Roberts

I received a subpoena for all the records we have on a client. We are not involved in the lawsuit in any way - strictly providing documents requested. Turns out there are about 450 pages of documents and another attorney suggested we submit a bill for our time. His attitude was that they may just disregard it but they likely will pay it if we aren't too high. What would you charge for something like that? It took us about 5 hours to put it all together. Edit; I wouldn't want to be a jerk and over charge. Technically this is a relative of one of my workers but it's a distant relative.

The Fair Tax is fine but in the book they claim that people would get to keep 100% of their paycheck and they later VERY quietly admitted that was an error and completely false. Their math had the company saving money so they'd hire more people to overcome higher prices but the corporate savings were achieved by cutting paychecks by the tax savings. I haven't followed their movement in years so maybe they've changed the pitch. Which states in Latin America are proposing this change?

JMHO but you might consider stopping the skydiving.

I haven't had one, yet.

I used Supplies Outlet from someone's suggestion on here (or another tax forum I don't remember). They actually sell via Amazon so I still use them.

That's scary. Met with a new client on Tuesday who was referred to me because her husband died recently. As I'm ready to leave I mention to be careful - she WILL be getting scammers calling her and she needs to be careful. She and her brother laughed and said she knew it. She called me late yesterday to tell me she'd already received two calls since our meeting telling her she hadn't filed her taxes. It's getting scary how efficient these people are.

I've never had a problem with refilled cartridges purchased through Amazon. I buy all office supplies except paper via Amazon and I buy the paper at Sam's over lunch while I eat a hot dog! It's amazing how cheap office supplies are today compared to 15 years ago.

I go with a cheap color laser printer. MFC 9130 CW. I rarely use the color cartridges but it's nice having it there for presentations.

Will the crypto exchange they use generate a 1099? Most don't and even those that do won't for small amounts. If they want to do taxes, have the client pay them and deduct it from the distribution. It isn't a loan and it isn't a gift. Technically should be run through a partnership but I doubt the IRS is going to get upset if the taxes were paid. If the client has carry forward capital losses that they burn up with the gain, ethics can come into play.

Have you resent them a bill? About the 3rd mailing I add that if payment is not received within X days - the account will be sent to a collections agency. I don't send it but it gets the attention of those who suffer from distraction. If they don't pay, I assess it next season and demand payment for delivery. If they don't come back - I consider it a loss.

That does it. I'm firing every client who has a hobby.

Per Keynesian economics, these are the good times and we are supposed to be paying back at least part of what we spent to stimulate the economy during the last rough time. It's weird how we always seem to forget that part.

JMO but Drake has freakishly excellent customer service. They are very quick at having an actual person talk to you and answer your questions even during the busy periods. OLTPRO is the same way - never had a problem getting a question answered very quickly. They are very quick to suggest logging in remotely to look at any problem you are experiencing.

Doesn't that route just make you a liar as well?

I had this last year and it's a doozy. Took the IRS until March this year to pay the refund which I'm guessing is because they were waiting to see if anyone else requested the refund. I honestly could understand the point - what if a kid files late and has proof they are the court appointed executor? And yes the check came in the name of the person we listed on the form. The problem I had was that the IRS basically refused to talk about the return with anyone because the client is deceased and the court didn't appoint someone as executor. The client checkbox is meaningless if the client is deceased. Even Power of Attorney is worthless the second the client dies (for the IRS).

That's actually a state law issue and not dictated by the IRS (as I understand it).

Does the trust have any money remaining to pay the taxes? The way we handle it and if you read the instructions you'll see - Schedule B line 7 says distributable income - not distributed. Line 9 and 10 say REQUIRED to be distributed. Was it required? Unlikely (it depends upon the type of trust and wording) and if the attorney is saying it wasn't legally required, note it and have him sign a letter or send you an email noting this. If an attorney wants to tell me his client's trust income was not legally required to be distributed, that's fine with me because I'm not an attorney and I'm not practicing the law. JMO but the IRS isn't going to want to get into a legal battle in a STATE COURT over who rightfully should have paid them after they've been paid the tax due.

If mom died in 2017, they would have filed a joint return this year. Why were they in any way attempting to generate a check in the name of the daughter? None of this makes any sense - sorry. I agree that the Authorization check box needs to be for multiple years. Limiting it to one calendar year is idiotic IMO and just adds to the burden.

A ton of firms break down the foreign source income for the foreign taxes. Mine sadly does not and most of my clients have a 1099 from my firm. I don't think any mutual funds I'm seen break out the foreign source but I could obviously be wrong. Actually, when I saw a ton of firms - there are really only a dozen or so firms that generate 1099s. Most brokerage firms clear through another firm and you have to read the fine print to see it.

I just enter business miles and don't worry about total miles. I don't think W2 codes C and DD mean anything for the return but I enter them. Not entering them would literally drive me nuts. Foreign tax on a 1099 is mind boggling sometimes. On mutual funds I don't think it's possible to enter an income. If the tax is on a 1099 div or int - boost up the simplified method far higher because they've been informed where it was coming from. Does anyone really break down where the income came from other than "other country"? The 1099's from my firm don't break out the foreign income - you have to go searching. On a 50+ page 1099, that's not quick sometimes.

I did two efiles yeterday - both were accepted in normal time but I didn't receive notice of it until this morning.

I hit golf balls because the golf season has officially begun.

That would be a legal question of whether it is appointed to the other beneficiaries and or your own beneficiaries. The only time I've seen it done was with an only child and their kids were next in line. On trusts it isn't staying in the trust, someone is getting it.

The IRS says they are going to do a hard reboot, shut down the entire system and start it up again. That's some amazing tech support they've got over there. (my state collects the return from the IRS so unlinking won't help)

A beneficiary can refuse acceptance of their portion. They can't then dictate who gets their portion.