Lion EA

Any luck? When I was at Block, a lot of our seasonal workers were recently retired but needing part-time work and loving tax season when it's cold to work so they could spend summers golfing, visiting grandkids, traveling, etc. We especially had a lot of retired school teachers who needed a few more quarters of SS wages before they reached full-retirement age. My husband receives a newsletter for retired teachers from his school district; something like that would be a great place to place an ad.

I get help remotely on my three monitors.

Exactly. I see M & N for retired NY Bell employees receiving free telephone service. Those codes are used when non-cash taxable compensation is paid, so FICA and Medicare cannot be withheld. If he knows so much, he can do it himself! The right way or the highway...

Except for the depreciable assets which begin depreciation when placed in service/business opened doors.

Then I don't think you have any choice but to gross up Box 1 to include the 4 and 6 amounts that the employer will pay on the employees behalf. (How badly do you want to keep this client?)

Not sure if I'd do this again. The nursery school which was part of our church but acted as if they were not, cut their own paychecks and didn't update their FICA percentage when it changed. I discovered it in April when I was preparing quarterlies, but it was the W-2s that really confused me the following January. On the advice of our accountant when I was church treasurer, he had me apply the amounts that were withheld to FICA and Medicare first with any excess going to FIT (it might've been so long ago that CT did not have a state income tax yet). I don't remember how it all flowed. I do remember sending out a letter warning the few employees what had happened, that it had been corrected going forward, but that they would have less federal withholding than they had anticipated. Luckily, at that time, they were all very part-time wives married to high income husbands, so the issue had little impact on their tax returns. I never heard from any employees nor government entities. I since lobbied hard for all our payroll to go through a payroll company. Now we use Paychex.

ProSystem fx for taxes. QB for my own payroll and for those clients who use QB for their bookkeeping and for 1099s. I have sent larger, multi-state clients to Paychex for payroll. But, just last year used People's United Bank's online payroll for a small company and love it; I can do everything online, but have a real live support rep.

If you take care of my problem, I'll take care of yours!

They bought the house for 1.5 million brand new and then spent a year renovating it and adding a pool at which point they took the whole family to Greece for the summer to celebrate, so I don't think they'll mind buying new bulbs or paying their handyman to climb up there or maybe their weekly housekeeping service. (Also, landscapers three times per week plus pool service weekly.) I'd considered installing my own terawatt lamp, but their bedrooms are on the opposite side of their house from mine. I'll think about target practice, though.

So my neighbor tore down his little house at the back of the property and built a McMansion at the front of the property outside our master bedroom. I actually had to buy a bathroom shade for the first time since 1978. Then the new owner put in that very same terawatt floodlight pointed at our bedroom window. If it weren't mounted so high, I'd relocate it to his letter box. Plus his barky dog is out all the time barking. Yes, even at 2:50 a.m. in 22 degree weather and snow. Maybe the dog warden would relocate the dog AND the floodlight.

I don't prepare returns with clients sitting here. But, I do have them sit down to review their return before they sign, if they're local. That's when I twist one monitor to the client to view the government forms view, especially if there are still questions that could change things so I haven't printed yet. Other times when I know/think the return is final and have printed the client copy, we review from paper or a monitor. If a client is here for part of my prep time, all monitors surround me and do not face the client.

Dell and my techie did all the thinking, but my Dell Win 7 is a few years old. Default was two monitors, but I ordered it with a video card that does up to four monitors. Dell did NOT include all the right connections, so techie did have to order one more part for me before we could run three monitors. I love it. I have two portrait so I don't have to scroll down to see a full tax return page -- middle for data entry and right for government forms, or right for current year and middle for prior, or repeat on the right for client while I work on or read from middle or.... Left is landscape with Outlook on the right, often with client email and Chrome on the left with a couple of client mail tabs and this tab with my boards, and a tab for IntelliConnect or client's .pdf documents or,,,, I now want an upper row with three more for a total of six!

Thanx, Eric. I'll try AdBlock. I checked my extensions. Two are from games the kids invited me to play, probably the source of ads, but the kids have got me hooked. One is for my tax research, IntelliConnect. And the last is something called DefaultTab 2.0.5 -- is that a Chrome thing or should I disable it? DefaultTab 2.0.5 A fast and easy way to navigate to your favorite web sites Permissions Visit website Allow in incognito Allow access to file URLs

Hey, we all know not to talk to bankers when they aren't our clients. We also know that the client probably misunderstood her banker, whether he was spot on or way off. Just tell her what can/can't be reported for 2013 and what can/can't be reported for 2014 -- and that it requires action on her part. Here's step one; call me when you're accomplished step one and I'll give you step two. (Step one might be the HRB phone number.) If she hasn't taken any steps in a year, then it's doubtful she'll keep up with record keeping, etc. Although, she's set up payroll...

Yep, lipstick on a pig. Or, tell her to ask her banker to word the part about reasonable explanation. Or offer to help her set up by 15 March to become an S-corp for 2014, but charge her a bundle. And, don't do it unless/until she opens a corporate bank account and writes down her minutes/corporate resolutions. (How much product does she pull out of inventory for personal use?! It's all marketing when she wears the product, right?!)

Did you show her the Reg? Or, show her banker the Reg?!

Practical Tax Expert,§28,140.20,Request for Relief for Late Entity Classification and Late S Corporation Elections A business entity with two or more owners that is not classified as a corporation underReg. §301.7701-2( (an eligible entity) may elect its classification for federal tax purposes. If it does not elect otherwise, it is treated as a partnership. If it elects to be classified as a corporation, it can also elect to be treated as an S corporation. To be treated as an S corporation, the entity elects to be classified as a corporation by filing Form 8832, Entity Classification Election, and elects to be treated as an S corporation by filing Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation. If an eligible entity timely files Form 2553 but fails to file the Form 8832, the entity is deemed to have timely filed a Form 8832 and is classified as a corporation as of the effective date of the S corporation election. Reg. §301.7701-3©(1)(v)©. However, if an eligible entity fails to timely file both Form 8832 and Form 2553, the entity is not classified as a corporation, and is also not treated as an S corporation. Simplified methods of requesting relief for the late filing of a corporate classification election and the late filing of an S corporation election are available to an eligible entity that wishes to be treated as an S corporation. Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173. Under these procedures, an entity may request relief if: (1) the entity is an eligible entity, as defined in Reg. §301.7701-3(a); (2) the entity intended to be classified as a corporation as of the intended effective date of the S corporation status; (3) the entity fails to qualify as a corporation solely because Form 8832 was not timely filed, or Form 8832 was not deemed to have been filed; (4) the corporation intended to be classified as an S corporation as of the intended effective date of the election; (5) the entity fails to qualify as an S corporation on the intended effective date of the S corporation status solely because the S corporation election was not timely filed; (6) the entity has reasonable cause for its failure to file timely the S corporation election and the entity classification election and has acted diligently to correct the mistake upon its discovery; (7) either: (i) the entity timely filed all federal tax and information returns consistent with its requested S corporation status for all of the years the entity intended to be an S corporation; or (ii) the entity has not filed a federal tax or information return for the first year in which the election was intended to be effective because the due date has not passed for the year’s federal tax or information returns; and (8) the corporation requests relief within 3 years and 75 days after the intended effective date of the election (but see the exception to this requirement noted below). An entity may request relief for late S corporation and entity classification elections under this procedure by filing with the applicable IRS Service Center (1) a properly completed Form 2553 with Form 1120S for the corporation’s current tax year, (2) properly completed Form 2553 with a Form 1120S for one of the corporation’s late-filed prior-year Forms 1120S, or (3) a properly completed Form 2553 submitted independently of Form 1120S. A properly completed Form 2553 includes a statement establishing reasonable cause for the failure to file the S corporation election timely. It must state at the top "FILED PURSUANT TO REV. PROC. 2013-30" and contain the declaration contained in Section 4.03(3) of Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173, signed under penalties of perjury and dated. If Form 2553 is filed with Form 1120S, the latter form must state at the top "INCLUDES LATE ELECTION(S) FILED PURSUANT TO REV. PROC. 2013-30" or comply with instructions in the Instructions for Form 1120S. A completed election must also include statements for all shareholders during the intended effective date and the date the election is filed that they have reported their income on all affected returns consistent with its sought S corporation status for the year the election should have been filed and for all subsequent years. These statements must contain the declaration contained in Section 4.03(3) of Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173, signed under penalties of perjury and dated. Upon receipt of a completed application requesting relief, the IRS will determine whether the requirements for granting relief for the late S corporation and entity classification elections have been satisfied. Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173. An entity that does not meet the requirements to seek relief under the simplified procedure or is denied relief under the procedure may seek relief by requesting a letter ruling. Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173. See §28,140.15. COMPLIANCE NOTE No user fee applies when taking corrective action under this procedure. COMMENT Late-election relief for eligible entities that wished to be classified as S corporations was previously available under Rev. Proc. 2007-62, 2007-2 CB 786, and Rev. Proc. 2004-48, 2004-2 CB 172. However, these revenue procedures have been modified and superseded by Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173, effective September 3, 2013. Rev. Proc. 2013-30, 2013-36 IRB 173, applies to requests for late-election relief pending with the IRS on September 3, 2013, and to requests received thereafter.

How do I make Chrome block ads? I moved to Chrome when two sites I need (one is mail for a client) stopped working in IE. (I have two other sites that don't work in Chrome, but less important, just annoying.) Now I have ads at the top and the left side and on the bottom and ones that pop up in the middle and and random words/phrases in bright blue with double underlines (are they turned into links?) that are also distracting.

When I leave my reading glasses on, I can't see my feet. Just sayin'...

I buy the matching envelopes from the same place I get the perforated paper for the W-2s.

I love extensions. I can make more money in 10.5 months than I can in 3.5 months. I've already put two returns on extension, both new clients: one is a family that moved to Singapore last fall that we don't want to file until they've been out of the US for 330 days (it's a three-year assignment from Yale to Singapore U. for a professor) and the other is a retired doctor with lots of investments that include a statement or two that always arrive late (maybe K-1s) who's coming to me because his last preparer made an error in 2011 and because his preparer lives a distance away across state lines and I live in the same town, so I want to have lots of time to go over his 2011 and 2012 returns and proofread 2013 without a deadline hanging over my head and most of my other returns staring at me from stacks on my desk! I expect to spend a fair amount of time on both of these returns; I don't do a lot of international situations but have this and another one this year involving Japan, and I know the doctor's return will be complex and I really need to understand what went wrong and cost him a lot of P&I for 2011 as it wasn't discovered until recently so doesn't sound like matching but like an interpretation of the law re one of his investments. I want to research this summer and not now.

I go over the returns with the client when they come in to discuss, sign, pay, and pick-up. So, sometimes I catch something then or client does; but I really try NOT to have mistakes discovered with the client sitting here. My proofreading takes place before they come to pick-up.

31 January 2014

I always try to sleep on it and proofread the next day or another day. My software has great diagnostics as well as worksheets, statements, white papers, etc. So, I double check all source documents and client info against the white papers as well as the return/schedules. I use the two-year comparison feature to note any differences and explore those, or check when I was expecting a difference (child turned 17 or spouse stopped working or...). I've called my husband in to help me proofread. Once in a while I run a tape or export to Excel where I can add subtotals or rearrange or whatever helps me follow the flow from original documents to return. My software helps me match to original documents by its whitepapers and also options, such as as-entered order good for multiple statements, 1099-Bs or whatever, or another choice such as alphabetical if that was the order the gain/loss statement used, for instance. I missed one a few years ago when a big investor had less interest than the prior year (only $11,000 instead of $60,000). She was clueless as she had managed accounts. The account assistants insisted on three dates that they sold many bonds that year -- which did match her 1099-B -- and they'd sent me all her interest. I'd prepared her return from paperwork and spreadsheets provider by those assistants. I didn't print until client came in with her original paperwork, still in their mailing envelopes. Still just a small amount of interest. Signed and efiled. A few months later an IRS letter for $45,000 missing interest. Back to the broker who found another bond account that was never sent to me or our mutual client. Some investments had been rearranged and accounts renumbered after she started drawing on her IRA. I now have all her account numbers listed in her folder and the nicknames the brokerage uses to refer to them. At least I'm good until they merge and change computer systems and reorganize my client's investments!

I love that Mike specializes in clergy and strippers!