NECPA in NEBRASKA

Thanks! I'm definitely signing up for this.

I just attended another webinar for businesses and Vern Hoven said the same thing as the last seminar that I went to, that every business will have to file a form 3115 that should receive automatic consent for changes in accounting methods because of the new repair and maintenance, materials and supplies and capitalization changes. I'm hoping that it shows up under elections in the software.

I only send organizers to clients that actually use them, and I have quite a few of them that do. I really like the idea above that said that they mail the question pages to everyone. I think that I will implement that and try to cut back on a few of the questions in my annual letter. Of course they have to actually open my letter. I can't believe how many bring the envelope in unopened. It takes so many hours, dead trees and postage to mail out those, along with the engagement letters and organizers. I wish that I had more people that trusted the Internet.

Thank you. I know that they have a general power of attorney, but maybe I would need a consent form now with the new rules. Maybe they can just wait until VITA opens up again and they will continue preparing it with no questions asked.

My reason for turning people down is always the real reason; I can't handle any more work. I barely sleep as it is and it's not fun anymore.

I don't have to be objective in my selection of clients. I am not an attorney and I own my business so I choose my clients as carefully as possible. I certainly wouldn't let him into my home and that is where I work. Judy, I would not be surprised if he had income from his illegal activities and that is certainly one of the reasons that I don't want to mess with EIC. Fortunately, I am swamped with a ton of work and education to take so advising to them to go to a big box will get the returns done much quicker.

or NE.

Thanks. I will look into preparing at no charge.

Thanks. I will just change the question. If I don't charge for a return, and just put in the numbers and print it to be mailed, can I keep my PTIN and name off of the return? Since both will be EITC returns and I don't have access to the taxpayer to ask the required questions. My biggest hangup is the EITC portion. There would be no refunds without it. Thanks.

I just got a call today from a long time client saying that he wanted to stop using Sch C and only use the C-EZ form. I asked him why and he said that he didn't make as much this year as he had projected for his health care credits so he doesn't want to take his expenses. His reasoning was that some attorney on the Internet said that expenses are optional and that you can do whatever you want. I asked him what he wanted to do with the equipment that he was depreciating and his office in the home. I explained to him that I have to sign his return and that if I know that the return is incorrect, that I won't be signing it. I also explained that his messing around with expenses may cause him to get a larger EIC and I wasn't going to be part of that. He said that the return would not be incorrect. I asked him if all of his past returns were incorrectly filed and he did not have an answer. I may have to dump this guy, because I can't trust him. Next year, he will probably want to change back again. This is why I hate having everything dumped on a tax return. I know I'm just cranky, but if my husband wasn't sick, I would probably be looking for a different job and get out of this mess.

Thank you, I had read that and since the royalties were not received in the ordinary course of a trade or business, I did not think that they should reduce the net investment income. The program was automatically pulling it over as a deduction so I overrode the line to 0.

Thanks, KC. There is no K1. It is being pulled from the various 1099-MISC in box 2 Royalties. I think that I will just override it, because I can not see anyway to get it to work. The 1099's are flowing through to the Schedule E, so it is definitely being shown as passive income.

I don't know if ATX is correct or not. My client has rental property income and received royalties which are reported on 1099-Misc and flow through to the Schedule E. The net rental positive income from both is showing on line 40 of the 8960 as I would expect. Line 4b is showing a negative amount that offsets the total above with the worksheet saying royalties derived in the ordinary course of a Section 162 trade or business that is not a passive activity. I did not put this amount in there, it was pulled over by ATX. Everything that I can find says that royalties ARE passive income. I can override the amount to 0, but I want to make sure that I am not missing some new ruling about royalties. Example 4a $30,000 4b -$30,000 Thanks for any help on this form. This is only my second one of these and it sure has some different calculations, such as the state income tax attributable to the income, etc. Thanks!

I just read today that now they are trying to get the IRS to change the due date for W-2s from employers to 1/31 and drop the efile requirement to at least 10 W2s from 250.

I didn't understand it either. I just got back to my office and will drag out the book and see how explained it. Several of us tried to discuss it with him, but then he just said it was time to go on break. It makes me feel better that it wasn't mentioned at the IRS seminars. This is the first one that I have attended this year and I still have Vern Hoven and a few more to go to. I have printed out a lot of emails, etc about the regs, but hearing about the 3115's being required for some reason made no sense. Thanks!

Did anyone hear anything like this at the IRS seminars? This is the first that I had heard or read anything about the changes requiring so much additional work. The presenter is an ex revenue agent out of Iowa. I will look at what was in their material and post it when I get back to the office. He is always an alarmist, but I really like the other presenters, so I continue to go to the seminars.

I went to a tax seminar today and the instructor and material says that the IRS is expecting almost every return that includes depreciation to have a Form 3115 attached and that if you don't they will be checking to see why it's not attached. I can't imagine how much extra time this is going to take on top of the ACA changes. How are all of you handling these changes? Are you calling your clients and explaining the new rules or sending out letters? I swear, if I were younger, I'd be trying to get out of this field. Thanks!

I have been reminding my tardy clients for a few weeks. I am taking my granddaughter to Orlando with my sister on 10/8 and not coming back until 10/14. We are going to Disney World and Universal. I hope that they have the kinks out of the new Diagonal Alley. Andrew will meet us as soon as he can grab a non-rev seat. It's always tough to get to Orlando, so I bought a ticket even though I'd really like to fly for free, since he probably won't work there much longer, because Delta doesn't offer any internships here and it's required for his degree.

I am still working on a bunch of returns. I research here and all over the Internet and CCH before I post to the board, because I don't want to bother anyone with questions unless I am really stumped or in a huge hurry. I spent hours last week checking out the NII tax and if they could come close to real estate professionals and if they did, would it be a smart move. I wish that I was younger so that I didn't have to look up so much stuff, because I can't remember all of these rules anymore.

I have received three calls this week.

I use my phone/tablet a lot, because it would be a huge pain to drag my laptop everywhere and it can't take decent pictures. I have been to 4 doctor appointments with my mom in the last week and it's so much easier to take a picture of doctor orders, her new doctor referral, etc and then drag it into Evernote/and her folder, which then syncs to my tablet and laptop. I know that I could be much more efficient if I took some classes at the local community college. Any technical skills that I have are totally self taught as they were still teaching typing when I went to high school. Today I was doing group texts to my siblings giving them the updates and the new appointments that are coming up.My phone is password protected and running three different anti-virus and malware programs. It will mostly self destruct if I lose it.

I had an old client call and ask me today about an IRS phone call. I told him to call the normal toll free number to see if they could tell him anything. In his case, it may have been the IRS, but since he is elderly, it could easily have been a phony call.

I haven't actually logged in from upstairs, because I did not receive an answer from my rep. I guess it doesn't matter now, because I won't use my laptop until I get it upgraded to Windows 7 anyway. I paid too much for it to just go get a new one.

Jack, Here is a stupid question. I know that the license is address specific, but is it a violation of my license? if I remote in from my laptop upstairs or maybe on the deck to my office in the basement? I asked my customer service rep, (when I had one) and he didn't know and didn't get back to me. Sometimes I just want to be up with the family and not stuck downstairs. I also asked my old rep if I needed to buy another license to remote in while I was out of town for a few days and did not receive an answer again. I just ended up not working those few days. Thank you, you definitely seem to know more than any rep that I have had. I guess I don't have one now, because they don't seem to care if I renew or not.

Those are so funny! Thanks for the laugh.