Abby Normal

I would rather have capital gains distributions than W2 wages. It's all money coming form the business to the individual. I used to dread it when there were distributions in excess of basis but then I realized it's not a problem. The losses get suspended to be used against future income.

I have QB back to version 11 running under Win8. I'm going to tell all my clients that have to upgrade to at least 2012 this summer because all my computers are going to be Win8. I have XP installed in a VMWare virtual machine in case I really need to run any old software. I actually have one client still using an old DOS accounting system! I almost had him convinced to switch to QB but he got cold feet at the last minute. <sigh>

I've never issued a 1099 and I don't think you should because it's already reported on the K1. Excess distributions are capital gains so if you were going to issue a 1099 it would be a 1099B. I would not treat it as a loan to shareholder because it's not evidenced by a note and the loan will never be repaid.

I don't know if that stand gives me enough height or swivel. Here's my setup: http://imgur.com/a/3MxMp

I just tell them I'm very efficient and it's less than H&R Block would charge you. Followed by a rant about how much rent, insurance, health insurance, computers, software, CPE, etc. etc. are.

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No but I would try making the middle one vertical if I had that option available. Next time I buy monitors I'm going to look for adjustable height and rotatable mount. It might be worth the extra money! Scrolling is a pain.

Dual monitors? That's so 2012. I have three monitors and still wish for a fourth many times.

Aaaahhh! I see the problem. For us, assembly just means scan the client's records, do the envelopes, staple the clients paper copy of the return in a folder, and burn a CD of return and records. It goes even faster for those clients that are happy with just the CD and not a hard copy of the return. I charge $10 less if you forgo the paper copy. Any copying we do (which is almost none) is part of the prep or intake process, when the client gives us records that are not scanner-friendly. And we don't scan the return, we print it to a pdf, and that's the only copy of the return we keep. I review the return on screen and that's part of the prep, not assembly. Only a really complicated return might be printed out for review. We're always looking for ways to be more efficient and we almost always improve our processes every year.

If it went into the S corps books, the S corp sold assets, tangible or intangible. How you take the cash out depends on many other factors, but the income will flow thru your K1. I would lean to taking it as a distribution, taking into consideration reasonable compensation rules and compensation history, the nature of what's being sold, etc.

Each additional state would be $75-$100 depending on the state. Plus the home state would be more for the credit for taxes paid to other states. I'd quote her $700-$1000 and if it comes in less than that, she'll be pleased.

I do some returns (10%) with the client there, including a few businesses. It's great to be able to ask them questions and have them call and get info faxed while I'm working on the return. Sometimes, they're missing info and the return can't be finished. I'm actually not "face-to-face" because I turn my back on them to work on the computer. The only annoying ones are the ones with loud obnoxious cellphone noises, but that's just one or two. It was hard when I first started doing it, but I got over the feeling of being rushed (which I was just doing to myself) and now I rather enjoy it. My office manager can scan their records and assemble their return in 10 minutes, during which time I either chat with the client or ask them to wait in the lobby. I can't imagine how that would ever take 45 minutes. Although, I took over clients for a retiring CPA and one return she did took her 8 hours including 1 hour of "copying and assembling". Even the first year, the entire process took me and my less than an hour. She was billing at $80/hour and I bill at $260/hour and my bill was less than hers. I actually doubled my bill to this client and they were thrilled that is was less than last year. And I was thrilled to make $520/hr!

I don't think that's right. At least, I know I've filed amended returns close to 10/15 before and never had a problem. You may be right about the rule but the IRS computers aren't rejecting them.

You can also elect to treat some of the capital gain from the sale of the land as investment income to allow you to deduct the investment interest that's suspended on the 4952.

I don't think any of us follow the Interest Ordering Rules completely, either because we don't fully understand them or because it's too much work. http://www.irs.gov/publications/p535/ch04.html#en_US_2013_publink1000243081 Also, once you elect to treat part of your home equity interest as not secured by the home, you need IRS permission to revoke that election: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Election+not+to+treat+debt+as+secured+by+a+qualified+residence.-a0110741604 You would have been better off taking it all as acquisition and home equity interest instead of allocating it to investment interest.

I prefer my clients know a lot about their taxes so they have at least a feel for whether something is wrong with or missing from their return. It is their return after all. But too many questions, or being accusatory that I did something wrong gets old quick.

I save before moving to another form because ATX died a few days ago and it had apparently been several minutes since the last autosave and I had to go back and figure out what was the last entry that was saved. This lame warning is as useless a warning as I have ever seen in my 36 years of computing!

If the dividends and sales proceeds add up to more than the filing limit, I would think they'd get a CP2000. Do they owe state tax? I like to file regardless so the year will be closed in 3 years.

Yeah, I probably do 150 returns on extension and save each one 20 times while working on it, which equals 3,000 clicks! (I actually use the keyboard so it's 3,000 presses of the Enter key. Makes my pinky hurt just thinking about it!) If they wanted to warn me once when opening an already efiled RETURN, that would be fine. But warning me because an extension has been efiled, over and over and over, is just beyond annoying. If I ever snap and go postal, it will be directed at programmers! And I used to be a programmer. This warning provides exactly zero safety because it already prevents you from creating a new efile if one has already been transmitted or accepted. And it doesn't stop you from screwing up your original data file. It just gives you the option of not screwing it up after you made a bunch of changes. Hmmm. I wonder if it will autosave with an already efiled return?

She would have to gift him (whoever that is) half of the underlying lease for him to become a 50% owner. But that will only help with future distributions. She's stuck with paying taxes on the whole check that she already received.

Without looking it up, I'm guessing it has a nautical origin. The stern is the rear of the boat.

Employer doesn't know what they're doing. It belongs on the W2, but would be WAAAYY smarter for both employer and employee to have an accountable plan. Employer may be playing "hot potato" with the 50% limit on meals deduction... or they may just be stupid.

I agree with Jack. I've noticed when pulling IRS transcripts that often the IRS never processes corrected forms, and, even if they do, they won't come after you for $25.

It's not a safety mechanism when the only thing already efiled is the extension. It's just a stupid annoyance. 1/10 of a second?! You must have fast hands!

>If you have too much tax withheld but fail to file a return, you usually only have two years (not three) to get it back. What? I've never had a problem filing close to the three year deadline.