Surgent's Advanced Individual Income Tax Return Issues

Overview

Most Accounting and Financial Professionals have been preparing individual income tax returns for years, and while many of the returns are easy, there are always a number of issues that come up in busy season of which experienced practitioners wish they had more knowledge. This course is designed to explore the tough tax issues for experienced practitioners and help them provide better planning strategies and results for their higher income clients.

Prerequisites

Extensive experience in preparation of individual income tax returns

Objectives

• Understand the basics of §199A
• Understand how to properly report advanced transactions in financial instruments and investments
• Understand the special problems and new issues for the current return
• Identify the causes of alternative minimum tax liability and what can be done to reduce or eliminate it

Highlights

• New issues for the current year tax return and §199A
• Installment sales — understanding the complicated issues
• Form 8582: Passive losses with carryovers — Complicated case with filled-in forms
• Puts, calls, straddling, and unusual investments — Understanding the tax laws and reporting them correctly on the tax return
• Capital gain and loss issues — The problem with proper reporting of installment sales issues; capital gains and losses; when is a stock worthless; and much more…
• At-risk rules: What a return preparer really needs to know
• Passive loss issues — You can't just trust your software. What to watch out for and the questions you need your clients to answer in order to do it right!
• Incentive and nonqualified stock options — Reporting; key strategies for planning; dealing with the alternative minimum tax
• Alternative minimum tax — Understanding it; planning strategies to avoid it; using the minimum tax credit; explaining it to a client
• Form 6251: Detailed calculation example