Terry D EA

Wouldn't this fall under the same statutes for companies to file claims against an estate?? I thought once closed always closed unless it remained open for litigation purposes. I have dealt with this for the last 14 years with my father's asbestos claims. Only reason the estate is open is for litigation and all proceeds are distributed to the surviving spouse. I do Medicare can impose estate recovery after the estate is closed. With this said, this is the court part of things and not the tax part. So, for your situation, I think you could re-open a 1041 and distribute accordingly with the K-1 but what I don't know if there is a requirement to do so because the estate is closed. Was the 1041 marked as final? The only other thing I can think of is line 21 other income for your client(s). Each would report $4020.00 of income. Wouldn't the impact be the same if it were distributed using the K-1?

I think I'd run from this one at this time of year as well. But, like Judy said, you are up against the wire on 2013. If you decide to keep his guy, I would give him a rough estimate of what he will owe as a result of correcting the earlier returns. If he says he isn't going to amend, then it is not your problem. You didn't prepare the earlier returns and really can only advise the guy as to what his responsibility is. If he accepts your offer to amend, then charge for 2013 more than you normally would due to the urgency. The years prior to 2013, you can amend to prevent the IRS from coming back and doing it for you simply because he will owe and they will always accept it. Good after season project. Maybe he can get the guy in GA to pay for the mistake.

First, I want to thank those that introduced me to Drake and gave it such good reviews. This is my first year using Drake, the learning curve for tax prep has been minimal it has taken a bit to understand all of the functionality and features. I discovered the document cab about a month or so ago. Also, discovered the signature pad feature and Secure File Pro. If you are a Drake user and you are not using these features, you should be. My clients are loving the document portal. Using two monitors in extended mode, one monitor has the documents from the doc cab open while I have the return open on the other. This is making input much easier. A client who provides his/her rental info on a spreadsheet is the easiest thing in the world to work with. Best of all...... NO PAPER, other that the client printed return. Everything is at your fingertips. I know I will be renewing this year without question. This program is well worth it's price. It has worked flawlessly for me. Support is very nice and they do live up to their 3 ring answer. Drake has made my tax season enjoyable.

It seems as though there is no logical calculation to the FICO scoring system. As you said, why on earth would your score go down when you paid off a mortgage?? That doesn't make sense. I also think it is crazy for your credit score to drop when you close an account simply because your score is based on available credit. BTW, the criteria for calculating the FICO score is never ending changing all the time. My big concern is we are planning to refinance the home as well as seek another location for retirement in the next 3 years. If this is not removed from my credit and they find some ridiculous reason why they think I did this, then a 7 year black mark kinda blows my retirement plans. My wife's credit is spotless as well so we are locking hers up too. That may be my saving grace.

Good article but, I don't think this fits my case. We have never received anything from any debt collectors, never knew the card existed, and have never seen a statement or anything. This cc was used, never paid and shut down by synchrony. I am wondering about the integrity of their employees. Wells Fargo had issues with employees creating fake or fraudulent accounts to meet company required quotas. From FDNY's post, it appears this is nothing new to Walmart.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have completed the 14039 and need to get back into e-services to file as Catherine says. As I said, I filed the extension to see if a return had already been filed. I guess I was hoping for something positive out of filing the extension. I have already contacted the credit bureaus and put all the fraud alerts possible. My wife and I are discussing the credit freeze. I'm just worried that I may get stuck with this for seven years. It would make perfect logical sense to look at my history and see that every account reported for the last how many years has the same status which is paid as agreed/never late. Then all of a sudden one account out of character. I guess anyone with excellent credit can have a financial fall out. But too many current satisfactory and one bad egg???? The waiting is what is nerve racking. This was reported on my credit in a manner of minutes but will take up to 60 days to be removed if it is actually proven as fraud.

Well the real question here is how do you prove you're not the debtor??? This has been my concern since this came about. Will the fact a different address was used be enough??? So, what you're saying is that because my first name is spelled differently three times on my credit report that this could be a cause?? Experian has made all of the corrections that will flow to all three bureaus. This stuff scares the crap out of me.

Only one credit card was issued. I am assuming they had to use my SS# and other information to get the card. The funny thing is, they used a different address. This was a Walmart CC through Synchrony Bank. I do have a Walmart CC through Synchrony bank that was issued a few years ago that is in excellent standing. When I spoke to the Walmart CC fraud department, they couldn't answer all of my questions just that a different address had been used. I did tell them I thought they had a very sloppy CC processing procedure and asked why they would issue me a card when I already had one. Again, no answers. I have to wait for their fraud department to finish conducting their investigation. Hopefully I will know then. To further substantiate my SS# was used, they located the fraudulent account under my number.

I wish I was writing this for one of my clients. Really I wish I was not writing it at all. Some low life thug or whatever has obtained a credit card in my name. I have spent the afternoon on the phone with the lender who provided the card and all three credit bureaus. I am now heading to the police department to file a police report to upload to the credit bureaus. Just as a precautionary step, I filed an extension for me and my wife. The extension has been accepted. So, breathing a bit better after seeing the acceptance. My question is, if someone would file a tax return using my information after the filing of the extension, I assume the extension would be overwritten which could still hurt me. Or, is there some chance the filing of the extended return has be connected to the extension?? Reaching here I think. I almost want to file any kind of return and amend later to trump anything that may try to get through. Anyone have any suggestions??? I am told it is a good thing I caught this before anymore attempts. I said well, there are inquiries from other retail stores that have tried but due to the bad credit rating that I now have they apparently were declined. It is unbelievable the one bad mark has tanked my credit score.

Exactly, I hope you verified this.

Thanks Gail and I read the same information. This whole thing boils down to yes the daughter can file MFJ and if she does, then her parents cannot claim her. But, if she files MFS and doesn't take an exemption for herself or her newborn daughter, her parents can claim them both. In my specific case, the daughter is a full time student who did not pay for more than half of her support and did live with her parents all year. If the daughter chooses this way, then the parents can claim her and her newborn daughter. Doing so is costly to the daughter. I have given both scenarios to her parents to discuss. So, if her parents say they do not want to claim them, and the daughter agrees, then MFJ it is. They will claim their newborn, EITC and CTC and will come out ahead. I want to be clear here that this is solely the daughters choice. As you suggested, I would not check the box that someone else could claim her simply because if they file MFJ no one can. Yes, It does seem simpler to me. Her parents normally have to pay a significant amount each year and by claiming their daughter and granddaughter they would get dependency and exemption deductions of $9100.00. Thanks to everyone with all of the help with this. Just waiting to be told which way to file.

Gail, I believe you are correct too. But... the grandparents have the higher AGI, and can claim the dependent child as well which makes the young couple ineligible for the EITC. I tried completing the return with the box checked yes for the question if someone else could claim the child and the ETIC was disallowed. I'm still researching this a bit but if it is true, having the young couple file MFJ doesn't benefit them at all. Regardless, they still get all of their withholdings back. Just none of the credits.

I definitely understand drowning in other returns. The same here. I hope you know that I do appreciate you and your desire to be as helpful to all of us here. Based on the facts, I don't see how your answer would be wrong. I do agree though that someone may chime in. Time to get this thing finished and call it a night.

Judy you are correct that there is no need to visit any tie breaker rules. I just attempted to cover all possibilities. I do agree the daughter is the qualifying child of her parents. All of the tests are met. Thank you for help and supporting me with addressing Pacun's statements as well as the statement regarding doing what is right according to the tax code. I do appreciate Pacun's input but in this case I have been nothing less than confused with some of the responses.

This is what my original thoughts were once I was afforded the information that the father did not live with his wife in her parents home. I cannot answer as to whether he was a student or not. Off the cuff, and based on things I have heard, that answer would probably be no. After all the wrinkles in this post, I will file the military guy's return MFS with him claiming himself. The daughter's parents will get to claim their daughter and granddaughter. The daughter will file MFS and not claim herself allowing her parents to claim her. I can't wait till this one is over. I have handled some pretty complex returns which seems to have presented less confusion then handling this one. While this may seem simple to some, I couldn't see a solid clear cut answer right off the bat.

Pacun, I'm going to tell you that you are way off base here with your assumptions. It is due to the many twists and spins that have been put on this situation that appears to have everyone especially me totally confused. To correct things, yes I said in the OP they got married on the 17th of December that is the true date The baby was born on December 30th none of this has any bearings on the question of claiming the child. The real question is who based on the information that I presented. FYI- the husband did not go into the military until Jan 2017 and is now finishing boot camp. This also is not relevant to any of the posts here. If you must know, these kids were not able to pay for anything and the babies birth, like many others, was paid for by welfare or whatever the assistance is. This too has no basis regarding my questions. The fact remains the grandparents do have the right to claim their daughter and grandchild. Doing so greatly depends on how the parents of the child file. I did state earlier the fact the grandparents have the higher AGI in the household would prevent the child's parents from claiming the EITC. I understand where you are coming from with the father filing MFJ and claiming the EITC and CTC. But he did not live in the grandparents residence which obviously states the grandchild (his child) did so therefore he cannot file as you say. No one here is trying to rip this guy off but only due what is right. Please don't offer answers and explanations that aren't relevant. All it does is add additional confusion.

No, she may be able to be claimed by her parents but can't file the MFJ return for the purposes of obtaining a refund. They both will have a tax liability, albeit small, which prevents them from doing so. In my other reply, I meant the grandparents couldn't claim their daughter due to the fact their daughter and son-in law would file a regular MFJ return and not to just get a refund. This stuff has gotten my mind twisted so I apologize for not keeping everything straight and explaining myself thoroughly.

Judy, after looking at the figures one last time, the daughter made $323.00 over the standard deduction for MFS and her husband made $978 over the standard deduction. So this in and of itself stops the grandparents from claiming their daughter. It would be better to allow this young couple to claim their daughter and take the EITC and CTC. These situations always get kinda sticky to me and I don't regularly deal with them. I should have pay closer attention to the figures in the first place. I have been trying to do everything possible that is legal to help out both the daughter and grandparents. These folks are, and have been very dear friends of ours for numerous years. I do all of their business bookkeeping, accounting, tax prep along with their individual prep and their other kids. So, you can see why I wanted to be sure to consider all involved.

I want to bump this back up the line as I need some good opinions and answers. Just to reiterate, the daughter did live with her parents all year who provided more than half of her support as well as their new granddaughter's. The daughter got married December 30, 2016. Daughter's husband DID NOT live with her and her parents at anytime in 2016. I am struggling with the couple filing a MFJ return just to obtain a refund because every example I have read makes reference to not having a child. These two have a child and because they do, does that fact negate the ability to file MFJ just to get a refund? Grandparents can claim the daughter and the baby. If you select that someone else can claim the child on a MFJ return, the EITC is denied. Makes sense because the grandparents have the higher AGI. So, how can I file this??? My thoughts are with the grandparents claiming the daughter and granddaughter. Could the couple still file MFJ without taking an exemption for the daughter? This would give them a refund of all of their withholdings and benefit the grandparents. Some replies with thoughts and cites please!!

Correct me if I am wrong but I think your forgetting that someone else in this household could claim the grandchild who is the qualifier for the young parents. The parents in this case definitely have the higher AGI which negates the EIC for the young couple. I have since learned the husband did not live with his new wife's parents in 2016. With that said, no they cannot claim him. As far as the income of the husband, her earned 7k. Is that adequate support??? Can you say he provided more than half of his own support??? Based on those figures, no. He lived with his parents so they technically could claim him. I am leaning toward the parents claiming their daughter and granddaughter but because these two got married on Dec 17th, they have two choices either MFJ or MFS. Can they file MFJ and not take the exemption for the daughter and granddaughter? This stuff can really mess up your thinking.

I need to correct my errors with this post. Please forgive me for the goofs. This should have read, both kids file MFS without claiming their baby or themselves. I think they could file MFJ without claiming an exemption for each other and still get all of the withholdings back. The daughter's parents need the exemptions. Again sorry for the mistakes. Geez!!!, "However, they girl" ----- What the heck was I doing here. Should have been However, the girl(daughter). Time to call it a day.

She is a full time student and only earned 6800.00. Her husband only earned 7000 which makes their combined income for MFJ 13K. BTW husband is now in the military which has no effect on 2016. Just thought I'd mention it.

The daughter is 20 years old.

This is a different situation than what I normally deal with so I need some input from my good friends here. Young couple gets married 12/17/2016. Has a child born 12/30/2016. They lived with the girl's parents all year in 2016. Their combined income is 13K. I have looked and don't believe they qualify to file MFJ just to get a refund because they have the child. After the standard deduction and exemption, they would not have any tax liability individually either. I could file them MFJ claiming their child, getting ATC and EITC. However, they girl (daughter) can be claimed as a dependent on her parent's return and so could her husband. Thus, negating the EIC. With MFJ, claiming their child, they get CTC and a refund of 1800. This is okay with them. If it is legitimate to do what I'm thinking below, they would still the majority of their withholdings and they are ok with lower outcome for them. These are not selfish kids at all. Here is a thought that I want opinions on. Both these kids file MFJ without claiming their baby or themselves. No CTC and they still get all of their respective withholdings back. The daughters parents claim all three (daughter, daughter's husband and child) because they have been providing all of the support for all of them. Also, daughter's parents need to exemptions and usually have a large tax burden at the end of the year. Thoughts and suggestions on the best way to do this is greatly appreciated.

I agree this is the starting point. The 1099B is a barter exchange form normally reported on Sch D. But... what are the options is first.