BLACK BART

Seems like everybody (including the early birds) is coming in about a month slower that usual.

No restrictions on cashing of the checks. Client said he saw two of the them last year and gave them their checks - I don't know about the third guy. One said at the time that they were having legal problems with their grandchildren and a trust. They don't come around or return his calls now. He never issued any 1099s. Don't know if he will want to now or not - will ask. I think I'll deduct the two who received their checks and ask client what happened with the third guy. Checked Arkansas escheatment - five years on most property, but no rules on checks and drafts. Too complicated to worry about that anyway. Someday; somebody's going to bring in a straightforward tax return with no hitches and I'll pass out.

Farmer client rents land from three related landlords for a flat cash amount - $2,500 to each. He wrote the checks last year, but - odd thing - months later, none of the checks have been cashed. He thinks they may be selling their land to someone else, but none of them will discuss it with him. My guy really doesn't care why they're holding them 'cause he has other options, but he's a cash basis taxpayer and he wrote the checks in 2016. They COULD have been cashed at any time before year's end, but were NOT. Of course, he wasn't actually out the money in 2016, but they can still be cashed at any time. Question: Is the expense deductible in 2016? Or do we have to wait until they get around to cashing them? P.S. I've got an idea what everybody's going to say, but as a client who needed an expense but was not entitled to it once pleaded with me: "But, I NEED that deduction!"

Do you mean five form 982s? If yes what box did you check in Part I and did you fill in anything else on the form or attach anything?

It wasn't a primary residence or a rent house - just a summer place he could no longer afford. I don't KNOW the filed doc was a 982, but couldn't think what else could have been done so quickly - said he was out the door in 20 minutes. I had already filed 2015 before he got the notice so it didn't go in with the tax return. He did not and has not received a 1099-C yet. But maybe, as Catherine says, he'll get one later. In the meantime, it's been a year, nothing's come up, and he's either lucky or living in a fool's paradise. I've filed a 1099-C for others on forgiven credit card debt on 1040 line 21, but I've noticed that NOT ALL the credit card companies actually issue a 1099-C. In any case, it seems to me that IRS enforcement on this sort of thing is spotty and inconsistent. If clients are to be believed (a long shot, I know) many have told me of other such infrequent situations where I KNOW they should have received later IRS notices, but never did. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099a.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f982.pdf I think line 1b in Part I of the 982 would apply here.

Last year a client brought in a 1099-A and wanted it taken care of immediately. Told him it was involved, he would need purchase contract + other papers (he had nothing) and I didn't have time right that moment. Unmoved, said he was worried and couldn't wait another day, so he went elsewhere. I didn't know how to handle it anyway, so that was okay with me (other than unsatisfied professional curiosity). He came back this year, said the other guy "grabbed a piece of paper, wrote a couple of things on it, and gave it to me to mail." I'm thinking that "piece of paper" maybe was a Form 982 (I've never done one). This was a vacation lake house which the guy stopped paying on, then walked away and left the house empty. Form info listed is: lender/ date of lender's acquisition or knowledge of abandonment/ balance of principal outstanding/ fair market value/ property description/ a checked box indicating the borrower was personally responsible for repayment of the debt. Amount owed was $95K and change; FMV was $93K. If my guy was telling the truth, could it be that the other prepper simply checked the 982 box 1b (discharge of indebtedness to the extent insolvent {not in a title 22 case}), had it mailed, and that killed off the 1099-A? Is it that easy?

Just one, but heavily so and she's pretty quick on the uptake.

Hate to ask in front of you all, God, the world, and everybody else but apparently I need to know - what's FMLA? A 4-page pamphlet just arrived in the mail from NST(?). They want me to send $249 ($499/super-duper edition) to get me in-the-loop on it. They say recent changes "have left organizations scrambling to make sure they're in compliance with the law" and that I need to "learn about the latest changes to FMLA and where the future stands." Gosh, I haven't even scrambled yet -- much less figured out where the future's goin'. I voted last time, but after that it's up to you-know-who and Kiplinger to fill me in, isn't it? Do you reckon it's an offshoot of the 4-H Club? All tipsters will remain anonymous (for those of you also not-in-the-know).

Your subject's funnier than mine (by the way, I like your Dr. Seuss quote very much), but regarding estimated tax I once inherited a new bank president as a client. I'd done his predecessor(a smart, reasonable man)'s return and he recommended me. The first year everything went swimmingly 'cause even though he made scads of dough he paid heavy estimates. Second year, same income, but, he had decided to forego the estimates (told me this a month before the deadline) and just go with the bank's withholdings. Highly P.O.ed at me and my projected high tax due, he asked "Why?" Told him "Well, see; if you make so much money then you're gonna have to pay so much tax and you did and you did not pay your estimates like you did last year. You still have all that paid-for rent property." He said "Well, so what? I've got banker friends who make the same as I do and they pay nothing; why should I?" I reply "Each case is different - your friends may or may not have things you do or do not have which can either help or hurt you." To no avail; he -- the town's leading financial wizard, advisor, analyst -- decamped and went off to, supposedly, greener and tax-free pastures. It's an odd thing; I've noticed over the years that the more money people make (usually starting around $100K) and the ego expands, the less tax they expect to pay -- as if success will or should provide an escape unavailable to mere mortals.

Well said, girl - well said. I've got a couple of those frail #2s too and, like you, I'm pretty fond of them.

I swear practitioners of this trade should be automatically awarded full membership in the American Board of Psychiatrists and Bartenders. The clients are actually much more interesting than their tax problems. Last week I argued with a guardhouse lawyer (specializing in W-2 forms) who demanded to claim two kids living with his sister for his EIC since she had told him "I've got five, but I only need three for that "UNearned Income Credit" and you can have the other two." He left complaining two perfectly usable kids were "going to waste." March is more interesting. Heavy-lifting returns started two weeks ago and it brings out some amusing characters. #1: 1099-B: What can I do about this? BB: Nothing. You bought $10K stock back in '01, you sold it for $48K this year, you owe tax on the difference. #1: No, not THAT. I mean your $300 fee! BB: #2: Elderly clients had to cough up $5K for taxes/estimates. Very grouchy about everything - quite stern and chit-chat does not appease them. To wrap it up, I make out payment envelopes for their convenience and (to make sure it gets done) put stamps on them. Whole mood changes; they're happy as larks - never mind tax and my $600 fee - they've scored $1.88 in free postage. ____________________________________________________________ What a piece of work is a man! Shakespeare. --- Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2 And how was your week?

You're absolutely right! It just rang a bell in my head -- last season I filed three clients who were on Obamacare and had coverage gaps (no exceptions applied). They had said they were NOT on Obamacare and were covered all year by somebody. I filed all three, no penalty, checked the coverage box. Ordinarily IRS doesn't write about omissions for 1 1/2 years -- to my surprise all three got five-page IRS letters within TWO weeks demanding they fill out an 8962 and saying their refunds would be held until they complied. I was astonished to receive an IRS response this quick. Now, I think your idea is right - IRS wasn't taking any chances about getting their money.

Yes it was. And quite impressive too.

AAAaaarrrrrggghhHHH ! ELECTRONISTAS! YOU'RE EVERYWHERE! YOURE EVERYWHERE! What's so bad about paper? Or newspapers? While I admit we no longer need it to wrap fish in; think of all the park-bench derelicts saved from freezing by this staple of bumdom. Here's a list to help - I'm confident you'll be quite taken with these practical tips. As a matter of fact, I have personal knowledge of one: while I was clerkin' at a cotton gin once, the press operator (who couldn't read or write) kept borrowin' my Wall Street Journal (I aspired to play the market). Curious about his avid interest in the GNP and such (he could maybe buy lunch), I asked, and he replied: "It saves on toilet paper." http://prepforshtf.com/16-uses-old-newspaper/ May you be confined to a space with no PDFs and lots of NCRs.

Anything new or any comments on this? I read somewhere (maybe here) that the rollback of the penalty is going to be retroactive, but haven't the foggiest if that's true at all. We are still charging it pending a final say-so. And I'm not discussing it with clients, at least for now; that would be an all-day conversation and I don't think the thing can be nailed down at the moment. Questions arise over: charge it now/ don't charge it now/ amend later/ will amending BE possible/ if so, does client pay 1040X or we do it pro bono/ possible IRS billing later (more customer ill-will from paying cash later than deducting from a refund now). I checked last week with a big-box outfit; they're still charging it. What's everybody else doing?

We generally run a cash business here (excepting a few "sure-things"), but several years ago a now long-dead minister told me "If I'm still alive, I'll pay you Friday."

I dunno - I never even read the details; just remembered it from an old seminar and the only thing that rang a bell was the court deciding it's NOT subject to SE. Probably doesn't make much difference anyway though 'cause everybody's got a different outlook and IRS is not (I think) required to follow a TC memo. They'd probably fight this stuff from trench to trench if the money was compelling. Oh...okay, yeah; I had forgotten all about those Planck length-losing localities. Now I've got it. Thanx. You guys have got guts; somebody would have to pull a gun to make me suggest confronting my sis-in-law with an SS-8....

http://www.bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Endnotes/TC_Memo_1992-727.pdf Unless it's an amount they can't stand, I'll generally go with the C-EZ since attempting to get anybody to change a 1099 or issue a W-2 instead is on the order of trying to achieve world peace. But here's something from "way back in the nineties" (John A. Batok, Tax Court Memo, 1992-727) that shores up your position. And, after all, would I dare argue with the enlightened entity who's familiar with "the singularities of X"? Certainly not! And I would've bet a hundred bucks nobody could answer that dang thing I stole from a mathematics site. How'd you do it ?

Okay, but the point of the story was not about how it's cool being young enough or savvy enough to scoff at NCR (or anything older than yesterday) but rather that clerical service is just awful nowadays. Abby: Is that (for now) electronically-created deposit an image on a computer screen or is it on a piece of paper that you physically hand to the teller? Lion: No one can argue that phones are light years from the past. But I'm (light years) enough older to have once heard a real, live operator immediately say "Number, please" and ten seconds later I was talking to the person I called. Fast forward many decades and I can either select from a 10-20 item menu or stay on hold for half-an-hour (if lucky). Making a business call used to be a breeze - it was nothing. Now it's frequently an exhausting, maddening task just getting past the robots and nitwits to anybody with enough sense to help. Oh well; that's enough from an old curmudgeon -- like the flippant folks say; it is what is it is, so suck it up (and that's what I'll do). I read somewhere that the first rule of business is that you have to keep up with the times. But, I don't have to like it.

Wwwaaaayyyy back in the nineties, eh? My, how time flies (but not so the younger set, I suppose). Tell me, what do you do if some non-millennial accidentally stumbles in the office with (what was that thing?), oh yeah, a check? Do you teleport it to the bank or list it on a (shudder) paper deposit slip?

Okay, okay, you wise guys; I'm throwin' in the towel. It appears the neighborhood hereabouts is swamped with physicists and philosophers. We have the same situation here in Hicksville - the woods are full of 'em. But on the down side, in order to pass a burgwide ordinance it takes five tavern louts and a jug of whiskey to raise a quorum. I don't know whether it's worse to be stuck in the seventies or in this lightweight century. P.S. to Abby: RE: "Probably. What's a checkbook? Oh, wait I remember those!" I'll bet you're old enough to remember what one was when you wanted to get a paycheck out of it and weren't so dismissive back then.

Is there anyone, anywhere left out there who is not on the cutting edge of technological change? Yeah, yeah, I know - I've still got carbon paper (never mind NCR) and all the cool crew either fly jets or teleport themselves to work. Well anyway, if you are on that edge, then answer me this one: Let XCO3 be a normal quartic surface with divisor class group Cl(X)≅Z[H] generated by the hyperplane section. What can we say about the singularities of X ?

Didn't somebody write a song with that title? Well anyway, today I received the NCR deposit slips that the bank ordered for me. Only thing, they are not NCR. They're just blank singles. I'll live, but still... Last month I ordered blank singles for the personal account and got NCR which I had not ordered. But, I liked them so well I decided to order the company deposit slips in NCR too and, of course, I got the opposite. Now, it's back to carbon paper (for youths who don't know what that is; never mind -- it would take too long to explain). Sort of reminds me of a Seinfeld episode (also not for youths because, as a spring chicken client recently told me"...that happened way back in the nineties"). But anyhoo you may remember the one in which George, frustrated when he followed his own judgment and everything went haywire; cleverly decided to simply figure out what he thought best, then simply do the opposite, and things would work out every time. Next time I'm ordering blank singles.

My apologies to you (Pacun) for startin' all this mess. Like Gene, I didn't know what all those things were (although I've got the EA and DID also ONCE get an A+ ). They certainly ARE much more impressive (and real, of course) than the Beasts & Fishies guy's and congratulations to you on having the brains and fortitude to slog through what I imagine would be a very long and tough road to get them. Darn it, Gail; it certainly does smart when a body gets slapped with the truth ("...being an unpaid auditor and data entry clerk for the IRS.") But you're right on the money and even though it's too late for me to start technifying, I may yet run for mayor of Dogpatch.

. Pistols at dawn, gentlemen? John; since I've known you longer I herewith offer to be your second.