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Judy Thanks for that reply. I looked in Pub 525 but under Repayments page 37 "In most cases you can claim a deduction or credit ONLY if the repayment qualifies as an expense or loss incurred in your trade or business or in a for-profit transaction." How does a repayment in connection with disability fit under that language? or am I miss understanding ? Art

Taxpayer, single new client is covered by IL state retirement and benefits plan. In prior years he was paid what the state claimed was “non-occupational and temporary disability benefits” from SERS total $58,312.94 which is now recoverable per letter from SERS as the IRS has ruled the payments to be considered as occupational disability and fully excludable from gross income. The letter from SERS acknowledges receipt final payment of $31,406.42 representing the overpayment of non-occupational and temporary disability as reflected in the 1099R as follows: Box 1 $31,4016.42 Box 2 $0 Box 5 $31,406.42 Box 7 code 1 So far, so good The letter also states that the amount that the taxpayer REPAID to SERS in 2024 which pertained to the overpayment for those years was $20,461.13 and that amount may be taken as a deduction per IRS Pub 525. However, my understanding is that prior to 2017 the only way would be to take this as an itemized deduction but that is no longer available. So, the taxpayer is out of luck. Right? Any options? What about the balance ($58,312.94 -31,406.42 = $26,906.52 - $20,461.13 = $6,441.39?? I attached a redacted copy of the letter from SERS. Any thoughts would be appreciated Art Letter from SERS redacted.pdf

I have had Brother scanners for many years. Currently ADS-2800W, very reliable.

I use Avast that was set up by TECH4 and Drake for my tax software and have no issues. Art

Thanks Judy. Found it.

Procedure to make donation to Eric?

Are the sites quoted above really legit? I am very concerned that they are fishing for people to sign up for paid services that are not effective at best and dangerous are worst.

Thanks for the reply. In the meantime client finally got the refund late in July; just forgot to let me know. Oh, well that's the way it goes.

The 03/05/2024 notice asked for support for tax withholding amounts (W-2, 1099R,ect) on the 2023 1040 as the IRS stated it was unable to process the return . We promptly responded by sending the required documents and a copy of the notice via the supplied fax number. We got a confirmation that the fax was successfully sent, but the taxpayer is still has not gotten their refund. There was no phone number on the notice to contact them. What is the best suggestion to try to follow up on this?

Lee B Thanks for the link to Iowa State Center https://www.calt.iastate.edu/ I agree with Max W comments and I am saving the reference for next tax season.

I would be very interested in viewing your presentation. Can you provide a link? Thanks

The price of $999 is thru Sigma Tax Pro who is a reseller of several software providers including Drake. This price is for a single user as I have no employees. I got a "demo" of their " DR" software desk top version (Drake) from them and it is exactly the same as my regular version of Drake and appears to work the same. I was able to register with them for the 2024 tax software for $49.99 payment now and will not have to pay the balance until the software is released late in Nov. This will be my 1st year with them so I will update my post as next season progresses.

Taxpayer's 13 year old son has ADHD severe learning disability. He attends regular classes, but also has special classes to help with his ADHD. Anyone have experience on this? Specific qualifications and documentation? Thanks

If price is your concern you might want to take a look at Sigma Tax Pro. They are a reseller of Drake as well as other major tax software providers. Current pricing for Drake for 2024 is $999. You may want to look at postings under the Drake Forum for more comments.

Taxpayer called that the IRS had shorted his 2023 refund by $1620 (direct deposit) and was wondering why. No correspondence from the IRS. Looking at his return he had a LT capital loss of $13,500 which of course was limited to $3000 as shown on the return. Looks like they adjusted his refund calculated $13,500 at his effective tax rate of 12% = $1620. Does not make sense. If they were disallowing the loss then should have been $3000 at 12% = $360. Seems very strange. Am I missing something?

Thanks Lynn and Margaret. Sounds very interesting. I will certainly checked them out.

I have been using Drake Portals for several years and it has worked fine for my needs. However, I am considering moving to a different tax software provider and looking for alternatives for secure sharing of tax data with clients. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have a small tax practice so cost effectiveness, ease of use and of course security is important.

Just took a look at their site and the offerings I see range from $295 to $695. Just curious what are you getting for $999?

Client got married in 2023 and filed joint return with new spouse. Fed refunded shorted by $25---processing fee?? Spouse made quarterly payments electronically under her SSN. All payments cleared the bank for the amount submitted. IRS transcript matched the return as filed showing refund $969 but only $944 was directly deposited in their bank. No correspondence from IRS. No outstanding balances on prior years accounts. What gives?? Spouses CO estimated payments also sent electronically under her SSN was refunded to her by check with cover letter stating "the direct deposit refund was converted to the enclosed paper check per our fraud prevention measurers". However, the refund requested per the return was $2295 and the refund check was only $407, the amount of the estimated tax payments. Assume the balance of the refund will eventually get direct deposited?? Have not seen the issues before. Any other ideas?

Complex trust document allows trustee the discretion to pay corpus (principal) out of the trust for the sole beneficiary if he deems it necessary to meet her support and maintenance. If there are capital gains from the sale of investment assets in the trust can the trustee decide to pay out only a portion of those gains to the beneficiary and have part of the gains remained and taxed in the trust if she only needs a portion of the gains to meet her support and maintenance or is it an all or nothing situation?

No. Just farm land.

Correction: This was a revocable trust. See below: Got confirmation that no gift tax return or estate tax return was filed in 1982. The wording in the trust is as follows: Mr. X (father) as "settlor of this trust, hereby declares that from after the date hereof he shall hold and administer as "Trustee" the property described in Schedule A (farm ground ect.) and any other property which may be added to the trust as follows: FISRT: As long as Settlor is acting as Trustee, he shall have power to withdraw any part or all of the net income and principal of the trust. I would take that to mean he could have pulled the farm ground out any time he wanted as part of the principal. So until he died he in effect had control over the assets in the trust. Would need to run this by the attorney to confirm. Anyone have other thoughts?

Farm land from father was put in irrevocable complex trust in 1982 with distributable income going to him and his wife as beneficiaries; capital gains is taxed in the trust. They continued to operated the farm until he died in 2002. Farm continues to operate under the trust with DNI going to widow and capital gain taxed in the trust. Trust sold part of the farm land in 2023. My take is the there is a step-up in basis for the FMV of the land when father died in 2002. Agree??

Thanks Lion I did not realize that!

For 2023 client had $227 FTC but was not needed as tax was computed using Capital gains rate which was zero. Regular tax per tax table was $1800. Drake did not show any carryover of FTC. This does appear to be correct. Am I wrong on this