Max W

This comes from a cpe update course. (Sequioa #3220A) Paid preparer due diligence requirement for head of household status The Act directs the Secretary of the Treasury to promulgate due diligence requirements for paid preparers in determining eligibility for a taxpayer to fle as head of household. A penalty of $500 is imposed for each failure to meet these requirement

Yes, Sara, the trust continued to pay the expenses and collect the rents. The depreciation I cut off in March when the rental was distributed. This would mean that the benes would lose out on the depreciation for the year since the transferred property is outside the trust and not directly collecting income. Or, am I overthinking this?

2017 Trust only had one asset, a rental house. House was distributed to 3 beneficiaries in Mar 2017, when trust and it's bank acct should have closed. However, the monthly rental payments continued to be deposited into the trust bank account until early this year. So, this is the way I see it. The income and expenses are applied to the trust up to Mar 2017; then the balance should be allocated to each bene's Sch E, 1040. The trust should issue a 1099MISC, box 1, to the 3 bene's. Any other ideas.

Must be retired IRS folks working there.

Congratulations! Best of wishes and Good Luck! Enjoy!

Yeh! It's pretty tough. The difference between the paper form, which has two SSN's, and the on-line version, which only asks for one, got me a bit confused. I reread the instructions, which could provide more info related to trusts, and finally got it right.

Trying to file SS-4 for a trust. Line 3 asks for executor, trustee, etc Line 7 asks for responsible party Question can these be one and the same? By the instructions, it appears so. On line 9A it asks for TIN of Grantor . This doesn't show up on line. The only place it ask for any SSN is under Responsible Party. Isn't the responsible party the creator of the trust that became irrevocable when he died? In the on-line version, it only asks for one SSN. it only asks for one SSN. I would think it would be the deceased's, but maybe the executor's is more important??? I appreciate any help.

I think that this article gives a good picture of what is going on with the IRS computers https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-04-17/the-irs-computer-system-is-the-oldest-in-the-government

I don't buy this at all. The tax does not have to be assessed for the payment to be applied. I think the problem is that two returns were filed, the first presumedly efiled, the corrected return by paper. The efiled return went into an automated system. The paper return was entered manually and somewhere in the process something did not match, or an IRS employee entered the picture and screwed things up.

Thanks, Judy. That was very helpful.

Recently, I've come across some article about the 90 day mileage rule, but none of them spells out the number of the IRS Reg. that provides this. There is also a First-week-of-the month rule. Can anyone state the Reg. and does it apply to both expense methods.

Deb, you are right, it has a new name, but its tax collection and enforcement powers are the same. The new created Office of Tax Appeals encompasses both the newly named body and the FTB. To add to the confusion, a new software program is being installed and that usually leads to early complications and unforeseen bugs.

The State of California is so obsessed with taxes that it has three separate tax departments. The Franchise Tax Board whose domain is income tax enforcement; the Board of Equalization that handles sales taxes; and the EDD, Employment Development Department, that takes care of collecting UI and SDI payments. Each is separate and independent of each other. As Deb says, the FTB is very tenacious, like a pit bull that won't let go. I've had clients that have had to file returns as long as 23 years ago (there is now a SOL of 20 years). other clients that moved out of CA to a non-tax state and were pursued there because the client had not severed all ties to CA, such as forgetting to have their name taken off the voter registration list, or having a PO Box in CA, or not being able to show proof of having their drivers license, or vehicle reg. in the new state. To assess some non-filed returns, the FTB makes up imaginary income numbers. Sometimes the mortgage interest paid is mulitiplied by 4 and that becomes the income figure, which is then taxable. Other times, they will take the average income of specific types of businesses, such contractors, insurance sales, etc., and base the assessment on some multiplier of that. At least the IRS use real numbers for such purposes. One good thing the FTB has done since the first of the year, is to adopt the IRS National Standards for living expenses in calculating collection potential.

The IRS enforcement period is 6 years (IRS Policy Statement 5-133 ). That would mean starting in 2012. The reason is that the IRS doesn't have the manpower to handle older returns and they have to draw the line somewhere. However, there is nothing to stop someone from filing 2011 and prior and some clients choose to do so. I have found that if someone hasn't filed for that length of time and the IRS hasn't been all over them, one of two scenarios has usually occured. One is that, based on the records, the person would either have refunds, or only owe small amounts not making it worthwhile for the IRS to pursue. The other case is the underground economy where few W-2's, 1099's etc have been issued.

Here is something to start with. https://www.cpec1031.com/blog/can-a-married-couplepurchase-their-replacement-property-with-a-family-member-as-tenants-in-common

There are no limitations on the sales tax deduction as to what can be done with the car, or vehicle. Presumably, the client has the sales receipt showing the sales tax paid.

I have used eservices ever since it started and the password always had to be renewed every six months. However, if you didn't renew before the deadline, you had to recertify. Has this changed?

Instead of complaining, whining, pizzing and moaning, DO something. Send a message to Washington - https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ - to your congress person, senator, house ways and means committee. If you belong to NAEA, AICPAA, NFTP, or any other professional group, contact them as well. Basically, my message was that the proposed 1040 is an exercise in bureaucratic, big gov't waste and inefficiency to create 8 pages out of two, something the President had promised to fix. If enough voices are heard, maybe someone will listen.

Lynn, you only have to hold it for a week.

Whatever happened to the Paperless office we were all promised back in the late 70's and 80's when PC's were coming in to use. I had a retail business at that time with over 15,000 SKU's. The computer really helped with inventory control, but to get reports a printer was essential. It was one of those 128 column IBM jobs and it put out reams and reams of paper. Instead of less paper there was more than before. The large reports on that wide, accordion folded paper were awkward to handle and stacks just piled up in the office. Since it wasn't suitable for printing sales receipts, a small, second printer was put to work. I went through several Canon's and Epson's as they were all prone to breakdown, even with proper maintenance, so I had a second ready to go, in case the one in use brokedown.

It looks like an improvement, but the on-line calculator isn't working. It keep asking for a salary and three were tried together. It looks like it may do a good job of determining withholding for people with multiple jobs.

Abby, those are the IRS tables that Taxbook copied. It is not the Taxbook tables. I don't know if this link will work, because TheTaxBook requires a password, but here goes. https://thetaxbook.net/files/ttbf/2017/pages/1040_fc.pdf

You just hedged your bet with the last sentence.

Really! New York requires Articles of Dissolution; CA requires a Statement of Dissolution; TX a certificate of termination; FL the same as NY; IL same

The only problem with that is all states require corporations to file some type of form indicating that the corporation has elected to dissolve and/or has been dissolved. Some also require a plan of dissolution. https://eminutes.com/corporate-dissolution-and-irs-form-966-how-to-satisfy-the-plan-requirement#_ftn7 After searching various sites and reading attorneys opinions, the consensus is there is no consensus. Each has their own idea re LLC's. I fact, Legal Zoom says LLC's have to file 966 without any mention of having filed as a corp. Did they leave something out? https://info.legalzoom.com/papers-file-irs-close-business-llc-4316.html