RitaB

I just had a guy from OH. State, city, school district. Holy Toledo.

Yeah, every single person that ever sold real estate in this town thinks that. Every. Single. One.

I don't know why people think we are here to help them cheat. But many of them do, and they manage to find a Loophole Lefty down the road a ways. Oh well, we are the cat's pajamas for waving good bye to these "taxpayers".

I thought y'all were talking about my issues again.

Bahahahahahaha. That may be the same calendar that my guy who left a message yesterday uses: "I had health insurance for four months, so only three are unaccounted for." I hope schools here start doing that. The school refused for my guy who "can prove they live with me, no problem." Of course, there is no telling what he told them when he asked for it. LOL. "Hey, can you swear to IRS that I'm entitled to that there unearned income tax thingy? The penalty is only $510 times three." Uh, no.

Changed the hydraulic fluid and everything.

My guy that just picked up? It was TORTURE getting any document out of him with kids' name and address. Forget year. I had to explain to him that a SS card does not have an address on it. And that IRS actually already knows their SSNs, no kidding, they actually know that one, amazing, huh? He was back and forth three times. Last time he came in, "I don't know if this will work..." I snatched it out of his hand and said, "Perfect." It was something worthless for this purpose. When he picked up just now, he said, "Well, I can prove they live with me if they ask, no problem." Y'all know what I wanted to do, don't you?

And maybe getting that EIN. For God's sake, we gotta be sure our worthless form comes from a legit institution, not a pretend institution. So our useless number there might appear to have some cred. It's really ironic that our institutions of higher learning can't be trusted to do a little bookkeeping. I mean c'mon.

Agree, go back to 2015 and do both years correctly. Yeah, the amount billed has always made me laugh, and it includes billing for part of the next year. It's so screwed up. I do believe IRS looks at it for some purposes, however. My client I mentioned earlier got a letter because she paid amounts billed in 2014 in 2015. They picked right up on the fact that payments exceeded billing. Complete PITA for a credit of $292. I faxed letter with the Bursar's statement showing payments. Probably get the all clear by the time the kid's children go to college. Hope the 1098T is usable by then.

Let me be the first to apologize for totally missing the issue. And I, of all people, hate when that happens, too! Are the 2017 scholarships labeled 2017? I would think you'd have a good argument for ignoring them for 2016, regardless, but could win the argument easier if they're labeled 2017.

Can Uncle Joe not pay it and the student or parent use it? Not that Uncle Joe would do that, but I figured it would be ok.

Agree with my esteemed colleagues. You might as well chuck the 1098T. Keep proof of everything, cause even though it is worthless, IRS may send a letter cause they don't think the student had net expenses. Just happened to one of mine. Paid more in 2015 than was billed in 2015. (Paid expenses billed in Nov 2014 in Jan 2015. You count them in the year paid.)

I got one here with two children qualifying for CTC. One child lives with them and one does not. Kinda makes is difficult to answer 10a. But I am giving it the old college try and hoping the next directive is not to complete an 8867 for each child. I noted my dilemma in Additional Due Diligence Information.

I think the number was $273 for a 1040, Sch A, and a state return. Can't charge that here. I often wonder if professionals surveyed respond "evangelistically". I had a pastor who would joke about the conference exaggerating numbers. It got to be pretty funny. He started doing it, too: "Well, evangelistically speaking, we had xxx in attendance for Bible School..." Or whatever. He was counting all the parents and church members hanging out in the kitchen yakking and eating snacks and not working. We all understood what he meant.

The Judge being interviewed is no slouch. I have always considered him to be pretty thoughtful. Even more so than my hairdresser. And my buddy who makes a living selling insurance. I agree, I'm taking a wait and see approach. It's January, after all.

The DECREE. Ah, yes. The bane of my existence. I wish I had a nickel for every time I said, "Hey, you know what, the Decree means absolutely zero in my world."

EITC is always a huge PITA to me just because I resent people getting it, even if they "deserve" it. And if you have a kid living with you, it should not be such an ordeal to cough up a dated document with the kid's name and your address. I have learned, however, that this is a Herculean task for some: "Oh, yes, these is a nice SS card. Now we can prove this child was born. Let me plow through this one more time." I realize my post did not add to the thread, but this just happened to me, and this is how I cope.

I'm singe, too. I go around hugging people. I don't understand why I'm single. Seriously, after the questions I've had today, I am going to incorporate dope-slapping with the hugs.

So I'm climbing out of the rabbit hole and saying, no, I don't have a written agreement for this. And we did not mean to ignore the original question, we're just excited. I am laughing so hard right now...

I'm going to respectfully disagree (with just about everybody I think). For me it's easier to do both returns or neither return when married people want to file separately. I really need to know that both didn't claim the same kid or both didn't claim 100% of the mortgage interest. I mean, IRS letters practically mail themselves when stupid crap happens. I'm going with both or neither.

I think this is reasonable enough. If two married people whose only filing options are MFJ or MFS both come to me for tax prep, I assume their goal is to achieve the best tax outcome for the family. If they are feuding and carrying on and looking out for Number 1 only, they are going to two different preparers anyway, just like they're going to two different attorneys. I will say that If they tell me they are splitting up, and want to know about their individual liability, I have no problem figuring that. I also don't mind directing refunds to two accounts. But I assume they wouldn't both be in my office if they weren't interested in working together.

Absolutely correct. We get hired to solve a problem. If it doesn't matter if the return is accurate, people who don't care about accuracy don't need us. We get back the ones who get audited. That's it.

You are so right. I spent 15 minutes yesterday with a person I just met who's about to start a business in 2017. He did not understand that "depreciate," "write off," and "deduct" meant subtract. I couldn't figure out why he kept asking me the same question: "You mean I can't take off the equipment?" I decided I need to listen a little more carefully and explain things like I'm talking to a fifth grader when I'm talking about taxes. Never underestimate your client's intelligence. Always underestimate your client's knowledge. I've got to remember that.

Oh, I wondered why he wanted to use depreciation and actual expenses. The sister. Got it. As Sara pointed out, SMR does include depreciation. Sometimes you can explain, and other times I would explain AND do the 2106 both ways to illustrate. Then there are the hard headed people who are determined they know, and I let them shoot themselves in the foot. Like the ones who don't want to pay me to prepare 1099s and show up at tax time with the red IRS copy in their paperwork. I don't say a word - they got this...

Excess reimbursements are taxable. In this case, if Terry's salaried guy has excess reimbursements on 2106, they'll get reported on line 7 of 1040. I'm not sure why Terry's client would claim actual expenses that are less than SMR unless it increases EITC. (I'd take a pass on that one as a preparer.) Also, employers may reimburse at any rate they want. If they reimburse at 60 cents a mile for 2016, for example, they're supposed to include the extra six cents a mile in Box 1 of W-2.