Randall

He should have gone there first with the staff person to assist him. Then he might have trained him better. That kind of thing takes experience, not just a set of instructions. He doesn't say if he came up with anything better for the client.

I thought you were not eligible for the credit unless you did get the insurance thru the exchange. Not sure though.

I like the concept of insurance and having a term policy in a higher amount and a permanent policy in a lower amount. Your term policy premium is probably guaranteed for so many years. So how many more years is that premium guaranteed? Do you think you will need life insurance after that time? It also probably has a provision to convert some or all to a permanent policy without any underwriting. That provision has an expiration. So when is the expiration and how is your health if you had to go thru underwriting? These are things to consider. Permanent policies come in more than WL. There are ULs and VULs. You need to talk to your agent about the choices. With permanent policies in small amounts, I would not treat the policy cash value as something to tap into but rather merely a death benefit. Unless you have very large amounts of policy value, I would NOT borrow against it. It can and probably will come back to bite you with severe tax consequences. The very wealthy utilize life insurance and annuities. But they can afford them and therefore and take much better advantage of the benefits. The rest of us have fewer choices and unfortunately, term is the way to go. And even then, too many have no insurance or too little even if it's term.

I don't like the backup file not having the client name. But if you export the files, the export files do have the client name. I know it may be redundant, but I do both backup and export.

I always do a personal eyeball review as well as checking the final numbers with my data source forms. I especially look at line 7 total and make sure it equals the individual W2 total. If differenct, I look for the reason. Most of the time, it is my error, sometimes, it's due to the correct things coming from other than a W2.

I agree with SaraEA. Besides, if you opt for calendar year, the 2013 return would have been due April 15, 2014 unless you filed an extension. I assume the extension was not filed since you just received this info.

Besides the employee factor, the higher amount of SEP vs SIMPLE may depend on the owner's income. SEP maximum is calculated by a percentage. SIMPLE maximum is calculated by a dollar amount.

Not sure about each state, but I thought the minimum payroll period was biweekly. For the very simple situations where a client wants to do their own payroll, I've set them up a simple Excel spreadsheet. Then I do the quarterly returns for them. It still runs them $100/quarter, $400 for the year.

And with increased basis over the years plus recent down market, there may be a loss. So child can carry forward the loss.

Taxed each year as OldJack said. But it would have added to basis so when shares are sold (assuming mutual funds), gain would be lower.

It must be based on W2 wages. Deduction comes on the 1120S in form of gross wages. Employer contribution deducted on 1120S as pension expense. So the lower amount is reported on 1040 passed thru K-1 schedule. W2 will show lesser amount in wages subject to income tax, so lower amount is reported on 1040. Nothing to do with SE income on 1040.

I like the tiles. I've seen desktops full of icons, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Did not have a problem with ATX on my laptop. Win 8.1 did some modifications. Win 8.1 has been updated and they didn't even give it a name. Not sure when Win9 will be out or if they'll even call it Win9. Win8 has been out a year and a half. 2020 is only 5 and a half years away. Take Jack's advice: buy the latest. Just ribbing you Jack. We just disagree on this one.

It's time to go W8 when buying a new system. W7 is the next XP.

I've noticed more brokerage 1099s having Box A or D available if not in whole, in part, giving subtotals that we can just input the total or subtotal for those categories. It at least reduces the number of entries for Box B and E. We should see more of this the farther out we go since brokerages have been required to track basis and report basis for the past few years.

Yes, KC, but I thought the original post was that the client was paid an employer per diem rate and didn't keep track of his actual cost, but wanted to use the higher govt per diem rate deemed as his substantiated cost, then deduct the difference. My understanding is for self-employed persons and employees who are not reimbursed anything, they can use the govt per diem rate as their substantiated cost without keeping receipts. They still have to substantiate it is business travel with dates, travel log, etc.

I thought if an employer reimburses an employee a M&IE per diem rate, the amount deemed substantiated was the LESSER of the employer's reimbursed rate or the federal rate. So,can the employee really deduct the difference on Sch A (unless his actual costs exceed his remibursement)? Don't have time now to check references.

Good timing for me on this post. Was just asked about this by a client. Does not pertain to his 2013 return.

Just a few more to go. Have been contacting clients the past week who I think will owe and getting them to send in payments. Like Jack said about Ohio, here in No. Ky., the local business returns want their own extension and an estimated payment. That's always a pain, but it's nice when the actual return is completed and they don't owe much and there's no penalty.

I gave up. I don't want to bother with refilling myself. You used to be able to shake the cartridge and get a couple more days out of it. Now you're lucky to get 10 pages. I just buy new ones and pay. Even the new ones don't last long. They practically give away the printers so they have to make their money with the cartridges.

I'm not seeing anything that death is an exception to exclude COD from income. 1099-C is marked Federal Student Loan. But I still don't see death as an exception. Just wanted to ask in case I'm missing something.

Danrvan, no formal contract, just a personal informal 'typed' summary of what they are doing. But even that has inconsistencies. That is why I was wondering if this should be reported as income of some sort, even if just 1040 line 21, or just added to contract price when sale takes place. If sale never takes place, it could be considered gifts, with double spouses, keeps it under the annual exclusion.

More info now. Did not sell half interest. He and wife live in house. So called sale was to daughter and son-in-law. Now I'm wondering if it is even a sale. Buyers are going to obtain financing and purchase whole house at market value($455k). The agreement (personal) is for 'buyers' to pay 'sellers' $1336 per month until they obtain financing to purchase the house. I'm wondering if this is even an installment sale and not even a sale yet. But I'm wondering how to treat the $1336 received by buyer (my client). Could it be other income (sort of income for holding rights) or just deposits until financing is obtained and the real sale takes place. Or even gifts? I'm concerned not to blow client's personal residence exclusion. Basis is about $160k.

Client sells half interest in his residence. Not been used as rental, just personal residence. Client continues to live in the home as his personal residence. I don't think the sale can qualify for the exclusion since he continues to live there. I think the sale of the half interest goes as capital gain as you would normally treat an installment sale. In the future when and if he sells the other half, that half would qualify for the personal residence gain exlusion (all other requirements being met). Any thoughts or comments on this situation are appreciated. Just wondering if I'm missing anything.

Fine but if they have positive cash flow, they're going to want cash distributions. So you're back where you were the first year. And putting in the W2 makes it ordinary income instead of LT Cap gains.

It may appear to be a loss, but there could actually be a repossession gain to be reported. Look up repossession gains. Simply, it could be all money previously received minus the gain previously reported. Then basis is recalculated. Face value of remaining loan minus uncollected gross profit on that amount, plus repossession gain plus cost to repossess.