BulldogTom

These are the clients that I love.... Retired teacher, wife passed a few years ago and he took a shot at the trust return all by himself. Made a minor mess of it all. Came to me the next year, got him all fixed up. He sends me an email early in the year every year letting me know he got my letter and will be sending in his information when he gets it all and would love for me to prepare his returns. I got his information in the mail today. A nice letter telling me which days he will be available to sign if it is convenient for me. Has the trust information all separated with a cover page and summary of all the documents that follow, all paper clipped together. Behind that is his personal information, with a summary page and all the documents paper clipped behind it. We complain about the bad ones a lot, but this guy just makes my day. Tom Newark, CA

Thank you Mike. Does that mean "in advance of the tax year" or "in advance of the payment"? For example, could a church contact him in May to do some ministry at their church, and designate a portion of a one-time payment of support as housing allowance? Tom Newark, CA

Remind me to never, ever make you mad. You could be scary if ever crossed. Tom Newark, CA

I was trying to go to GuideStone yesterday before I posted it on this board, but their website was down for maintenance. I take their publications as gospel (pun intended) when it comes to minister tax issues. I will read these a bit later. Thanks Rita. Tom Newark, CA

Here is the thing. He gets contributions from a variety of sources, kinda like a missionary does. Some of the churches he goes to give him a monthly support amount on a regular basis, some on a one time basis. There are about 3 organizations (his home church, the organization that he is loosely working under, and another church that he does not attend) that make up the bulk of his income. But those amounts are not guaranteed, it is just a payment like they would do to a missionary. There is a blurb in Pub 517 about traveling ministers and their housing. From what I read, the donor organizations possibly could designate a portion of their contribution to him as housing allowance provided they did it before the beginning of the tax year. But I am not sure. Thanks Tom Newark, CA

I tell my clients "don't let the tax wag the dog". If it makes sense without the tax credit to install the panels, do it. If you want to "green" the planet because you don't like fossil fuels and you don't care about the economics, do it. If you want to use this as a way to save tax, I will run the numbers for you so you can make an intelligent tax decision. But please....please....PLEASE do not take tax advice from the salesmen. Tom Newark, CA

Taxpayer is a traveling evangelist. Travels from Church to Church setting up ministries. Ordained. All of his income from this activity goes on his Schedule C. If he was an employee of a church, he would be able to designate a portion of his income for housing allowance. As a self-employed person, is he eligible for the same treatment? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Ouch...that hurts. I am sure that my 2 little returns broke the whole computer system in the state of Colorado! More likely the programmers have been enjoying the fruits of recreational agricultural products that are legal in that state but still illegal per the feds. Tom Newark, CA

Great. That is the day I filed the returns. Thanks for the update. Tom Newark, CA

How about putting it on the C, adding about 1600 miles and throwing a loss against taxable income? Just Kidding....but I would ask about the miles to go to and from the location, just in case I needed a contemporaneous mileage log in an IRS fight. Sometimes, you do have to travel quite a ways to get to these locations, and it could be a medical miles situation. Tom Newark, CA

I have 2 clients in CO. They are long time clients who moved to Denver about 5 years ago. Never had a problem with the returns accepting in the past. This year I filed the returns and I am now about 6 days and still no ack from CO. Anyone in CO who can let me know if I need to "just be patient" or "get on the support line to ATX" on these 2 returns. Thanks Tom Newark,CA

I delete any form that I am not using in the return. If you want to keep the detail of what was in that form, you could go to the billing manager and make sure you are on the tab for forms in the return and make the amount $0 so the total comes over correctly. Tom Newark, CA

When ATX was bought by CCH, a lot of things we could not believe happened. You should have been around in 2012. Tom Newark, CA

Does a citizen who is working in a foreign country have to have minimum coverage? Taxpayer has lived in China for several years. I don't even know how to explain what is MEC to him and to relate it to what he may or may not have. On the other hand, what is the IRS going to do to confirm his coverage from his Chinese employer meets MEC? Tom Newark, CA

Got my answer in the mail today...the commissioner says I now have to file form 941. Nice letter. Tom Newark, CA

Warning - even dumber.... How do you know a dumb blonde has been at your computer? The white out on the monitor gives it away every time..... Tom Newark, CA

I am wondering about the employer not being an ALE? Does an employer with less than 50 FTE employees have to offer MEC policies? If not, then maybe the client and the marketplace advisor are correct. So if the client claims entitlement to the PTC, how would the IRS even be able to find out that it was or was not a MEC policy, or even if it is affordable, if the employer is not an ALE and not subject to reporting requirements? Just thinking out loud here. Tom Newark, CA

Danger...Danger...Danger. I think that you may be looking at a prohibited transaction. I am not an expert in this area, but I think I read that while an IRA may hold real estate in it, the Trustee of the IRA account must be the holder of the title, and the owner of the account cannot. And there can be no cash coming from the individual from outside of the IRA funds. This smells very bad. If I am right and this is a prohibited transaction, then the IRA funds used to make the purchase are deemed to be distributed in a taxable event. If the IRA holder is under 59 1/2 years old the early withdrawal penalty may apply as well. Check it out and be careful. Tom Newark, CA

WARNING - Blonde Joke Follows - Do not read if you are easily offended. (KC or Judy can move it to off topic if they feel like it, but this string reminded me of this joke). There was a dumb blonde working at a doctors office. She faxed over some documents to a patient that had some sensitive information on it. Being dumb, she sent it to the wrong fax number. The person who actually received the fax called the dumb blonde and told her that the information went to the wrong number. The dumb blonde responded "Oh, thank you so much for telling me about this. Would you mind faxing it back to me?" Tom Newark, CA

Did you ever find a buyer for your practice?

It is usually the database server on the 2014 software that needs to be stopped and restarted. PITA issue this year with the software. Tom Newark, CA

Thank you

Help me out please. There is a form when one company purchases the assets of another that spells out the valuation of each asset. Can anyone help me out with what the form number is? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Help me out please. There is a form when one company purchases the assets of another that spells out the valuation of each asset. Can anyone help me out with what the form number is? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

I think you are seeking a miracle...if the employer is an ALE and they have to produce a 1095 for the employee, it will most definitely say it is MEC. Otherwise, why would they produce the 1095? If they are not an ALE, and they did not provide a policy with MEC, it will take a long time for the IRS to catch up to the employer. This is one of the situations where the ACA is supposed to trigger an audit on the employer, when 1 employee gets a subsidy from the marketplace. Up to you how you handle it. You can take the position that the policy is not MEC and therefore the employee is entitled to the premium subsidy. It might stick, or the client might get a letter in a couple years after the IRS gets around to checking out the employer. Tough call for the client. Tom Newark, CA