Lion EA

I just told an entire family, including the kids with part-time jobs, that they're going on extension, because they're leaving for Barbados by 12 April. Anyone not available through 15 April, probably through 11:59 p.m., is going on extension! Probably because I'm jealous that they get to go on vacation while I work. But, to them, it's the new tax law and forms, the shortened tax season, blah, blah, blah. I did prepare the partnership return for the parents' biz on time. And, I'll get them their ES amounts this weekend, so they can pay those before they leave. But, really, don't tell me 30 March that you'll be out of the country over spring break! I used to tell them to watch for my emails and deal with it in their hotel's biz center, but now it's just extensions, no arguments.

No, but 2018 gap in January forward is affected by 2017 end-of-year gap.

It's the lower of FRV or adjusted cost basis at the time of conversion to rental, without land, for depreciation. So, the apartment is one whole thing, including everything done to get it in shape to rent. You'd break out appliances and other things with different depreciation lives, of course. Then, any renovations after renting would get a separate line on the depreciation table as Renovations.

Start by reading the partnership agreement/operating agreement.

Box 14 is CAN be just information that's not needed this year. But, it's on your client to bring you documentation.

My software says, "Dependent of another."

Hopefully, your client got a statement at the time of the transaction. Maybe Box 14 is stock he did NOT sell this year. Or, stock held back to pay the taxes that are in Boxes 2, 4, and 6. Or,...ask your client for all correspondence re those two blocks of stock. He may have to go to his HR department or something, but it's up to him to provide you the information you need to file.

Yes. You divvy up the dependents, deductions, etc., and the IRS calculates. Although, it's been a few years since I've prepared an 8379 myself.

Terry, I provide Jolly Ranchers in my office, because I don't like hard candy. I never provide dark chocolate, because I'd eat it all. But, I prefer clients NOT come to my office. I can work in my jammies and fuzzy slippers with no make-up. I can work late and maybe sleep late and not shower until I can take a break and comb my hair once in a while. I have FileShare on my website and eSign and a large mail slot in my front door.

I'm waaay behind on returns prepared. But, the drop-offs started much, much earlier. January was my blizzard of drop-offs that's usually not until the end of February. I'll end up making calls, putting clients on extension that I normally finish preTCJA. I'd offer a discount, but need to increase prices this year. I'm going to have some unhappy clients.

Make sure the POA specifically give power over tax matters, signing returns when necessary, planning, anything tax related.

If the daughter did NOT pay more than 50% of her own support and meets the other requirements to be a qualified dependent of her parents AND files MFS, then the parents can claim her. If the daughter files MFJ, then the parents can claim the daughter if the filing was ONLY to get back their withholding. But, that's not the case described in the OP. The parents would ALWAYS have to state to you (and show you, if you had reason to doubt them) that their child did NOT pay more than 50% of her own support, and that has nothing to do with being married. If a three-year-old child actress supports herself more than 50%, then the parents can NOT claim that little darling. Yes, you can file the daughter MFS. But, you say she wasn't your original client? Who IS your client? If the "kids" that got married are your clients, advise them what's in their best interest, which often is MFJ. If the boy's parents are your clients, it doesn't matter. If the girl's parents are your clients, then advise them what's in their best interest, which might be to claim their daughter. If more than one of the parties are your clients, then you have a conflict of interest. Disengage from one or all of them. It's a family matter. If the family works it out and you still want to keep one or more of them as your clients, then do what's in YOUR best interest. Until the next family feud. See Pub. 17 pages 28 and 30 for Joint Return Test and page 29 for Support Worksheet.

The Forms 1098-T have seldom been accurate and probably will stay that way. When they reported Billed, we knew we had to have our clients get the bursar's statement. Now that they report Paid, you'd think they'd be better. But, apparently, colleges don't all use the same definition of Paid. Sometimes Paid is from all sources, sometimes after Scholarships &/or loans are applied. We still need the bursar's statement PLUS have the parents/students add up what they paid out of pocket. And, there's still separating what our clients paid for tuition from R&B and other expenses. And, yes, these are the folks teaching the next generation. Employers can't use a loose definition of what they Paid their employees. We can't be sloppy with how much we Paid for our business deductions. Rant over.

If the married kids file MFS and the potential dependent otherwise qualifies, then the potential dependent still qualifies to be a dependent of her parents. If the married kids file MFJ but have NO filing requirement, file only to get a refund of their withholding, then the potential dependent still qualifies to be a dependent of her parents. (NOT your scenario.) If the married kids file MFJ because they HAVE a filing requirement, then the daughter does NOT qualify to be a dependent of her parents. The parents can file withOUT their daughter as a dependent. OR, the married kids can amend their MFJ return to MFS for both, and children and parents mail in their returns. Or, as has been suggested, you can send the whole family to HRB and move on to more appreciative clients!

It still has to do with the rental. Does it subtract from the basis? Reimburse for renovation costs? Reimburse for repairs &/or maintenance. Is it a contra-account of an expense account? Would he have received the grant if he didn't rehabilitate the property on his Schedule E?

If the tuition was $4K and the scholarship was $4K and the bill of $4K was paid by the scholarship with no parental cash and the parents can benefit from AOC more than the student will lose by paying tax on income at his lower tax rate and IF the scholarship can be used for more than tuition, then you "use" some/all of the scholarship for room & board or whatever so it's taxable to the child. Then the parents take the AOC. However, 1098-Ts are still unreliable. Use the bursar's statement. For instance, I've seen what you reported, but it meant that tuition was $8K with scholarship $4K so billed $4K. If the parents actually paid $4K toward tuition, you don't have to "move" any scholarship money around.

Does FATCA and FBAR come into play?

Yeah, we're not as sleep-deprived as we think we are. Well, maybe we are, but we're not seeing things! Well, maybe we are, but we're not the only one seeing this particular thing...

Read the terms of the scholarship. If it is for tuition only, then any excess is taxable. If it can be used for room & board also, them perhaps the student has no excess to tax. If it is taxable, the student might have a filing requirement.

I've had both of those happen every time a thread gets moved to a new forum. Even though I've read the thread in each forum, General still showed there are unread threads and I'd get that error message, too. Logging out, restarting Chrome, even rebooting my computer still left the bold General forum suggesting I had unread posts. If I Mark the Forum as Read, it behaves. Took me a couple of "moved" threads until I found what works and doesn't.

If it was a trustee-to-trustee rollover from same kind to same kind of retirement plan, then you won't see any paperwork at all, most of the time. Ask some questions, such as, was that a traditional IRA going into a traditional IRA?, so you can make sure it was actually rolled over in the timeframe, doesn't need to be taxed (think TIRA to Roth IRA), etc. From where and to where was she moving such a small amount of funds, relative to her FMV and usual distribution amounts, anyway?

Yep, multiple items to tick off to qualify to claim own exemption OR to claim AOC if could be claimed by someone else as a dependent OR to claim refundable credit OR.... I sometimes latch onto the ONE item that's the sticking point in one particular situation and don't enumerate all the other points that have to be met. Sometimes, I'm focusing on what I find difficult in the situation and not necessarily the issue the OP wants clarification for.

If the parent(s) could claim the student but do not, the student still cannot claim himself but can claim the nonrefundable AOC. He cannot claim the refundable credit until he qualifies to claim his own exemption.

I just received a K-1 for a client that has a transfer of capital. I'll be back with questions on this topic!

Both eFax that I use and RingCentral that my largest biz client uses will not print unless you choose to print. Both save in their system, available on my computer or anywhere I have internet service. Both allow me to move a fax into a client folder or where ever I choose to save it.