Gail in Virginia

From Pub 17: Eligibility rules. You are eligible to file your 2013 return as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child if you meet all of the following tests. You were entitled to file a joint return with your spouse for the year your spouse died. It does not matter whether you actually filed a joint return. Your spouse died in 2011 or 2012 and you did not remarry before the end of 2013. You have a child or stepchild for whom you can claim an exemption. This does not include a foster child. This child lived in your home all year, except for temporary absences. See Temporary absences , earlier, under Head of Household. There are also exceptions, described later, for a child who was born or died during the year and for a kidnapped child. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. See Keeping Up a Home , earlier, under Head of Household.

I am glad you posted. I would have thought prior to this that because he was "working" for this money, even in an academic environment, that it would go on Sched. C even though reported as box 3, other income. So now I have learned that grants are not subject to SE tax. Good to know.

I got curious and tried to log in to the ATX community just now. We did not renew this year (switched to ProSeries) but I still logged in without a problem. I don't know what the difference is.

Virginia does not accept prior year's returns electronically.

Fortunately, even if you change software they don't kick you off of this forum! But I am glad ATX is working this year, even though we jumped ship early on after last season's fun and games.

Or unless you actually take possession of the tiger....

According to the 2013 Individual e-File Tax Preparers and Electronic Return Originators Handbook, Taxpayer Opt Out Form – VA Form 8454T – Eliminated Starting TY2012, the Taxpayer Opt Out Form, VA Form 8454T, is eliminated. Tax preparers, who are required by Virginia law to file Virginia Individual Income Tax returns electronically, and are filing a paper return for the taxpayer who want to opt out of electronic filing, are required to provide Code 02 (Taxpayer opted out of electronic filing) in the Election Field on the Individual return. So short answer, you are right.

But that is really true for any tax law - congress can, and sometimes does, change laws at any time during the year. They have even been known to do it retroactively. I routinely tell my clients that everything I say is subject to change any time congress is in session.

I don't know. They might think we are all washed up.

I think it would take a Wisk broom to clean up all of these puns.

Yes, but if you are liable for the 28% tax anyway, and are going to pay it anyway, as KC pointed out in her post, that means that effectively you have paid the contractor both his fee and the tax you sent to the IRS. So wouldn't the 1099 reflect that?

I hope that she will return in some form, but I do understand why she left.

So if they pay in the 28% they should have withheld on the contractor's behalf, do you gross up the 1099 to show more income than they actually received and the tax "withheld?" That seems logical...

I sympathize that clients want to know if they can afford to pay me before they hire me, so I will try to give them a range. I will also offer to give them a price for the previous return so they can tell if I charge more or less than their previous preparers. But in the end if they can't trust me to give them a fair price how can they trust me with their financial information?

Dan, as far as documentation I did not look up the rules, but taking section 179 on property is an election that you make. If it were mandatory, I would expect it to either be no choice at all or, like the bonus depreciation, something that had to be elected out of. The instructions for Form 4562 consistently refer to it as an election. Generally speaking, since Virginia allows section 179 but does not recognize the bonus depreciation, I have never had a reason to want to skip 179 in order to take bonus. Of course, your mileage may vary - that is part of the fun of doing taxes, no two situations are identical.

I don't think that you are ever required to use Section 179 depreciation. You are required to use bonus depreciation if the equipment qualifies unless you make an election to not take bonus depreciation for all equipment in the same class (in other words, you can't pick and choose - if you don't want to take it on one piece of 5 year property, you can't take it on any 5 year property.) Basically I am not aware of any difference in treating farm property and property used in other businesses as far as section 179 and bonus depreciation.

I think that is an interesting question, but since it is not a number I have been tracking, it is not something I have the time to work up in January. Others may have it readily available. If you ask again, or bump this thread, after April 15, I would try to answer.

The mountains just west of me in Virginia have some temperatures in the - range. My son was home for winter break but sent him back last night to check the house and make sure the plumbing did not freeze. We are still on the + side here in Southwest Virginia where I live. It was 3 this morning.

" The real reason for this thread got lost in the mud pages ago. An ATX client was having the same problem with rollovers on a NEW computer that I had. Since Jack fixed my problem, I referred that post to Jack. I believe Jack contacted the poster directly and helped him. From then on bedlam ensued. I thought this was supposed to be a tax board wherein we could help each other with program and tax issues. In addition, there are friendly and conversational threads clearly marked; between some of us who have "known" each other for a long time. I don't care how you resolve these jump-in posts that clearly lead the thread astray. But, please do try to put an end to them. I am getting a headache." I thought before I commented on this thread, that maybe it would be better to start a new, more clearly labeled thread. Quite often, as this board is conversational in tone, the subject of the thread winds up far astray from the original posting. I expected that to lessen once we had a separate forum for political posts, but since the tone is conversational I don't think it will ever completely go away. Most of the time I don't have a problem with that, and I think that friendly tone is what makes it hard for newcomers and the moderators to judge what and when to shut down these random offshoots from the original thread. Many times, all that is necessary is to ignore the off-topic posts and make a post that gets the thread back on topic. I really don't want this board to lose the informality we have had in the past, but I also don't want to see it degenerate into just a few posters arguing back and forth over everything that is said. Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.

Same article I posted, but apparently Jack doesn't consider that to be "intercepted" because it is not intercepted at a server other than the first or last.

http://serverfault.com/questions/201479/does-anyone-have-real-life-examples-of-e-mail-being-intercepted This is an example, but not likely to be a problem in the settings we normally use since it is an “end point” hack using an unsecured wireless transmission, such as to or from a coffee shop or hotel wireless internet location. If you use a laptop for taxes and send emails regarding taxes from your hotel room or other such internet settings, this might be a problem. The only other example I am aware of is that of the NSA capturing emails both at home and abroad. I doubt a commercially available encryption program will stop the NSA if they really want to read your email.

Most likely I will go to the one near DC. Crowded, but usually a lot of good information for the money - if you can just remember anything after three days of sitting in lectures!

IMO, this would be investment interest to the shareholder since he/she borrowed money to invest buy stock. Therefore, I would put it on schedule A via form 4952.

I meant to go get some, but I forgot.

But that first post could be edited to be something totally innocuous. I have to admit though, that did not even occur to me until I read Pacun's post.