BulldogTom

Covering Personal Assets Coming out of college, I had a chance to go to work for a very prestigeous CPA firm in Fresno (no jokes, they do have them in Fresno). But I was making more as a part time bartender than they were going to pay me as a CPA candidate. Needless to say, I went the other way and got the EA designation. Since I hate, hate, hate auditing (did I mention I hated doing it when I was working for a CPA during college?) I just opened a tax office of my own. Someday, I might even make some money at this tax thing. Tom Lodi, CA

That is exactly the reason I will not join the EA society. I am very proud of my designation, but most of my clients have no idea what it is. The EA society needs to get the word out about who we are and what we do. CPA's have had the corner on the "tax expert" market for too long. My rant is over now. Tom Lodi, CA

Sounds like a good job, but tax preparers are in short supply lately. Would love to come back that way, but I got my own office to worry about. Tom Lodi, CA

1045 because you can charge a lot more. Makes you sound alot smarter if you have to prepare 2 tax returns to fix the mess they made of their perfectly good one from 2 years ago. Tom Lodi, CA

I have the trust document. Very simple trust. Taxpayer assures me that he took care of the 2010 issue. Refund on his personal tax return will more than cover my fees for the amended return. I am almost done with it, and just taking a little break to look on the board, but should have it done in a couple more hours. Thanks for the responses. Tom Lodi, CA

<<These methods are ONLY recommended when you owe money.>> I would add "and when you are not subject to Cir. 230." I am not sure what part of Cir 230 this violates, but I am sure the IRS does. Tom Lodi, CA

I have prepared a few trust returns, but I have never had to amend one. New client comes in and says he prepared his trust return last year by himself and would rather not do that again. He wants me to do the 2011 return. Very simple, not a lot to it. So I start by recreating his 2010 return. When I get done, his don't look like mine. He made a couple of mistakes, and his K-1 is a mess. All of it is handwritten. The letter from the IRS that they wanted more information before they could process the return was probably the final straw. So, I know what the return should look like, and I know what he presented to the IRS and CA. Is there anything that I should know about amending the 1041? Thanks in advance. I think I am going to tackle this tomorrow night. Tom Lodi, CA

Agree with Lion. Tom Lodi, CA

I am sticking to my guns on this one. A child who is away at college, who is being supported by her parents, is a dependent of the parents even if she doesn't come home until the 4 or five years of schooling are up. A part time internship (which implies continuation of the education experience) does not change the dependency situation. Only support and age are going to do that. Tom Lodi, CA

Client came in and we got on the phone with Chuck. I asked why, when the account was held by them prior to DOD, and then transfered by them to the control of the trustee, the basis information was not reported at DOD? They obviously knew what happened because they did all the paperwork. Chuck's answer was interesting. "It is your job as the tax preparer to determine the basis and if DOD is the appropriate date to measure basis." I think technically, he is right. He then went on to explain that when the department that deals with trusts and estates came in on monday morning, the trustee could call and get the DOD "valuations" (Chuck did not say basis) if we would like them, assuming we had decided to use that date to establish basis. What an interesting future we have with what was such a simple form. Tom Lodi, CA

It turned out to be not as big of a deal as I thought. They will file joint, and as she has no foreign source income in 2011, we are not exposing them to any tax liability. What I was after was EITC. But, because the clients have a rental home, their investment income is too high to claim EITC. By bringing in the income from Japan, we were able to pick up the 8812 credits. They were happy. Tom Lodi, CA

I think it makes you look a little suspicious when you reviewed the return, sent him back, and then are sending him again. If it were me, I would be asking YOU why you did not see that PAL carry when you reviewed the return. Just my 2 cents. Tom Lodi, CA

Oh - I hate to do this to my good friend Jainen, but I think you are wrong. Time at school is counted as time in the home. If the age requirement is met along with the other requirements for a student to be claimed as a dependent, I think the parents can still claim that little birdie. Just because she took a summer job at the school does not make her tax home change. She is "in the home" for as long as she is a full time student under the age of 24. Even if you throw out the summer months, she was still in the home for 9 months. But I agree the rent is not deductible. Tom Lodi, CA

Taxpayer had a revokable living trust. At his death, his substantial portfolio of stocks transfered to the now irrevokable trust. The Brokker has sent out this years 1099B with all the basis information going back to the late 1990's. Missing for anything from the early 1990's. Basis should be DOD. Right? So what happens when the IRS gets this 200K of trades with incorrect basis and missing basis and can't match it up? I smell an audit coming. tom Lodi, CA

You are missed a great deal, and my heart aches for you and yours as you care for Don. Do what you need to do, but if you ever need to "feel the love", just come around here and we will provide it. Tom Lodi, CA

If the management company is not incorporated, and the payment is more than $600, I would say yes, you should. However, landlords are not required to send the 1099's since the repeal of the requirement, so I would say it is not required unless the rental activity rises to the level of a business. Yes - I did take both positions. I am going to be a politician when I grow up. Tom Lodi, cA

Client's spouse was a non-resident alien for about 6 months of 2011, at which point she joined her husband in the US. He was working abroad and returned in about April. He is a US citizen, as are both of their children. They have been living in Japan for several years, but returned to the US for the birth of their children. Can I get a quick rundown on how the credits work for part-year non-resident aliens. I always thought that if you were a resident alien for any part of the year, you were deemed to be so for the entire year. But then I read the question on the EIC for about "any part of the year". So, my client has foreign source income that I was going to exclude on the 2555, but he may qualify for EIC if his spouse does not disqualify him based on her immigration status. If she disqualifies him, then we will take the Foreign exclusion. Thanks for any help. Tom Lodi, cA

Found it. You have to adjust the State percentage on the federal form 6252. Tom Lodi, CA

I had a "compliance fee" increase this year too. I bumped my fee by $5 for all the crap we have to go through with the PTIN payments and the registration requirements for my wife. But I still have to pay her based on the new pricing. Dang, HRB out smarted me again. I could have cut her commissions if I added it like they did. tom Lodi, CA

Anyone know how to change the gross profit percentage on this form. It is a new client to me and the sale happened 12 years ago. I just need to change the GP% on the State because it is a little different than the Fed. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make the change without overriding the calculated field. Please help. Tom Lodi, CA

This is a detail question that does not have a quick answer. You left out a lot of important information. How old is he, is he married, does he have children, what is the status of his other retirement vehicles (if any)? What will the church do for benefits for him. Does he need LTC insurance and when is the best time to buy it. How close is he to retirement (or just ministry - or on the other hand - just the school job). Is 200K the price of his home or the value of his home? How much of the 30K he will get is taxable gain and how much is return of basis? Then there are the non-math issues like how he feels about debt and how his congregation feels about the indebtedness of their minister. I could go on, but I think you get the point. There is no cookie cutter answer to what you are asking. Tom Lodi, CA

Seriously, because I find them to be incompetent and robotic. I spent 45 minutes on the phone this morning with a woman who was very nice, but had no clue why the 1120S and CA 100S were not talking to each other and why the CA 100S cannot be efiled. She was seriously going to have me make a .pdf copy of the CA schedule B and attach it to the e-file rather than try to fix what is wrong with the return. (of course, it did not work, and now I have to wait until Monday for "somebody" to take a look at the return). This woman I talked to today obviously was over her head. I bet she makes about a quarter of what they were paying William, Monkeyman, and all the wonderful people up in Carribuo. Tom Lodi, CA

Finally got through to support. The lady was real nice but can't answer the question. Need to get to someone who knows something on Monday. No answer on this board or the "other" board either. It is a simple return, I have no idea what the problem is. Tom Lodi, CA

What about Maxwell, the animation that did your interview for you? Tom Lodi, CA

Yeah, but CA has been a vampire to taxpayers for years. The IRS could learn a thing or two about intimidation and collections from the FTB I thought those nice cheeseheads would be nicer to their visitors. Tom Lodi, CA