Janitor Bob

Boyfriend provides over 1/2 of support for client/student, but boyfriend cannot claim client student because client/student had too much income. Mother cannot claim client/student because client/student did not live with mom at all during the year. Since client/student attended school for 9 of 12 months, can we classify those months as being a "temporary absence"...and thus, qualify for living with mom? I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this since client/student never actually spent any night at the mom's house.

Refundable Part of Credit Forty percent of the American opportunity credit is refundable for most taxpayers. However, if you were under age 24 at the end of 2012 and the conditions listed below apply to you, you cannot claim any part of the American opportunity credit as a refundable credit on your tax return. Instead, your allowed credit (figured on Form 8863, Part IV) will be used to reduce your tax as a nonrefundable credit only. You do not qualify for a refund if items 1 (a, b, or c), 2, and 3 below apply to you. You were: Under age 18 at the end of 2012, or Age 18 at the end of 2012 and your earned income (defined below) was less than one-half of your support (defined below), or Over age 18 and under age 24 at the end of 2012 and a full-time student (defined below) and your earned income (defined below) was less than one-half of your support (defined below). At least one of your parents was alive at the end of 2012. You are filing a return as single, head of household, qualifying widow(er), or married filing separately for 2012. Based on these three criterea, student/client would NOT get the refundable credit.....all we can do is reduce her tax.

but according to AOC rules for students under age 24, it appears that client/student does NOT qualify for the refundable portion.

Individual must not provide more than 1/2 of own support. but the more I think about it....the client/student did not provide more than 1/2 of their own support....mom's boyfriend provided over 1/2 of support....so it appears from this that mom COULD claim daughter for AOC and EIC EXCEPT.....just found out via e-mail....client did NOT live with mom/boyfriend at all during 2012. I had originally though that client/student lived at home except when she was in school...but no...lived away in her own apartment for the entire year....so it looks like she will claim herself...sorry mom.

Someone please help...ready to pull my hair out on this: Client is 23 years old. Full-time student with $10,000 education expenses, income of $6,200. Client's mother has income of $7,000 and lives with boyfriend who has income of $40,000 Who claims the dependency and thus, the education credit? I was assuming that mom would claim dependency and the Ed. credit...but when I see mom's income vs. client's income, mom appears to fail the support test. Boyfriend cannot claim client because client's income is more than $3,800...so not qual. relative. Does client claim herself? If so, she does not seem to pass the "if under age 24" rules for AOC. After talking with all involved, it is clear that boyfriend is providing most of the support for both client and client's mom...but since both client and client's mom have AGI over $3,800, boyfriend cannot claim either So after reviewing as I type......I am thinking that client will claim herself but only be able to claim Lifetime Learning credit...not AOC, since she failed the "under age 24" rules......Comments?

So is this an IRS decision or a Postal service decision?

All of you may know this, but I did not. Client moved temporarily for new job assignment after filing her return. Changed address with post office and had mail forwarded to new temporary address. All IRS correspondence was forwarded (Notice that had part of refund held for state tax debt), but refund check never arrived. Finally today (2 months after prior notice was received) she received notice (forwarded to new address) that refund check was not deliverable (sent to old address) and was returned to IRS. I can only assume that although IRS correspondence is forwarded, refund checks are not....never knew that.

I (and I'm sure most others here) would be more than happy to help you out...no charge, of course. If interested just PM me.

I lick things

Client arrived for appointment....sat down to exchange pleasantries. Lila the Giant friendly house dog (confined to a nearby hallway/room) runs to the gate/room seperator to greet the client...then gallops away.....seconds later Lila bounds down the hallway again...then there was explosive diarrhea, gasps of awe disgust at both the smell and quantity.....then everything got kinda hazy and I do not remember anything that happened for the next 30 minutes. Client sent text requesting to re-schedule for a later date. Several rugs are deceased and I have spent my evening cleaning instead of doing taxes. I need to drink more...lots more

under "Preferences", "Printing", there is a checkbox for "mask sensative information on client copies"

Bump...anybody? Buehler?

Any Ohio preparers out there....Do you have any experience with the OH lump sum retirement credit and/or lump sum distribution credit? I have a client, age 65, that received a lump sum distribution from a pension. It was through an employer that she had worked with long ago. There was rumors that the pension fund was in trouble, so she took a one-time $52,000 lump sum distribution. They held out federal tax, but not OH, so she is good with Fed, but hurting on Ohio. I am wondering if I should explore the lump sum distribution credit. She is still working for her current employer, so not really retired....so I do not think the lump sum retirement credit is applicable. However, I am wondering if the lump sum distribution credit would help. She would receive a $1,000.00 credit now, but never again be able to take the $50.00 retirement credit that those over age 65 get each year. I am just not certain she qualifies because of one requirement: "6. Was the distribution made because either (i) the employee died, quit, retired, was laid off or was fired or (ii) the taxpayer (if self employed) became totally and permanently disabled?" client did quit this employer...but it was 15 years ago.....so not sure if this satisfies # 6...any thoughts?

unless you are referring to paper filing...in that case, I do not know...mine still say "not approved for paper filing"

I have efiled and received acceptance on a bunch already...I think OH EF INFO was available last week.

sounds to me like there were no expenses (tuition, books, fees, etc) that were not covered by the scholarship amount....so I would say no.....taxpayer really in this case, had no out-of-pocket expenses. Unless some or all of that additional scholarship money (the amount greater than tuition amount in box 2) went to pay for room & board. In that case, it is possible that the books/fees could qualify for AOC

I have had excellent results with Lexmark E250dn as well as a newer Lexmark E260d......Still on XP however...not sure about Windows 7 or 8.

I use Vipre antivirus / internet security....no problems here. I did temporarily disable it to see if that improved ATX speed, but I saw no noticeable difference so I re-enabled it. I have had no issues aside from the occasional shut down

Seriously.....during tax season, this board is my family...folks on here have heard all about my life struggles, helped me with tax issues, and just listed to me rant. Sometimes it just helps to know that there are others dealing with the same issues. on a side note.....one more post and I think i get another dot and a different title. Party at my place tonight.

One thing I have found with ATX 2012.....If you leave it up and running for too long....say more than 5 hours, you start to get annoying problems and sometimes crashes/shut downs. Once you close the program and re-open it, it usually behaves better....even more so if you sut down the whole PC and re-start.....memory leak somewhere.

Thanks everybody.....I tend to get "hobby" and "gambling" rules confused

I just hope they do something about that awful smell.....its like dirty socks and pickles!

I don't like the funny aftertaste

I never do taxes with clients waiting....I do not need that stress. Drop them off, leave me alone, then come back and pickup/pay/sign. So I can open a return then go cook dinner or something while i'm waiting on it to open.

been there...done that