schirallicpa

do my complicated ones on the weekend when no one is here to bug me. only phone calls are from my kids, and they have pretty much learned by now to leave me alone by this time of year. Then on those days when I have headaches, (such as appointments) then I fly thru my easy ones. But by this time of year, all the good gravy ones are long gone.

My client went to Cancun to have procedures done that are not available in US. It seems to be a bit grey. Or gray. But I am finding that if the procedure is illegal, then it is not covered. Well, there was nothing illegal about it. Just not available. Ok - so therefore it is not FDA approved. And therefore his insurance won't pay for it. But does that mean it is not deductible? Finding conflicting stuff on internet - of course. And what I have dug up so far in basic pubs and reference doesn't seem to go far enough to discuss treatments like this. Sadly - the procedure didn't help anyway. Any thoughts on this one?

Have spent have the season deleting state and bringing it back again, and then just printing them separately. Finally they have learned to get along again.

Ok Kea: that's what I am thinking, and thank you for confirming that for me. IF is always the case, and unfortunately it is not likely that I'll get sound records, but it's worth a stab. thanks again

And while were talking about NYS/ PA I just had a client throw a fit because he has to pay NYS tax this year. He worked in PA and paid PA tax. Why should he have to pay NYS tax too. And you can tell them til you are blue in the face, and they just don't get it. NYS taxes are more. The credit doesn't suck it up. You do.

If Sch C has loss, your input on Page 1, line 29 transfers to Sch A.

We have a casino not too far from us. When you cash out the night you are at the casino, you get a little yellow W2G with your ID # on it, their ID on it, and the amount of your gross winnings. It's kinda small, and usually gets tossed out with your atm receipt. At the end of the year, if you are a registered guest at the casino, you get an annual win/loss statement at the end of the year. "dear valued patron........the following information is for your records only and details the NET RATED amount of your winnings and losses for the 2013 calendar year." And gives you a figure - usually negative (those places aren't built on winnings). Attached is a listing of your jackpot wins, which matches the yellow W2G that you probably tossed in the trash when you came home that night all excited about your big winnings. The attached also details the date and the wager type (example "slots"). But it gives you just the gross for each night, with no detail as to how it came up with your net loss. My current client has 10 of these W2Gs totaling about $38000. With the statement showing net annual loss of $6000. Now - Can I or can I not (depending on the info I can obtain from the client) treat each of these 10 items separately. And can I or can I not then show each at the net winnings for that night. So maybe on one night he won $5000 and spent $1000 to get it so I have a net win of $4000. but on the next trip he won $1000 but spent $2000 to win, so that is zero income for the night, and the loss is Schedule A for that one. The third trip he won $3000 and spent $5000 so he has zero income , and the $2000 loss goes to Sch A. Etc. Am I making sense? The difficult part will be how well he can tell me how much he spent in January of 2013 to win $5000. Or February 2013. Or March 2013. I can't remember how much I spent on lunch. I just want to make sure my thinking is correct. I have a friend tax preparer who wants to put all $38K on the 1040, and then put $38K on Sch A and be done with it. I know the chances of the conversation happening before are pretty high, so if there is a link back to something that I didn't find, let me know. I appreciate any one's help on this. thanks.

I'm in western NY - not on the map. South of Buffalo, just a stones throw from PA. Just paid my Jan taxes - late because it takes me awhile to accumulate $5400. No doubt NY stinks when it comes to taxes. Just take a look around and the continuing exodus. I know a lot of people around here who hop over the border and live in PA just to avoid some of the tax. And many people who drive the few miles to get cheaper gas or fuel, cigarettes and even clothes. It's nuts.

We have recently been invited to a birthday party for a friend turning 50 and we are supposed to dress like the 80's. Good thing I still have that REO Speedwagon t-shirt. Hopefully it won't rip when I stretch it out to fit.......... Looking forward to some feathered hair and grape HubbaBubba

wow - that's very helpful. Never saw it before. thanks!!

oh? where? where? where? I don't see it.

In our little church, we take the collection to the back office right after church, record the donations, add up the cash, and drop the deposit at the bank on the way home. But we are pretty small. I have a couple clients now that are churches and they are putting each and every receipt into quickbooks. Seems terribly cumbersome, and makes for a huge pile of data. I have another excel template that I am trying to get them to use. But excel can turn into a "dragon" that just gets too big too. Also - they do not count the cash or record the donations until Tuesday. So after church, they are putting the collection in a fire-safe box in the church, then taking care of it Tuesday when they come in. They have activities after church and have a hard time finding a private area to count money. And they get a lot of donations. A ton of checks each Sunday. No one wants to take it home on Sunday. (A year ago when I started with these guys, they were putting it in the trunk of the treasurers car til Tuesday!) I know there's a ton of internal control problems here. That's not entirely my concern. I am curious as to any other methods of handling this situation each week. Whats the best way to collect donor's info? Is there a better program than QuickBooks, but as simple as? Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be appreciated.

Has any one else noticed how many id numbers one name can have. (Say - wells fargo for example.....) I wish they would make the look up by number. I'm quicker on the number pad anyway.

Thank you! I'll have to have them look.

If they are in the business of raising and "shipping" out the cows to market, then that's business income, not capital gain. Capital gain comes into play when they are selling off dairy cows that they have had as an investment for their business (when they are going out of business) or sale of older beef cows that they have used to make babies for market. Cull cows.

I have a PA s-corp return, and I haven't done too many of these. This year the efile is failing and wanting the PA revenue #. I have been given an 8 digit number from the client that she uses to log in to the etides system, and it is the same number that I am seeing on their bank stmt descriptions for the debit of sales tax. However, atx ain't liking it. Any ideas?

I think I've got you all beat. If your going to kick out the tenants in the apts upstairs, please keep the heat on so the pipes don't break. We had the upstairs bathroom practically raining on us a couple days ago, and causing me to move files, printers, computers, lamps, chairs etc all out of my office. What a nightmare. Time to find a new office.

If any of you have prepared a 1040 with NOL carried forward, you have an extra little pop-up screen to fill in an explanation before you can efile. The 1041 wants one to, but I don't get a link to one. I tried to put in a blank stmt and that didn't fly. Any suggestions on how to add that?

I had to chime in only because I love your picture. Anyway - I would use 7 years for their purpose. I happen to have a number of folks in the oil industry and they get 5 years. I think you need to consider the type of business as well. 9 times out of 10, it ends up being 179'd on mine anyway.

thanks for your help Pacun. I am still thinking this may drag out a while. keep warm - one more night of cold cold here.

I'm getting rid of payroll. I HATE PAYROLL.

at this point she's still in India and cannot come to US because she has neither a visa or a passport at this point. now I have found out that the client went to the bank to put her name on accounts and they filed a W7. And put 000-00-0000 on the acct. What are the chances this will get all messed up.

My client got married only a few days before the end of the year. To a woman in India - who has never been to the states before and is in the application process for the visa. According to my client, this in going to take about a year. That seems like a very long time, but I am not familiar with the process from the Indian side. Regardless, the ss# is applied for along with the visa. Is there any way around having the SS# for the return? Can she get a TIN for purposes of filing the return for 2013 and then get her SS# later when the visa application process makes it way thru? Haven't dealt with this before. Have had non-res aliens, but with proper ids...............

I just thought it was funny that this is listed as a "hot" topic. It's 2 degrees here:)

These 2 have had me file their taxes for the last couple of years. Now they are in the midst of bitter divorce. He's the main wage earner and has the withholdings. She is a hairdresser and probably hides half of her income. They cannot agree on anything. I told them to suck it up and file joint and split the refund and be done with it. That is not going to happen. She wants to file joint in order to avoid paying tax on her income. He wants for file separate so she has to pay tax on the income. I'm stuck in the middle. Has anyone ever attempted to get a signed agreement with such couples?