Yardley CPA

Wondering if any of your clients have ever been questioned for taking a home office deduction. I've read that it is an area that the IRS pays close scrutiny to. Have any of your clients ever received a notice from the IRS over this deduction?

Done! What a great resource this site is and I certainly appreciate everyones input and sage advice, along with all of Eric's support to keep it moving along!

Thank you both. Appreciate your input.

Here's the Pennsylvania site: http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/Pennsylvania-Assessor-and-Property-Tax-Records.htm In my opinion, it does not provide as much useful information as the New Jersey site.

I was thinking the same thing, Abby.

Here's a great site the State of New Jersey offers which provides real estate tax information including prior year amounts, lot, block numbers. https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/Treasury/Taxation/TYTR_TLSPS_WEB/Taxlistsearch.aspx

Does anyone have experience with form 1099-LTC? Client, H&W, MFJ. Wife has Dementia and husband, along with a caregiver, tend to the wife's needs. They live at home. Wife received a 1099-LTC from their Long Term Care insurance company. There is an amount in Box 1. Reimbursed Amount has an X next to it. Taxpayer has indicted all funds received were reimbursement of expenses. This would be entered on the 2nd page of Form 8853, correct? On line 17 place the proceeds and on line 22 place the same amount as costs incurred. It results in none of the proceeds being taxable. Is my understanding correct?

I absolutely charge more for a shoe box than a well sorted/prepared set of information. No question about that and I make the client aware of that beforehand. If they choose to bring me a shoe box, they will be charged more. Fortunately, I don't have many of those.

In my opinion, for those comfortable navigating a computer, with a little financial knowledge and a more basic return, free file is the way to go. With that said, at my normal day job, a couple of folks ask for my assistance with their free file. It can be tedious navigating through the myriad of questions. Even then, many times the return does not populate correctly. There is a segment of my client base who can very easily use free file and I mention that to them before I begin their return. Every year they say the same thing, "I want to make sure its completed correctly and I'd rather pay you to do that." While free file options are becoming more sophisticated, I tend to think we are still at least several years (at least 5 to 10? I hope) from it having an impact. Maybe I'm naive?

11 miles, 15 minutes (give or take a few).

ALL CAPS HERE!

Thanks very much for the information. It's much appreciated.

As the client and I were discussing this situation, I was leaning heavily toward it being taxable. With that said, I looked at the exclusions and saw that vacation homes were excluded, so it reaffirmed my thinking. Pacun...would insolvency, in and of itself, allow for the exclusion? Taxpayer had just gone through a divorce with two dependent children. in·sol·ven·cy inˈsälvənsē/ noun noun: insolvency; plural noun: insolvencies the state of being insolvent; inability to pay one's debts.

Client received 1099 C for cancelled debt regarding a vacation home. After falling behind on the mortgage, client negotiated a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" for the amount of the remaining debt. Client and bank agreed on the terms. Bank ended up sending client a 1099 C for the amount. Should this be considered taxable income? I know there are some exclusions to 1099 C when it is not taxable as referenced below. Not sure the situation I described falls under these exclusions though. Your thoughts please! Thank you. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc431.html EXCEPTIONS to Cancellation of Debt Income: Amounts canceled as gifts, bequests, devises, or inheritances Certain qualified student loans canceled under the loan provisions that the loans would be canceled if you work for a certain period of time in certain professions for a broad class of employers Amounts of canceled debt that would be deductible if you, as a cash basis taxpayer, paid it A qualified purchase price reduction given by the seller of property to the buyer Any Pay-for-Performance Success Payments that reduce the principal balance of your home mortgage under the Home Affordable Modification Program Amounts that meet the requirements for any of the following exclusions aren't included in income, even though they're cancellation of debt income. EXCLUSIONS from Gross Income: Debt canceled in a Title 11 bankruptcy case Debt canceled during insolvency Cancellation of qualified farm indebtedness Cancellation of qualified real property business indebtedness Cancellation of qualified principal residence indebtedness

Crank...is it worth the headache? If she balks at a $150 fee, how good of a client is she? I don't know what was entailed in her return, but $150 seems reasonable, certainly when you compare it to The Big Box Stores. Sure, you did the work and you SHOULD be paid. You DESERVE to be paid. With that said, if it were me, I'd seriously consider placing all her info in a box, hand it back to her and move on to your next client, who probably completely respects you and your abilities.

Not sure why that would be? Do you have the 8879 as part of the return? You may already know this, but you can customize the client letter by choosing the "Letter Options." Once you do that you can pick "Client letter display as has been efiled" or Client letter to display as will be efiled" Just a thought if the program does not do it automatically.

Thank you, Abby Normal.

Figured it out.

Can someone please remind me of the steps to customize certain parts of forms (check no to protections plus, check yes to Health Coverage...etc). I cant seem to remember how to do this. Thank you!

Wondering your preference on rolling over returns. Do you roll all your returns at once or do you rollover when you actually start working on the return. Are there advantages / disadvantages with either method? Thanks very much!

$273 for a 1040, Sch A and One State? I find that to be high, but I'm sure others are charging at least that if not more. For me, who prepares returns "on the side", that return would run between $150 and $175.

Thanks for everyone's response. My client has all the vendors information (name, address, amount) but does not have the vendors EIN/SSN. I will move forward and paper file. Thank you again.

Randall...I have the same question. I have a small Schedule C client that requires a few 1099's to be sent. I have all the information for most vendors but do not have the EIN/SSN for a couple. My thinking is to complete the 1099 and mail it without having that info. Thoughts from anyone else, please?

Thank you...same to you! Let's make it a good year!

Thank you both, very much.