Lee B

It appears that this is a standard passive income rental in which case none of the expenses are "normal" business expenses.

The only reason I would wait is if my client needed more time before they made the first installment payment.

How do you know whether your client input the correct information or whether the IRS is having system problems?

The IRS removed the details available for EIP I & II prior to EIP III. The only way your client will be able to see the EIP I & II amounts paid to them will be by setting up a"Secure Access" account.

Just because you have received an ack doesn't mean they have processed your client's return. Anything unusual about these 2 returns like using 2019 income for EIC or ACTC?

I can't even imagine. I get anxious when I have 10 returns in my to do stack!

Gaill & Judy, Good points. The attorney fees are like the costs associated with refinancing.

I think it falls into a gray area. Is it really related to protecting, preserving and maintaining? It's really related to reducing interest expenses. However I acknowledge that most preparers would probably take this deduction.

The FTC's official site: https://identitytheft.gov/

John, frankly I don't know what the time bomb would be and I don't know what help an Attorney would be. I have already filed the fraud report with the Office of The Inspector General of the SBA,which is all done online. My client has filed a police report with the County Sheriff's Department, and pulled up his credit report with all three major credit reporting agencies which was clean. Anything that has happened in the last 30 to 45 days probably wouldn't show up yet. I did file an extension for my client's personal tax return, which was accepted. I have talked to my client about applying for voluntary IP PINs and either placing fraud alerts or credit freezes with the credit reporting agencies. I have done pretty much all I can do and I don't feel at risk for anything that has happened or I have done

If your client meets the requirements, I believe the best approach is to do it online.

It depends, if the third EIP was issued based on their 2019 return and there 2020 income increased substantially to a disqualifying amount, then they get to keep it. I have client who based on their 2019 return as part of their 3rd EIP received $1,400 for their 20 year daughter, who was attending community college during 2019. In 2020 the daughter lived with her fiance and was self supporting, filed her tax return in February claiming herself and she also received $1,400. So when her parents file their 2021 return, do they get to keep the second $1,400? The IRS has stated that people who received payments in"error" have to return the money.

The Senate passed a new excise tax on capital gains which was sent to Governor Inslee for signature on 4/27. This new bill would apply to both: Washington residents with long-term capital gains Out-of-state resident’s capital gains arising from the sale of tangible personal property located in Washington State.

Abby, that definitely is outside the box thinking. Did you do this for a client? I don't think my imagination stretches quite that far.

Has anyone assisted a client MFJ in getting a voluntary IP Pin. Do you do it as a couple or does each spouse apply for their own separate IP Pin?

The SBA took all of the relevant information from me along with instructions to file a report with the SBA Office of Inspector General. Remember the SBA has already issued tens of Billions of $ in fraudulent loans. Sadly for them it's become routine. The young lady at the SBA that helped me didn't act alarmed or surprised in any way. In one case in NC an accountant received 17 different fraudulent PPP Loans totaling several Million $

Sorry, interest tracing rules apply, home mortgage interest and interest allocated to passive rental activities do not qualify as investment interest.

I got through to the SBA and confirmed that a fraudulent loan was issued in my clients name on March 25th for $ 150,000. It turns out it was an EIDL Loan,not a PPP Loan.

First he received a phone call from a large bank back east, which I suspected was a scam. Next he received a Loan Payoff Letter from the SBA, which I have looked at and appears to to be legitimate. First I am having him access his free credit reports, then we will go from there. If someone had enough information to obtain one of these loans in his name, that means they have all of his personal information!

My second largest client who I have helped get 2 good sized PPP Loans for his corporate business, just received preliminary information strongly suggesting that a fraudulent PPP loan in the amount of $ 150,000 was issued to him personally through a bank back east with whom he has never dealt with. Very Scary!

Copied from Accounting Today: "You hear from taxpayers and congressional offices all the time, but my understanding is that there have been days where if you calculated by looking at the number of calls that were answered and divide it by the number of calls that came in, the level of service was 2 to 3 percent,” said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights and the former National Taxpayer Advocate, during a webinar last week hosted by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “Even by the IRS’s own calculation, where it does the number of calls that are answered, divided by the number of calls that aren’t routed automatically, it’s at 15 percent. With all the attention on enforcement, you can’t have that level of customer service and think that in any way, you’re having a successful filing season."

My past experience with clients, where both the employer and the employee were contributing to an HSA, was that it was helpful to have a copy of the employee's last pay stub along with the W-2 as a confirmation.

That would be double dipping

I was wondering about that too. The 1099 C should have been for the amount of the debt reduced by the net amount recovered by the lender.

Boy, what a mess! Are you sure she owns the property personally?