the deduction for DNI would be the amount actually distributed? Am I correct? Then I have to figure out how to make the software show the K-1s correctly when they go out.... Thanks in advance for your help. Tom Newark, CA

Dang, when did I become a prophet? Tom Newark, CA

Just yesterday we were discussing the amount that we would raise prices this year. I have to....I need to keep up with the costs. I will lose a few I am sure. I charge by the form, so I need to do a thorough review of all my fees. Not looking forward to it. Tom Newark, CA

I am not happy the Cubs ruined the even number magic from my Giants...... This just proves that anything can happen. Does that mean Trump can be elected as President as well? The Cubs winning the World Series qualifies as "stranger things have happened" Judy is going to give me a black mark for this post going political, but I still think it is funny. Go hit your delete button Judy... Tom Newark, CA

Got an email from client who barely made the extended deadline with return and payment to CA. The email says "can you explain what these letters are and why I have to pay a penalty"? No, I think I can't explain that to you, because I tried to explain that when you blew me off at April 15th. Tom Newark, CA

Congratulations. I wish the best for you and glad to hear about your good fortune. Tom Newark, CA

You have been a fixture in the Sacramento area for a long time. Are you going to keep your practice or sell and start over? Or just keep your clients and do the returns remotely? None of my business, but I thought you had a pretty good size practice and I am surprised to see you moving. Tom Newark

This was at my day job using our accounting software, not ATX. Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Are you moving out of the valley and into the mountains? Just saw the pictures of Donner Summit today and it is all white. But it is supposed to be 85-89 in the valley again by the weekend. Tom Newark, CA