JohnH

Bart: You might have made out better with the scales. But don't make the mistake the general store owner made one time. A customer came in and said she needed a whole chicken. He reached down into the ice chest behind the counter and put one on the scale that weighed about 3 lb. She thought for a minute and said "that might not be big enough". When he put the chicken back in the ice chest, he realized this was his last one. So he swished it around in the ice, placed it back on the scale, and slipped his thumb on the scale so it read about 4 lb. She thought for a couple of minutes and said, "I'm still not sure 4 lb is enough for my family - I'll just take both of them."

Client is a resident of NC who owns a rental property in Florida. Client has decided to form a Florida LLC for asset protection reasons. It will be a multi-member LLC with taxpayer and spouse as the only two members. I'm thinking there's no reason to elect corp tax filing (S or C), and to simply report the LLC income/expenses as a partnership on Form 1065. Since I don't know much about business tax filing requirements in Florida, I'd like to ask if there are any problems with this approach?

When I went through Air Force basic training, we would get demerits in a barracks inspection if all the toilet paper rolls were not arranged to unroll over the top, and with the last piece folded under, corner-to-corner at a 45-degree angle, forming a "salute".

I appreciate the thoughts and the link. I was also thinking the title should be transferred before the sale is completed. I'm assuming that should be via a liquidating distribution, since the partnership essentially ceases to exist once the building is transferred. Glad to get that confirmation.

Taxpayer & spouse are equal partners in a partnership which has owned a commercial building for many years. They have been filing partnership returns annually and distributing the net income/loss to one another via separate K1/Sched E on their MFJ return.. The partnership is entering into an agreement to sell the building on an installment sale. They want to simplify their tax return filing and eliminate the 1065/K1/E combo if possible, since the installment sale reporting will continue far into the future. Any thoughts on the simplest way to accomplish this?

My understanding is that the 1120S extended due date is still 9/15/17. I'm not aware of any further extension, other than people affected by the recent natural disasters.

I predict you won't regret the switch.

Client to FA: "I thought you said the purpose of these ' Deferred Sales Trusts' was to build the college fund for the kids." FA: "Yes, that's exactly the purpose. The college fund for my kids is doing great! "

Guilt - that's the difference between being a caring person and a feeling person. As in. "I really don't care. Sometimes I feel bad about not caring, but still I really don't care."

I am really glad to see this thread. I had been struggling with a couple of knotty problems on some remaining corp returns. Had completely forgotten about the new due dates for C corps. So I just now revised my work schedule for the upcoming week, knowing that I need to wrap up two S-corps by Thursday/Friday and I can postpone a couple of C-corps until after I take a break. Thanks for this timely post.

Sorry. I'd like to hear it but I have a policy of not clicking on attachments from strange people.

I used to just let unrecognized incoming calls go to voicemail email. But lately I'm more inclined to answer, then use a stock response to their initial inquiry. No matter what they say or ask, I always reply "What's the purpose of your call?" It puts even the most aggressive caller on the defensive. If they can't answer that question in a succinct sentence, then I tell them to stop wasting my time and I hang up. Altogether it takes 15-30 seconds, which is generally less time than to listen to a recorded message or a dead air recording. I think this is decreasing the number of these calls, but one never knows for sure. I do make an exception for the people calling to tell me my computer has a virus. I like to keep them tied up for a while just to delay their calling & scamming the next victim.

I like the new look.

Isn't the strap under his neck cinched up pretty tight over his JUGular vein?

Drake software is located in Franklin, NC, which is directly in the path of totality for the upcoming solar eclipse. Today they sent out a memo to all users that their customer support will be closed Aug 21 between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm so their employees can enjoy the eclipse. They also sent a link inviting others who can't get to the path of totality to join their live stream. How cool is that? I'm betting it will be a top-quality feed, because Drake has been instrumental in getting high-powered internet service in what's otherwise a sleepy little mountain community.

Three friends on a fishing trip check into a cheap hotel. The room costs $30, so each pays $10. Later the desk clerk realizes he should only have charged $25 for the room, so he takes $5 back to the room. They can't figure out how to split the $5, so they decide to tip the clerk $2, and each of them keeps $1, meaning they each paid $9 each for the room. So since $9 x 3 = $27 and then you add $2 for the tip, you now have $29. They originally paid $10 x 3 = $30. What happened to the other $1?

OK. That settles it. This thread has set a new record for diversions. It has now chased more rabbits than my dad's old redbone hound dog did in his entire life.

While we're on the subject of unwanted paper, if any clients leave paper in your office that you don't want lying around, I'll volunteer to dispose of it. Especially if it's green in color and has pictures of presidents on it.

---> And, as a deputy sheriff client once told me, "They steal because they're too lazy to work." <---- Reminds me of an incident a few years ago when someone stole my Ford Crown Vic from a parking lot where I had left it while driving a rental car on a trip. The Crown Vic had about 200K miles on it and the front & rear seats didn't even match. The ignition switch was so worn that you didn't even need the key inserted to start it. They drove it about 8 miles, then abandoned it in an industrial park after kicking in the windshield. I was more amused than upset about it, and I asked the police officer why he thought someone would steal that car when there were so many nice ones sitting around it. He replied "Hey, I never said they were smart."

Forms-based data entry is much less useful than is commonly exposed. It frequently jumps to a supporting schedule anyhow. So Drake simply has you begin the data entry process where forms-based software ends up. I had very little trouble abandoning forms-based entry when I switched from ATX to Drake 5 years ago. Maybe that's because I had used Microvision before ATX, but in any event it wasn't a difficult transition. Once the user reaches a small degree of software transparency, it becomes very clear that forms based entry is seriously overrated. And the speed & efficiency gains are phenomenal. But that only becomes apparent after the user has invested sufficient time and energy in making the transition.

I'm just doing my part in the interest of security & efficiency.

I'm going to start doing all my paper returns in cursive. They don't teach cursive in school any more, and hardly anybody uses it, so most thieves wouldn't be able to understand the info well enough to steal any identity information anyhow. Now that's REAL security.

Besides, a small scratch won't render a paper copy useless.

Getting a little testy here, aren't we? Cut that out!

Yes, as soon as everyone dons their jersey and starts rooting for their political team, things go downhill really fast. May as well save that stuff for forums dedicated to it.