BulldogTom

I asked first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tom Newark, CA

I would add a new asset and keep depreciating the old asset. Add the cost of the teardown into the new part of the building and start it depreciating from that point, but leave the rest of the depreciation alone. Just my 2 cents. Tom Newark, CA

Linda, You can ship one to me and they will still be overjoyed that you gave them back the "3 extra that they shipped you". Just sayin'........ Tom Newark, CA

YES IT DOES!!!!! That sounds exactly like Rita! Love ya girl.

WARNING **** Political commentary coming. TP & Spouse come in. Have the 1095A in their stack. No insurance first 2 months. Covered CA for the rest of the year. $1427 per month premium. $1103 subsidy. Do the reconciliation. They have to pay back $1090. Actually a very good result. Their take: "That stupid Obama took $1090 of my refund. I thought it was supposed to make things better". Then I show them my fee for the additional forms. Their take: "You mean I have to pay you more so that you can tell Obama how much of my refund to take?" My take in my head: "At least you are blaming Obama for this mess. And I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. Besides, you got a $1427 per month policy for about $500 per month. Go ahead and get pissed at Obama. I get more money and I get to sit and listen to you trash the guy who thinks he just helped you out and does not understand that you are pissed at him. This is a win-win for me" Tom Newark, CA

TP did not file a 2013 CO return. Can I e-file 2013 late? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

If they did not have coverage for the year, they will owe the penalty unless there is another exemption for them. I had one exactly like that. They can't qualify for the affordability exemption because their cost is $0 and 8% of their income is always greater than $0. Tom Newark, CA

How many of you in that office? That is a lot of corps. Tom Newark, CA

TP had his principal residence foreclosed in 2013. As part of the deal, the lender paid him 9K to move out. He did not mention this to us when he did his taxes. Taxpayer claims he never got the 1099 from the bank. Yesterday, he sends us a notice from the IRS that they have a 1099MISC and they want their tax on it. Of course, it includes SE tax. The date on the letter is Feb 9th. The due date to respond is March 11th. DEAR CLIENT, DID YOU MISS THE PART OF THE ENGAGEMENT LETTER THAT SAYS TO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY ME IF YOU RECEIVE ANY CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE IRS OR STATE TAXING AUTHORITIES!!!!!!!! Sorry, that is a different thread. Anyway, I believe that if this 1099 had been part of the original return, the amount would have been added to the sales price and the amount would have been excluded as part of the loss or if a gain, under §121. I think there was a rev proc or some guidance from the IRS on these move out payments. Anyone have a quick link to this item. I am going to look tonight, but if someone has it at their fingertips, I would be most grateful. Thanks in advance. Tom Newark, CA

Thanks for the reminder. Tom Newark, CA

Judy, I just had a client try to get me to put the insurance on the partnership return as a deduction when I had it as non-deductible. I wanted to make sure I had it right. I do. This is just my sounding board when I double think myself into thinking that I might be thinking something that I thought I know. Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Thanks Elrod for the cite. That confirms my thought on the general rule. Tom Newark, CA

TP has a rental for many years. Fully depreciated under ACRS (remember that one). Has some improvements (new roof, new flooring) still on the depreciation schedule. Spouse passed away. Now I need to step up the basis. I have the new FMV of the whole home, but I am not sure how to put the difference in. I think I should add another line and call it "DOD Stepped Up Basis" and start depreciating it for another 27.5 years from the DOD. Is this the correct way to do it? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Try to read the fine print on the bottom of that commercial. Minimum of $75 charge. Love the way they sneak that in the fine print for about 2 seconds of the commercial. Tom Newark, CA

Here is how I understand the rules: Key man life insurance is not deductible even if the payment under the policy is to the company if the insured life is a owner/shareholder/partner in the company. It can be deducted if it is required by an outside company (like a bank to secure a loan) and is required by the contract with the outside company. Do I have this correct? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

Please tell me you made that up and it is not for real? Tom Newark, CA

I think in the span of this tax season, Judy has moved to the head of the class as the board's "go to" expert on ACA. It has been impressive to watch. Tom Newark, CA

OPTIRECTOMY - a medical procedure where the surgeon makes an incision in the back of your neck and cuts the nerve that runs from your eyeball to your asshole that gives you such a crappy outlook on life. Tom Newark, CA

Client has a new mousetrap for the kitchen. Went into business and started making these things. For the first year, spent a lot of time working out the details. Tools, layouts, jigs, etc. Had a great trade show at the end of the year and sold his first units of the product before the end of the year. Still a lot of development costs compared to the sales. I am not worried about that so much right now. He definitely has a profit motive and it is way to early to tell if this will be a success or a failure. I think these product development costs should be capitalized and amortized over 60 months under §174 Research and Experimental Costs. Anyone have a problem with that? I just make the election and put it into fixed assets and go for 60 months? Please tell me if you think I am wrong. Thanks Tom Newark, CA

New client today. Has a very simple return. SS, interest and a rental property in CO. Prior return preparer has the Fed and CA return, but nothing for CO. I am not an expert on CO law. Does a CO return need to be filed for the rental activity? I will research later when I have some time, but thought I would ask here if there was someone who knows. Thanks in advance. Tom Newark, CA

Jack has given very good information. I can't think of anything to add to it. Tom Newark, CA

Definitely not an IRA. All after tax contributions. Tom Newark, CA

Yeah, I asked. The part about "elderly" really means "it is time for his kids to take over his finances". He can barely remember what we told him on the last phone call. He called me and left a message when he got my letter at the beginning of the tax season to tell me he would be coming in when he had all his documents. I called him back and told him that would be fine, we would make an appointment for him whenever he was ready (I try to return all messages so that my clients know that I got their message). About an hour later, he calls me and asks who I am and why I called him. Told him who I was and that I had returned his call and we just talked about an hour ago about setting up his tax appointment. Forgot that he called me or that I talked to him just an hour ago and proceeded to be offended that I would try to make an appointment when he does not have his documents yet. It is really sad. Tom Newark, CA

Your thoughts please. Elderly client comes in this year. Says he can't understand why he got 2 1099R's for his annuities. Said he gifted them to his kids. Turns out he withdrew 14K from each annuity and gifted the proceeds to his kids. I can deal with that. He just did not understand the transaction. We explain that to him and he gets it, but that was not what he thought he was trying to do. Then he says he bought these annuities at the same time. Why is one fully taxable and the other partially taxable. Paid the same amount for each. My take is they are 2 different types of annuities. If they were the same, why wouldn't he have put 70K in one rather than 35K in each. I am not real well versed on annuities, but I am guessing that one has a life insurance policy purchased by the original contribution and the other one does not, hence the different tax treatments. We called the broker, but they did not sell them the annuities, they were transferred in from another institution and they picked up the basis information from the original broker. This was from the broker's secretary. Can anyone shed some light on this? Am I on the right path in my thinking? Thanks Tom Newark, CA

He anticipates that his income will go north of 250K per year in the next 5 years. Like I said, he is doing well in his profession. In about 3 years, he hopes to buy into the company and then I have some real ideas about how to help him out. I am just looking for the bridge that will get them from now to then without giving 50% of his income gains to the IRS and CA. Selling the rental and harvesting those losses is one way to go about it, but telling someone to take a loss just for tax reasons in a rising housing market just seems like the wrong advice. Tom Newark, CA