Catherine

I did that this year with one client. Couple, he thinks I'm great, she doesn't understand numbers at all and is suspicious of everything. Plus she is (only vaguely competent) trustee of five family trusts left by a parent. Royal PITA getting anything out of them except "why aren't you done yet?" queries. Told them last year - after their payment checks cleared - that they needed to find someone else for this year. When this thread of "rough season" started up I realized the entire reason this season, while hectic and full of its own upheavals, seems so much better, is because this one family went elsewhere. And yes, husband called in January, asking pretty please if I'd take them back. Told him, very politely, no.

$450 - $500

If you know a good broker (as opposed to the customer service "broker equivalents" who answer phones at big houses, they can dredge up old merger & acquisition historical data from tools they have but we don't. I have a broker I've worked with for years and years who has helped me in just that way several times. The good ones see it as a treasure hunt (and maybe a way to show off, a little bit), and probably enjoy doing something more challenging than selling the latest big thing their house is pushing brokers to sell. Look for a small local or boutique firm as that's where you are more likely to find someone with the tools.

There should be a place on a fiduciary return to put situs (tax home of the trust or estate). Then it doesn't matter where the trustee (or executor) lives, and frequently they do not live in the same state as the entity. You should not have any trouble. If NYS sends a letter, the response to them it "Trust situs is Florida; no NYS assets, income, or exposure. Mailing address of trustee only."

I mean, it's the IRS. They will have a way to pay them money!

Give them no-amount-printed payment coupons to mail with checks? Or use the "Balance Due" choice that should still exist?

Ah, the tricky issues always wait until the very end, don't they? Client in a rural area; has well water. Well is on the other side of a state highway from the house. The copper lines from the well to the house were leaking very badly; both water quantity and quality were suffering, plus all the water under the highway wasn't good for the road, either. Home-based business so at issue is Form 8829 treatment of the expense. In the end, a new well was not needed. Old well was repaired and lines replaced - "upgraded" in the sense that heavier gauge of pipe is now required by code. Materials cost was the smallest part of overall. Drilling, excavating, sideways drilling under the two-lane state road, plumbing, refilling all the excavated areas. Total cost over $20,000. (Ouch!) Repair (restoration to function, of water to the house)? Or does it need to be capitalized because of the cost?

New movie trailer: The Accountant ^2 Has promise.

Use micro script? Seriously, "See attached" with a nicely typed list works. Although the fill-in pdf I used last time I needed one of these put everything in place nicely. The Tax Book has one, if you need.

Thank you, @Gail in Virginia and @Abby Normal - I'm so used to the home sale worksheet in the individual return I didn't even think of the basis adjustment columns for reporting the closing costs.

If his name is on it, I'd have him sign.

Trust (decedent estate) sold a property. I have contract price, and FMV as of DOD. Then there are the closing costs from the HUD-1 (or CD, or whatever they're calling it this week - settlement statement). Should those closing costs be added to the FMV, or subtracted from the contract price (with detail listings), or does it matter? Which is less likely to invite unwanted (and unwonted) attention?

In addition to the depreciation report for the current year, it also gives you the depreciation for next tax year.

I miss my Brother printer. When it died I replaced it with an HP, which works well enough but can be very annoying as well. Checking in with the mothership to make sure I'm using "real" HP cartridges, deciding to stop and recalibrate halfway through a print job, waiting up to a minute before printing in case I decide to override which paper feed to use (when only one has any paper in it). They are "improving the user experience" to the point of wanting to take a sledgehammer to the thing on occasion. But the print quality - once it deigns to start - is terrific, as is the speed, and the ease of duplex printing.

The flip side of this is I have one client whose DL expired in 2009-ish. She has not updated it as she has been working all over the world as well as in the US, flitting around like a butterfly. She has an international DL but that is not accepted for tax ID. We keep using the over-ten-years-gone ID and it still works for claiming refunds. She will be settling down (thank goodness; ugh) and will get a new, local, DL this year, she promises.

For this one, I'll splurge on the good, buttered, popcorn.

Thank you, @DANRVAN for the reply. I've passed it along. My "question" was a de-personalized quote from the email I got, and your response was just what was needed.

It was mine, too, but I was too busy to research it yesterday. Thank you.

Hear, hear! Trick: you can put it on autopilot, too.

Question for a local colleague who needs to sign up here. He's wondering what to do, and I don't know. Trustee for an irrevocable trust that has his parents (deceased in 2023) house in it. He and his sister who will receive the house when they choose to cancel the trust are operating the house as a rental property. The trust owns the property, not them. If they use the house they are not paying rent to the trust. Is it considered personal use even though they don't own it, or just a free service?

I've seen three elderly clients in the last couple of years end up with huge capital losses on "managed" accounts. More like "churned" as "managed" implies they have a clue that someone in their 80s or 90s is looking to preserve capital not trade for gains (losses). It is infuriating. These folks are trying to live on savings plus leave something for the kids and grandkids, not lose it all to fat fees to callous churner scumbags. And reporting them gets one absolutely nowhere.

Cash-only in-person payment stations inside banks or other businesses, that then transmit electronically to the intended recipient. Receipt from payment station = proof of timely payment. I've had bank-directed electronic payments get missed, too. Rare; maybe two in 15+ years, but not infallible.

Reminds me of the joke of the IT professional whose only in-house electronic device is an ancient printer, and they keep a weapon near to hand in case it ever makes any weird sounds.

Don't allow yourself to feel like a loser. There was no way safely to predict this; better to file (once) and be safe than to skip it and possibly be open to nasty fines and investigations. Your advice kept them safe. Had it gone the other way, you could have been castigated for callousness or negligence by those same clients.