joanmcq

I agree with jainen, and issuing a 2011 1099-R just compounds the screwup. Your client will have to take both the 2012 & 2013 RMDs this year. File as though no penalty, and if one is assessed, there is grounds for abatement. A 2011 withdrawal is only required if the original owner had reached 70.5 and did not take their RMD in 2011.

Ok, looks like an update is in order.

Were there any issues? I took a couple of weeks of vacation, and didn't upgrade before I left since I was churning out returns as fast as possible (and had a couple of last minute audits drop into my lap), and now there's 12.18 as well. I'm still on 12.16, and it's been working fine. I haven't seen as many postings on this board or the other about the last two updates..

You are so far over your head you don't even know you're drowning. Your client needs knowledgable and qualified representation, and you aren't even attempting to educate yourself on the issues you are clueless about. Have you even reviewed the 19 pages of documents that were sent by your client? Have you read the tax treaty (if there is one with Columbia) to see if the dividends are taxable? It's a de minimus amount, but providing proof for your position on them could go a way towards convincing the auditor that you are competent, for which you'll need all the help you can get, because you certainly are not convincing me. Case law, facts & circumstances are what will prove or disprove the deduction.

I might hit San Diego. None are really good as far as dates go due to other plans.

Faxing is better than mailing IMHO, with the transmission receipt. Cheaper too, and shows your first page and the number of pages that were sent. No way to use the 'empty envelope' defense I've heard of the IRS using. How were you trying to resolve it through e-services? I've never tried to use account resolution.

Minimum requirements for the job is another reason to disallow the MBA deduction. As I said before, the deductibility of an MBA is very much a facts and circumstances issue. I don't see where you have reviewed the relevant case law closely and stated where your client's fact pattern fits with the winning cases vs. the losing cases. In fact, you haven't even mentioned any of the cases, which leads me to believe you haven't read any. Why is your client still talking with the auditor? And what do the tuition/1098-Ts/transcripts show? Please stop mentioning the wage & income transcript; the only place a scholarship will show is on the 1098-T. And yes, I've had a response within 5 days. I had one within 5 hours on a case with which I was working very closely with the auditor. Actually, it was more like an hour.

There is one case where a taxpayer won who took a leave to get an MBA and was able to take a miscellaneous itemized deduction for the tuition. You'll need to study the few cases where taxpayers won on the MBA deduction and study them carefully. As jainen has said, it's not an easy case to make and win, and I'll add that it's even harder when there is a break in employment. Was the taxpayer with the same employer before and after? If not, what type of job was the taxpayer doing before taking the time off to get the MBA? And what exactly did the taxpayer originally submit for the audit? Where could the auditor have come up with the scholarship number? Most 1098-Ts have an area for tuition billed & scholarships received; did the 1098-T show more scholarship than tuition? The 'billed' vs. 'paid' can be an issue with these stupid forms.

I agree with Jainen too. Net worth doesn't come into play here; any accounts that transferred to her are 'estate', and after death expenses are available to pay the taxes. Estate and taxable estate are two very different things.

One of my issues is that I'd like to network now that I have an assistant. So I really need to find out how that is working for 2013.

So what is the 'rest of the story?' Btw, my criticisms are directed at your rant, because a. You were backwards on why they got the notice, blaming the $19, not the 1099-R, b. you blamed incompetent IRS employees, rather than bad programming. Or some other factor, of which I hope you enlighten us.

But why do you say the 'language was inclusive' on this area, yet do not consider the changing times when considering gun control? You can't have it both ways. I am using progressive in its current definition, not what a party may have been named in 1910. Anyone who has studied history knows that the southern democrats supported segregation, so it makes sense that MLK, Jr. Was republican. But the parties have switched sides. Republicans today are in some sort of la la land, using patriotic slogans to convince the uneducated to not notice that it is a party dedicated to wealth disparity, dismantling the safety net, and ushering in a new Guilded Age.

You can buy a Win 7 computer. I just did from Dell.

Yes. They got the deduction when they initially contributed to the 401(k).

Cathy, the $19 of dividends is not the issue. It didn't generate the notice, would not generate a notice. However, when the 1099s come in with IMPORTANT TAX INFORMATION on them, your clients should open their mail.

I'm going to beta-test 2013, so I'll have an idea of how next years program is working. If its working, I'll happily stay with ATX. Remember, I'm not having big issues with 2012; the main one is the memory leaks.

I'd vote if undecided was an option. I won't make up my mind until late in the year.

Then why did you use a desk audit as an example for why you believe a CP notice is reviewed before sent? I worked for years for a company doing nothing but CP notices 30 hours a week (before moving up to correspondence & desk audits) and know notices like the back of my hand. I've seen some doozies, including one where the decimal point on the 1099-SSA was missing and both the TP & spouse had, per notice over 1 million in missing Social Security income. That one was cleared up with a phone call, and both the AUR person & I had a good chuckle over it.

Beautiful!

Trust me, it was a computer. If you can get it done with a phone call, good. Otherwise, just fax a letter.

Rfassit, were you able to negotiate any discount for Profx? May I ask what you are paying, and what is included in your package, and a few details of your practice? I'm afraid I'll have to go with one of the high priced companies if ATX doesn't get it together, and I'm at such a juncture in my practice that I may have some pretty lean years if I have to spend more on software.

You are confusing a correspondence audit, a desk audit, and a CP2000 notice. A CP notice is seen by no human eyes until a response letter comes in.

The Republican Party has been overtaken by progressives? Thank god for Eric's new forum. Statements like this prove to me how there must be an alternate bizarro dimension some of you reside in. As far as Publius Huldah, apparently she hasn't read the part of the constitution regarding freedom of religion. Now Catherine, we all know that those white men, intelligent as they were, when writing "all men are created equal, et. al" in the Declaration of Independence, did not intend to include women, negroes, native Americans, minors, and others. It took many, many years before women were even considered competent enough to own property, vote...to gain so many of the rights the Bill of Rights gave when the constitution was framed to property holding white men. Even the definition of who is white has changed over the years. Are you so literalist in your defense of the constitution as written to give up your rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Cathy, the AUR CP2000 notices are exactly that, automated. They are spit out by computer mismatches of the tax return and whatever was reported. The $19 of dividend income did not generate the notice, the programming for the 1099-R did. Now this isn't to say that a code 4 1099-R should not have been programmed to show up on line 7- but once something that triggers a mismatch over the de minimus occurs, all mismatches show up on the notice. The only reasons a 1099-R goes on line 7 is if the payment is due to disability and the person is under normal retirement age, or a code 8 for over contribution to a retirement plan. So there's a hiccup in the programming. I've seen a bunch of hiccups in the programming over the years. So answer the notice with a simple letter, and get on with it. The TA isn't going to help you; they have become very discriminating in what cases they take up. I have found more often than not, one letter clears it up. Calling may get a look at the AUR programming to see if there is an issue; I don't think the IRS wants to waste time and resources on incorrect notices any more than you do.

Jeez, guys, it's a phrase and totally tongue in cheek. Since you make blanket statements on liberals, I'll make one about right-wingers: you have no sense of humor or subtlety.