Lion EA

A very :bday:

Mine still tells me to Close and Try Again Later.

Quoting NATP speaker Sue Voth, EA, from her handouts: If the parents may claim an individual as a qualifying child, but neither parent actually claims the child, another taxpayer may claim the individual as a qualifying child. However, this other taxpayer must otherwise be eligible to claim the child as a qualifying child and have a higher AGI for the tax year than any parent eligible to claim the child. I think that was to close the loophole that allowed a working sibling or live-in grandparent to claim a child when parents were too high income to gain much by the dependency exemption.

I received that email, followed by another correcting the link. In the meantime, I went through the NY web site and discovered that refund info is not available now: "Try again later."

I do, too; but NINE pages?! Don't have the wall space to post that.

Have client check with lawyer versed in local property law and elder care law. If this was a life estate and if mother treated it as her home, paying property tax and keeping it up, and if it became part of mother's estate, then daughter would get a step up in basis (or step down). If this was a completed gift and not part of mother's estate, then daughter's basis is her mother's basis prior to the gift plus any capital improvements daughter paid for after the gift. Send client back to the lawyer that prepared the LTA. She may be trying to avoid paying his fee and trying to get free advice, but she could lose a lot more by getting this wrong. Her question is a legal question as much as it is a tax question.

I think the car can cost more than $49,500; but you can only deduct sales tax on the first $49,500 for each car purchased during the relevant time frame. Also, you can deduct up to what the usual state sales tax would be. So, if the state taxes car sales @ 8% but the usual sales tax for most items in that state is 6%, then you can deduct only the 6% up to the limit. I don't have anyone who bought a new car over that price, so I really haven't had to get into the fine print.

A very :bday:

I thought it was because we made you laugh! :spaz:

First $2,400 or so is not taxed. I'll have to look up the exact amount if I have anyone on unemployment for 2009.

A very :bday:

If you have a few clients with many assets that add and dispose of assets throughout the year, you can update your free-standing asset manager when you have time without changing the tax return you just filed. I don't have that many to worry about, so deal with depreciation within the tax program once per year only.

A very :bday:

I thought your client was pocketing 1/3 of his business receipts he converted to cash, showing 1/3 in his personal account, and only running 1/3 through the LLC account. He should deposit all his receipts to his business account so it ties out to his books and tax return and (if all his clients send them) 1099-MISCs. And, I thought he was saying he wanted MD's liability protection but wasn't willing to pay MD's fees. He might decide not to pay your fees, also! I don't take clients that don't treat their business like a business, and that includes mixing business with personal funds as a "don't." With only one client, are you sure he's not an employee?

They can get their taxes done now while they have no money, get their refund in the pipeline now, and pay you out of their refund. Otherwise, they wait until they save the money for your fee. They are trading money for time according to the value they put on it for them. It also allows them to be on the DD timeline which is a week faster plus mail time than the mailed check timeline even when they have no bank account of their own. If they have no bank account for DD and no credit card to pay you, it might be worth it to them to use a RT. I don't do them myself, but you have to think about your own client pool and their needs.

Considering he does triple-entry bookkeeping instead of double, I'd send him elsewhere! You can't prepare a return that you know is wrong. And, you need to protect yourself. When he gets caught under-reporting his income, he'll say you told him it was OK.

But, he already organized as an LLC in Maryland, right mind or not. He should comply with MD's regulations until he dissolves the LLC. And, you should not be condoning his improper bookkeeping. I worked with a NY LLC (maybe it was a corporation) with CT owners who had not been doing business through it for some time and wanted to dissolve it. We had to file all the missing returns with no activity -- and the owners had to pay all the annual fees -- to be allowed to dissolve the business in NY. If you think the LLC entity is of no use to him, then find out how he can dissolve it and do business as a sole proprietor. Explain it to your client and let him choose.

For legal purposes, an LLC is a separate entity and makes all the various legal filings required by the state in which it was formed and any states in which it does business. For tax purposes, a SMLLC defaults to a disregarded entity if no election was made to be taxed differently. In most states, that means the LLC appears on the personal income tax return as it does on the federal income tax return. I don't file any MD returns, so check with the MD department of revenue for tax filing requirements and the MD secretary of state for legal filing requirements. In CT for instance, a SMLLC would file income taxes on the owner's Form CT-1040 but would file an annual report with the secretary of state for $20 and also file a business entity form and pay $250 for the privilege of being in business in CT.

Or, copy and past the whole link (from http all the way through html) in your browser.

A disregarded entity is disregarded as a separate entity and is reported on the owner's personal tax return. For tax purposes, the LLC is disregarded; but for legal purposes, the LLC does exist according to state law.

You'll get lots of advice here about how to report your winnings and losses!!! :read:

And thank you to KC for keeping us up to date!

A very :bday:

A very :bday:

I'd heard the first would come through on Sunday, but KC just posted on the E-File Forum that it's now Monday or Tuesday for first acks.