Lion EA

Thanx, all. Yep, I already roughed out a spreadsheet for my calculations: $55,000 tuition - $40,000 grants - $1,700 CHET 529 plan (only $200 potentially taxable) = plenty for AOC. Parents are older (adopted kids from China) and dad now has dementia and can't work, so they will qualify for the AOC. I'm entering in my electronic notes to the parents' tax return, as well as the student's. Just to add to the complexity, the 1098-Q has the student's name but a SSN that does NOT belong to anyone in the family, totally different digits.

Hardly have anyone with 529 Plans, so please let me know if I have this correct. Student received Form 1099-Q, so it gets reported on student's return, right? However, does it get reported at all if used for tuition? Very expensive college. So, nearly $30,000 tuition - $12,000 scholarship - $7,000 529 distribution still leaves lots for parents to claim AOC, yes? If so, does the 1099-Q show up anyplace on student's return? Will the student (or parents) receive an IRS letter?

Your local fire department might know which brand/model is the most sensitive and the loudest. It's worth a little time searching. Install them as high as possible to make it hard for your neighbors to remove the batteries. Or, hardwire them in. Your neighbors won't want the baby crying or the toddler throwing a tantrum.

Install a very sensitive, very loud smoke detector in the alcove. Maybe your insurance company requires it...

Me, too. I want to be able to point to it if a client questions my fees!

Subaru checked our credit when we bought a car, even though using separate funds. I asked which company and unfroze that one only for the day. When clients were going to rent a storefront for their bakery, they had to unfreeze for a day; but they were committing to monthly payments for a year, so I can see why the landlord wanted to do a credit check.

New hires!

Ask your client.

It comes into play for a LOT of things. For instance, I still have not gotten back on e-Services, because I would have to unfreeze my report(s) for the time it takes for them to identify me via third-party information. (Well, that and the fact that e-Services says my cell phone is not in my name when AT&T says it is in my name; maybe tied in with the freeze, after all.) There are a lot of places that check credit reports without extending you credit, just for identification purposes. If I really want whatever it is, I ask them which company they use. The guy behind the desk never knows. If it's biz hours and he can ask corporate, I unfreeze that one until approved. Had to do that to add my kid on our cell plan. It's a real pain. One year a tax return was filed with my SSN, so I had to print and stand in line at the PO. Last year I was able to e-file again. You never know when you'll be hit with fallout.

As much as I love your professional-looking website, I do have two thoughts: I view things like this on tabs on half of a horizontal monitor, saving the other half for my own email, and saving my two vertical monitors for tax preparation. In this configuration, all I see is your beautiful picture, your contact numbers above and "Welcome" and two lines of print below. That's great if I just need to find your phone number. But, it might not be great if I'm a potential client checking you out for the first time. I also tried your site on my iPhone via Safari. Although this is now vertical, my phone screen shows only about as much as my specific monitor configuration described above. However, there are no numbers after "Phone:" and "Fax:" -- just blank. The color? The update I did last night? I don't know. If this is a marketing tool, visit some friends and family to view your site under different conditions. If this is for the portal, you are fine! (Mine is for the portal.)

Do they show up on e-Services?

Love all of it !!

Unions brought more employer-paid (partial) healthcare into our lives via contract negotiations. A large corporation (think GE) picked up a percentage of healthcare for those union members and eventually had to do the same for their non-union employees to keep them. The same with teacher unions negotiating healthcare benefits, and then the towns had to offer healthcare to the rest of the town employees. Now we have HDHPs and HSAs. I see employees paying ANY percentage toward their healthcare via payroll withholding, but still the group plan is usually a saving over trying to buy your own plan. Combined with a pre-tax flexible spending account, premiums are even less expensive via a group plan and guaranteed to each employee participant. That in itself can be worth any amount of money to a family with a member with diabetes, heart issues, or other chronic issues. Have your client start with reading his company's plan and bringing you a copy. It may give you cites for how his plan is regulated.

For the operating company, run the numbers to see if they want to be a S- or C-corp. With the new, lower 21% flat corporate tax rate for C-corps, an S-corp might not save them any money, depending on their personal tax bracket. And, with the new QBID, they might benefit by remaining an LLC or sole proprietorship. A lot of moving parts, so run the numbers. For the building without personal use, LLC.

Does the LLC own an S corporation and another LLC (taxed as what? a sole proprietor? partnership?)? Or, did the LLC elect to be taxed as an S corporation and the original LLC/S corporation owns another LLC?

Don't put a building in a corporation.

Check the state laws of each relevant state. Many states have gone to Sales only to apportion income, and therefore income tax filing requirements. However, the payroll regulations of the state in which the employee performs work still rule for payroll taxes.

Most of your professional organizations have 1040 webinars &/or live courses. Check their websites for locations near you or webinars. (I'm assuming since you're asking this question that you don't have a good teacher on your staff.) If your staff is large enough, check on bringing in a teacher, perhaps basic 1040 for your newbies and 1040 update for all. Tailor it to fit your firm's needs.

Amen!

If you're at all suspicious about his "tossed" 1099s, then make sure you keep/scan/whatever mode his P&L or his written/emailed statement of income received so you have documentation that he told you his revenues were $ X, just in case he gets that CP2000 a couple years from now. If he's sitting at your desk and saying his income was $ X, hand him paper and pen to write it down "for your file."

My first grandson. Saturday we go to PA to visit my second granddaughter. Two grandbabies in six days in two states. Most kids just throw a party for their parents' 24th wedding anniversary, but our kids got together to present us with a grandson and a granddaughter! Even the babies cooperated by arriving earlier than their due dates to make their appearance in June. Or, the babies &/or their mothers are very competitive...

The tie-breaking rules come into play if BOTH parents claim the child in the same year. Then, the IRS will apply the tie-breaker.

Amen!

This fall I need to buy a new desktop. And, hubby is probably buying a new desktop sooner. (I was going to do that last fall, but got a new hip instead.)