Pacun

How about hair salons? Do you have to pay taxes on what they resell and ALSO on the shampoo they use on their clients? Are auto repair shops different than contractors?

Yes. Think about this: Let's say president Obama signed a law that required banks to use the FMV of houses and to forgive people the rest of the debt. You are not insolvent but the bank forgave you $20K. Are you going to pay any taxes if that was your primary home? NO. That's because each exclusion stands by itself and you don't need to be insolvent. Have you done a credit card debt forgiveness in the past where the client didn't have to pay taxes? Let's say you have a client whose credit card banks forgave $50K. The clients is insolvent and those were personal credit cards used to travel around the world for fun. You will use option 2, correct? As long as the client is insolvent prior to the debt discharge, client doesn't have to pay taxes on debt forgiveness. AND the client doesn't need to file bankruptcy.

Use option 2. Debt canceled during insolvency provided you can prove he was insolvent the day before the debt was forgiven.

I guess it is a hassle to enter the wrong password too many times. I have to be careful then.

grmy2h, So contractors go to home depot and they pay taxes when purchasing materials and then they have to pay "sales or usage tax" on those materials used on remodeling every month to VA?

Is your account locked because you entered the wrong password so many times?

That explains why our banquet and private parties charged taxes on labor since it was part of the contract. Thank you for the replies. I hope I get more even if they are from other states. I think Hair Salons are almost taxed in a standard way in most states.

Sorry, you will have to read a lot before I get to my point. Let's say... when my back was wet, I went to look for a job and my employer ask me to write down my social security number and I wrote down 213-65-3234. I started working and I got a W-2 with SS# that I invented on the spot. If the year was 2016 or before no problem. I went to a tax preparer and he was able to apply for an ITIN and he is able to efile subsequent years by entering that SS# listed on my W-2 on the W-2 form of ATX and my ITIN on 1040. Year 2017 comes and now my W-2 comes with social security ***-**-3234. I don't feel comfortable to call my employer and ask "can you tell me my social security number"? In my case, I will have the old W-2 and no problem. If I start working in 2017 and I invented that number, then when I am ready to prepare my taxes, I will not know the whole number. That will cause some issues to the IRS person who will assign an ITIN and to my preparer when he tries to efile on subsequent years. How about when I am a US citizen and my social is 577-32-2333 and my employer makes a mistake and my W-2 is under 571-23-2333 but I cannot detect that issue because my W-2 reads ***-**-2333. Just a thought.

This is what I do. I am an EA so holding documents hostage does NOT cross my mind. When new people come to the office, I prepare the bare minimum, I don't fill out the W-2s payer info, I don't prepare for efile, etc, and I tell them the final product. If there is any dispute on the refund or payment, I give them their documents back and suggest to go to HR block or think about it and come back when they are ready. You don't want these people as clients anyways and if they come back, you quickly prepare their return and charge them. If they don't come back, you didn't sign a return for which you didn't get paid. Some of these people go to other preparers and when they try to collect their papers, they are not able to get them back and they learn their lessons the hard way. For customers whom I have prepared their taxes at least one year, I tell them to come and pay me back when they receive the refund. About 3 people take advantage of that and they come to pay me as soon as they get their refund. A family of 4 earning 40K don't have 100 on hand at the time of tax preparation and that's understandable. In any event, let's say that this person doesn't come to pay me and leave. I technically prepared two returns for the price of one, which goes to the bottom line, except for the paper and toner.

I haven't seen this yet.

ACA is weird, some people yes and some people no (to penalty). TPS people were included under ACA but DACA people were not included. If you know what I mean.

Yes as dependents but enter 0 months as living with them and the credit will go away. They can claim them as dependents but not take the credit that requires 6 month of living in the same household.

I normally don't do business returns but I am getting some now. I deal with DC, MD and VA so if anyone can help with this it will be great. Will a hair salon collect sales taxes from clients? How about a home repairs company? How about a handy man? I know this vary from state to state.

You will get that message if the person was not covered for any month, even if you don't pay the penalty. I have US citizens and the program doesn't calculate the penalty automatically, I had two different returns with only one filer, no dependents, with ITIN and the penalty was applied to both. It shouldn't add a penalty when the only number on the return is an ITIN or it should do it to all returns until we check mark that field. I have also noticed that if you repay the Premium credit, (someone who was helped two much for 12 months), you still get the penalty added on some cases until you check it. I guess the systems doesn't understand that if you have listed all 12 months on one form, you should pay penalty. I guess those will be improvements for next year.

If these are unrelated people, what you paid after the discounts is the FMV.At that point, the FMV and the cost are the same. After you pull out from the dealer's parking lot, the FMV of the car is less than the cost. So technically, you paid $28K, but if you don't put the truck in service until the following day, depreciation should be calculated at the FMV which will be less than $28K, but no one does that.

Thank you.

I have a client whose W-2 has 2K on box 10. I asked her about the provider information and said she couldn't get anything because all the documentation was submitted to the FSA to get reimbursed. Because we have been emailing back and forth, I want to make sure I am correct (I am pretty sure I am) but here is the question: To avoid those 2k to be added back to line 7 and become taxable income, I need to provide name, address and FEIN from the day care center, correct?

Marco, If no children to be claimed, SINGLE is her filing status

Most of these returns are simple returns, just go to the IRS and file the forms on the website. ATX used to give you for free as many old programs as you need.

Wow, I have lived in DC since 1986 and I have never had an electrical outrage. I have been lucky that all cables run underground and I don't know what a power outrage is. I hope this continues perpetually. My internet or router stop working from time to time but that business as usual.

Most Internet sites are safe (most meaning more than 50%, but in reality I would say 98% are safe). The main problem is when you get emails with links. That's where you have to decide to click or not to click.... that's the real question. This is my rule... if I get an email with a link and a very short message, I ask myself.... "Will I sleep well tonight if I don't click on that link? if the answer is yes, I don't click it.

OK. These people will go from receiving 5K to paying more than 10K, correct? Do you really think they will stay with you or they will go back to the old preparer because they have been doing it the same way for 5 years and they never had a problem? When I see issues like this, I suggest them to go back to their preparer to amend because I am busy. Or I suggest them in May or when the IRS send them a letter, whichever happens first. I explained to them that in order to amend, I have to recreate the form exactly the way it is and they make my chopping.

Sarah, You are right, it seems to take a long time for those question but remember, that most questions are yes or no or simple answers. Once you do it 100 times, the relevant questions are in your mind. Also remember that when they are MFJ, all you have to do is to prove relationship, proof that the live with them for more than 6 month and the process is quick. What I hate is when people have a EIC for $7, I would rather pay those $7 from my tip jar vs preparing the EIC forms, questions and documents. Of course I cannot leave those $7 out because then the tax return will not be complete and accurate. Gail, No we are talking, why will you audit returns for the IRS when your new client brings you open years tax returns prepared by another preparer? I have enough work to cover my back (end of it) on the returns I have prepared and I don't have time to check open years when someone else did the work. "Just my rant for the day" Adapted from Gail In Virginia ATX Forum, Dec 21, 2016 I hope my bibliography is accurate using ALA.

www.google.com now that my daughter is 8. When she was 3 and 4, we always found porn sites on our screen. My wife said that I was watching porn on my home computer until one day I paid attention to my daughter's (3 or 4 years old) internet skills. She would type a bunch of letters on google and press enter...then she would type more and more to the point that porn sites were popping up. I changed the default page and I solved the issue. By the way, you should delete your cookies and passwords (I don't save any) at least every other week or when you know you have been on sites that are risky. I have antivirus and ad aware and I run them both at the same time about once a month. If you are not careful you should do those actions more frequently.

If you use your working tools to see fancy and nice looking websites, you need to reimage your computer every year at least. My partner was laughing (she doesn't do taxes or touches my computer) because she tricked the Microsoft technician and the technician fixed her computer and she didn't pay him. She got infected and then she got a message that if she wanted the computer to be fixed, she needed to call Microsoft at this number. She called the number and the Microsoft technician took control of her computer and fixed. The technician told her that if she wanted to be protected, she would have to pay $199. She replied that she needed to contact her partner and that the partner was out of the country. The technician said, that he could sell her another protection for $99... she gave him the same answer and the technician hung up the phone. I call her about 5 minutes later and she was laughing because the Microsoft technician fixed her computer and didn't charged her. I asked if she was done for the day and she said yes. I said shut down your computer and unplug the LAN cable from it and go home. I also told her, tell your husband what happened and follow his advice. a couple of hours later, while I was having dinner, my phone started ringing and ringing. Her husband told her what I didn't. She wanted me to reimage her computer. I reimaged her computer and she learned her lesson. How can you laugh after you have been so stupid about three times? The first, when they get you and they install the program on your computer, the second, when you call "Microsoft" and the third one when you give control of your computer to the "Microsoft Technician".