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Chewbacca Defense posted:If one's itemized deductions for this year are substantially lower than prior years does that create an audit risk? Basically, if you no longer trust your prior accountant and are using someone different who is more conservative? Yeah it doesn't really matter at this point. If you get hit with an audit letter hope it's on the conservative year. You have your backup for your charity and medical expenses like a good person don't you?
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Apr 18, 2022 01:03
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Epi Lepi posted:Unfortunately no, I'm a CPA who pays tens of thousands per year on tax software, I've never used Free Tax USA. Just wanted to pop in and say I figured this out - there's a section for it that I skipped because it was in the middle of asking about if I was a volunteer fireman or fell into some exemption for people who have more than 16 cats or whatever.
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Apr 18, 2022 04:08
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You are not a volunteer fireman who does not own 16 cats?!
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Apr 18, 2022 05:44
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Am I allowed in if I’m aiming for the second half of that? 
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Apr 18, 2022 14:14
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edit n/m
Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Apr 18, 2022 |
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Apr 18, 2022 16:13
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I just mailed off my tax returns for CA and NM. I just got back from the post office and realized that I forgot to sign them both. Is the signature part of the tax return considered archaic these days and it won't really matter, or will me forgetting to sign it cause a problem for me? I e-filed my federal returns, I only forgot to sign my state returns.
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Apr 18, 2022 21:04
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School of How posted:I just mailed off my tax returns for CA and NM. I just got back from the post office and realized that I forgot to sign them both. They will bounce, but I doubt it causes any penalty. I just got back from the post office as well because turns out I owe significantly more than is in my checking account right now between state and federal, so I just floated uncle sam a check while the money moves from the brokerage account. Did my CA payment online because it exceeded the threshold where I could mail it in, their system finalization page is overloaded and times out but the payment setup does not! Printed the timeout screen for the reference number, then 30 minutes later got 2 email confirmations for payments with different confirmation numbers. The cancellation hotline is overloaded and just tells you try again a different day.  The nice lady at the post office happily postmarked it for me at the counter.
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Apr 19, 2022 00:25
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Now I’m curious - my tax preparer doesn’t make me sign the docs before she submits them (she tells me to sign them but submits them before I do and doesn’t complain if I never get around to it). Does this work because she has to “sign” them so at least someone is vouching for them?
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Apr 19, 2022 01:38
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raminasi posted:Now I’m curious - my tax preparer doesn’t make me sign the docs before she submits them (she tells me to sign them but submits them before I do and doesn’t complain if I never get around to it). Does this work because she has to “sign” them so at least someone is vouching for them? They are technically taking a risk because it's not like that ink stops the computer from submitting a form somewhere. If you come in and go "wtf I'm not paying for this I'm going to have someone else do it!" then I assume they can get in trouble if you push hard enough.
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Apr 19, 2022 01:55
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raminasi posted:Now I’m curious - my tax preparer doesn’t make me sign the docs before she submits them (she tells me to sign them but submits them before I do and doesn’t complain if I never get around to it). Does this work because she has to “sign” them so at least someone is vouching for them? Basically, those forms are for liability. They must legally be signed and kept by the preparer for a couple years in case you were to turn around and say she filled without your approval. In theory, you could do something about it and get her in trouble. But, you wouldn't really get anything out of it, unless you were legitimately wronged, other than making her life hell.
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Apr 19, 2022 02:28
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Most clients that I don't sit with I just tell them to return the e-file authorizations whenever they can but sometimes I'll have a client that rubs me the wrong way and I actually wait for the forms to come back before filing. Just in case.
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Apr 19, 2022 02:50
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I e-filed my extension today at 8pm EST and got a Return Transmitted email, but haven't gotten a Return Accepted confirmation. If I don't get one before 12am have I technically missed the deadline?
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Apr 19, 2022 03:27
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No
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Apr 19, 2022 03:32
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Thanks!
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Apr 19, 2022 05:49
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I'm going insane. I've been trying to efile my extension since yesterday and I keep getting different and nonsensical errors. The latest one is: The phone number is missing or incomplete Form 1040, Step 2, Section 5 is missing data. Form 4868, Line 7 or Step 2, Section 3 is missing data. But if you go the actual error, it is: #1 RuleNumber : X0000-005 DocumentID : IRSPayment ErrorCategory :XML Error DataValue : XPath : /Return[1]/ReturnData[1]/IRSPayment[1]/TaxpayerDaytimePhoneNum[1] ErrorMessage : The XML data has failed schema validation. cvc-complex-type.2.4.a. Invalid content was found starting with element `TaxpayerDaytimePhoneNum`. One of `{"http://www.irs.gov/efile":RequestedPaymentDt}` is expected. Which seems to imply there's a parsing error but it's just a normal 10 digit number??? Has anyone run into this? Should I just mail a paper form and a make a payment through Direct Pay?
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Apr 19, 2022 22:25
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dpkg chopra posted:I'm going insane. I've been trying to efile my extension since yesterday and I keep getting different and nonsensical errors. Yeah I would have made the payment yesterday no matter what, but yeah mail a paper form and be done with it.
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Apr 19, 2022 22:58
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H110Hawk posted:Yeah I would have made the payment yesterday no matter what, but yeah mail a paper form and be done with it. Thanks, will do.
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Apr 19, 2022 23:43
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H110Hawk posted:Yeah I would have made the payment yesterday no matter what, but yeah mail a paper form and be done with it. Sorry, hopefully last question. I paid via Direct Pay, under the option "Extension". When I fill out the actual form should I list the Direct Payment in the "Total 2021 Payments" box and mail the form by itself? Or do I put in the amount in the "Amount you're paying" box and mail the form plus a copy of the payment confirmation from the website? The first option is the one that makes more sense to me, but the language on the form is confusing because they assume you're sending out a check if you paper file.
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Apr 20, 2022 02:52
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dpkg chopra posted:Sorry, hopefully last question. If you paid as "extension" then that's like putting a check in the envelope with your extension form. Put the amount you paid in the "amount you're paying" box.
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Apr 20, 2022 04:29
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Badger of Basra posted:Cool. I should definitely try next year then, I’m a nerd who would do my friends’ taxes for free if they asked. Skipped a couple of pages but if the organization you'd be volunteering with is the one I think it is, I definitely recommend it. I've worked with them a few times and they're pretty great. Skipped the past few years because pandemic plus pregnancy/baby, but hoping I can start up again next year. On a different note, I was a practicing tax attorney until 2019 when I moved into knowledge management for a firm's corporate group. I potentially have the opportunity to move back into tax KM but I'm a little out of date. Does anyone know of a good sort of catch up or overview resource for the past few years? I've just been doing ad hoc cle stuff but it's kind of scattershot.
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Apr 20, 2022 20:14
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Tax Notes is how I keep up day to day. For catch up, there's usually a few good conferences each year, I like the ABA tax section meeting, the NYSBA meeting, the KPMG-NYU conference, and the GWU-IRS conference in DC. My firm also offers a ton of CPE and tax season updates, but you can find a lot of these offerred for free to the public by the big 4 if you get on one of their mailing lists. TCJA in 2017 was the last massive change, but obviously there have been a ton of regs issued in the meantime, not to mention state and local developments and international changes.
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Apr 21, 2022 00:46
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Now, the threads sleeps until October, as do I.
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Apr 21, 2022 18:03
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Covok posted:Now, the threads sleeps until October, as do I. Sleeping until October? LOL. I'm already demoing software and figuring out how I'm changing pricing for next year. Next week I'm going to start putting together my post-season client newsletter. The fun never sets on the Taxish Empire. Hopefully you wake up in time to find a gig in private accounting, though.
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Apr 21, 2022 23:32
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Missing Donut posted:Sleeping until October? LOL. Lol I was mainly joking. I actually have a second round interview at a small local place and am in talks with a recruiter and verizon. It looks like a 50% raise at the moment to go into private. Fingers crossed.
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Apr 22, 2022 00:00
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Missing Donut posted:Sleeping until October? LOL. I did finish my last official day for a while at least, H&R Block splits our post-season calendar into two parts and makes us take one off (probably so us out of season workers still count as "seasonal" and not full-time, mind you) and my break starts tomorrow so I will be sleeping for a bit at least  . Hoping to start on the enrolled agent exams this year, at least this time I'm vaccinated enough to risk sitting in a room full of strangers.
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Apr 22, 2022 02:54
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Drove past my old accountants office today at 7:10pm and no one was there the slackers.
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Apr 22, 2022 04:10
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Consulting, consulting never stops. I'm begging these people to please stop putting together real estate deals for a few weeks, let me rest.
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Apr 22, 2022 16:20
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My firm has way too many clients for the amount of staff we have so now it's time to go through the mountain of personals on extension along with our chiller business clients who are on extension. The piles of folders are the same but at least I don't have to work till midnight or weekends anymore!
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Apr 22, 2022 17:02
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My wife is a medical professional and does old-school house calls when seeing patients. We currently have one car and 80% of the annual mileage put on it is for my wife's work. We've considered getting a new (second) vehicle for my wife's work and someone suggested a Tesla Model X using the section 179 or 168(k) tax deduction. Websites generally seem to paint this as a simple "just write it off!" situation. Anyone with words of caution or general info to share?
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Apr 24, 2022 03:46
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To begin with, do you know what "just write it off" means? It absolutely doesn't mean it's free or a total tax deduction. If you already understand that and what this is likely to cost then maybe it's time to get into details (which you can check here but you need an actual accountant who you can disclose everything to to make sure this works).
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Apr 24, 2022 04:00
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And if she's a W-2 employee then just give up now. Look into the Qualified Electric Plug In Vehicle credits instead.
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Apr 24, 2022 04:04
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It cannot be understated how bad websites are for tax advice. I have had SO MANY people assume a 1031 is just buying another rental and absolutely destroying themselves in taxes because they just Google it real quick. Some things really do require a expert.
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Apr 24, 2022 17:00
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Covok posted:It cannot be understated how bad websites are for tax advice. I have had SO MANY people assume a 1031 is just buying another rental and absolutely destroying themselves in taxes because they just Google it real quick. Some things really do require a expert. Like trying to 1031 exchange... What? I'm so confused here. I saw my accountant last night at an event and he did not recognize me. 5 stars will recommend again.
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Apr 24, 2022 17:31
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Tortilla Maker posted:My wife is a medical professional and does old-school house calls when seeing patients. If she's a W-2 employee forget it, no tax benefits period. If she's a contractor section 179 just means fully depreciating the thing, which you can do with bonus depreciation already but will cause headaches later if/when you sell or trade the vehicle and generally isn't really worth it over regular depreciation unless you have an unusually high amount of income the year you put it in service. Also that sort of thing requires using actual expenses instead of standard mileage rate, which means you need to keep good records of every single expense for the car, which I tend to find a rare skill for my clients to get right given how "auto expenses" is a magic phrase that increases my time to finish the return massively pretty much every single time. Hell, most of them have enough trouble with just handling mileage tracking correctly. Covok posted:It cannot be understated how bad websites are for tax advice. I have had SO MANY people assume a 1031 is just buying another rental and absolutely destroying themselves in taxes because they just Google it real quick. Some things really do require a expert. Doesn't help there's a bunch of outdated stuff out there on the web; people are still bringing me employee business expense stuff even though Trump dumped that in 2018. H110Hawk posted:Like trying to 1031 exchange... What? I'm so confused here. 1031 is a like-kind exchange, basically if you sell a business real estate property and buy another one under certain rules you can postpone taking any gain for tax purposes. And yeah, I very rarely recognize my clients apart from a few folks who had some trait or some issue that makes them stick in my brain. According to my last stats I finished about 425 or so returns (and had even more that never finished), there's just no way I can remember everybody with that kind of turnover.
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Apr 24, 2022 23:21
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Covok posted:Lol I was mainly joking. I actually have a second round interview at a small local place and am in talks with a recruiter and verizon. It looks like a 50% raise at the moment to go into private. Fingers crossed. That sounds great! MadDogMike posted:Doesn't help there's a bunch of outdated stuff out there on the web; people are still bringing me employee business expense stuff even though Trump dumped that in 2018. Yep, same. I have clients who bring in their car registration renewals because twenty years ago they lived in a state that assessed property taxes on their cars. Tortilla Maker posted:Websites generally seem to paint this as a simple "just write it off!" situation. Aside from what was already said about how if the car is being used for an employee it's not going to do anything for you... never spend a dollar just for the tax deduction because it leaves you worse off.
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Apr 25, 2022 00:49
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MadDogMike posted:If she's a contractor section 179 just means fully depreciating the thing... This is where a lease can come in handy right? As the payments on a lease are allegedly the depreciation on the vehicle? MadDogMike posted:1031 is a like-kind exchange, basically if you sell a business real estate property and buy another one under certain rules you can postpone taking any gain for tax purposes. Yeah, 1031 exchanges are always one of those magic bullet things people bring up, in this case I'm curious what they thought they were exchanging. I know the answer is "a smaller tax bill duhhhh" but I'm curious what they say. And I genuinely think it's a feature. I've seen this guy a total of 30 minutes in 1.5 years and the most recent time was a few weeks before the extension deadline last year. I remember faces to the point of it being slightly annoying. I would hate for him to think he has to talk shop at a social event.
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Apr 25, 2022 00:51
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H110Hawk posted:Like trying to 1031 exchange... What? I'm so confused here. A 1031 exchange is a like-kind exchange. You defer the gain on the property by reducing the basis in the new property. A 1031 exchange can be used to defer tax on the sale of a rental, for example, and help you defer the tax until you die and get a step up basis. The problem is that many websites do not go into detail on the process. Either it is due to a lack of knowledge or not wishing to be financial authorities and held responsible. However, 1031s are very particular, require many specific dates be met along the way, require meticulous reporting, and a qualified intermediary to be valid. As so few articles disclose these realities, many of my clients -- despite me repeatedly telling older rental owners to reach out to me -- simply sell their property and buy a new one and assume that's it and that's all that needs to be done. As such, their 1031 is invalid and they must pay tax on the sale as normal. And they wilt like dying flowers when they found out 1031s are hyper regulated, nothing can be done after sale, and they now have a huge tax bill and no money to pay it.
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Apr 25, 2022 17:08
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Sometimes, clients scare me. A caregiver who I can confirm is the caregiver gets a letter from the state asking them to confirm their father's identity. It is just asking for them to show the person's SSA card or equivalent. Their response: "I lost it years ago. What do I do?" They're options, of course, but who loses their father's SSA card and doesn't just go and request a replacement be sent? Who just waits years to request a replacement of something that important?
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Apr 25, 2022 20:23
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I think you either get comfortable interacting with Vogons, or avoid them unless you're forced
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Apr 25, 2022 21:23
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H110Hawk posted:This is where a lease can come in handy right? As the payments on a lease are allegedly the depreciation on the vehicle? Leased vehicles don't depreciate, at least for the person who's paying the lease on them, so you claim whatever you're paying for the lease as a business expense (subject to how much you're using the thing for business purposes, as generally established by mileage). If you're doing actual expenses anyway; standard mileage doesn't care about lease payments, pretty sure the only additional expenses you claim with standard mileage are parking & tolls unless there's something my abused brain is forgetting suddenly. quote:And I genuinely think it's a feature. I've seen this guy a total of 30 minutes in 1.5 years and the most recent time was a few weeks before the extension deadline last year. I remember faces to the point of it being slightly annoying. I would hate for him to think he has to talk shop at a social event. LOL, it's getting me to shut up about taxes when I get going that's hard. My parents have made jokes about when I'm in the same room as my cousin-in-law and aunt, who both are in taxes too, the conversation gets past everybody else real quick. Hell, witness me talking in this thread when I'm on a break and theoretically don't have to think about taxes at all for a while. Epitope posted:I think you either get comfortable interacting with Vogons, or avoid them unless you're forced I admit I'm a lot more comfortable with the IRS than your average person who views them with terror. Hell, I find them more reasonable than your average collection business, they abide by a lot more rules than those guys seem to. God knows I have tons of problems with the Pennsylvania local income tax collectors and I'm pretty positive it's because they farm that out to said collection agencies for the most part. Main issues I have with the IRS boil down to them being hard to contact thanks to getting their people slashed to the bone; I try to make it a point to thank them sincerely when I do get help since I imagine those poor folks get lots of abuse screamed at them for the wait times they don't control. Mind you, I still firmly believe this is the soundtrack in Hell (had to agree with the comment at the link about how perfectly "soulessly upbeat" it is).
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Apr 26, 2022 21:22
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