Catherine

Yes, but they always have a form to prolong the pain! No form, no way to collect $.

It started out great and got progressively weirder and weirder.

One this year; adult child of client. Married, W2 job, new twins and mom stays home so no child care. Sounds like an easy one, yes? Stock options with basis missing (at least not ISO's with two bases) Consulting for dad Consulting for mom Unemployment for mom from before twins were born. The condo they moved out of for a bigger place (with twins on the way) is now a rental. "Repairs" for rental neatly listed but capital and expense intermixed and had to be teased apart. Partnership K-1 Various carry-forwards from 2020 return - easy except he sent me the wrong file three times. Signature pages don't help get carry-forward figures. This one took substantially longer than one would have thought, based on the description at the top. Typical for my practice. Oh, and the parents? Another "Simple" return; they sold their house (a duplex) and weren't sure how to handle the sale because of the rental portion. 2020 NOL not carried forward. Depreciation on all manner of items never taken. Form 3115 needed, as well as amended 2020.

The "All States" edition of the tax book doesn't even have a listing for South Dakota.

I think I'm going to go with Schedule C. These pets instead of any kind of herding/farm animal or livestock, and there are no hand-spinners or BBQ places around here that would consider the cats as source material. Not too much fur off of a kitten before it's placed, either.

Cats are not livestock, true. I got sidetracked by the common theme of "raising animals for resale" which she does with her sheep and goats.

It's a business, not a hobby. Already making far more money than the farm, which is also a business not a hobby.

MPAI; most people are idiots. On top of which, it's all too frequently the higher-IQ clients who don't read the (very clear!) instructions because they know better. And then claim "I never got X" when you have a reply from them quoting X. Anyone see the Dune movie? (I didn't, but read the book a gazillion years ago.) That Bene Gesserit box thing - take your hand out and you die? I'd like to use that on clients; they try to do anything before reading the directions, they die. Or at least have pain - as much pain as they cause us! (A girl can dream, can't she?)

If I ever manage to do 12 or 20 returns in a day, they'd be the "one W2 and $3 in bank interest only" types. I spend 2-4 hours on each return, not including emailing the client telling them they still owe me documents X, Y, and Z.

Thanks, @BulldogTom and I'll look at the 8990 when I get back to this client later today.

Husband has a Sch C; he makes furniture, so definitely doesn't have anything to do with his self-employment. She has a Schedule F; raises sheep and goats and poultry. Sells grown animals and maybe a couple dozen eggs a year. For 2021, she added in breeding some fancy variety of cat, but they're not out in the animal barn! She keeps the records separate, too. (Green ledger paper for all of it; his and both of hers - and praise God for that, because her ledgers are clean and neat. I've seen her computer "communications" and they're a total jumble.) Does that help?

Client's wife started a new business in 2021: breeding cats. Is this Schedule C or F? If the answer is F, the next question is since they also have a small farm, could I include the cats in the existing Sch F or would it need its own, second, Sch F? (Made more money on the cats in the first year than the farm has ever made, and already have a two-year waiting list for kittens. Who knew?)

Everything is tagged in the Master File using the first 4 or 5 letters, only, of the surname. I have two couples (parents, married son) from India, whose names go on for several paragraphs (maybe that's a tiny exaggeration) and while Drake will truncate on its own, back in my ATX days I just whacked off letters until it fit and filed. Never had an issue.

This item came through as a Box 20 Code "N" item on the K-1. I have no idea what to do with "excess investment interest." Can anyone point me in the right direction? Form 49-whatever for investment interest?

Well, you now have a known liar as a client. Your requirement for documentation just skyrocketed, because you can't trust a thing from him. Good luck! Hug him; maybe that's the best thing to do.

On our calendar for tomorrow is an all-day event: "Everyone gets an extension!" Every client whose return is not complete and ready to submit will be put on extension. We'll send them payment coupons *if* we've gotten that far. Not our problem if folks who owe didn't send us their docs in time. Our cutoff for completion by 4/15 is 3/15. That means all docs in-house. Nothing outstanding (missing statement, missing basis, missing DL dates, missing whatever). Which nearly no one meets. But it's in our letter every season, too, so it's not a surprise to anyone. We'll spend the day prepping and submitting extensions for everyone on the list noted above, and then move one with the season, completing as many returns as we can without regard to the 4/15 (18, 19, whatever) date. When I started getting seriously hard-nosed about extensions, a lot of the season-end pressure evaporated. I still work hard, and long, but without that horrible feeling of "gotta get more done!" that hounds us.

So either the drone on the phone didn't know, or it was an internal IRS screw-up and they were not going to admit it. Glad your client will get his refund!

Hooray and congratulations!

MPAI: most people are idiots. We see the proof every blessed day.

Good luck!

I'm also on auto-donate a couple of times a year. Good time for a reminder, though.

I print everything to pdf first. If the clients only want pdf's, they can have the whole kit and caboodle. On paper, I print whatever i would like to see if that person was coming to me as a new client next year. How many times have I moaned about missing carryforward information ? Too many! I think it's my duty to make sure no grumpy accountant calls *me* for those details next April.

The executor could be in trouble here; a $7,000 asset given away for free? Should have been "distributed" to one of the heirs, who can give it to whomever they wish. Distribution of assets to heirs is not taxable when there is no income from that asset. But the executor - unless s/he had the agreement of every heir - blew it.

Sorry, Deb, but I have almost no CA returns.

Show higher income for a mortgage application?