jklcpa

Those dividends won't create a taxable event until the policy's cash value exceeds the total of premiums paid over the life of the policy.

Huge thank you for posting this! I have only one affected so far and client is scheduled to pickup at 1pm tomorrow, to be amended later on. It's an easy fix that I'll take care of in the morning.

I swear to God

OK folks, here goes. Let's break up the drudgery, have some fun on the forum, and put yourself or another member in the running to earn the new and prestigious "Tax Aficionado" gold star to be awarded weekly. For those of you that missed the conversation of how this idea evolved, it is in the topic called "How Many Times Per Day." This is rather loose and fluid at this point and may be further refined. We'll see how it goes and how many participate. What to post - Post something about your week, a particular kooky client, a wacky situation, something that happened in your office, whatever you want to share with us here that brought smiles, laughs, exasperation, or appreciation and gratitude from those around you. If you already posted something in another topic that you would like to have considered, please make mention of it here by directing us to that post, link to it, or quote it here. Nominate other members that were particularly helpful or enthusiastic during the week. Make mention of the post, link to it, or post a quote within this topic. Make this clear enough so that other readers will know what you are referring to. I'd suggest that you also tag that member by using the "@" function. As an example, to tag me, you would type @jklcpa somewhere in the post. How it works - Each week will have a pinned post running from Saturday morning through the following Friday until 11:59pm. Voting will continue through the next day so that posts made on that ending Friday will still have a chance to earn votes. This week's pinned post will start now and run through 2/23 with voting through 11:59pm eastern time on 2/24/18. Vote for your favorite Tax Kook/Aficionado by clicking one of the positive emoticons of "like", "thanks" or "haha" within this topic. If referring to posts in other topics, the reactions made there are NOT counted. Thumbs down and angry face won't be included in the count. The topic will be locked at the end of the week to disable the voting. The winner will be the member that earns the highest number of positive reactions for any one post within this topic. For members having multiple posts in one week, the posts will be considered as stand-alone entries; votes not tallied across the multiple posts. The star will be placed in the winner's signature line over the weekend after votes are tallied. The star is also easily removed by editing your own signature line to delete it. And who knows, maybe at the end of the season I'll spring for some treats like those banana splits someone is always mentioning . . . or replace the crystal ball that is broken. just kidding about the ball.

Adding to my post above, I agree with Abby that I'd write off any remaining points in the year of the loan's payoff.

Rich, this should fall within sec 461 that requires that prepaid interest be deducted ratably over the loan's term for those taxpayers reporting on the cash basis. The allowance for homeowners paying points on the original purchase is the exception. There's a rev rule that deals with the ratable deduction for those using accrual basis.

Yep, I took the generic star, picked a font, and scaled the text down to fit. I like Tax Hero too, whatever makes this fun for you all. I'll make a final star to use once we all agree.

How about a more generic star with "Tax Warrior" for everyone, or just go with the blank star and a following tag line of "weekly winner of ?" ... what were we calling this again?

I have access to edit profiles where I could add something like one of these to the signature area as they are earned. See any of Abby Normal's posts above to see how this would appear. Thoughts? or this one

haha, you guys don't listen to me! We could make something of this and have some fun this season. What about having monthly winners of the title during the busy season with some little spiffy awarded? I'd need input on the criteria.

That problem was mentioned in this other topic on this forum.

First post I saw this morning and it cracked me up! We already have categories built in that change as members' post count increases. Maybe we should have a special award for Tax Studs.

This site is for tax professionals using a specific brand of software not used by the generalpublic . We do not answer questions posed by nonprofessionals here. You should consult with a knowledgeable tax professional or hire that pro to prepare your returns.

I was talking about the federal AMT with the adjustment for SALT flowing from Sch A. Because most of the Sch A deductions for the client I was referring to comes from the SALT deduction and with this couple being higher income, they are always in the AMT so the Sch A never benefits as much as they think. Because of the SALT cap, it is most likely that the standard deduction + over 65 allowances will exceed the Sch A, and it will be interesting to see how much effect all of this has once I have his information and run the planner.

Personally, I don't think Facebook's format lends itself well as a replacement for a busy forum with a large membership for answering technical questions, but I guess it's better than nothing at all. Is the official forum functioning that poorly that it can't be fixed?

Deduction is not allowed in the case you are describing. You seem to be confusing the "time test" with the allowed time for when expenses for the move are incurred. For employees that move, they must work full-time for a total of 39 weeks, not needing to be contiguous, and self-employed persons have a higher requirement. If the requirement isn't met by the end of the tax year, the deduction is still allowed if meeting the requirement by the due date of the return. I believe the 12-month period you are thinking of is where expenses are incurred within the 12-month period and the person otherwise qualifies for the deduction. See pub 521 here and look at the section for "Time Test" and check to see if your client might meet one of the exceptions to the test.

We all find ways to keep using our favored HP machines! I have a 2420d that's over 8 yrs old that started having trouble picking up the paper from the drawer. When that happened I switched to using the top feed and thought I'd order new rollers or whatever was needed, but I found that the top feed is faster so I've continued to use it that way ever since.

PA doesn't allow IRA deductions.

It is possible to have basis in the IRA for state purposes that differs from federal basis, if any, because some states' laws don't allow for the same rules for deducting the IRA contribution, and there are states that have specific rules to account for this difference. I believe MA is one, and NJ might be another. Obviously, PA doesn't tax at the time of distribution as long as it isn't early. I don't know if NY has any provision, and maybe someone else here from NY will answer, but if not, I'd research whether or not NY will recognize the basis your client has in the IRA made while a PA resident.

Excellent points, and Tom just described one of my nightmare clients with the SALT limitation, although I haven't to run through detailed calculations to see the overall effect to include the interplay with the AMT. In any case, I'm definitely not looking forward to meeting with those affected by the limitation.

One more thing that I'm not 100% sure about is how the DE will be handling the add-back of state income taxes included Fed Sch A for those that are subject to the $10K cap on SALT. I'm guessing that the state will apply a similar calculation like was used for those subjected to the Pease limitation, but nothing is certain at this point.

Delaware has always allowed taxpayers to choose between itemizing or using the state's standard deduction while using the standard for Federal, so this is not something new for me. We are also a state that hasn't adjusted the standard deduction in years. There was a failed attempt last year to eliminate state itemizing altogether that may be revisited. Now with passage of TCJA and because DE piggybacks the federal income and deductions with very limited adjustments, it's going to be interesting to see what other changes will be proposed.

I thought you all were mostly having fun about this. I probably can't travel much more than short day trips at the moment, and I'm also afraid that too many members here want to give me Rita-style hugs even though I'd enjoy being able to meet other members in person some day.

This article from the PA Inst of CPAs is a little more in depth that you may also find helpful.