rfassett Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 I just did a head count and I have 70 returns in house waiting for me to start. And they are coming in at an average pace of 10 -12 per day. So far today, I have finished two. I need to find another gear here somewhere. I am thinking I must be clinically depressed because about 75 - 80% of my returns will have a 3115 issue. Extending is not an option because I sure the heck do not want to be messing with those all summer long. Yeah - clinically depressed - that's my problem. I think I will go dodge some traffic and try to get the mail. Hey! Maybe there will be some more returns in the mail. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 Quote
Janitor Bob Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Same feeling a barely staying afloat here...I just tell clients to be patient. Fortunately, I do not (yet) have any 3115...but the ACA (1065-As, 8962s, and 8965s) is increasing the time I spend on a lot of returns. Quote
Catherine Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 And I'm stuck at home with another snowstorm. This might not have been the best year to move my office out of the house... The three returns I brought home to do today are done - well, except for final review and printing to pdf, which I will do back at my office tomorrow. So, since I still can't get TO my office, I guess I'll take out my cross-stitch kit and work on that for a bit. I'd actually prefer to be making progress on taxes - but that's off the books for today. Argh. 2 Quote
rfassett Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Posted February 9, 2015 We had a two hour delay today - ice all around But I have learned to take a minimum of 20 hours of work home with me every night - just in case you, Catherine, would move into my area and bring all of your snow with you. (We only have about 34 inches on the ground right now.) But at the pace I am moving, even if I spent 3 hours working at home at night, I seem to still bring 19 hours of work back to the office every morning. Something just is not clicking. 2 Quote
jklcpa Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 I am stuck on review financial statements that I've been struggling to finish up and now I've got final figures and have NOL carrybacks to prepare also. This is a FY 5/31 corp with the return due 2/16. I pulled my hair out all summer and fall trying to get the complete records I needed from this company. The bookkeeper was extremely ill and ended up in the hospital fighting pneumonia, and then the owner's elderly mother was dx with a terminal illness and died. Plus, I do so few at this level any more that this is the one that will have to be submitted for peer review. I just want to scream! I won't even be able to get to individual returns for a few more days. 1 Quote
RitaB Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 I'm moving at quite a clip AND ACCOMPLISHING ZERO. Thank you all for helping me feel a little better about that. 6 Quote
michaelmars Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 We had a two hour delay today - ice all around But I have learned to take a minimum of 20 hours of work home with me every night - just in case you, Catherine, would move into my area and bring all of your snow with you. (We only have about 34 inches on the ground right now.) But at the pace I am moving, even if I spent 3 hours working at home at night, I seem to still bring 19 hours of work back to the office every morning. Something just is not clicking. I keep a bounce of work home at all times, there are always early clients that know they owe and aren't in a rush. Or write-up to do etc. I just keep a bag full for snow days. Quote
Lion EA Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 I'm moving so slowly. Was stuck on one who used the marketplace, but it ended up being Medicaid. Now, am dragging my feet over filling out my first 3115. And, people have been mailing in and UPS and dropping off and mailing and.... My back hurts and my chiropractor closed due to the storm. I'm in slow motion. 2 Quote
RitaB Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Ok, this check cashing business I'm working on now took a bunch of bad checks on one "OMAR SHARIFF." I can't even tell you people how normal and brilliant and superb you all are. OMG. I guess they thought they could trust him because of the extra "F" there. Crying. 4 Quote
Lion EA Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Did they ask Omar for his autograph? That's probably showing my age. Did they ask to take a selfie with Omar? 5 Quote
RitaB Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Did they ask Omar for his autograph? That's probably showing my age. Did they ask to take a selfie with Omar? I'm printing the Wikipedia article on Omar and attaching it to the return. And she's fifteen years older than me, so if I know Omar... 2 Quote
NECPA in NEBRASKA Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Ron, I share your depression. Every client that I try to explain the 3115 changes to, gets mad, which just makes me feel worse. I don't know where I will find the hours to do all of this extra crap that's been forced on us for no reason. The webinar that I took from CNA, really encourages extensions for returns with 3115's to make sure that they are correct. I keep hoping that they will get killed somehow. Quote
Lion EA Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 Years ago someone stole a bunch of checks from Emmanuel Church and wrote checks to cash and signed them Manny Church. So, now our accounts are in the name of Emmanuel Episcopal Church. 3 Quote
Lion EA Posted February 9, 2015 Report Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) I'm really pushing extensions, as you say, for Forms 3115. And, also, to see what direction the IRS will really go with this. But, I'm getting a lot of pushback and refusals for filing extensions. Edited February 9, 2015 by Lion EA 1 Quote
Catherine Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 From another newsgroup, and also posted in the repair regs pinned thread: This was posted on another list over the weekend. “Good morning everyone, I have some hopeful news. I spoke to someone from the AICPA's Tax Division yesterday and he told me they had a meeting with IRS last Monday about the tangible property regs and the 3115. Nothing certain, but IRS is considering accepting a statement with the return saying that the taxpayer is adopting the new regs instead of having to file a 3115. And, I think more importantly, they may apply the regs prospectively. Presumably, IRS will decide withing 2 weeks whether they'll go this route. So, in his words, "Drag your feet". Wouldn't it have been nice if IRS had made this decision 2 months ago?” Keep your fingers crossed that the IRS will do the right thing! 3 Quote
jklcpa Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 Yes, this doesn't help me with the 5/31 that I'm working on that is due next Monday. 3 Quote
Jack from Ohio Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 Ron, I share your depression. Every client that I try to explain the 3115 changes to, gets mad, which just makes me feel worse. I don't know where I will find the hours to do all of this extra crap that's been forced on us for no reason. The webinar that I took from CNA, really encourages extensions for returns with 3115's to make sure that they are correct. I keep hoping that they will get killed somehow. Remember.... YOU did not make the tax law changes. Remind your client what the source of the new regs is. Encourage them to contact their representative and their Senators. YOU DID NOT CAUSE THIS!! And charge more for having to deal with it. 3 Quote
RitaB Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 Remember.... YOU did not make the tax law changes. Remind your client what the source of the new regs is. Encourage them to contact their representative and their Senators. YOU DID NOT CAUSE THIS!! And charge more for having to deal with it. That's right. Omar Sharif would handle it that way. 3 Quote
mcb39 Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 I'm moving at quite a clip AND ACCOMPLISHING ZERO. Thank you all for helping me feel a little better about that. Am spending twelve to thirteen hours a day anchored to my computer chair and making very little headway. My in box is running over. We aren't eating decent meals (or hardly any meals). They just keep pouring in. Everyone seems to want their refund before "the IRS runs out of money!" The other side of the coin is all the early filers who are owing this year. I am going to take an early night. 5 Quote
Catherine Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 So, since I still can't get TO my office, I guess I'll take out my cross-stitch kit and work on that for a bit. I'd actually prefer to be making progress on taxes - but that's off the books for today. Argh. Never got to the cross-stitch but made biscuits to go with the beef barley soup made from leftovers, and practiced my fiddle too. I am really dreading the pile over at my office waiting for me. I did get email tonight so I can finish up one of the corporate returns. A consultant, so NO 3115 needed; he'll just take the annual election. No real property; just a laptop and that was taken under Section 179. Phew! Quote
SaraEA Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 I too feel inundated. It seems like just yesterday we were preparing W2s and trying to coerce clients into getting the data needed for the 1099MISCs. Then tax season just fell out of the sky, and the mail and the drop-offs and the appointments just exploded onto the scene. IRS said today that the number of returns already filed is ahead of last year. I don't remember being this busy this early in Feb so they may be right. On the other hand, refund identity theft is on the rise, and those thieves file early to get in before the real person does, so I hope those early statistics don't just reflect an increase in fraudulent returns. I don't think I've ever had 70 returns in my in basket like rfassett does. If I did, I think I'd stop the world and get off--take a vacation or something. In our office we are not filing 3115s for the $200 and $500 elections. They are annual elections, and unless you are filing them retrospectively 3115 is not required. Just elect that treatment and be done with it. Also not needed when clients didn't make a structural improvements to property (and you're not going back to adopt the new regs). If they replaced a roof or HVAC system, that's treated differently under the new regs and you will need 3115 (and an extension if you have 70 returns in your in basket). Can't wait to see how the IRS clarifies this. We've all read millions of pages, gone to hours of courses, and heard the opinions of very smart people at major law and accounting societies. Yet we still aren't sure. Talk about complexity of the tax system. 4 Quote
RitaB Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 We've all read millions of pages, gone to hours of courses, and heard the opinions of very smart people at major law and accounting societies. Yet we still aren't sure. Talk about complexity of the tax system.Well, I've not read millions of pages, but I have heard enough chatter about it that I believe that three people on four boards understand it, and two of them are lying. I'm not even sure I'm doing the election correctly, but don't say anything, I think it'll be ok. 7 Quote
joanmcq Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 It's not just me then. I don't have seventy returns in my in box, maybe 10, but I can't get myself motivated, even by my empty bank account. My eyes literally hurt from reading on the computer and it gets to where I can't focus. I did NOTHING yesterday. Well I did go to an AA meeting and then tried to go grocery shopping and to the bank, etc. came out of one store and the heavens opened up. I got drenched walking 10 feet to my car and I was halfway there when the skies opened. Could barely see to drive and gave up on the rest of it. Put in a movie and kept saying I'd get back to the returns. Never did. And I still don't know what to do with the 3115 for the first rental client I'm working on. They replaced the roof. Can I expense? I don't know. And I can't remember what % of basis the safe harbor is! and am sick of looking repair reg stuff up. 5 Quote
Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana Posted February 10, 2015 Report Posted February 10, 2015 Joan, for the property safe harbor first look at the undepreciated cost basis of the building. If that value is less than $1,000,000 then the real property safe harbor is 2% of the building's value, capped at $10,000. Lynn 3 Quote
rfassett Posted February 10, 2015 Author Report Posted February 10, 2015 OK - new day, new attitude and clarification. I may have misled when I stated that 75 - 80% of my clients have a 3115 issue. I should have made it more clear that those all need to be analyzed and elections filed. I am NOT filing 3115s for all of them. Some probably, most NO. Still - extra time is needed for the analysis, etc. Enough of that. I completed two returns at home last night - and this is a brand new day. To work, to work. Aaaannndddddd, I whistle while I work, do, do, do, do, do, do, do...................................... Goal for today: 7 completed! 4 Quote
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