joanmcq

It's not the IRS, its Congress. The IRS only administers. The problem with the 'rich investing' arguement is that over the last 12 years, they haven't been investing in America for the most part. Some have, like Space X, and Tesla Motors, but others have destroyed companies in leveraged buyouts that enrich only the 'investors'. Small businesses (an I mean really small businesses) are the true way to wealth in this country, and the odds are increasingly stacked against us. My local paper has been running articles lately about people who are starting businesses-a shaved ice stand run out of an Airstream trailor, a Chinese immigrant who became wealthy through McDonald's franchises, chain restaurant manager who opened his own. Most of these have one thread in common-the people in question lost their jobs (the chain guy was the only one who didn't) and couldn't find work, but they had an idea for a business. Most were middle class, and so had a bit of capital to invest. Some will just have a good life (being SE gives you an amazing sense of freedom), and some will end up like the Chinese immigrant who kept re-investing to true monetary wealth. And his story was of the first one being extremely cheap as it was in an extremely low income area, and involving sleeping in the restaurant for the first year. The point is, more wealth is created by those starting small on a shoestring than by the CEOs making a bazillion dollars a year. And this has always been true in the US.

Ok, but you to start to prepare returns, you have to pass the test. You have a 'provisional' PTIN.

No, you were able to apply for a PTIN up until Dec. 2010 and prepare taxes for pay, but have until Dec. 31, 2012 to pass the exam. Anyone that does not have a PTIN must pass the exam before they get the PTIN. Where did you see that the requirement was rescinded?

60 days is too short for the 2555. You'll use either the foreign tax credit or deduction-most likely the credit. FWIW, US government employees don't qualify to take the foreign income exclusion.

I wanted to comment on this below the article, but couldn't figure out how to get registered on the site. "For example, an individual who owes no tax for 2011 can collect a $13,360 refundable tax credit by fraudulently claiming he adopted a child and including Form 8839 (Qualified Adoption Expenses) with his Form 1040, along with some easily-manufactured bogus paperwork. He won't get caught for stealing the $13,360 unless he gets audited, which is pretty unlikely. I hate to be the one to publicize this low-risk fraud opportunity, but there you go." This is soooo inflamatory. Whatever you might think about the adoption credit and/or the refundable portion, it wasn't easy to obtain. Every single return with this credit was audited. Not exactly a low-risk opportunity for fraud. Most preparers complained how long it took for the returns to be processed, and the extreme amount of paperwork that had to be submitted. One of my new clients claimed the credit last year (I didn't prepare it), but I did see the audit report, where for a requested credit of $909, they could not find a reciept for $59. The credit was reduced by that amount. For all those who want a flat tax; AMT is it. Unfortunately it doesn't target whom it should any more. I'm all for finally indexing the exemption to a level that doesn't reflect 'weathy' circa 1969. And to stop playing politics with the tax code. Don't buy votes with tax credits, deductions, exemptions, etc. Stop with the Grover Norquist pledges, and determine what level of taxation is necessary to run the country, and tax that. The yearly uncertainty is worst for businesses than a slight increase in taxes would be. Do you all realize that 2011 was the first year in over 10 in which last minute crap wasn't pulled at the end of the year? I was amazed when my tax software showed up by Thanksgiving.

For liability reasons, I do not ever prepare the FBAR. I'll inform the client of the necessity of the form, review to see that the stuff is in the right place and instruct on the necessity of it, but I do not want to be responsible for the account values or number of accounts, or god forbid, missing an account. The FBAR is not a tax form and is not part of the return.

Ok, the answer is: it takes about two weeks to process the EIN, because I came back from vacation Saturday, tried them again and the efiles were accepted Sunday night for federal and Monday for CA. So Jack, sorry, but you are wrong. :P

Jack, was that a back filing (these are 2009 & 2010 returns)? on another board someone was able to efile a retun for a corp whose EIN was received in early May. But again, that may have been a 2011 return, not an old one. I'm still getting used to the idea of being able to efile back years. I don't do many entities.

Yuck. I'm leaving on vacation and was trying to get this done before I left. Dude couldn't even tell me what was filed on his behalf; took about a month to determine there was no EIN, no nothing. I hate DIY corps.

Got a corp an EIN on Thursday to do back filings from 2009 to 2011. The 2009 efile came back rejected due to the 'corp name needing to match the EIN on file with efle'. I didn't try 2010, since I figured it would reject as well. Does anyone know how long it takes to get the IRS to update the system? I can't efile CA until the Fed efiles due to CA regs, and there is a demand letter from CA for the 2010 return.

Yup, it's expensive to be an LLC! CA seems to be the worst, but at least we are not the only state with entity fees. I'm currently trying to correct a client who's managing member decided to LLC in the middle of last year. And got a new EIN and filed two 1065's for 2011, treating the assets as disposed of by the partnership and then picked up (at least at the new basis) by the LLC. I know I need a 565 & 568 for CA, but am not sure what to do about the two EIN's. UGH.

A signature line on another message board: 'Grammar-the difference between: Let's eat, Grandma! Let's eat Grandma!

Even in San Francisco, you'd be fine on $250k. With kids. In SF or San Jose or LA, you might not live anywhere fancy and your kids might go to public schools, and your car's a bit older, but you'd be fine. It has to do with living within your means, and not someone else's. You'd be shocked on what I lived in NYC on in the 80's. Now I was young, but I even managed to save money! On $20K. Now when I first moved there and was making $12K, I did go hungry...but also managed to save money.

As others have said, having a bit of time for yourself is really necessary. Getting a caretaker to come in for even a few hours so you can go to the salon, get your groceries, and even sit down with a friend for a cup of coffee or lunch will go a long way towards keeping your sanity, and you'll go back refreshed. Avoiding burnout is something we all know about!

I'm glad it was fixed because the I read the title and it didn't make sense to me, but I clicked just because it said 'audits'.

Or that auditor has been there, done that!

Actually, I rebooted my computer and it worked.

I'm getting an error message that says "Another user is optimizing the database. Please wait a couple of minutes then start the program again. If the problem persists, please contact Customer Service" Anyone know what the heck is going on?

And since most returns that claim RE pro aren't, it's easy pickin's for the IRS. And big bucks.

The issue really isn't Obama, or entitlements from the government, it's that Ashley's grandpa enabled her profligate spending by bailing her out in the past. And apparently neither her parents or grandpa ever taught her good money management. So she can either downsize to an affordable apartment, or sleep in the fancy car. Small businesses aren't considered the 'richest of the rich'....if you are a small business owner and your PROFIT (if a sole proprietor), or SALARY if a corp is over $250,000 you are doing pretty well for yourself. This has been spun to make it seem as though it's the businesses gross income is what is driving the definition of 'rich'. Even here in sunny, high cost CA, $250,000 a year PROFIT or SALARY would do me just fine.

Talked to the client today. She's going to sell it; bought it on a recommendation, and when I asked if she looked at the flowchart that came with it she said she did. Agreed it wasn't worth the distributions. I haven't had one in a while, so I don't know if they've gotten worse-usually they're a PITA, but doable. This one is worse than any I've ever seen. Even codes for DPAD, but when you get to the end of them, you see there aren't any wages applicable, so why bother???? Still have no clue how to get depletion into the program without an override. I used to be able to do it. Anyone have program help here?

There are line instructions, and I have the flowchart from the PTP package that I am going to use to show the client why her bill is so high. The 'other income' from line 11 also appears to go nowhere. I may just override the depletion line on Sch. E. IDC are already being subtracted from the ordinary biz income on Sch E pg. 2. I don't understand why the crap that does say it's going to page 2 of Sch E isn't when I input it on that line. I've even tried to make the 'other income' go to line 21 per one other input box choice on line 11, but again, I'm not sure where it's going. If I had more clients with this kind of crap, I might look at PPR on prosystems, like Lion uses. The other K-1 this client had was the usual interest/div/cap gains stuff. The energy PTP has TWO PAGES of additional codes that may or may not pertain to the K-1 in question, including 9 codes for line 20T. Plus two more that explain that the investor may have to file Form 926 to report cash transfers to non-US entities. Up to 7 of these forms may be required. I literally had a screaming fit last night over this. and my hot tub drain valve broke, so my tub is out of commission. If there was ever a night I needed a soak (and a Xanax), it was last night. I welcome any more suggestions for this $%!+.

Have a #$%$ oil & gas PTP, and line 20T on the K-1 entry doesn't go anywhere. In previous years, I would simply go to the Sch E and enter it there. There is no input screen for the K-1; the royalties are just showing up on the form, and although there is a drop-down box to link an asset entry to a K-1, I can't find anywhere to enter depletion. I'm about to pull my frikkin hair out over this thing. I've been pouring over the damn fine print for about an hour & a half already. And then I have to do it all over again for the single return since this is one of my same-sex couples. :spaz:

Yay! One less stressor for that after-season calm down.

Tell him you'll strap him down if he tries again!!!! It's gotta be hideously difficult to want to do what you could in the past and not be able to even be able to move around by yourself. I feel for you and Don.