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I think your interpretation of "cash" payments is too literal. The IRS recognizes that payments of expenses are frequently made via credit card, basically a third party extending a loan to pay the expense, and that expense has been paid at the time the charge is incurred. I don't have an IRC to provide, but you migth read Rev Proc 92-71 that discusses proof of payments including credit cards. There's a general discussion in the background section, and then paragraph .06 is specific to credit cards. Give me a minute to get back to my desktop and I'll update the post with a link. https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Endnotes/Rev_Proc_92-71.pdf

The 2017 form is used for fiscal years that begin in 2017 and end in 2018, or for 2017 calendar year reporting. Please note that the estate's year can NOT exceed 12 months, so if the decedent died during May of 2017, the latest fiscal year that could be valid would end on April 30th. EDIT - I was just typing the same thing!

Does the "export client list" feature contain the SSNs or ITINs? If it does, you could search the exported file easily enough.

A wash sale occurs if the security is sold at a loss and the purchase of substantially identical security occurs within 30 days of the sale, either BEFORE OR AFTER the sale. This is why we see wash sales that occur with any mutual funds or drip plans that are sold at a loss during that 30 day period after dividends are reinvested.

The TCJA did not change the wash sale rules.

Normal foster care payments aren't taxable if they fall under the 3 criteria of sec 131. You could try researching "difficulty of care" payments to see if these payments fall into that category. Also, google for "Notice 2014-7" or search for it directly on the IRS site. Sorry, I'm on my tablet and can't get a link without it downloading the doc itself.

Yes, I would agree with your scenario and would include miles between fares as related to business, and my statement in that case was too general. However, I would not include miles for the driver going back home between fares as business-related mileage because that would be commuting.

Did you ask, when logging mileage, if they applied the "business stop rule" meaning that the mileage from their home to the first pickup and the mileage from last drop off back home is commuting? Basically, only miles driven while a customer is in the car is the deductible portion.

It almost seems like they got advice from somewhere or tried to look it up themselves because of the wording of wife's note. There are times when putting money back into the same account is allowed, but not for your client. Take a look at sec 529 (D) where it says that sec (A) doesn't apply in the case of beneficiary who receives refunds of tuition that are recontributed. I didn't mention it because the way I read paragraph (D) is that it would only apply if the wife was the one receiving the refund, and in your case the husband was the one with the refund, and he was not the beneficiary of the 529 account.

I think you are correct. No education credits because he dropped out so he isn't at least 1/2 time for the AOC, and he wasn't enrolled for at least one semester for the LLC No relief from the taxable portion or penalty on the 529 withdrawal if they put the money back in to the same 529 plan. If they put it into a new plan within 60 days it would qualify as a rollover.

This is a reach - Does the daughter have a POA for the dad? Is it possible that the preparer entered the daughter's name and address on dad's return as the mailing address and the check came through with % for "in care of"?

Withdrawal by representative. If your representative wants to withdraw from representation, he or she must write "WITHDRAW" across the top of the first page of the power of attorney with a current signature and date below the annotation. Then, he or she must provide a copy of the power of attorney with the withdrawal annotation to the IRS in the same manner described inRevocation by taxpayer above. If your representative does not have a copy of the power of attorney he or she wants to withdraw, he or she must send the IRS a statement of withdrawal that indicates the authority of the power of attorney is withdrawn, lists the matters and years/periods, and lists the name, TIN, and address (if known) of the taxpayer. The representative must sign and date this statement.

It's a regular health insurance policy not medicare. As I said, practitioners on other forums are using the deductibility of the non-SE spouse's(or dependent's or child's) medicare as SEHI, and applying that to regular insurance premiums too. When I said that IRS opened a can of worms, it was item #3 from the memorandum below that was issued in 2012 that addressed the issue of whether a spouse's, dependent's, or child's medicare premiums could be included in with the self-employed person's premiums for purposes of calculating the SEHI deduction. BTW, no need to point out that this memorandum says it shouldn't be relied on or cited as precedent, because for anyone who IS including the "others' " medicare for purpose of computing the SEHI, this is the memorandum they are relying on . . . and they are extending that logic to other health insurance too. This was the reason a opened this discussion. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/1228037.pdf

Wife has schedule C and 1095B is in husband's name. Clearly, the policy isn't in the business name or wife's name but they are filing a joint return, premiums were paid from joint account, and policy covers the family. Are they completely dead in the water for taking the SEHI? I've seen some arguments for taking this deduction as SEHI in this situation where practitioners argue that IRS opened this can o' worms when it allowed the spouse's medicare premiums to be included in SEHI, and these same practitioners argue that a similar situation would occur with this policy since the coverage is "family" and extends to the self-employed wife. What say you?

If your pdf program has a typing function, you can add that zero into the pdf without using scissors and glue. I used the typing function frequently this season on the 2-column planner to highlight and make notations about the tax law changes.

Nope, I'm one of the night owls and awarded that star before retiring for the night. We'll have to figure out something fun for next year. Should we leave this year's stars up indefinitely, start over next season, or something else?

Congratulations to @jasdlm on winning the final star of the season. Thanks, everyone, for playing along and making the busy time a little more bearable.

If ATX will allow you to file a federal extension after the actual federal return has been filed, maybe you could try that so the system will think your state returns are timely. Just an idea. Not sure if it will work or not.

This is from the OH Dept of Taxation's News Release section of its website: https://www.tax.ohio.gov/Portals/0/communications/news_releases/FilingExtension4-18rev.pdf If you don't like clicking links:

I had a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter filling late afternoon and then tried to take a nap. Wrong order, the sugar and chocolate had me wired and I barely drifted off. I'm feeling tired but not too beat up.

Yay! We're done. Now take life at a slower pace, check in once in a while, and enjoy your trip, Bonnie!

That makes sense to me and I suspect that all of the spring 2017 tuition was billed and included on the 2016 1098T. No education credits were claimed in 2016; mom's a doctor with income that well exceeded the limit anyway. I guess this wouldn't be a problem if the spring 2018 was included on the 2017 1098T, but the kid moved to Australia this year for school. Now I will need to find out if the school this young woman is attending is one that is one the list of int'l schools that participate in our federal student aid program and how much tuition she paid, if any, before the end of 2017, right? I hope there isn't some sort of scholarship that is taxable there for 2017 too. Is there any reconciling or matching of the tuition and scholarship that would allow this (timing) difference to not be taxable?

I would agree if the parent or student had actually paid tuition, but what doesn't make sense is that this scholarship was automatic based on GPA and SAT scores and fully covered tuition, so I'm assuming that the enrollment and scholarship award would be somewhat simultaneous with the scholarship being applied at the time tuition was charged. How would the student receive a refund if no tuition was ever paid?

Yes, it's been down since early this morning.

New client is single mom claiming 2 children. Older child is 19 years and a full time student with taxable scholarship income that will be subject to the kiddie tax. This child's 1098T reported totals of 15K in tuition and 29K in scholarships, with the excess created because of the timing of when the tuition and scholarships were reported on the 1098Ts. Scholarship is Temple U's President's Scholarship award that appears to fully covers tuition and is automatically awarded to qualifying students. The problem is that the 1098T tuition amount is for fall 2017 tuition and fees only while the scholarship appears to be for spring and fall 2017, and that is creating the excess scholarship of $14K. The details don't make sense to me when I see this: Trans date 1-17-17 tuition $1296, scholarship (same date) $14484 Trans date 8-28-17 tuition & fees $14,282, scholarship same date $15264 Is there any reconciling process that would allow the scholarship awarded for the spring 2017 semester to be considered nontaxable? I don't have the 2016 1098T to know if Temple included the spring '17 tuition on that form, or would that even matter?