HERE WE GO AGAIN

I just completed my annual required online New York State tax preparer CPE. 

I barely prepared more than 10 NY state tax returns in calendar year 2020 – 14 total.  And I will probably prepare at least a dozen NY state returns in calendar year 2021.  So, I must register for calendar year 2021 and pay the $100 extortion fee (my invoice for a client with a NYS tax return includes a line item of $5.00 for “NY State Tax Return Preparer Extortion Fee Surcharge” – which will be $8.00 in 2021).   

This year for the first time I was automatically enrolled in all the required sessions as soon as they become available – I did not have to separately enroll in each presentation.

And this year instead of a slide presentation followed by a multiple-choice questionnaire the NEW YORK STATE UPDATES AND DEPARTMENT MESSAGES and HOW TO FILE A SALES TAX RETURN offerings took the form of an actual audio presentation accompanying the slides - equivalent to an in-person seminar (only without the ability to ask questions) with no subsequent “test”.  This format, in my opinion, is much, much more better.  The format of the remaining sessions were the same as past years.

Here are my comments on the sessions:

UPDATES AND MESSAGES - I only prepare IT-201 and IT-203 returns for employees or retired individuals, and I do not accept any new clients from anywhere. I have absolutely no need for, or interest in, business, payroll, sales, or product-specific taxes or obscure personal credits and deductions updates.  So, most of the update presentation was of absolutely no value to me – and under this new format the time wasted sitting in front of my computer screen was much more than in past years.  It would certainly be “more better” if the update presentation was broken down into separate optional components for the different types of taxes.

SALES TAX – I had absolutely no interest in this topic and paid absolutely no attention to the audio presentation.

GIG ECONOMY WORKERS AND TAXES - None of my NYS clients are, or will be, “gig workers”, so this offering was a total waste of time.  I quickly sped through the slides.

DEDUCTIONS – I actually reviewed more carefully some of the slides in this presentation – speeding through the bulk of them.  This was for the most part an update on the rules for federal Schedule A before the GOP Tax Act.

STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND ETHICS FOR TAX RETURN PREPARERS, PROTECTING YOUR CLIENT’S DATA, and RECORDKEEPING – As usual, redundant stuff.  I quickly sped through the slides in all 3 presentations.

While the new format for the two presentations is certainly a substantial improvement over past years - as I say each year, the CPE requirement component of the registration process would still be much more effective if registrants could satisfy it by attending actual CPE seminars and workshops – in-person or online - offered by tax preparer membership organizations and commercial CPE providers. 

Upon completion of the CPE sessions I could not immediately register and pay the extortion.  I expect, like last year, it will take a few days for my completion to be processed.

Once again, this “continuing education” process was a total waste of my time.  To be perfectly honest I did not learn anything.  As I also say each year - I learn much, much more from Kathryn Keane’s NYS update presentation at the annual NJ chapter of NATP’s “Famous State Tax Seminar” than I do from the required state-created offerings.

TTFN 

NATP YEAR-END TAX UPDATE SEMINAR

Monday and Tuesday of this week I attended the annual National Association of Tax Professionals 1040 Update seminar (Monday) and a seminar on “Business Tax Reporting on the 1040” (Tuesday).at Bally’s in Atlantic City.  Click here for more details on these offerings.

I have been attending the annual update seminar for as long as I have been a member of NATP (over 30 years).  However, it no longer has the value for me that it did in earlier years.  The actual update portion is truly redundant.  It is a year behind from my point of view.  While NATP is teaching the 2019 Form 1040-related numbers I am reviewing and compiling the 2020 numbers.

This was the first seminar I was attending as a designated NATP volunteer, helping with the signing in, handing out of workbooks and signing out.   

One new feature of the event was a pleasant surprise.  For the first time the continental breakfast provided included a hot option – bacon, egg and cheese or sausage, egg and cheese on a bagel.  As a diabetic I would have also preferred cereal and fruit as another option, and for the afternoon dessert break sugar-free cookies.

Monday began with New Tax Law and New Developments.  The only new tax-related law passed in 2019 was the “Taxpayer First Act”, dealing with taxpayer protections and identity theft prevention.  Congress is, and will be, incapable of enacting any substantive legislation on any issue until 2021.

There were few new developments, a major one being the issuance of IRS regulations dealing with the new, truly complicated, and in my opinion unnecessary Section 199a QBI deduction.  Speaking of the QBI deduction, new for 2019 are Form 8995 and Form 8995-A to calculate the QBI deduction, replacing worksheets that were used for 2018.  The applicable form is included in the 2019 Form 1040 filing.   

We reviewed the draft of the new 2019 Form 1040 and 1040-SR, which I have discussed here in previous posts, and the 2019 supplemental schedules.  What was new to me was the reduction of the previous 6 supplemental schedules to 3 – Schedule 2 and 4 are combined in the 2019 Schedule 2, Schedule 3 and 5 are combined in Schedule 3 for 2019, and the information previously reported on Schedule 6 is now on the 1040.  Reporting Schedule D income or loss has been moved from Schedule 1 to a line on the 2019 Form 1040.

We also took a look at the proposed new 2020 Form W-4.  Click here for a copy of the draft.  There are no more exemptions to claim – you no longer indicate “Single-0” or “Married-3”.  When filling it out you must follow the instructions and enter the requested information.  I would recommend you do not enter any amount for “deductions”, but do enter any other income, such as interest and dividends, and do not claim any or your dependents, or at least claim only half the number of exemptions to which you are entitled. 

One thing discussed was new to me - I was not aware that the $10,000 “SALT” limitation on Schedule A could have an effect on the home office deduction on Form 8829 and the rental income and expenses on a two-family home reported on Schedule E.  This is something I need to review further and perhaps devote a future post to it.

Under the GOP Tax Act only casualty losses resulting from Presidentially-declared disasters are deductible on Schedule A.  The workbook provided a list of these areas so far for 2019, and I wanted to share it here, but for some reason I cannot access the workbook online.  When this is fixed and I am able to I will post the list.

The text also identified this IRS webpage as a source of continuing information on disaster relief.

BTW – a Presidentially-declared disaster is different from a Presidentially-caused disaster.  Taxpayers cannot deduct losses from national disasters caused by Trump.  Trump himself IS a national disaster. 

As a point of information - my entire perspective in attending continuing professional education sessions is different now.  While, as a tax blogger I have a general journalist’s interest in new tax law and new tax developments, as a tax preparer who no longer seeks or accepts new clients, and is winding down my practice, I have no interest in taking time to learn anything new that does not directly affect my existing 1040 clients, or anything that involves too much complexity or study that perhaps might affect a few clients.  It is easier for me to tell the clients that the new law or development might affect, “Homey don’t play that”.

As I tell my clients, while I do believe you can teach an old dog new tricks, and I have to learn some new tricks every year, there are some new tricks this old dog doesn’t want to learn.

I was truly pleased that for the second year the update seminar did not include 2 hours of redundant ethics preaching.  I had always complained in the past that I paid for 8 hours of actual tax education but only got 6.

This may perhaps be the last year I attend the update seminar.  Next year I may choose the NATP Forum, also held each year in Atlantic City but at Harrah’s on the marina, instead to learn of new developments.

Tuesday’s business reporting seminar was basically a review, albeit a good review, and I really did not learn anything new. 

One more item worth sharing before I go.  The instructor explained that she was told why the new treatment of alimony in the GOP Tax Act did not take effect until 2019, instead of beginning in 2018 like other items.  As per the Act, alimony is not deductible by the payer or included in income of the recipient for divorce or separation decrees or agreements executed after December 31, 2018.  For decrees or agreements executed before January 1, 2019 the old law still applies.  At the time the bill was being written 3 Congressmen, presumably Republicans, were going through divorce proceedings which would not be finalized until 2018.  And as we know, most Congresspersons, apparently as we’ve learned recently certainly Republican ones, put their personal interests ahead of the country’s interests.

TTFN

AN ANNUAL TRADITION

Just as I always knew, before he retired, where one of my 1040 clients would be every year on New Year’s Eve – he was the technician that worked the machine that dropped the ball at midnight on One Times Square – you can be sure where I will be (barring weather or health complications) on the second Saturday in January every year - at the APA Hotel Woodbridge in Iselin NJ for the “Famous NJ State Tax Seminar” presented by the NJ chapter of the National Association of Tax Professionals.

In the almost three decades that this event has been held I have missed only a few offerings, due to snow.  This seminar is a “must attend” for any tax professional who prepares NJ state individual or corporate income, payroll, inheritance, and/or sales tax returns, and certainly worth, for me, the 2-hour 100 mile drive each way.

The event always includes a breakfast and lunch buffet, both now offered in the seminar area, which I prefer.  Last year the lunch buffet was limited to salads and sandwiches, and I had commented that I would prefer it include hot items.  Someone was listening, as this year the lunch buffet included cold salads and sandwich makings and several hot offerings.  I was pleased.  And the breakfast buffet continues to be among the best of those offered at tax seminars I have attended over the decades.

As has become the custom, after welcoming remarks from chapter Board members the seminar begins with a “keynote address” by the current Director, of Acting Director, of the NJ Division of Taxation.  This year we heard from, still only Acting Director, John Ficara.

I repeat my comment from last year’s “review” of the seminar –

“I have always felt that over the years, with very few exceptions, these presentations have been of no real substantive value to the tax pros in the audience.  I do accept that this practice is probably a good and necessary one, and, thankfully, very little time in the schedule is allotted to the Director’s presentation.  Mr. Ficara, was a good and obviously knowledgeable speaker . . . but there was really nothing of consequence to ‘take away’.  There was no time for audience questions or comments, and he did not address real systemic issues with the Division, such as its continued unethical practice of remaining ‘silent’ on taxpayer overpayments or unidentified payments.”

This year’s address was truly redundant, touching briefly on topics that were discussed in more detail by the other NJDOT representatives in subsequent presentations, and, again, nothing about the Division’s ongoing systemic issues.

To again repeat a comment from last year’s review post –

“Perhaps for the future seminars registrants could be asked to submit to the chapter in advance written systemic questions and concerns for the seminar chair to present to the Director instead of the nice but mostly useless keynote address.”

The rest of the morning was devoted to the presentations of NJ state tax updates from “Jake and Company”, aka the Division’s “Taxation University”.  Although it is no longer “Jake and Company”, but now “Bill and Company”.  Jacob Foy, who had been the Supervisor of the “Taxation University”, and had been speaking each year at this seminar since 2005 (when his hair was down to his shoulders and often tied in a pony tail), in the earlier years part of the popular “Jim and Jake Show”, is now the head of the, I believe, Taxpayer Communications Unit, apparently a newly created position.  Jake was replaced as TU Supervisor by William Malkin.  Bill has some huge shoes to fill; he got off to a good start Saturday.  Good luck, Bill!

Jake has truly been very helpful to NJ-NATP and its members, and specifically to me personally with various client issues, over the years.  I thank Jake for all his help in the past.  He assured me that he would continue to attend this “famous” state tax seminars in the future.

The first topic was “NJ Tax Updates” presented by Alexis Reid, another frequent speaker at the seminar and good friend to NJ-NATP, who has also provided invaluable help to me personally in dealing with client issues and NJDOT FUs.  I will be discussing the many changes to NJ state individual income taxes in detail in an upcoming post, once the 2018 Form NJ-1040 and instructions are available at the Department’s website.  Alexis did report that the NJ-1040, and its supplemental schedules, has been substantially revised, and the instruction booklet has been totally rewritten.  I look forward to reviewing the new editions, and, again, will report on the changes in detail in the future TWTP post.

NJ business taxes were discussed next, by Christina Quinones.  There have been several changes in the area of sales tax.  “Transient Rentals”, rentals of residential property located in NJ for less than 90 days, are now subject to the NJ state sales tax, which remains at 6.625%.  Rentals that are managed by realtors – the tenant deals with, receives the key from, and pays the rent to a realtor – are exempt from the tax.  The entity that collects the rent – A‌i‌r‌b‌n‌b‌, VRBO or other such agencies or the actual landlord for direct private rentals – is responsible for collecting and remitting the sales tax.

NJ now charges a “surcharge” on rideshare services, like those provided by Uber and Lyft.  Again, the entity that collects the rideshare fee – Uber or Lyft or the individual driver – is responsible for collecting and remitting the surtax.

There were no changes to the NJ property tax relief programs – the Homestead Benefit and the Property Tax Reimbursement – but Taxation University provided a review of the various qualifications with William Malkin and Tilesha McCall.

Actually, there was one change to the calculation of the Homestead Benefit.  It is now, in most cases, based on 5% of the 2006 property tax assessment instead of the previous 10%.  This 5% was used to calculate the benefit provided issued on May 1, 2018.  The 2019 budget provided a supplemental benefit equal to the amount paid in May to be issued on November 1, 2018.

The morning ended with a presentation by Jake on the current NJ Tax Amnesty program, which ends tomorrow (January 15^th).   

As an aside and follow up to last year’s comments, I was glad that the schedule this year did not include another full presentation on NJ state inheritance and estate taxes.

After lunch was perhaps the most important presentation of the day – at least for NJ tax pros who prepare or consult on payroll – “New Laws Regarding Sick Pay” by John Baldino of Humaresco.  It dealt with the, in my opinion, ridiculous and complicated “New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act”, signed into law on May 2, 2018, and which became effective on October 29, 2018.

John began the presentation by telling us to write on the front of his handout “I did not write this law!”  He discussed much of the program in detail, fielding a multitude of questions from the audience, but did not have time to cover everything.  As I said this was a very important topic, and it was appropriate not to limit the questions.  More time should have been given to John, as there were important items not adequately covered and questions unanswered due to the time constraint.

Again as has become custom, the final item of the day was a combination of NY state tax updates and federal updates by popular NATP speaker Kathryn Keane.  The big news for NY for 2018 is the state’s “decoupling” from the GOP Tax Act.  As with NJ, I will discuss the NY changes in detail in an upcoming post when the 2018 IT-201 and IT-203 are available.

Kathryn followed the NJ state discussion with a review and update of the GOP Tax Act.  I left before this began, having already sat through 4 redundant GOP Act presentations in 2018 and because of my 2-hour drive back to PA.  As I have said for the past several years, I very strongly believe that federal topics should NOT be a part of this seminar.  It should be limited to state tax issues only – NJ and NY and possibly PA.  The time allotted to the federal portion of KK’s talk should have been given to John Baldino for the Sick Leave Act.  In addition, the 10 or so minutes wasted giving out tote bags as prizes should have also been given to John.

As usual, the NJ chapter, and the state’s Taxation University, did a great job and once again deserve my annual kudos.  And John Baldino was an excellent addition to the roster.  I hope he can return in the future to speak on a different topic.

One non-state thing I was happy to learn on Saturday – the 2020 NATP National Conference will be held in San Antonio.  I last attended a tax conference there in 2004.  At a class taught by former IRS Director of National Public Liaison Beanna Whitlock she asked the assembled tax pros who still prepared tax returns manually – without using tax preparation software.  Of course, my hand was the only one to go up.  Beanna came over to where I was sitting and said, “I want to shake your hand.  You are the only person in the room who actually knows how to prepare a 1040.”  Needless to say, I have told that story many times in many venues over the years.   

TTFN

THE ESSENTIAL 1040

As mentioned in this week’s BUZZ installment, I attended the National Association of Tax Professionals’ annual year-end tax update “The Essential 1040” on Monday at Bally’s on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.  I attend this one-day seminar every year, and have done so for over 30 years, and also occasionally attend the second day, “Beyond the 1040” (although not this year) depending on the topics being discussed.

Bally’s is a good location.  I have no complaints about the classroom facility or my room, which, as a member of the Total Rewards program, was extremely reasonable – certainly cheaper than that at any other location this class is offered.  This year the seminar included, as it does every year, a relatively skimpy, and definitely not diabetic-friendly, continental breakfast buffet, and an afternoon dessert break.  And, for the first time in 30+ years, the cost of the event included a box lunch (also not diabetic-friendly), paid for by a sponsor who gave a presentation for those who wanted to listen.

As a “stand-alone” offering the seminar was, as usual, excellent, and covered just about everything tax preparers need to know to prepare 2018 Form 1040s.  But, as I said to my business banker on the phone on Monday morning, I was listening to what I had already been told 3 times this year.  Because the only real new development for 2018 was the GOP Tax Act, and I had already attended 2 full-day sessions exclusively on the Act and one 2 hour review of it as part of the NATP Forum, almost everything covered at this seminar was truly redundant for me.  I did, however, learn a couple of new things, which I discuss later in this post.

One saving grace – because there was so much to cover with the new Act this year’s seminar did not include the usual 2 hours of redundant and unnecessary (for me) ethics preaching.  So, one paid for eight 50-minute hours of real education and one actually got eight 50-minute hours of real education.

I had signed up for classes that I knew would cover the GOP Tax Act scheduled later in the year, like this one, because I had hoped that the IRS would be releasing new regulations, interpretations, clarifications and information about the tax law changes.  Unfortunately, very little new details have been released.

Three things continue to be reinforced by GOP Tax Act seminars and discussions –

(1) There is still a lot we don’t know yet about how many of the provisions of the Act will be interpreted and implemented.

(2) Because the Act was basically written overnight, the wording of the law is often defective, confusing and unclear.  “Technical corrections” legislation is clearly needed.

(3) It is very obvious that those who actually write tax law and the idiots in Congress who vote on it have absolutely no concept of the practical implementation of the tax legislation they write and pass, or of the actual preparation of tax returns.

Of this I am certain - by the time we tax professionals fully learn and understand the ins and outs of the new law, the IRS has released all the appropriate regulations, and the Tax Court has clarified the issues of confusion, the Act will expire and we will be back to the Tax Code as it was for 2017.

And the more I review the new “postcard” Form 1040 and its 6 supplemental schedules the more I come to believe that this is probably the stupidest thing ever in my 45+ years in the tax preparation business.

So, here is what I learned at the seminar -

* It appears that the Form 1098-T will no longer be as useful as “tits on a bull”. 

The PATH Act of 2015 correctly required educational institutions to report the total amount of payments received for qualifying tuition and fees from a student during the year.  Previously, in most cases, only the amount billed was reported.  The institutions cried that they needed more time to rewrite their software to be able to generate this information (if you ask me a total load of malarkey) and the IRS granted them delays in complying with this new requirement.

Some good news.  It looks like all educational institutions must comply with this requirement for all 2018 Form 1098-T forms.  The draft of the 2018 form shows Item #2, the section previously used to report amounts billed, blocked out with no description and the instructions say this line is “reserved for future use”.

* Sub-chapter S corporation shareholders who have

·         reported a loss from Form K-1, or

·         received a distribution of profits (other than a salary or expense reimbursement), or

·         disposed of shares of stock in the corporation, or

·         received a loan repayment from the corporation

must now attach a computation of their S-corporation stock and loan basis to their Form 1040.  The draft copy of the 2018 Schedule E includes a new column on Page 2 for entries on Line 28 which states “Check if basis computation is required”.  This is not the result of the GOP Tax Act or any tax legislation, but a new requirement established by the IRS.   

* Computers and peripheral equipment are no longer considered to be “listed property”.

Listed property was first created in the Tax Reform Act of 1984.  This act restricted the depreciation deduction for business use of items “lending themselves easily to personal use” and established requirements, such as keeping a log, for substantiating personal and business use.  Computers and peripheral equipment – except for such equipment used 100% for business at a “regular business establishment”, which could include a qualified home office – had been on the “list” of “listed” property.  I explained listed property in a 2008 post here at TWTP – click here.

The GOP Tax Act removed this equipment from the “list”.  Now computers and peripherals can be depreciated or expenses like any other business property and are no longer subject to the additional substantiation requirements.

* The ridiculous excessive “due diligence” requirements for tax preparers, causing us to become social workers, will now apply to returns for taxpayers claiming the new Other Dependent Credit (ODC), as well as the Earned Income Credit, the American Opportunity Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and, also new for 2018, Head of Household status.  The draft copy of the 2018 Form 8867 includes the ODC in one of the columns.

This nonsense is getting out of hand.  Originally the excessive due diligence was only to be required for returns claiming refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit.  As I have said in other venues, soon tax preparers will be required to make random bed checks of taxpayer homes during the year to check on where a claimed dependent is sleeping.

* Veterans who received disability severance payments, that were originally reported as taxable income, from January 18, 1991 through 2016 can file amended returns (IRS Form 1040-X) for all applicable years (not limited to “open” tax years) to claim a refund for the tax paid on this income.  This is a result of the “Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2016”.

There is an IRS established “safe harbor” amount or refund claim based on the year of payment –

1991 – 2005 = $1,750

2006 – 2010 = $2,400

2011 – 2016 = $3,200

Qualified veterans do not have to complete the entire Form 1040-X to calculate the refund due.  They can elect to submit a shell Form 1040-X with the personal information (name, SS#, address, year) and enter the applicable safe harbor amount on Lines 15 and 22.  As with anything else related to taxes, claiming the safe harbor refund or calculating the actual refund based on the original return depends on the specific facts and circumstances.  If you quality consult your, or a, tax preparer. 

NATP continues to erroneously, in my opinion based on my research and what I have been told by experts, teach that casual gamblers can now also deduct on Schedule A travel expenses to casinos, racetracks, etc. if losses do not equal or exceed gains.    

The IRS draft instructions for the 2018 Schedule A does not mention this alleged change – it specifically identifies deductible gambling losses as non-winning tickets under the discussion of “Other itemized deductions” and makes no mention of any change in the “What’s New” section.  I have seen nothing “official” from the IRS that says what NATP is teaching.  

I have no more federal tax CPE scheduled between now and the beginning of the 2019 tax filing season.  So, I will have to rely on finalized IRS forms, instructions and publications, and future online and print articles, for further guidance on the implementation of the tax law changes.  As I learn new “stuff” I will tell you about it here at TWTP.

TTFN

THE NOT QUITE DEFINITIVE GOP TAX ACT SEMINAR

Yesterday I attended the NJ chapter of the National Association of Tax Professionals’ “The Definitive Tax Cuts & Jobs Act Seminar” in Mt Laurel NJ. 

Obviously, at this point in the year, it cannot really be the “definitive” seminar on the GOP Tax Act.  To quote one of the seminar speakers, who expressed what might very well be the theme of the day, “There’s so many things in this law we are not sure of”.  But it was comprehensive.

Much of the mechanics of how the new laws will be applied and how they will interact with existing unchanged Tax Code Sections will remain unknown until the IRS issues regulations and various interpretations are tested in Tax Court.

Let me cut to the chase and give you the bottom line, at least from my point of view, of the discussion on the new Section 199A deduction (20% of "Qualified Business Income").  The sessions on this topic verified the underlying truth of a famous quote from Mark Twain – “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.”

Based on my 47 tax seasons of experience preparing tax returns, which is by no means all inclusive, nothing that has ever appeared in the United States Tax Code has ever been as complicated, convoluted and nonsensical as Section 199A.  Hearing the discussion of this new deduction has proven that not a single Congressperson actually read the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before voting on it (to be fair - just as not a single Congressperson actually read the Affordable Care Act before voting on it).

Any simplification accomplished in the GOP Tax Act has been, in certain circumstances, substantially overshadowed by the complexity of this monstrosity. 

It will take several years for Congress to pass the needed technical corrections and the IRS to issue all the needed regulations for Section 199a, for various interpretations to be tested in Court, and for tax preparers to get a good handle on and feel confident with the application of the many aspects of the Section.  By the time all this is done, I predict, it will have been repealed.

I actually learned something new at the seminar – something that I had not seen in any of the dozens of publications, articles and blog posts I had read on the GOP Tax Act.  It involves loans from employer retirement plans that are unpaid upon an employee’s termination.

If permitted by the plan document, employees can borrow from their, for example, 401(k) plan balances, paying the plan back over time.  If the employee is terminated, or the plan itself is terminated, before the full amount borrowed is paid back the outstanding balance is treated as a distribution from the plan and taxed as such, with a Form 1099R being issued to identify the amount.  The outstanding balance is deemed to have been repaid to the plan, and cash distributed to the employee.  As with any retirement plan distribution, the employee can “rollover” all or part of the distribution into an IRA within 60 days of the date of the distribution and avoid paying tax on this amount.

Now the employee has until the due date of the return for the year of termination, including extensions, to rollover the amount.  The example given in the presentation explains that a taxpayer who was terminated on January 5, 2018 with an outstanding plan loan balance has until October 15, 2019 (if the 2018 return is extended) to come up with the amount of the presumed distribution (the outstanding plan loan amount as of January 5, 2018) and “rollover” this amount to an IRA.  That is a lot more than 60 days.

This new rule is permanent – it does not “sunset” in 2025.

As usual, the speakers were well-informed (as well as they could be with the new Act) and gave good presentations.  Tax attorney Alan Kornstein did an excellent job of summarizing the many complexities of Section 199a, pointing out its areas of confusion and unclarity (is that a word?).  Several days could be devoted to this topic, which I do believe national NATP is doing (click here), and Alan did the best he could in his allotted time.  My only criticism of the day’s schedule is that the last presentation was redundant and confusing.  More time should have been given to Alan.  Anyway, kudos to Anthony and Rose and company.

An aside:  On Wednesday I posted that I was looking forward to attending “the GOP Tax Act workshop” on the NJNATP Spacebook group page.  A fellow member commented – “Do you feel that referring to it as the ‘GOP Tax Act’ politicizes it?”

By calling the legislation the GOP Tax Act I was not attempting to “politicize” anything.  I was not making a political comment nor was I criticizing the Act.  I was merely making a statement of fact.  Calling a spade a shovel, if you will.  “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” is the GOP Tax Act.  It was written and passed exclusively by the Republican Party.     

Just as, which the same member also commented, the ACA is called “Obamacare” – it was written and passed by Democrats.  In both cases the legislation is based on a good and laudable premise but was written hastily without bipartisan input and passed hastily without proper discussion and debate.  As I have posted in the past, both Acts contain good, bad and ugly.

TTFN

A CAPITOL IDEA – THE 2017 NATP NATIONAL CONFERENCE – PART 2

Let me return to the 36th annual National Conference of the National Association of Tax Professionals at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC, which I attended along with about 1000 colleagues (attendance was down from past NATP conferences I have been to) last week. 

As I said in Part 1, several of the sessions identified in the conference material caught my eye -

ü  Unusual Income Items

ü  Is It Above the Line, Below the Line or Not Deductible?

ü  Tax Stuff You Thought You Knew

ü  Special Occupations

ü  Every Choice Has a Consequence for Your Clients

ü  Panel Discussion

In addition to the above sessions I also attended classes on “Business use of Automobiles”, “Dealing With Divorce” (I had written on the tax issues of divorce in the latest issue of NATP’s TaxPro Journal and wanted to make sure I got it right), and “Casualty Losses and NOLs” (a topic that applied to a specific client’s 2016 situation).

I have been asking for a “Special Occupations” session on my conference evaluation forms for decades.  But just not necessarily the occupations this session addressed.  Discussed here were clergy, gamblers, teachers, and truck drivers.  I am more interested in police officers, firefighters, actors, and artists.  However I did attend this session.

NATP has not had a “panel discussion” session at a conference I have attended in many, many years.  I think the last time it was offered it was called “Ask the Experts”.  This conference session had 4 NATP instructors answering questions from the floor.  I would have preferred a more structured session – with maybe 1 or 2 more panel members and having questions submitted beforehand, either online prior to the conference or handed in at the Registration Desk during the conference (the panel discussion was the last session on the last day).  Questions from the floor could have been taken if there was time left after the previously submitted issues had been dealt with.

For those of you who also attended this session - my thoughts on the last question discussed were posted in “Silence is Golden” here at TWTP back in February.

One of the problems I have with the conference schedule – similar to my issue with the sessions at both the IRS and NATP Forums – is that each session was limited to 100 minutes, or 2 CPE hours.  This is not always enough time to properly cover a more involved topic.  I would prefer some extended sessions, similar to the schedule at the California Society of Enrolled Agents “Super Seminar” held each year in Vegas where there are some half-day sessions.  And some topics could be perhaps 75 minutes.

I did go to the annual “Tax Update” session, held in “general session” for all to attend at the same time (which I like, since almost everyone usually does attend).  However it was of no real value this year.  With no new tax laws and only minimal developments they had to really stretch to cover the 100 minutes.  The “tag team” of instructors filled some time by discussing “proposed” legislation.  I do not like this inclusion – I only want to hear about actual passed and signed tax law at this session so as not to cause confusion.  Perhaps there could be a separate session (here the shorter time frame would work) to discuss the various tax proposals with audience feed-back.

The keynote speaker at the conference this year was IRS Commissioner John Koskinen – appropriate since we were in Washington DC.  He opened his remarks by saying, “I’m going to read the fine print of the contract next time around to see what I am getting myself into.”

Koskinen was a good and humorous speaker.  He told us the recent 2017 tax filing season was the smoothest filing season in his tenure.  And he explained, as expected, that most of the IRS problems and deficiencies were due to underfunding by Congress and the continued adding of “unfunded” responsibilities related to the administration of government social benefit programs like the Affordable Care Act.  See the CCH news item “Koskinen Discusses Taxpayer Service, Return Preparers at NATP Event” for more on what he said in his prepared remarks.

He spoke for half of the 100 minutes and then opened the floor up for questions – telling us we could “ask anything and complain about anything”.

To be perfectly honest – I had a better opinion of the Commissioner after hearing him speak than I did before the session.

As is the case at most CPE events, most of what is discussed is basically a review and reminder of what I already knew, but I always learn some new things. 
 
I found one of the statements made by an instructor, new to me, to be verrrrry interesting (sorry – showing my age).  He said (in effect – I didn’t write down the exact quote) that if an answer to a tax question seems logical and reasonable and sounds right it is probably wrong.  Obviously our current Tax Code is rarely logical or reasonable.
 
As usual NATP did a good job of putting together an informative and entertaining conference, with excellent and knowledgeable instructors (many of whom were familiar to me) – and deserves kudos.  I was glad I attended.  I do believe I earned 22 CPE credits for the 4 days of classes.

I will not be attending next year’s conference in Anaheim – too hot, already been to Anaheim, not interested in Disney, overall will cost more than the value of the education received, and I don’t want to fly.  But I will be returning to Chicago for the 2019 conference.

TTFN