NECPA in NEBRASKA

Glad to have you back Ron. My husband had an ICD implanted in 2007 and we are forever grateful. I'm glad that his battery has lasted longer than yours. It was changed at five years and paces him 100% of the time. I'm happy that you are doing well.

I've been having a client beg me to sign a letter for them to re-mortgage again, that his wife owns Schedule C business on their tax return and has been in business for ____ years. I have told him several times that I will sign my insurance company approved letter that I have prepared the return with information provided by the taxpayer and that a Schedule C is included. He has called me three times, asking me to sign whatever the mortgage company wants. The last time, he asked if another CPA would sign it for him. I told him to call around and check, but I didn't know how they could sign for a return that they didn't prepare.

Congratulations!

In my client's case, the income is only from his services. He has minimal expenses and is not planning on doing this work for more than a few years. He really thought that he was going to be an S corp, because he was told that he wouldn't have pay anything but income taxes, because he could take it all as distributions. I informed him that was incorrect as long as I was preparing the returns. That's what happens when you get your tax advice from a construction guy. His wife informed him that he was going to do their returns the correct way.

My guy would like to file as a one member LLC now, because he said that he didn't want to have a partnership. Great timing! Why don't they ask earlier? He does have an EIN and the IRS expects a 1065.

I have the same issue with a client now. They didn't ask questions until they had filed as a 2 member LLC with Legalzoom. The wife has nothing to do with the business at all, but now they will get to pay big bucks for a partnership return and 1040. Apparently, Legalzoom led them to believe that it should be a 2 member LLC. They wanted to have it as an S Corp, with no salary, but that's not happening if I'm preparing the returns. There is plenty of income.

Run. You don't want to prepare returns that you know are incorrect. It looks like I'm going to be firing a long term client, because his insurance agent knows more than me and says that he can deduct his health insurance and the agent will write up a plan. (Based on the old rules. They don't have to listen to the new ones, because they will be taken away.) I'm hoping that maybe his agent will prepare his taxes.

I am not sure that I see the difference in writing down their figures on a sheet of paper or filling in numbers on their organizer. I am not auditing their business, but I do ask questions if I think that there is an issue. Many of them bring me their whole year on notebook paper, including their individual items and where they added the items up. I don't think that means that I have to check their addition. Many people are not comfortable with computers. Some of these clients have been bringing me their information the same way for over 20 years. I've had a few Schedule C audits and only one owed the IRS a fairly small amount.

Happy New Year to you and everyone else!

I'm sure that all of my 3115's will be finished. I'm still trying to deal with corporations that have to make changes after the DOL regs from 11/6/14. I texted a client on Christmas Eve to give them the good news that they should read about the new health insurance company that they switched to, because it was taken over by the state and they will have to find new insurance before open enrollment closes. I'm so glad that I did not switch to that one because the premiums were so much lower than what I have. I was tempted though, because it was a pretty large difference.

I didn't use the DVD, I was going to and then decided to download. I just forgot that it was in the drive.

I went to the other forum and there was a link to the knowledge base. Totally my fault, I had not removed the 2014 DVD from the drive, which was causing 2013 to not open. I had no idea that it would make a difference.

Maybe I misunderstood. It appeared to me that it was only if you used bank products.

When I try to open 2013, now that I installed 2014, I get "The program has encountered an unexpected error and needs to close." I need the program tomorrow am for someone that is coming in. I am running Windows 7 Pro 64. I could just scream.

I'm sorry to ask stupid questions. 'm finally getting around to installing 2014. Do I really need to add my date of birth and SS# to their website? I don't want to put it on there if I don't have to for obvious reasons. Also, do I need to verify my EFIN again, since I've been their customer for a long time? It's not a problem, I just don't remember if I already did this. Thanks!

Apparently, great minds think alike. We posted that at the same time.

How about asking what form does the taxpayer have to sign to efile a 1040?

I don't want to have a client get audited down the road after they have the ability to track ACA info and then find out that they can and will penalize taxpayers and preparers for prior years. Karen can say all that she wants, but I have been to way too many tax seminars where I am hearing the opposite. I'm getting my clients ready now for an increase and needing more information.

I went to a tax update yesterday and according to the speakers and their texts, there is more to it than just checking the box. You need to know if the insurance met the ACA standards, how many people were covered, how many months of the year, etc. They even suggest keeping some verification of the insurance in your records for future problems, such as with the IRS or if the client gets any letters from them down the road. All in all it was another depressing day. I have to call a few more clients about the ramifications of the DOL 11/6 notification, it's not just S corps. The penalties would bankrupt most small businesses. If they don't change these technical rules, no one should provide health insurance for their employees. My policy is grandfathered in for one more year. I went to the exchange and to get a policy close to what I have, it will be about $400 more per month. I thought that it was supposed to be more affordable. I am too old to want to drop to a policy with fewer benefits.

I will be charging extra and showing the amount separately for the ACA and anyone that will need to comply with the new capitalization regs. Most of my businesses will be put on extension, unless we find that we don't have to made retroactive changes with the form 3115.

I guess I am still unclear about whether the number of employees to take into consideration is the total on payroll or the total eligible employees for reimbursement. I am going to call BASE again and ask if they have further information. What they explained to me when I called was that it was for any S corp with more than one employee, because that is what makes them subject to the ACA. The sad thing is that this goes back to the beginning of 2014. One of my clients is going to reimburse his corporation, but most of them don't have the money to do that.

So if someone without insurance has 9 or 10 dependents, then you have to do the shared responsibility worksheet that many times plus the parents? I guess I will just hope that the software has a box to check everyone.

Thank you. I have not heard from BASE yet, but will be checking with them to see if there is anything else that I should be checking out.

The AICPA is trying to get the IRS to change the $500 to $2,500 and get rid of the adjustments to the prior depreciation schedule, because of the hardship to small clients. I hope that it works.

Gene, I have taken two different seminars that discussed it. I hadn't realized that this was going to be a requirement when I read the new regs. They are ridiculous for small businesses and will be a headache.