Tax Extenders

[Lee B]

It turns out the Tax Extenders Bill was attached to the to the Budget Bill currently in front of the Senate without mention or discussion!

Film at 11

[BulldogTom]

I just read that as well.  

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Jack from Ohio]

7 minutes ago, cbslee said:

It turns out the Tax Extenders Bill was attached to the to the Budget Bill currently in front of the Senate without mention or discussion!

Film at 11

[jklcpa]

Good!  I only have one return on hold so far for this because the client agreed to wait since this vote was coming up so soon.

[Randall]

Unbelievable.

 

[Abby Normal]

14 hours ago, Jack from Ohio said:

Damn! I could've gotten a free banana split!

[Abby Normal]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2018/02/09/budget-deal-revives-expired-individual-tax-breaks-for-homeowners-students-and-environmentalists/#1a343e4c7452

Link to PDF of summary: https://email.steptoecommunications.com/22/1412/uploads/summary-of-tax-extenders-agreement.pdf

[Jack from Ohio]

1 hour ago, Abby Normal said:

Damn! I could've gotten a free banana split!

You missed it!!

I am counting the money I will make to amend a bunch of returns!!

[Lee B]

The House passed the bill 4 hours ago and the bill was signed into law about an hour ago.

[easytax]

Even with the bill passed, we have to wait for the IRS  AND  also for the software people to submit new forms (corrected to add extenders) to the IRS and then have them approved too.

Probably NOT a QUICK turn-around.

[Jack from Ohio]

40 minutes ago, easytax said:

Even with the bill passed, we have to wait for the IRS  AND  also for the software people to submit new forms (corrected to add extenders) to the IRS and then have them approved too.

Probably NOT a QUICK turn-around.

I will do all amendments starting on May 1.  If client complains, I tell them to call their Senator and Congressman.  They caused this pile of male bovine scat, not me.

[Catherine]

3 hours ago, Jack from Ohio said:

I tell them to call their Senator and Congressman

My preferred term (at state or federal lever) is legis-vermin.  The few state l-v's who have heard this from me got a real kick out of it, too.

[SaraEA]

What a nightmare!  Today we went through the list of completed returns and flagged those that could be affected by this change.  Someone will have to go through each one (not until May) to determine if it is worthwhile amending, and we have to determine if/how much to charge for those paper returns.  As for incoming returns, and the deluge is just starting, we will have to put hundreds on hold to await software updates and approval.  We had only efiled about 80 returns as of 9AM today, with another dozen or so complete but not yet signed for, so the task will be daunting but not nearly as great as those big practices and chains that are at "peak" and have already filed zillions of returns. 

I remember years when congress passed tax law changes after Christmas and IRS miraculously managed to get the most common items reprogrammed in no time.  One year we had to wait until mid Feb for education credits and a bit later for AMT.  But NEVER do I recall congress changing the rules when tax season was already underway.  Do those fools know what they did?  Do they even know what was in the bill or what "tax extender" means??  I guess the POTUS, who "knows more about taxes than any CPA" (his words, not mine), didn't read it either because any no-nothing CPA would have said "don't do it."  Not being political here, I am disgusted with all of them, administration, congress, red, blue alike.  As I was moaning about the extra work and delays this is going to cause us, I got a message from IRS that made my heart go out to them.  It said that they were reviewing the task ahead and will give us some guidance as soon as possible.  Thinking about it, they have to reprogram their computers, accept software companies' tests, rewrite forms and instructions and zillions of linked pages and FAQs on their website, all while in the height of tax filing season.