Lion EA

Sounds good to me! Have a very :bday:

Have a very Catherine's up early this morning to beat our usual well-wisher!

Good point, KC. With all the changes stepdad made and proposed, keep a really good time line.

Have a very :bday:

Wow! Lots of ways to look at this, and the only way that matters is your way. I think that with the son your original client and the son not an owner or an officer in this new company the way the stepdad NOW describes it, I would handle this a lot like a divorce. If you had a long-time client that married and then not long after was in the midst of a divorce, what would you do? Keep your first client and decline the MFS return of his spouse? You could hand back stepdad's source documents and any work for which you were paid, explaining that you have a conflict of interest with no further explanation. You could also use a technique many mention: quote stepdad such a huge price for the "do-over" that he'll leave of his own accord. You know stepdad well enough by now to know if the latter will create more hard feelings than the former. In this situation, you want to take the calmest route. Looking forward to reading everyone's suggestions. Good luck.

When and if he has a sale, his cost basis is the V amount on which he's paying taxes as already in his ordinary income + any amount he paid out of pocket or had deducted from his proceeds to purchase the stock. If a same-day sale, there should be no gain and probably a small loss equal to any commissions/fees he had to pay. But, an exercise of a stock option is not a sale, so find out if he owns the stock or sold it.

Form 5329 can be e-filed. Exception 03 if I remember correctly.

I go through this every year. I have one partnership and one S-corp that provide health insurance and a SIMPLE plan. They're enough alike and enough different and the only entities I prepare with benefits, that I manage to get confused all over again each tax season. Of course, the businesses do something a little different each year, also. I have my notes from last year which confirm where some of the entries appear on the Form 1065, but I can't decipher how I entered them. For the LLC taxed as a partnership, husband and wife, wife active in business and getting guaranteed payments: LLC wrote checks for wife's SIMPLE contribution of $10,500, her health insurance premiums of $11,000 (to keep round numbers), and brand new this year her HSA of $5,800. Now, some of that I know where it's reported on Form 1065. GP + HI on page 1 line 10, page 4 line 4 (Schedule K) and GP only on page 5 line 3 of Schedule M-1 and HI only on page 3. I'm struggling with the data entry to make that work, but I think I know what the end result should look like for GP and HI. What about the SIMPLE contribution, and then the company match? And, the new addition this year of the HSA? Do I include that with HI? I know I shouldn't work on this one late at night! Last year, jklcpa was very helpful; are you out there now? Last year I was sure I understood the GP/HI part and was shaky on the SIMPLE; however, I was out of balance by the HI amount, so wasn't as wise as I'd thought. This year, I'm still shaky on the SIMPLE, and have no idea about the HSA. I don't do their personal return, so she wants the K-1 all perfect for her to enter the codes and numbers into TurboTax! She calls me with TurboTax data entry questions! If I can get her K-1 accurate, maybe she won't have as many questions! She also sells Mary Kay and is a musical actress and director, so has at least one Schedule C. So, whatever I do with her SIMPLE isn't the end of the story, since it's based on her Schedule SE numbers, right? Please help!

Thanx, Catherine. Probably not 'til after tax season, but I'll burn 2008 and 2009 to CDs and put in my safe deposit box. For the time being, I have the internal hard drive, external, flash, and VMS backup. My ex worked for GE with many government contracts, so NASA or whichever agency insisted he have a lock on his office door, which GE installed. However, due to his low status in the GE pecking order, he had only 3/4 high cubicle walls. What good was a lock on his door?! But, our government was satisfied. That's what the new MA rules remind me of. I love your one-size-fits-none description, Catherine. I work at home and had new locks installed since I hadn't done that since my prior marriage and the door between the garage and basement had no lock, etc. I had a different deadbolt installed on my home office door, and the key hangs in the lock on the open door. It's mostly so my clients feel safer. I seldom lock it as it makes the hallway from my front door into the office too dark. And, I have a spare key in the linen closet next to my office in case my husband ever has to rescue me (fall, heart attack, irate client, whatever). So, anyone could get in if they really wanted to, but it looks safer than before. In the meantime, clients just leave their private stuff on my front porch, so weren't too worried about safety and privacy! I've now installed a large mail slot in my front door.

And, since I haven't networked in my new equipment (bought a used computer from the techie to use as the Scan administrator) such as the second monitor, I don't know how I'm going to feel -- like Catherine -- about having to be at computer and open a PDF to refer to return with client on the phone, or next year working on their next return and referring to 2009 on-screen instead of flipping through the paper. I did have one client call re their completed 2009 return and had to load it; question had to do with duplicating a 1099-R as a dividend, so scrolling to Schedule B and to worksheet listing all the 1099-Rs. Guess it was OK, but automatically dug into my file cabinets before I remembered where 2009 returns are now! I have an external drive that I backup automatically nightly and other times as I want to. I have auto backup going up to VMSUS at 3 a.m. every night. I put returns on alternating flash drives when I think of it and daily or even more often now that I'm getting more entered. I have a flash with 2008 that I meant to put in my safe deposit box. Do you recommend a CD instead for long-term storage? I've been reading about MA rules as I have a MA trust, a MA joint personal return, and a bunch of non-filed years of a MA corporation. The emailing rule is the main issue for me here in CT. The clients have been used to emailing me. But, I need to get them used to picking up info FROM me on the FileShare on my web site. I think that works within the MA rules, yes Catherine? Gotta get my driveway and walks cleared before clients arrive!

Had too much paper and was going to try CCH's Scan & Flow next tax season, but salesman made me a deal for this year's price for this season AND next before renewal fees set in, essentially cutting the price in half, even more with multi-product discounts, etc. So, I bought it and squeezed in training before I got busy and bought the ScanSnap and a new monitor and got referrals for a local techie and them boom 20 clients dropped off. So, not using the full system yet, but maybe before I get to the really paper intense returns. I am printing to PDF my file copies of the returns, though. Big space saver, paper & toner saver, time saver. So far, I've been putting client notes, copies of documents w/WH, and other paper I want to keep in client's folder in file cabinet. When I network in my new scanner, I'll probably use my very part-time assistant to scan those items into the nice bookmarked, labeled PDF file for each client. Or, start that NEXT season. I do keep the Forms 8879 with attached W-2s, etc., on paper in a folder; that only grows to about two file folders per year.

Well, then, this is a bewildering tax season for me...

Unrelated Business Taxable Income. That's what I couldn't remember. And, I thought the amount was only $1,000. Boy, is my memory fried this tax season! Glad I have the expensive software and good customer service and this wonderful, wonderful board to help me out. Snowing here in CT, so hubby was home underfoot and we lost power for a bit. Think my UPS might not be functioning. Today's clients rescheduled for tomorrow, but I have a whole bookshelf full of drop-offs to work on.

The IRA might need to do something with it, or your client might need someone to file a return for his IRA if it has unconnected (what's the real term I can't remember right now?) income, or maybe the IRA or investment already dealt with it and sent a copy of the K-1 as a courtesy.

At least you're not Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. What is bewildered, anyway?

A very :bday:

Pub. 17 states: "If you or your spouse (or both of you) file a separate return, you generally can change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date of the separate return or returns. This does not include any extensions." It does not cite the Tax Code but does refer to Pub. 501. For a substantial tax difference, you'll want to research further.

Awwww! :wub:

DC NR return to get his withholding back, but check the instructions for DC and VA returns to see if there's a reciprocity agreement that could simplify how you file for this client.

Well, if she has Schedule C income from care giving and pays a care giver and takes a deduction for that expense on her Schedule C, then her Schedule C trade or business should issue a Form 1099-MISC.

CCH's servers have to be more secure than my little home office computer. And, yes, you need a computer, but any computer will do. So, if yours gets fried, you rent one or buy one or go use one at the library or a friend's house and you're back in business with your software and your data safely in the clouds. One downside to a home office is that there's no easy place to store a backup offsite. Safe deposit box means I'd have to wait for the bank to open, for instance. So, I already have a backup at VMSUS. Moving to CCH in the clouds would not be a big step.

Innocent spouse?

You don't get the SS payment from the IRS. The executor can try to get it from the SSA.

ProSystem fx has SAAS this season, so maybe CCH will be extending it to their other products soon.

Didn't he go down to Rome, GA, but ultimately left to write children's books or some very different thing? Can't remember anything I read from last tax season, memory too fried.