Lion EA

A cousin who was a programmer for her career is now a volunteer at a cat shelter in retirement. Hubby who taught middle school music (including the performing choruses) for 37 years wanted to be a Trader Joe's cashier, because they always look like they're enjoying themselves. He continued as a part-time music director at our church (where we met) so didn't rush to Trader Joe's. After a few years away from middle school kids, a local music school asked him to teach piano. He teaches kids and adults, mostly FaceTime over the last two years, and enjoys his students who are taking lessons because they want to. I probably will prepare taxes until I cannot function in any other job!

As long as we're off topic anyway, I'm trying to post here. Replying to an existing post worked only sporadically for me yesterday.

This is very helpful info, Hahn. It's been years since I had a client in the military, probably back to my Block days. He has said that CT is his state of record. He himself has never maintained a PPA as he lived in his mothers home in CT and attended Yale in CT through May 2021, but his mother's home is open to him, probably without any restrictions. I think his first year will be intense, so he might not step foot in CT for 30 days during 2022. I guess then it depends on if he maintains a PPA in another state... Would that mean no state tax to any state, if CT is his state of record but VA or another state becomes his PPA? (That's the least we can do for our military.) Thank you very much for sharing your time and knowledge during these last hectic weeks.

Yep, 1098-T and the cover letter from Yale. It appears the scholarship is from Yale only. Neither he nor his mother said anything over the last four years about ROTC, so I was very surprised to find he's leaving for the Marines in a few days! She just mentioned something about OCS and Quantico, but I think that's starting in this October. He also had a W-2 from DFAS for a 2020 summer program. Box 1 was a little higher than 3 & 5, so maybe summer housing... 2021 will probably be where I have BAH and such paid for the fall after graduating from Yale this spring. I will save your link and Pub 970 in his electronic file for 2021. Thanks so much, Hahn. I'm definitely nearing burnout and need a few days this fall to play with grandchildren.

Thanks, Hahn. I must've read a similar set of lists 7 times without seeing the breakout for Don't Apply. Thank you!

Giving this a bump up, because it scrolled off my screen and probably yours! I'm sleep deprived and losing focus on my research. If you know, please help. This kid was a full-time student at Yale in 2020, but graduated in 2021 and leaves for the Marines this weekend. I need to prepare his (and his mother's, due to Kiddie Tax) returns this week. (Actually, I have 27 more returns, including our own to prepare. So, I'm trying to get through 1-2 per day, but everyone has something new in their documents this year.)

I vote for hide under our desks now.

I have been standing firmer, more so late in this season, about not starting returns until I receive the signed engagement letter AND the signed due diligence questions, which include EIP1, EIP2, & EIP3. Few will remember EIP3 next year, and many are confused about reporting EIP2 now instead of next year, so I ask for all three. My questions also include the 2021 advance CTC payments, because few will remember next year. So, getting the first one, two, or three gives me a good reminder about asking for the rest of them next year.

Scholarship is higher than Tuition paid. I can add books & school supplies, yes? Computer? Internet? Are all those allowed? What about rent/room & board?

Thanx for the reminder. I just checked, and Chrome had not finished it's last update for some reason and told me to relaunch. Now it gives the above Version #.

Don't compete with the big box stores. Don't compete with national CPA firms. Compete on your (maybe year-round) customer service to clients who want their taxes done right. You can also research your own niche and become that expert: investors, small biz, virtual, whatever. If Liberty goes out of biz in your area, do you even want those customers?!

Did she receive a US Form W-2 with US taxes withheld? Or, did she pay Australian taxes?

Of course it's easy -- if it fits the rubric the IRS auditors are given, which will be newly-written to work with the new bank reporting forms. But it will be very time-consuming for me and for all my small biz clients. Clients won't feel it's their fault (it isn't) and expect NOT to pay me. I'm spending hours each day corresponding with clients waiting on refunds and with clients receiving levy letters now, because the IRS hasn't processed their online payments yet. Clients are angry. At me. They know they paid, so it must be my fault. Even if they want to rant at the IRS instead of me, the IRS doesn't answer their phones or faxes or process letters. The IRS just holds onto their refunds or keeps sending ever more threatening letters. My clients' rants should be directed at Congress, but they know they won't get any action there, either This is just one more thing that will go wrong next tax season (if this one ever ends). One more thing we have to clean up after Congress' new idea.

What does the IRS do with all the Forms 5498 they receive? Seems like nothing.

I have clients that like to pay me via PayPal and Venmo plus credit cards I process via Intuit. I would receive Forms 1099-K from all three of those. The Intuit payments land in my biz checking account, and I move all the Venmo and most of the PayPal to my biz checking account. Under Biden, my biz checking account will issue me Form 1099-whatever on those transfers. The same income will get reported twice. My disbursements from PayPal and from my biz CC and from my biz checking account will NOT be reported twice. My net profit will look waaay too high! I can't imagine the time it will take to argue my own situation with the IRS, let alone argue for all my clients!

That sounds about right to me!

Too late to increase 2020 wages. Had to pay himself during 2020 for 2020 wages, 2020 W-2.

OP is Original Poster. That's you. He can leave it as a non-deductible Traditional IRA. You will keep track of it via Form 8606. Or, your client can do a backdoor Roth. Either way, the broker isn't keeping track, you are! Give your client all his options and let him make a decision.

Thank you. The property tax site worked great, but the MyIllinois.Tax.gov is a different animal. I will give it a try when I finally prepare our taxes. Although, if IL is accepting e-payments from NRs, then I'm also hopeful my software will facilitate a direct debit. I'll use MyIL for the ES payment I usually make in December, though. I did look-up the ILPINs for me and for hubby who's primary on our returns.

Can her client do one recharacterization and also one conversion in a year, or is she limited to only one of those or the other?

I live in CT but have part of an IL farm, acreage my grandfather bought in the 1880s or so. I've always had to mail a check into IL to pay my state taxes, because I file a NR return. Today we realized we hadn't paid the second property tax payment to Montgomery County, called them, and were shown a user-friendly website managed by Heartland. Our property tax bills were easy to find and to pay online. Is it possible IL is using a similar site by Heartland (or anyone else) to collect state income taxes from distant people like me who file NR returns? I went to MyTax.Illinois.gov and see that I can make payments for IL-1040, but as I've said, in the past I've been kicked out of online payment for the Schedule NR or whatever reason they gave, maybe the non-IL address triggered my expulsion. The same for direct debit with e-file. And, I'm not ready to actually file my return yet/don't know my balance due. Just hoping someone from an IL border state knows about their clients paying online, or not being able to pay online. Or, via direct debit or... Some years back I paid a generous amount in IL ES so I'd have a refund to apply to the next year. I've continued to pay ES when I'm not so rushed, so I have a refund to apply each year. Just want to get away from IL having my money in advance -- if I can direct debit or pay online.

How is conversion defined? I thought it was taking from a potentially taxable IRA, paying any taxes due, and putting it into a Roth. Her client went the other direction, from a Roth. Is that still a conversion? Just trying to find a way that she can have her client do what she wants him to do without waiting a year...

OP's client hasn't converted to a Roth -- yet. He contributed to a Roth; recharacterized to a TIRA. So, he can still convert to a Roth by 15 October, yes?

Can he make one recharacterization (Roth to TIRA when his income was too high to contribute to a Roth) plus one conversion (TIRA to Roth for a backdoor Roth) per year? Or only one of those? Can he make the second after 12 months? Or, after 31 December?

If summer or short term work for a foreign employer in a foreign country AND paying foreign tax to that country, your client will have a foreign tax credit on his federal return. If it's a high tax rate country, that can be a valuable credit.