Lion EA

I lost one who's semi-retired and going to go DIY. (I think this is only my second client to go to DIY; the other also retired and had prepared his own returns when much younger so is giving it a try again. Both those people no longer have NYS NRPY returns, paid off their mortgages, one has kids done with college now, simpler financial lives.) And, another semi-retired couple who'd moved away, now found a preparer closer to home. Both stayed with me a long time after their lives changed. The couple took a lot of time with questions & calculations all year, so as much as I like them, I'm really better off without them. But, a teacher client recommended a couple she knows from work. And, a biz client that was himself recommended by another biz client has formed a new partnership and is bringing me more biz returns. So, I have as many clients and will make more money.

Check out Thursday's question and answers.

Only as far as the NYS NYPY pertains to my commuters. Don't have any NYC resident clients now. What is your question?

I charge my hourly fee during tax season. If off-season, I usually charge less per hour than for tax prep. And, I have a very, very part-time assistant who I pay to organize/run adding machine tapes/etc., and then I add that cost (including any of my time to direct her) to the client's bill. Some stuffed boxes/bags get sent home anyway, to total themselves or go on extension until I can get my assistant in. I put the Bookkeeping fee right on their invoice, so they can see how much it costs them.

Figuring out if that teeny, tiny character is an 8 or a B is a pain. I wear my reading glasses to prepare tax returns, but those 16 digits are really tough to read. Do I include the hyphens? I've done it both ways. And, I know I missed one originally, but spotted it when noticing that one of their other W-2s had the code. And, have you seen the one where it's buried in the name/address box?! Big companies have employee numbers anyway, so it took some time for me to realize where they'd hidden the verification code. Box 9 or within the name/address, right? What a stupid system.

My hubby got all excited when a large Lord & Taylor box arrived for me, thinking a grateful client had sent a gift. I took one look at the return address and knew it was just a tardy client sending all her tax documents, plus every other piece of paper she had, for a couple of years. What a letdown.

There's always an estate. You may or may not have to file an estate tax return. Although, with a surviving spouse, you'll want to file for portability purposes, and now the distribution.

If he reaches the then-limit while alive, he will owe tax with that year's gift tax return plus any subsequent returns. You don't wait until after he dies to pay tax, just until he reaches the limit. I think. None of my clients have given that much away, so I haven't had to look that up lately.

Your software should do the heavy lifting after you tell it the date your client became a NY resident, but some forms to look for TR-579-IT is the NY version of 8879 IT-201-V is the payment voucher IT-203 is the NRPY base form IT-203-D should flow from the federal Schedule A IT-2 details the W-2s IT-360.1 for moving into or out of NYC (NYC tax is calculated, but flows to IT-203; just a separate schedule and not a separate return for NYC) Yonkers has their own schedule, also. IT-2105.9 if underpaid If your client had any NY-sourced income while still an IL resident or IL-sourced income after a NY resident, you'll be using more columns in the allocation. If the company did not change/client does not have separate W-2s, you'll need a paystub with year-to-date information close to when he left IL/moved to NY to allocate his wages between the two states. I usually do a spreadsheet and then input the income items: wages, interest, dividends, capital gains, etc. I proofread on the forms and not from the input screens to make sure everything flowed where I expected it to, nothing doubles, nothing is missing, the amounts from the two states add up to his federal, etc. Moving expenses go on NY as the state he moved to, if the company did not reimburse him for deductible moving expenses. Your software should flow everything or almost everything after you prepare the federal and give NY the date and allocate anything your software cannot. I don't have any NY residents currently (moved to CT &/or NJ), but come back with any specific questions and hope a NY preparer jumps in.

Looks beautiful. Why don't you wean your clients to more remote methods so you can work from home, or closer to home? And, sit in your yard when the bears are willing to share it with you?!

CA's not a big issue this time. She did actually work and train there, and they withheld. So, you know you're filing a CA NR return with only a percentage of her income as CA-sourced income. It's all those other states!

I don't know. That's why I told you to read up on Tax Home. She may be like an entertainer or athlete or over-the-road trucker and owe taxes to all states she works in -- MA and AZ and everything in between. Her tax home isn't VA for that trip, maybe her residence. Maybe an itinerant worker. (Had a colleague who's client drove his truck all over, where ever he could find a load to carry and where ever he had to deliver. They filed like 42 state returns most years.) I had a consultant who traveled a lot, but his company withheld for the states they sent him to and prepared his W-2 correspondingly; we still filed a lot of state returns, but the company did the math and his work also took place in CT with the company. Hopefully she kept a log if using per diem or receipts if using actual expenses or detailed expense accounts if being reimbursed by her company. Those will help you with how much time spent in each state. Some states have floors re how many days or how much income before filing is required; others, like AL, say you owe them tax if you put your foot or any body part over the border. But, if she doesn't see clients in VA, I don't know if VA can be her tax home. You might use an NATP question; they provide the cites and backup along with an answer. Is her company big enough to have a legal department that researched this issue? Did they give her any written information re her tax obligations to the states she picks up in, drops off in, passes through, as part of her training or her job offer letter? Did they provide cites to the IRC that you can check on?

I'm not convinced her tax home is VA. Where does she do her work? You said "other states." Read up on tax home. Her primary residence could be in VA.

A few seconds to walk to my home office. I do NOT get dressed first, just add a sweatshirt and slippers to my jammies. When clients are expected, I do dress! But, I don't have to open the door to unexpected clients, because I have a large mail slot in my front door for drop-offs. Also, I have a couple biz clients where I go to their site and wear clothing. Those trips, which vary from weekly to monthly, are 20-35 minutes long, barring construction, accidents, etc. I time those for afternoon or late morning arrivals and departures in the evening after the thick of rush hour, and can drive to one of those sites entirely on back roads.

Exactly. I don't use all caps anyplace else, unless I mean to shout. But, with mixed case on a tax return where the line descriptions are in mixed case, it's just too hard to see what I entered in a list or info or anything. I need the contrast to find my place, proofread, etc. It's worth the occasional mistype of a password when I forget I have caps lock on.

Use word of mouth advertising. If you want new clients, tell your best clients that you have space for a few good new clients. Tell them you want more clients just like them, or in their profession, or in their neighborhood, or.... That way you stand a good chance of getting more clients like your best clients. Referrals are better than strangers who find you online.

She might owe in all the states she works in, just like an entertainer or athlete. Her job location is each tour. Not sure where that makes her tax home.

Yes, we preparers are currently a prime target of these phone and email scams. Beware!

I use all caps on tax returns. It makes it easier for me to see entries. I do set Caps Lock, but I also have a setting in ProSystem fx that puts my data entry into caps no matter how I enter it. So, I could leave Caps Lock off if I choose. (I don't use all Caps on client letters & instructions, though.) So, if I've set Caps Lock and return, like you, I can mistype my password. Luckily my sign-in box has a yellow warning triangle and states "Caps Lock is on" so I know what the problem is. (I have other software that releases Caps Lock when I try to enter, which is really handy this time of year when I use Caps Lock most of each day.)

The state web sites for business taxes in the states you're working with will probably have a list of sales-taxable services and products. You may have to wade through some legalese. But, if the biz clients you are getting are new to business, you might be able to research more efficiently than they can. I'm in CT so don't know about your states. Also, ask around your local networks to see if you can pick another preparer's brain in each state.

Spend a few minutes sending an email BCCing every client asking for the DL info or copies of their DL front & back. Phone those without email early evening or Saturday. Or wait until you're getting signatures to have them return their DL copies along with their 8879s (you probably don't call them at 1 a.m. for signatures!). I do a lot of 1 a.m. - 4 a.m. emailing questions and uploading signature forms; works great as I usually have their response by the time I get some sleep and return to my desk at daylight.

I haven't shoveled my front walk to the mail slot in my door since the last storm, but they do keep coming. Lost one gal who's life got simpler in semi-retirement, so she's trying it on her own. Sorry to lose her, but will be even sadder if I lose her dad along with her. They're both nice to work with and no more than the usual chasing for missing info. Just lost a more complex couple who took a LOT of time. They'd moved farther away but like to both interview and then pick-up/review in person each year, which has become a hassle for them to schedule between their trips to FL and medical issues and also a hassle for me to fit them in and VERY time-consuming. Both very intelligent: he a banker and mellow and she intense and tracks everything in pencil on dozens of pages, does sum it all up, but even that is a few pages. I need to tie everything from her pages into their tax returns to satisfy her, including pieces such as medical where some premiums end up on page 1 as SEHI with the excess on A or the LTC that is less than her payment due to IRS chart. They then take their paper returns home to go over again and either sign/mail or book yet a third appointment to question more details. (In recent years, I've required third appointments to be AFTER tax season; but that means they chose to mail returns on time and I've been stuck with amendments if they actually had new information for me.) I can't charge them enough for my time, so I don't think I'll miss them that much, even though I enjoy working with intelligent people. They always want this mid-February to mid-March time when I need to work on 1065, 1041, and 1120-S returns (not to mention recalculation of their SE payments for January based on her preliminary pages and MANY questions in January when I'm trying to get out W-2s/1099s and payroll reports) so I think I'm fine with them finding someone closer to their home, finally. In the meantime, a couple of clients have sent referrals and a couple of individuals and businesses have opened new business entities, so I have more clients when I'm old enough that I'd like to lose clients by attrition. My core clients are just receiving their 1099-Bs and calling.

I have seen DOB rejects for dependents (colleagues when I worked for HRB) but not for taxpayer spouse. I thought DOB is required for dependents always and for the taxpayer/spouse for things like eligibility for EIC w/o children, retirement distributions w/o early withdrawal penalties, etc. I mask everything I'm allowed to so fewer papers are out there with SSNs. But, the scams ask for W-2s &/or lists of employees with SSNs, etc., so anyone who would fall for the scam probably would include the lists requested. Tell your business clients. Tell everyone you meet. Tell everyone at church Sunday morning. Spread the word. These scams keep morphing, but they'll never go away.

I figure it's the middle of February already and his SSN & info has been out there since it was mailed open in January. So, my question re an extension being rejected or not was so the preparer/client can tell if ID theft has already taken place. (I know well that an extension does not stop it. Two years ago my own joint extension was filed, but someone used my SSN before October when we filed.) I too would file a return with what's available sooner rather than later with the intention of amending if I thought it would stop fraud and the client chose that method. But, if a return was filed in January, you can't stop that fraudulent return now. If you do file before the thief, still take all the other measures in addition.

Yep, I couldn't do it the regular way, because the IRS said that AT&T said my cell is not in my name. AT&T said it is; the bill is in my name; my name displays when I call someone. I had to wait for something in the mail. That only let me do that Get My Transcript thing. I couldn't identify myself via telephone, because i get no 1099s/W-2s in my name/SSN (name/EIN plus one that always has a typo, different typo every year, but always a typo). Was on the wait list for an appointment at an IRS center in a distant town. e-Services still rejects me. It's on my to-do list, but who has time now?! Just hope I can get through without needing e-Services.