Gail in Virginia

But if the space is not used regularly and EXCLUSIVELY, then they can't take home office and therefore don't have to depreciate.

I think you are both saying the same thing - just looking at it differently. if i understand Danrvan, the owner died in a year prior to 2017. Estate inherited rental property, with a stepped up basis. While in the hands of the estate, income was received and reported on a 1041 but no depreciation was taken. Now it is 2018, and the return (i think another 1041?) is being prepared by Danrvan and he notices that depreciation has not been taken and is going to take in, and file a 3115 to catch up the years that were missed while the property was in the estate. There is no second step up in basis when the property is transferred from the estate to the final beneficiaries. I don't know if that is any clearer, or if I misunderstood Danrvan's posts.

I agree with Randall and Pacun as to our responsibility. However, I don't think that it is a bad idea to just tell her that if this loan was really for the benefit of her husband and he is the one who defaulted on payments, she should discuss this with her lawyer in case it impacts the settlement in any way. kick the ball to the attorney - that is why they get the big bucks. But our clients don't always realize what is important and I would prefer to err by advising them to consult the professional.

We are going to have more extensions than ever, but we will be trying to finish those extension by July 1 this year. The Virginia general assembly set that as the deadline to file your return and share in the rebate they are giving taxpayers since they did not get around to revising Virginia's tax laws to coordinate with the federal changes until late in February. So we just swap one deadline for another. Like always.

I have had a couple of retired ministers, and I do it basically the way JASDLM describes. I do ask them for their actual expenses/ rental value as well and use the lesser of the three, just like with a working minister. Usually the portion they have designated is the least but it doesn't hurt to be sure. As far as I know their are no clergy worksheets to go with the 1099R, at least not in ProSeries.

Isn't this a common time to use Form 3115?

You can't NOT report income just because you got it in cash and did not get a form for it, although I have had people tell me that they can. So i don't generally get suspicious just for that reason. Now if that was the exact amount needed to get them in the sweet spot for EIC, I would definitely want to ask more questions. Or I had a potential client this year start to hand me his papers and tell me how much he wanted his income to be total since he was applying for a loan. I handed the papers back and told him that was not how we did returns here.

Or you may be able to e-file a stand-alone VA return. Depends on why the federal rejected.

I am of two minds about this subject. As a preparer I know how hard it is to quote a fair and reasonable price without actually doing the work so that I know what is involved. And if I have done the work, I want to be paid commensurate with my effort. And yet as a consumer, I hate to agree to pay for services when I don't have any idea of what it is going to cost. My preferred method earlier in the year is to tell them that if they bring me last year's return I can tell them what I would have charged to prepare that. Sometimes I will quote a price range, emphasizing that this is based on the return only involving blah, blah, blah. But I don't have a good solution that I am happy with, and I probably lose business because I have gotten short changed so often that I tend to quote high now, figuring that they won't complain if it is cheaper than expected but boy do they if it is higher.

If the mother and father lived together until December of 2018, then neither of them can claim Unmarried Head of Household for 2018, regardless of who claims the children. They would have had to live apart for at least six months of the year to qualify for HOH status. Their choices for 2018 are MFJ or MFS. For 2019, they will have lived separately for the required six months, so it will depend on who the children live with (who provides the household) as to who can claim HOH. But it is possible the divorce will be final by the end of the year and the other parent can file as Single. OOPS! Just re-read the post from ILLMAS. If the divorce was final in 2018, then parent who pad the bills for the house they were both living in would have the better claim for HOH. If they were split evenly, then I don't know what to tell you. They both lived with the kids, they both provided the household - this is why I hate these situations.

I would have expected the partnership to pay VA tax on his behalf. Unless he has a lot of income from this partnership, I would not expect him to have a filing requirement in VA since he doesn't live here.

I am seeing most lawyers around here include a substitute form 1099S in the closing packet. Then the client tells me they never got a tax form, and even if they look through the packet they will most likely overlook it because it doesn't really look like a tax form. I usually just put it on the return figuring what can it hurt?

I would agree. But I am not an expert.

I am inclined to agree with you although if the litigation resulted in compensatory damages, I would not have though it would be taxable or reported on a 1099.

I used to have a client that stapled a color coded scrap of paper to every form that she brought me labeling the form (W2, 1099, I don't know what this is...) I guess she thought she was helping me.

I thought you used that syntax intentionally to emphasize your point

Their definition of scholarship is sometimes a little different than mine also. I would not consider amounts paid from a 529 plan as scholarships, but one Virginia university did in at least one case that I looked at. I would not consider a loan to be a scholarship, but at least one Virginia university did in a case that I looked at. I am not even sure they get the half time student box right because at this point I don't trust anything they put on those forms.

This is an extension of time to file AND pay unlike a regular extension. However, the interest still begins on April 15 and I don't think this waives the penalty for being under-withheld, only the penalty for paying after April 15. The penalty for late payment would begin June 15 for an overseas taxpayer. At least that is my understanding.

Margaret, I had not had that problem previously but it did occur just now and identically to what you described.

My fax machine broke down this year, and rather than get a new one I went looking for an electronic service. I tried eFax but they could not port over my current fax number for some reason (probably because of the rural area I live in.) However, RingCentral was able to port my number and I have been very happy with the service so far. And I love deleting the junk faxes instead of finding them printed. And I can save the file as PDF instead of printing. I did have to pay for the service because I wanted to keep the same fax number we have had for the last 20 years.

I don't think you can treat IL as his tax home. It might be his home, but his tax home is going to be either CA or Liberia, or first one and then the other, IMO. Unless this contract is expected to last for a year or less. Then maybe it could be considered temporary.

I am trying to remember if their is some kind of exception for abused spouses. As fast as this went south, I wondered if that were the situation. But I really have nothing without doing some research and maybe not even then.

Have you been doing th e8606 every year to show the basis and the total balance in the IRA's? Part of this is going to be taxable because you have to withdraw taxable (earnings, deductible contributions) pro rata with the non-deductible amounts withdrawn. In other words, you can't withdraw only the non-deductible contributions from a traditional IRA and then withdraw the earnings later. But the 8606 is the form that should calculate the amount that is a return of basis and therefore non-taxable. Did you complete Part I before you completed Part II?

I am not using ATX so my only suggestion is to check the EIN and Names on any 1099s or W2's on the return to make sure they match. Especially on the state line of the W2 or 1099.

I don't remember the details, but I think the IRS has gone back and forth on the fingerprints and at one time required them, then did not, then did again (and still do, as far as I know.) So it was a timing thing.