JohnH

Thanks for the quick responses. Just to clarify Ron's question, the payers were not taking a charitable contribution deduction on their returns. My reasoning for it being a liability is along the lines of Evan's response. The organization assumed a responsibility to forward the funds to the tour operator when it accepted the funds. (or to return the money to the participants if the trip failed to materialize). Therefore, the cash in the bank account needed to be offset by the recognition of a corresponding liability. I'm still getting up to speed on non-profits, but in my way of reasoning, the "Temporarily Restricted Net Assets" is in reality a proxy for a liability account. Fund accounting is weird.

I'm having a discussion regarding the handling of a transaction for a non-profit organization. In 2016 it sponsored an overseas tour which several people signed up for. The participants paid deposits during 2016 to reserve a spot on the tour, which took place in early 2017. At the end of 2016, the organization was holding these deposits, which were paid to the tour operator just prior to the trip in 2017. These were NOT contributions or gifts, but simply payments which the non-profit organization consolidated and passed through as a convenience to the participants & the tour operator. My approach was to book the deposits as a liability on the records of the non-profit. Then the liability was netted out to zero when the tour operator was paid in 2017. A question arose recently concerning whether the deposits should have been recorded as "Temporarily Restricted Net Assets" in the equity section of the B/S. My understanding is that "Temporarily Restricted Net Assets" is used to recognize donor contributions, gifts, or grants which are earmarked to be used in specific ways in furtherance of the purposes of the non-profit organization. Therefore, it would not have been the appropriate account for the pass-through of the tour deposits and the liability account was more appropriate. Can any of you non-profit experts give me some guidance (or correction/criticism) in either direction? Thanks.

Keep in mind that if you retroactively discover a disqualifying event, that triggers a filing requirement for the S-corp part-year return. So if the return is filed after that due date, the per-shareholder penalties kick in.

Bart: You might have made out better with the scales. But don't make the mistake the general store owner made one time. A customer came in and said she needed a whole chicken. He reached down into the ice chest behind the counter and put one on the scale that weighed about 3 lb. She thought for a minute and said "that might not be big enough". When he put the chicken back in the ice chest, he realized this was his last one. So he swished it around in the ice, placed it back on the scale, and slipped his thumb on the scale so it read about 4 lb. She thought for a couple of minutes and said, "I'm still not sure 4 lb is enough for my family - I'll just take both of them."

Client is a resident of NC who owns a rental property in Florida. Client has decided to form a Florida LLC for asset protection reasons. It will be a multi-member LLC with taxpayer and spouse as the only two members. I'm thinking there's no reason to elect corp tax filing (S or C), and to simply report the LLC income/expenses as a partnership on Form 1065. Since I don't know much about business tax filing requirements in Florida, I'd like to ask if there are any problems with this approach?

When I went through Air Force basic training, we would get demerits in a barracks inspection if all the toilet paper rolls were not arranged to unroll over the top, and with the last piece folded under, corner-to-corner at a 45-degree angle, forming a "salute".

I appreciate the thoughts and the link. I was also thinking the title should be transferred before the sale is completed. I'm assuming that should be via a liquidating distribution, since the partnership essentially ceases to exist once the building is transferred. Glad to get that confirmation.

Taxpayer & spouse are equal partners in a partnership which has owned a commercial building for many years. They have been filing partnership returns annually and distributing the net income/loss to one another via separate K1/Sched E on their MFJ return.. The partnership is entering into an agreement to sell the building on an installment sale. They want to simplify their tax return filing and eliminate the 1065/K1/E combo if possible, since the installment sale reporting will continue far into the future. Any thoughts on the simplest way to accomplish this?

My understanding is that the 1120S extended due date is still 9/15/17. I'm not aware of any further extension, other than people affected by the recent natural disasters.

I predict you won't regret the switch.

Client to FA: "I thought you said the purpose of these ' Deferred Sales Trusts' was to build the college fund for the kids." FA: "Yes, that's exactly the purpose. The college fund for my kids is doing great! "

Guilt - that's the difference between being a caring person and a feeling person. As in. "I really don't care. Sometimes I feel bad about not caring, but still I really don't care."

I am really glad to see this thread. I had been struggling with a couple of knotty problems on some remaining corp returns. Had completely forgotten about the new due dates for C corps. So I just now revised my work schedule for the upcoming week, knowing that I need to wrap up two S-corps by Thursday/Friday and I can postpone a couple of C-corps until after I take a break. Thanks for this timely post.

Sorry. I'd like to hear it but I have a policy of not clicking on attachments from strange people.

I used to just let unrecognized incoming calls go to voicemail email. But lately I'm more inclined to answer, then use a stock response to their initial inquiry. No matter what they say or ask, I always reply "What's the purpose of your call?" It puts even the most aggressive caller on the defensive. If they can't answer that question in a succinct sentence, then I tell them to stop wasting my time and I hang up. Altogether it takes 15-30 seconds, which is generally less time than to listen to a recorded message or a dead air recording. I think this is decreasing the number of these calls, but one never knows for sure. I do make an exception for the people calling to tell me my computer has a virus. I like to keep them tied up for a while just to delay their calling & scamming the next victim.

I like the new look.

Isn't the strap under his neck cinched up pretty tight over his JUGular vein?

Drake software is located in Franklin, NC, which is directly in the path of totality for the upcoming solar eclipse. Today they sent out a memo to all users that their customer support will be closed Aug 21 between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm so their employees can enjoy the eclipse. They also sent a link inviting others who can't get to the path of totality to join their live stream. How cool is that? I'm betting it will be a top-quality feed, because Drake has been instrumental in getting high-powered internet service in what's otherwise a sleepy little mountain community.

Three friends on a fishing trip check into a cheap hotel. The room costs $30, so each pays $10. Later the desk clerk realizes he should only have charged $25 for the room, so he takes $5 back to the room. They can't figure out how to split the $5, so they decide to tip the clerk $2, and each of them keeps $1, meaning they each paid $9 each for the room. So since $9 x 3 = $27 and then you add $2 for the tip, you now have $29. They originally paid $10 x 3 = $30. What happened to the other $1?

OK. That settles it. This thread has set a new record for diversions. It has now chased more rabbits than my dad's old redbone hound dog did in his entire life.

While we're on the subject of unwanted paper, if any clients leave paper in your office that you don't want lying around, I'll volunteer to dispose of it. Especially if it's green in color and has pictures of presidents on it.

---> And, as a deputy sheriff client once told me, "They steal because they're too lazy to work." <---- Reminds me of an incident a few years ago when someone stole my Ford Crown Vic from a parking lot where I had left it while driving a rental car on a trip. The Crown Vic had about 200K miles on it and the front & rear seats didn't even match. The ignition switch was so worn that you didn't even need the key inserted to start it. They drove it about 8 miles, then abandoned it in an industrial park after kicking in the windshield. I was more amused than upset about it, and I asked the police officer why he thought someone would steal that car when there were so many nice ones sitting around it. He replied "Hey, I never said they were smart."

Forms-based data entry is much less useful than is commonly exposed. It frequently jumps to a supporting schedule anyhow. So Drake simply has you begin the data entry process where forms-based software ends up. I had very little trouble abandoning forms-based entry when I switched from ATX to Drake 5 years ago. Maybe that's because I had used Microvision before ATX, but in any event it wasn't a difficult transition. Once the user reaches a small degree of software transparency, it becomes very clear that forms based entry is seriously overrated. And the speed & efficiency gains are phenomenal. But that only becomes apparent after the user has invested sufficient time and energy in making the transition.

I'm just doing my part in the interest of security & efficiency.

I'm going to start doing all my paper returns in cursive. They don't teach cursive in school any more, and hardly anybody uses it, so most thieves wouldn't be able to understand the info well enough to steal any identity information anyhow. Now that's REAL security.