Lee B

According to Drake Support, there is still no ETA for the 2021 Pub 536 and the required worksheets that calculate the deductible amount of the NOL Operating Loss Carry Forward.

Excellent Ideas

See the discussion in The Tax Advisor on the difference between a "superseded return" and an amended return": https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2021/jul/superseding-returns-statutes-limitation.html

Years ago after I got out of the Army, I worked for the Postal Service for several years, before I decided to go back to college. All tracking means is that the postal service employee at the point of delivery scanned the bar code on the piece of mail being delivered.

Even if you have tracking that doesn't mean the check gets processed, deposited and posted to the correct place.

For my clients, I think using Direct Pay or EFTPS is too far outside of their comfort zone. I am thinking about having them sign a letter that it's their choice to pay with a check by mail ?

"If the payment hasn't been credited and your check hasn't cleared, you may choose to place a stop payment order on the original check and send another payment. If you choose this option, the IRS won't charge a dishonored check penalty. And you may be reimbursed for bank charges related to stopping payment. See the Form 8546, Claim for Reimbursement of Bank Charges PDF for more information on claiming reimbursement of bank charge." I am advising all of my clients to stop mailing checks to the IRS.

No, I have never had to do that.

Like Abby, I use the 8949 and group them by transaction type.

Suggest that you review the very long list of exceptions to the 10 % penalty plus the additional exceptions available under a "Qualified Disaster".

"National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins recently told members of the Senate Finance Committee that the agency needs to get to a "stable and healthy condition so it can perform its core mission." . . . . . . . . She said the IRS reports that "all paper and electronic individual refund returns received prior to April 2021 have been processed if the return had no errors and did not require further review." But she added, "by implication, that means returns filed as far back as April of last year are still awaiting processing."

I believe there are several qualifiers that you have to clear

And what Form is that?

I stand corrected.

Curious, what do you do when the client insists they did not get EIP3 and the IRS says they did?

Are you suggesting that some taxpayers might elect to have it taxed?

Last year it reduced AGI, this year it was moved down below the line to reduce Taxable Income. This has been a known change since last summer! The 20 % QBI limitation is applied to modified Taxable Income which is what requires this programming change to bring the program into compliance. Apparently the software had not been revised since last year.

If the program was not subtracting the $ 600 charitable deduction before then it was wrong. Apparently you have experienced an "unannounced correction" to bring the program in line with Form 8995 instructions.

You should check but don't think a dependent under the age of 24 can take AOTC.

Any chance of not claiming one of the dependents and having the dependent take the Lifetime Learning Credit.

Your analysis is correct. However, given some creative research from the defending attorneys, I am pretty sure that these expenses would be deducted more often than not. After all this is how this game is played. How else is Apple's effective corporate tax rate only 8 % ?

That's what has worked for me in the past. In my state a "Small Estate" is one with less than $200,000 in Real Estate and $75,000 in personal assets in which case their is no court appointed personal representative. The only legal document is what is called a "Small Estate Affadavit" which is filed with the court.

Yeah, some years ago I had two brothers each with 50% ownership in an S Corp end up in court with attorneys dueling over who was going to control the business. Just before the trial the judge held a pretrial conference where he twisted their arms into a buyout where one brother bought out the other brothers's interest. To this day the two brothers do not speak to each other.

I assume the non controlling shareholders are retaining outside attorneys and the defending attorneys represent the controlling shareholders and the business. This will take some serious research. I suspect you will find that the attorneys, representing the business and the controlling shareholders, should be able to provide research supporting the deduction of most if not all of these fees. I know at first glance that doesn't seem right, but in the real world that is what happens most of the time.

According to the Taxpayer Advocate's testimony to Congress today a second surge team is being pulled together.