Lion EA

All of you are very helpful. Can't remember when I had a client die (without the lawyer insisting that everything was done via his office). SIL has two emails: one has been bouncing back since the weekend, and the other says its still trying to deliver for 72 hours! She was in such a rush. Now to call her...

And, Judy, who deleted pages of new "members." Thanks to both Judy & Eric.

There's a court-appointed administrator, the sister-in-law and brother (SIL is doing it all for her hubby, but they both appear on the court paper). They did go to probate. I'm waiting on them to answer if there was a will; client was only 50 or in early 50's when she died suddenly of a heart attack. With SIL in FL and me in CT, I'm going to upload returns for her to sign and mail in. I thought Form 1310 would require paper filing, plus 2020 with possible ID theft. Leaving everything except actual tax prep to the SIL. Don't even want to try e-filing with the SSA freezing SSNs so often and the suspicion that a 2020 return was filed/ID theft. If the refunds go to the estate, do we need to file Form 1310? Will the IRS mail the check to The Estate of Joan X. Doe in care of the SIL administrator? I think it's only the mother and brother, and brother and SIL want to give all proceeds to mother. Thank you for confirming that a copy of the court appointment should be attached. What about a copy of the death certificate? Every single client has something new this year!

Taxpayer died this January. She has some back years to file. I'm preparing 2020 1st, because there's an IRS letter stating a balance due but taxpayer hasn't filed since about 2016. Taxpayer had been in contact with IRS, per her mother; but that's all we know. Then, I'll prepare 2019, with the 17 July deadline. Administrator is SIL in FL. Family prefers refunds go to mother (deceased cared for mother, paid some of mother's bills, and lived with mother the last few years in CT). Form 1310: can I choose for refund to go to mother? I'll be uploading all years to SIL in FL to sign and mail and not trying to e-file any. (2020 will probably reject anyway due to ID theft.) Or, without choosing mother, will refund go to Administrator or to The Estate of Joan X Doe? Do you suggest registered mail? Certified? Return receipt? Anything else I need to know to deal with SIL in FL when I'm up here in CT? I am NOT going to deal with IRS re ID theft when I don't know anything about what happened in 2020. SIL can deal with that for the cheap price I quoted her. Client was a long-term client, but would file every couple years or three. Then stopped filing after 2016; would call me to file an extension each year, but didn't get back to me with her tax info. Teacher with good w/h and federal refunds, so IRS wasn't chasing her. (CT owed a little or refunded a little, but no letters from CT in her documents.) All suggestions and comments welcome. Thank you for reading!

110 accounts with email addresses! I was watching the posting in real time, certainly not from tax preparers, so it was surreal watching posts show up with lots of detail supposedly about customer service numbers for various well-known companies that might fool people on a more general site. Luckily, not things tax preparers would click on, on a tax site. But certainly clogging up our site overnight. Thank you for cleaning all that up, Eric.

Thank you for taking good care of us, Eric! I was up late last night and saw the posts coming in. It was not all at once, automatically. There were a couple of screen names posting with about the speed of someone cut/pasting manually. It was kinda odd. I'd leave after a bunch/page-full and then return to another few, or I'd report some to see more came in while I was reporting, rinse & repeat. That kind of speed. I apologize for inundating you with so many reports. In my sleep-deprived state it seemed like a good idea to report a bunch so you'd see the extent of the problem before you had to enter the message board or without looking farther.

Monday 17 July 2023 for unextended 2019 returns. Is it Monday 16 October for extended?

I have my software set to check that automatically. I've been able to use it a couple times, saving getting a 2848 signed and filed. But, it is only good for a year.

I too remember Block's POM paying clients with the philosophy taught to us to explain to clients that when HRB pays an obligation of a client that HRB issues Form 1099-MISC. I wasn't involved in the 1099 issuance, so don't remember if the 1099 included ALL payments by HRB to include tax, interest, and penalty.

And, thanx for the helpful info re MA NR/PR.

Thank you, all. Going to start calling Tuesday on this situation. Have paperwork ready. The 2022 penalty is only $70, but the 2021 is 4 figures so will get FTA probably. Otherwise, this client is clean, just got behind a year when she was very sick and ultimately diagnosed with colon cancer. A similar but more complicated client (died suddenly in January, court-appointed rep in FL, hadn't filed in 6 years, might be ID theft in 2020, need to get 2019 filed since she always had refunds, etc.) is the other one I'm working on. IRS saying a balance due plus P&I for 2020, but don't think she filed 2020, so that's why ID theft suspected. Gotta get the ducks in a row on this one.

Client didn't have her new broker contact, thought it'd been on her online screen and that there'd been a Tax Documents tab, but neither were still there when she began gathering her tax info. She did have the cell for her old First Republic broker who's now elsewhere. He gave me the name of the FR manager, and he got the new rep for my client to send me the FR documents. Client's still at her infusion site from this morning even though she thought she'd be home this afternoon. I could try a bringing in a 3rd phone, but haven't done that before so will need to practice. And, need to wait until she's home or a more private location. We go to PA next week for granddaughter's 4th birthday party. Client will pay via paper checks only. I tried again with current circumstances to get her to use direct debit or IRS's online DirectPay. She'll need to move funds around before mailing checks, but I want to get the returns e-filed to stop the P&I on filing from growing. I have a POA ready for her signature along with the 8879s and other documents. Should I put anything other than "Income" for Matter; I've seen suggestions to add a line for Civil Penalty. If I do that, do I say 1040 on the same line as Civil Penalty (as well as on the line for Income)? Anything else I should know about the POA?

Thank you both. She's on SS and RMDs from her IRA. 2022 she drew out about 3X her RMD from her IRA. She also has an investment account that she's spending down on her medical care; I don't know her balances. She did say that the $20,000+ for these two years will wipe her out. I don't think it'll wipe out her principal, but she will be selling more to generate cash. Probably a huge hole in her stocks. (She had a great broker and did well in the stock market; we kept up with ES. When the market turned down, she owed little to nothing with her broker carefully harvesting her losses. I stopped her ES. In the two years she was too sick to gather her documents for me, the market went up, her broker did a good job, but she was out of losses to sell. Suddenly I have her last two years in my lap with new SS, new RMDs+, and net CGs, resulting in large taxes plus large P&I. I'm trying to keep her stress level down. She has an infusion today. I'll get her signatures this afternoon, if she's up to it. She gives me checks to mail for her.) Her out-of-state son visited my client a few weeks ago. He called me to say he knew he should try to gather her tax documents, but didn't have time. He asked if he could wait until she died to deal with it all a once! Then my client called to tell me she does NOT want her son dealing with her taxes. That's when she put together 2021 and 2022. Except her broker and investments and IRA were at First Republic that collapsed. It's taken me time to get all that. I think I have everything. That website is very helpful, cbslee. It is a bit ambiguous re whether to pay and then ask for FTA or reasonable cause/Form 843/letter or not to pay the penalty first, but it is clear that IRS collections efforts could begin if not paid. I think this client and her stress level might choose to pay (even though the thought of paying is stressing her out). The wait appears to be 2-3 months to a year. Do you all suggest I phone today/Monday/Tuesday to try for FTA on the older year? Is it possible it could be immediate so I can coordinate my client mailing a check for the revised amount? I don't have a POA. Should I get that now? It'll only last until she dies, but hopefully I can make some progress re abatement. Again, thank you.

Not that it matters, but I had the dates off. She was diagnosed in 2022 and was very, very sick late 2021 into 2022 making the rounds of doctors until her diagnosis and then treatment and now nothing more can be done.

Filing 2021 and 2022 for a client dying of cancer, who has been very, very sick since early 2021/late 2020. 2021 especially has a large penalty. If we hope to have that penalty abated, do I have her pay it along with the tax and interest now? Or, pay everything except the penalty? If she should pay the penalty now, how would we get it back later? Part 2: try for reasonable cause? Or, just go with FTA?

My husband is music director at a church that uses DropBox, but never for sensitive data. He got a message yesterday from Norton (maybe, whatever he has for security on his desktop here at home) that his DropBox password has been compromised. It's the same for all 3 church employees (him, admin, priest) but never any PII. They use it to send the bulletins to each other for proofreading, that kind of thing. I won't use DropBox for my biz.

I'm from the Chicago area and do NOT have an accent. Those in southern IL have an accent. Those in WI, MN, and MI have accents. But not me!

What's "all y'all"?

You're getting all the [fill in the blank] ones this summer, aren't you?!

Because the depreciation has been taken for over two tax seasons, you do NOT amend. You will use Form 3115 to calculate/report the correct depreciation and make the 481a adjustment on the current return.

I was asking if I should mail her 2022 original documentation to her/the soon-to-be-former client. Certified? Registered? Return receipt requested? Is electronic tracking enough? Now? August? When? With the Firing Letter? Have her pick up in person, because she dropped off in person? Have her sign a receipt listing her documents picked up? I'm trying to avoid anything that will add to her idea that I misplaced any documents. Fire her, but NOT make her more angry than she is already. And, cover my butt, because she IS angry.

She already picked up a physical folder of her 2021 returns, and I uploaded a set to FileShare and sent complete copies via eSign. No future set unless she pays her $800 fee to me! And, picks them up in person AND signs for them.

Thanks, Dennis. I should ask my insurer before I make a move. She had a new house built, sold her old house, so was displaced for awhile with some things in storage. The CPA is a very new neighbor. Of course, he could be a corporate CFO or something not related to personal income taxes at all.

Good point. This is why I have insurance. Should I mail her back the 2022 info that I will not use with a cover letter to fire her? (I've had the letter ready since she refused to continue to use my portal and eSign while preparing her 2021, finally, after she got me her missing 2021 info in 2023.) I have the USPS flat rate w/tracking envelopes. Or, should I use registered mail? Or, certified mail? Return receipt requested? Or, ask her to pick up her materials, since she dropped them off each year. If I do that, do I need her to sign a list of what she's picking up, because missing documents were the 2021 issue. Then I have a confrontation with her if she won't sign, and I can't keep her tax info. That's what I hope to avoid by waiting her out...

I'm afraid that an immediate firing will lead her, especially if she has that CPA's written or recorded opinion, to filing in small claims court or turning it over to her lawyer (she has a biz so has had legal issues and doesn't hesitate to engage her lawyer). I don't expect to get paid for 2021, but do hope she calms down or is mad at someone else about something else now. Because she dropped off 2022 when she picked up 2021, I do need to fire her, what, in August to give her a couple months before her extension ends? Or, July? Now?