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That unemployment amendment is going to kill me. I told my clients to wait since the idea was proposed and everyone said "no." They wanted the money now. Well, if they want the $10,200 ui taken off their return now? It's $150 and I'm not doing it until after busy season. I swear to God. I have appointments from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and I come in Sunday to get caught up on my tax work. If I was a QANNON, I'd almost believe congress actively wanted to kill tax preparers.
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Mar 6, 2021 17:43
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Erev posted:I've got a bit of a system between google calendars and a bevy of postit notes, but it could be interesting to see what I could do with something like Trello. That said, the learning stuff is less time management and more other mental health-related issues that I'm working to find the right treatments for. Ah okay. Well as others have covered if you're worried about forgetting specific things from your schooling that doesn't matter really. You just need to retain enough to know what terms to Google to figure out what you're supposed to do (and then narrow it down to your specific application). AMA about using PwC's publicly available guidance docs to fix two companies' terrible revrec policies without knowing anything about it beforehand.
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Mar 6, 2021 19:04
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I've found myself using PwC's public stuff increasingly in my class papers. They are handy tools.
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Mar 6, 2021 20:31
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I've got a tax question, and while I am an accountant I am not really a tax guy and definitely not a "knows how to deal with foreign income" type of tax guy so please forgive my ignorance: But my brother asked me to help him with his tax returns this year. He is a dual American/Canadian citizen living in Canada and he hasn't filed his 2018 or 2019 US tax returns. That's what he wants my help for (along with 2020's) so he can get caught up. It should be pretty simple, all his income was earned in Canada and he's lived there the whole time. I know the tax treaty between US and Canada basically says you only need to pay tax in the country of residence but that you still have to fill out a Form 1040 every year anyways. Looking over the 1040 I'm just not sure how you designate that Canadian income tax was paid... There's the schedule 3 for a foreign income tax credit but I think that's for countries where there is no tax treaty right? Or maybe I'm wrong and you are supposed to fill out the 1116 to calculate the credit then put it on the schedule 3 then put that on the 1040? Anybody have any experience with this sort of thing or know what I'm missing?
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Mar 11, 2021 22:25
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untzthatshit posted:I've got a tax question, and while I am an accountant I am not really a tax guy and definitely not a "knows how to deal with foreign income" type of tax guy so please forgive my ignorance: Form 2555 is what you’re looking for here.
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Mar 11, 2021 22:44
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Aha! Yeah that is what Im looking for. Thanks!
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Mar 12, 2021 00:47
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If he's earning under the exclusion amount the 2555 is often easier, but to answer your question about the FTC you do use form 1116. It's the same form whether it's a treaty country or otherwise. If he's living in Canada and all the income is earned in Canada, it's all foreign source income and creditable even without a tax treaty. The main benefit of the treaties is for a situation where the income is considered US source for some reason (for instance, if he went to the US for a work trip, those days of earned income are technically US source) you can use the treaty resourcing rule. But if everything is already in Canada anyways, it's all foreign source and the treaty doesn't matter. ALSO if he's got more than $10,000 in his Canadian accounts he might have to do an FBAR. More than 200,000 and he might have to do an 8938. And if he does have to do one or both of those, make sure you look at the delinquent information return procedures (and potentially look at streamlined filing if he qualifies). You can also have him pay me about $2,000 and I'll do it, if you want. Or maybe better another person on my team. Not me specifically because you've potentially seen my posts. Nobody who has seen my posts should trust me with their personal finances.
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Mar 12, 2021 01:33
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Hellblazer187 posted:If he's earning under the exclusion amount the 2555 is often easier, but to answer your question about the FTC you do use form 1116. It's the same form whether it's a treaty country or otherwise. If he's living in Canada and all the income is earned in Canada, it's all foreign source income and creditable even without a tax treaty. The main benefit of the treaties is for a situation where the income is considered US source for some reason (for instance, if he went to the US for a work trip, those days of earned income are technically US source) you can use the treaty resourcing rule. But if everything is already in Canada anyways, it's all foreign source and the treaty doesn't matter. Thanks this is good to know! Hellblazer187 posted:You can also have him pay me about $2,000 and I'll do it, if you want. Or maybe better another person on my team. Not me specifically because you've potentially seen my posts. Nobody who has seen my posts should trust me with their personal finances. And I think this is true of all of us in this thread. I did see the FBAR form requirements in my reading, I'll have to see how much cash he has saved up but my brother's job description would be something like "self employed musician" so we are not talking big numbers here. In fact I think for 2018 and 19 his income might even be under the standard deduction, which is why he's not worried about filing in the states in previous years. Obviously he should have done the 1040 anyways but I'm hoping we can catch him up without any penalties or anything.
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Mar 12, 2021 15:47
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untzthatshit posted:I did see the FBAR form requirements in my reading, I'll have to see how much cash he has saved up but my brother's job description would be something like "self employed musician" so we are not talking big numbers here. In fact I think for 2018 and 19 his income might even be under the standard deduction, which is why he's not worried about filing in the states in previous years. Obviously he should have done the 1040 anyways but I'm hoping we can catch him up without any penalties or anything. He's probably going to be fine. If he doesn't owe any tax (which he shouldn't) and doesn't have an FBAR requirement, there's really nothing to penalize. Since you mentioned he's self employed, then you are really in luck that he's in Canada. US and Canada have a Social Security Totalization Agreement. If he's in the Canadian system he should be exempt from US self employment tax as well.
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Mar 12, 2021 15:53
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Yeah luckily he's stayed in Canada these past few years. In 2017 he spent half the year on tour with an American band in the states and the rest gigging in Canada. He asked me to help him out then too and I told him to not even talk to me, just go find the CPA or CA or whoever can help you out with that 
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Mar 12, 2021 18:00
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I don't have the technical skills to do this so use your imagination: A gif where Stone Cold is labelled IRS. He gives a stunner to a wrestler labeled April 15. Then he holds up a championship belt labeled May 17. Thank you and may god bless the United States of America.
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Mar 17, 2021 23:06
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gently caress all my clients ill still be on vacation april 19-23 and mb beyond that into infiniti
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Mar 18, 2021 02:16
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Y’all ever have partners piss you off with questions? Just got done dealing with my partner who really rubbed me the wrong way. Basically, he was asking me about a reporting item on some K-1s that is aggregated from a bunch of underlying entities I personally manage and review, and that the client has already reviewed and approved. Our tax software automatically flows up the amounts from underlying entities, so no risk of mistyping or whatever. I spent an hour going through all the underlying entities and confirmed I (and the half dozen layers of review, including his own and the client’s) did not miss it, even though I knew full well I was correct. After I’ve done this, I find out that he was suspicious because someone else messed up their footnote by doing something entirely wrong on a parallel fund. Rather than mentioning why he was suspicious, he just asked why we weren’t reporting anything there. Maybe the 75 hour weeks are getting to me, but I very much do not appreciate being called incompetent at my job. Once I found out why he was suspicious (from a third party), it took me 5 minutes to identify why and fix the other persons K-1s. Like just loving tell me why you think something is wrong you absolute dickhead, don’t send me on a wild goose chase because someone else hosed up. Feels good to have a new job lined up, I’m sick of these people.
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Mar 22, 2021 03:21
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A colleague asked me "How swamped are you? Still head above water or up to your eyeballs?" and the too online memelord in me wanted to simply reply with "sonic_drowning_music.wav" but I just said "to be honest I'm about as swamped as I've ever been."Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:Y’all ever have partners piss you off with questions? Just got done dealing with my partner who really rubbed me the wrong way. That's some bullshit.
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Mar 23, 2021 17:36
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Can anyone tell me about getting an accounting degree online? I have a BA in political science already but I am desperate to stop working for the court and I've never been able to find anything else I can do with this degree that I don't hate even more. I feel like accounting would be something I'm more suited to (I was very good at math in school - the reasons I went into political science are very dumb) but I'm not entirely sure if it's even feasible with the pandemic and working a full time job. (For whatever it's worth, I don't have any outstanding debt right now.)
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Mar 24, 2021 04:48
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I would suggest starting by looking at local tech schools and universities. Also with a BA in your pocket I would also consider an associates track, depending on what kind of level of job you’re trying to get out of. A good AS will cover most of what you need to know to do entry level accounting jobs. It would also give you a decent base to then pursue a MA in accounting and go for a CPA if that’s something you fancy. Also I did my whole degree with a full time job, it sucked a lot but it’s doable if you’re determined.
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Mar 24, 2021 12:35
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My BA is in Literature, which gave me none career options so I got a Master's in Accounting online from a random state school (not even in my state) - my goal from day 1 was CPA so I just went straight into getting my hours, have worked in public for a few years and am working on the exams now The main thing I looked for was making sure the school I was online-attending was accredited (for purposes of sitting for the CPA exams, but also generally), you can check here: https://www.chea.org/regional-accrediting-organizations ...because, you know, there's a lot of online "colleges and universities" that aren't accredited for a goddamn thing The second thing I looked for was lowest tuition cost bc I was supporting myself on my savings so had to be cheap (and once you have the CPA cert no one cares where you went to school... hell, no one cares where I went to school now) Last thing I looked for was the option to do the classes on an accelerated pace - my program was supposed to be 2 years but I did it in 1 calendar year with two full summer semesters + extra credits in spring and fall semesters. Again this was to save on money, I could afford 1 year of living expenses easier than I could afford 2. I had to sign a waiver but it worked out fine. So I guess I can tell you random stuff, but do you have specific questions?
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Mar 24, 2021 13:53
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I guess my most specific questions right now would be: 1. How long can I expect to be studying before I'm able to start working? Should I just try to get a CPA before even working as an accountant, or is that feasible? 2. Should I expect to go into debt, and should I look for an in-state school for tuition purposes? I recently moved and so far I really dislike the place I moved to; my current work contract ends in December so I was thinking about moving back closer to home after that if I don't have anything pressing keeping me here.
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Mar 24, 2021 15:47
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1. You can get a job directly after you graduate, I did; it will be an entry level accountant job and you will feel like you don't know anything, and you won't, but that's how it is fresh out of school for everyone so it's fine, they'll teach you. You can do the CPA exam (note: not get the license, bc you need work experience for the license, but you can knock the exam out which is really the most annoying bit imo) before you get your first job, and many do if they can afford it, but that usually means studying full-time for 5ish months while continuing to live off of savings or your spouse or whatever. Many people do the exam sections while working (e.g. me, now, it's loving brutal during tax season let me tell you) so it's very doable, just over a longer timeline. It's sort of your choice if you want to do the exams first or while you're employed. I'll also say that having some or all of the exam credits already done when you apply for jobs can get you a little more money. 2. Depends on how much cash you have right now! The "will i do debt" and "should i in state school" are answered more by your personal financial situation; if you have $500k hanging out in savings, nah you'll be fine, do what you want; if you have $694.20 in your checking and no additional income in sight, yeah you're going to need some loans or something. To give you an idea, I had 4 semesters (2x summer, 1x fall, 1x spring) and all-in I think my degree cost me ~$30,000... it was some years ago so I'm not sure of the exact amount but that was the neighborhood. That's tuition + all the whatever fees they tag on even tho I've never set foot on the campus and don't expect I ever will. It would have cost me more if I did it in the 2 years I was supposed to. That of course does NOT include my living expenses for that year (rent, food, tons and tons of weed and videogames, just the essentials) I looked out of state because I didn't find an online program in state that I liked and the out of state tuition I was paying wasn't awful, but if there are online programs in-state for you that'll def save you some on tuition. The nice thing about an online program is you can move wherever tf you want; that's another reason I did online for mine, my gf-now-wife had just got her license and had a job she was super excited about so I did online so we could move to the area the job was in. Honestly I'd start looking at your options in terms of a. programs that fit your needs (online, accredited, affordable) and b. financing options that fit your needs (needs affected obviously by point a); then once you have an idea of where you could attend and how you'd pay for it, you can start narrowing down; whether you stay in Garbage Town where you live or move back home will really only matter if some of your options are in-state at one addy and out-of-state at another, so I'd factor that into the equation after I have a short list of places I'd be okay going and could afford Man that ended up longer than I meant for it to
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Mar 24, 2021 16:55
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With the caveat that I took the CPA before they changed it up, I will say it’s reputation as a difficult test comes partly from people trying to study for and pass all 4 parts while working full time. My college program was set up around studying for and taking the CPA in the last semester and our pass rate was ridiculously high because everyone spent 6-8 hours per day shotgunning Becker.
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Mar 24, 2021 17:10
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If at all possible, I’d HIGHLY recommend knocking out the exam before working. I passed it while I was in the last semester of school in about 3 months, but to be fair I had been working for a CPA test prep company helping people study, so my experience was probably uniquely fast. Just seeing people who did not pass study while working, it seemed miserable.
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Mar 24, 2021 17:21
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Just a heads up that getting a CPA will probably require a masters degree or at least some amount of additional accounting/ethics credits beyond what your university requires for a bachelors, depending on your state Also some states require you complete all of those credits before sitting the exam while some let you take it earlier. Check your state’s requirements to not gently caress it up
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Mar 24, 2021 17:32
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Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:Just seeing people who did not pass study while working, it seemed miserable. Hi hello, it is
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Mar 24, 2021 19:17
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DoubleDonut posted:I guess my most specific questions right now would be: 1. Assuming you're American and you want to work in tax, you can get an EA license with about $100 worth of study materials and 3-5 months of study, and that would get your foot in the door. That's without any additional college classes. If you don't want to work in tax, don't do this. I would not STOP at an EA license with an unrelated degree, I'd continue on, get the masters hours and get your CPA if at all possible. This will open more doors for you and lead to a better income. I only mention this if you want to go from where you are to working in a small CPA firm relatively quickly, this would be one way to do it. But again, that's only if you're interested in tax side rather than audit side. Once you're in tax, you don't ever get to leave. 2. My view is to spend as little on school as possible to get what you want. So, yeah, in state tuition would be ideal if you can find a place that works for you. But I think Black Lion covered this one perfectly. I took the exam while working full time. I'd been working for three years. The firm culture there was relatively laid back, so it wasn't the kind of insane tax seasons I'm used to now. I don't think I could study while doing a tax season like I have now. I just got up an hour early every day for a year and put in the time with Becker and Ninja Notes. It was a lovely year, but every year since 2009 has been lovely so at least that year I did something positive. This would have been 2015, I don't know if that's before or after they changed the test because I don't know what the test was like any year other than 2015.
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Mar 24, 2021 19:43
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I didn’t take a masters program so I wasn’t sure how accessible it was to jump in, if it is I would go that route. The associates route is probably cheaper if you just want to change careers now and have to pay out of pocket so that’s something to consider as well. The main caveat there is CPA exam eligible credit usually has to come from a 4 year university, so check out the tech schools transfer agreements before enrolling. Accounting is more than just public and tax as well, and a lot of entry level industry/government jobs are staffed by people with a HS diploma if you want to jump careers ASAP and get some experience on your resume.
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Mar 24, 2021 20:03
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Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:If at all possible, I’d HIGHLY recommend knocking out the exam before working. I passed it while I was in the last semester of school in about 3 months, but to be fair I had been working for a CPA test prep company helping people study, so my experience was probably uniquely fast. Good Citizen posted:Just a heads up that getting a CPA will probably require a masters degree or at least some amount of additional accounting/ethics credits beyond what your university requires for a bachelors, depending on your state edit: this also deserves emphasizing: Jimong5 posted:Accounting is more than just public and tax as well, and a lot of entry level industry/government jobs are staffed by people with a HS diploma if you want to jump careers ASAP and get some experience on your resume. Blotto_Otter fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Mar 24, 2021 |
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Mar 24, 2021 20:04
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Also, repeating myself, bigger schools will likely have recruiting pipelines into bigger CPA firms. If you want to get into the upper levels of the market then being able to leverage the school’s resources/events is the true value the school is offering you.
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Mar 24, 2021 20:12
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I did online school for accounting for two years at SNHU. It was stupidly easy and I felt like I learned nothing. I'm transferring to a inperson this fall , hoping to learn some more. Probably won't go into accounting after graduation though, I'm doing decently well as a web dev right now.
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Mar 24, 2021 21:24
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Ok I have another tax question, this time regarding myself. Back in 2018 I started having a little 1099 income in addition to my usual W2. For the last two years I've just paid by SE tax and grumbled about it but whatever, it is what it is. Until last year someone told me about the Solo 401K account, which lets you shelter 1099 income, similar to any other retirement account. So great, I set that up last year and now I'm talking to the asset manager who set it up for me about how much I should deposit ahead of filing my 2020 taxes. I'd been told that the maximum allowed withholding in any one year was $19,000. In 2020 I made less than that in 1099 income. So I figured that I could just deposit an amount equal to the income I made into my 401K and shelter the whole amount. However the guy now says that you're partially limited by the part of SE tax that is deductible. Ok...I guess that kind of makes sense. If you're receiving a deduction on SE tax and also sheltering it all from taxes, then it seems like you're double dipping. He tells me that I should talk to this CPA he recommends to figure out exactly what my maximum contribution should be, and then play it on the safe side by contributing slightly less. In the same breath he tells me had another client that he recommended to the same CPA, who had not been taking their QBI deduction on 1099 income for the past two years and the CPA could probably help me figure that out too. OK. Here's what I don't get, and before you say it, yes, I think the asset manager should know the answer to this question instead of referring me to someone else. If I am withholding the whole amount, how am I paying any SE Tax anyways? I guess I can see it if the withholding is just a deduction that goes on your 1040. Then going through the SE tax calculation and saying, alright you can withhold up the max amount minus the deduction for half the SE tax. That does make sense but I had been assuming that the 1099 withholding would simply wash against income on the Schedule C and I'd report net zero for SE income. I could very well be wrong about that! However, you have to admit it would be simpler that way. But if I am wrong about the Schedule C/withholdings stuff, then how is it that the QBI deduction wouldn't follow the same logic? If my max withholdings are reduced by the deduction for SE tax, wouldn't they be reduced further by the QBI deduction? Ultimately, I just want to know how to figure out what my maximum contribution to this 401K should be, and I reached out to that CPA but haven't heard anything back and the asset manager who SET UP THE ACCOUNT for me somehow also doesn't know. So I figured someone in here might have some insight for me!
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Mar 30, 2021 20:15
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Solo 401k doesn't reduce SE tax. It reduces the income tax only. Any reasonable tax software in the world should have a button that says "figure out my maximum solo401k contribution, please" and just use that number (after inputting all the other information, of course). Clicking this button is one of the primary services I provide to my clients because I'm very smart and went to school for a lot of years. The 401k contribution and the one half SE tax I believe are technically "adjustments," not deductions, which partially explains the difference in treatment compared to the QBI deduction. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Mar 30, 2021 |
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Mar 30, 2021 22:49
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untzthatshit posted:I could very well be wrong about that! However, you have to admit it would be simpler that way. This sums up my entire career in tax.
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Mar 30, 2021 22:50
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Ok I gotcha. I usually just do my taxes through turbotax so I'll start plugging my way through them and see if there's any calculator in there that'll figure it out for me.
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Mar 30, 2021 22:54
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I took FAR two days ago and I definitely loving failed probably F in the chat
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Mar 31, 2021 20:36
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black.lion posted:I took FAR two days ago and I definitely loving failed probably Wait until the scores release to start sad day drinking - I thought the same when I took FAR and it turned out to be my best score. Please note all other kinds of day drinking are still acceptable.
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Mar 31, 2021 22:30
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I felt worse and worse after each test but ended up with progressively better scores so who the gently caress knows how you did! e:fixed an autocorrect typo Epi Lepi fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Apr 1, 2021 |
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Apr 1, 2021 04:20
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Democratic Pirate posted:Wait until the scores release to start sad day drinking - I thought the same when I took FAR and it turned out to be my best score. For sure. Nobody knows if they passed until the scores get posted and nobody knows what’s in your mug during that zoom meeting
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Apr 1, 2021 17:17
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Thanks y'all, will try to keep the day drinking tentatively optimistic until I have concrete reasons to feel otherwise <3
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Apr 1, 2021 17:28
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Update: I passed so now I'm 24 hour binge drinking thru tax season in celebration
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Apr 9, 2021 01:55
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black.lion posted:Update: I passed so now I'm 24 hour binge drinking thru tax season in celebration Congrats! I just found out this morning Im officially a CMA so I am in the same celebratory boat!
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Apr 9, 2021 02:07
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untzthatshit posted:Congrats! I just found out this morning Im officially a CMA so I am in the same celebratory boat! Hell yea congrats man! Raising a glass in your direction (the monitor)
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Apr 9, 2021 02:11
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