Lion EA

Wow, that is great. Thank you very much, Sue, and everybody, for chipping in on this. Hate new things in April when I can barely do the old things! Couldn't do this alone.

I had my first PTP sale last year. I remember there was info with the K-1 that changed the basis reported by the 1099-B before you enter on D/8949. I'd promised this guy his return by Tuesday. But, there's just too much data entry left. And, I need to figure out the PTP sales that I've done only once before as well as the puts. When he gets back to me re the questions I emailed him late Friday night, I'll email him extensions to send in with money and tell him I cannot complete his returns due to learning about his PTPs and other investments this late in the season. He's not going to be happy. But, I already had gone online to get his property taxes. I'm not his personal valet. He won't get anybody else to do all this work for him without a bigger price tag. Thanx for your help, Kea. When the season's over and you catch your breath, let me know what you learn from your trader's prior return. And, if I can answer any questions, fire away.

Thanx so much for telling me your experiences. I did these years ago at Block, but have no access to those old returns. I did pull out my textbook. I also have been trying out things in my software. If I use Part I to enter just a lump sum (over all it was a loss, though some gains and some losses on the individual transactions on the 1099B) then the software does its 40%/60% thing, but Part I is 1256 Contracts Marked to Market. I'll ask my client if he Marked to Market. Considering he didn't know he bought two PTPs in 2011 and sold them in 2012, I'm not sure he'll know about Mark to Market. And, is his Broad Based Index Options what this Form calls Section 1256 Contracts? And, to really keep me guessing, tech support told me to use this Form sections 2, 3, and 4 -- which threw me for a loop until I realized the input screens are numbered that way and not the form itself which stops at 3. However, it's section 1 that does the 40/60 thing, and she told me to start with 2...

I'm in over my head on this. If I enter (and I'm not using ATX) the way it seems, using the info from the broker and the boxes on Form 6781, then the losses go in one section and the gains in the other and the 40%/60% never comes into play. Am I supposed to make an election? Is my client? Is that something he and his broker did? Or do I just enter the lump numbers all the way at the bottom of the broker statement after all the detail and not enter the detail?

This doesn't seem to fit nicely. Or, I'm being lazy because I'm tired. The page in the 1099-B is labeled Broad Based Index Options. I don't know which, or any, elections apply; I think none. And, as far as I know he didn't Mark to Market. So, i deal with all the Losses first in Part II and then the Gains. I don't think he had any Part III Last Day of Tax Year items. The form asks for the Kind of property and says to Attach a separate statement listing each straddle and its components. I have no idea what to put in each statement. I am definitely raising my price on this form!

I think that's exactly how it works. I've had it open and have been dragging my feet about entering the data. Thanks for your help.

I haven't done one of these, but this'll help it stay up high! If the IRS form states "Total income (adjusted gross income)" I would think from the way the IRS usually explains things on paper that the (adjusted gross income) is what they are pointing you to. But, I'd be looking for leads just like you are due to the letter using the term Taxable Income.

I feel bad because I promised, but that was before I knew he had PTPs and hadn't giving me the K-1s! (And, he bought them in 2011, per the online site, so now there'll be IRS letters and amendments, but that's for this summer.) So, I'd already pulled three more clients out of my stack in the middle of the night when I was dealing with his Puts and missing K-1s and emailed him questions. No response from him, so working on other clients. When he contacts me, I'm saying extension. But, do I have to divide every line into 40% and 60% doubling my data entry? Every return seems to have a new twist this year. One that I'd set aside, thinking complete, waiting for them to confirm banking information -- when he emailed this morning he told me about a missing W-2 and gave me a final check stub. This one's too close to done so I'll do the substitute, but really didn't need any more issues today. And, he's complaining about his balances due, wanting explanations which I love to give BUT NOT THIS WEEK. Sign here and leave please.

OK, hubby's underwear is in the dryer; I can make it through the rest of tax season! I keep wearing the same dress slacks and sweater when clients come by, until the sweater needs cleaning and gets swapped out; the slacks have made it through a long time with no spills for the short time I'm in dress clothes.

I get the clothes laundered, but not until my husband starts asking me if his underwear is in the dryer. I give him his socks and underwear to fold and put away. I hang up his shirts out of the dryer in the basement; he can bring them up when the wrinkles have hung out. I do fold his sweaters as he makes a mess of them. But, my own clothes?! I had such a huge pile on the guest bed that I brought up all my laundry baskets and have a basket for socks and underwear, a basket for jammies, slippers, and the fleece tops/sweaters/sweatshirts I wear over them, one for exercise clothes and sweats, and a stack of nice tops and sweaters still on the bed. That's as organized as I can get now. When no clients are here, I'm in my flannel jammies and fuzzy slippers with a sweatshirt or something over. Our clothes are so over-dried and wrinkled. I set the dryer and then the phone rings so by the time I get back to the basement the clothes are cold, so I turn the dryer back on to warm them up so I can fluff them and shake out the wrinkles but then a client drops by and.... And, I've used up all my baskets. Oh yeah, and a stack of rugs and towels on the guest bed and another stack of Christmas linens and clothing that I won't need until December anyway. At least hubby folds the sheets for me.

OK, I've got them too. Puts, that is. Working through dozens of pages of 1099-B in three different Merrill Lynch accounts. First I discover references to PTPs. Client didn't give me any K-1s. I track them down online, and of course they're each dozens of pages also. But, one whole page in the Merrill Lynch statement is Puts, Sales. It's been years since I had these (a stockbroker client did puts and calls.) All are Sales and ML does give an Amount and Cost Basis. So far, so good But what is this at the bottom of the page about Short-term 40% and Long-term 60%. Do I have to divide every line into ST and LT? Do I not enter the dates? And he's leaving on vacation next week so needs his returns before the 15th!

Kerry, you're surrounded by estrogen! Please do post pictures of all your ladies when you can.

Hi, Kerry! Thanx for stopping by. How's your family? When you have time, please post a current picture of your little girl.

C and D and sometimes side stretches during C.

There are nine areas the IRS looks at for hobby vs. business. One talks about what changes you make to have fewer losses, become more profitable. Go through the IRS requirements to see if you could prevail in an audit; have your client explain to you how she meets at least some of the IRS points.

The legal separation thing is a state thing. For instance, CT does not have legal separations; you are married or you are divorced. You're in OH? Any OH preparers know for sure if OH has a legal separation option? If not, your conversation with your client is very simple: MFS or MFJ. If MFS, prepare taxes for only one of them. If MFJ, get a conflict of interest signed by both. And for 2013, prepare taxes for only one of them.

Amen!

It doesn't matter what her ex uses; she can itemize. However, "half" is what is being questioned. She has to be legally obligated to pay an expense and actually pay an expense to deduct it. If she paid half the mortgage interest and real estate taxes, she can deduct her half. If she didn't pay, she can't deduct. Does she have deductions for her new VA residence paid during 2012?

Please also move Easter, Passover, and Daylight Savings Time. Oh yeah, and my daughter's concert on 13 April with the Vernon Chorale! And the funeral of a colleague's mother next week.

If you're going to pay Lacerte prices, try ProSystem fx and Ultra Tax.

Make sure they did not live together for the last six months of 2012. She can always itemize. As HoH, she can even take standard deduction. The only thing she can't do is file MFS and use standard if her spouse itemizes.

Last year I had one client with a fat consolidated 1099. By the time the broker got to the third or fourth correction, she sent me a spread sheet of the corrections only, not a new 1099. I could tie only a few lines to anything on the most recent 1099 to make the changes. Three emails later, her assistant claims my client sold those securities so use only the g/l changes and not the int/div. Not very many month later, IRS letter -- underreported interest. Broker had given me 1099-B for her bond account but no 1099-INT. Still haven't completed her amendment. (And, the client didn't have the hard copy either. Looked through her paperwork thoroughly to prepare her return.)

Restricted Stock Units. One of the many flavors of employer stock options.

I'm working and have a client picking up on her way home from work. I'll be at church on Sunday but probably back at work (OIH) the rest of the day. My retired husband shopped and will cook a ham and scalloped potatoes. So I will take time out for a nice dinner with him. If I include a glass of wine, I'll probably end up napping. But still hope to get in at least one return Sunday. I might not answer my phone until Monday, except for call backs I'm expecting. Whoever set up tax season to include Passover and Easter and the Spring Forward time change just didn't think. Why not between Labor Day and Thanksgiving? And this year with the delay from Congress...! And, I got calls yesterday from two different clients who received corrected consolidated 1099s, one a second correction. Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring! Happy Weekend! Enjoy!

SBS? Does the new guy have a body guard?