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Proficiency Part 3

Sample problem(s) to provide exposure to new Tax Law issues and/or newTaxWise features

Needless to say, the major new thing we all want to understand is handling the new ACA forms. The problems below allow new and experienced preparers to prepare returns which will exercise most things they will need to know how to do for ACA. In addition to ACA issues, there are a few new in-scope issues covered - good luck!

We highly recommend the ACA Course from CBPP: https://cbpp.eleapcourses.com/ for an intro to the ACA tax law and how to enter ACA related information into TaxWise (all six modules can be done in about 45 minutes)
Note: Getting setup to do this course is tricky - Be sure to read the How to get to the CBPP Course first (Thanks Harry)

Note 1: TawWise updates (~Jan 11) caused changes to screens and calculations after the above course was created:
a) 1040 Wkt8 is now called 1040 ACA Wkt;
b) The checkbox on 1040 line 61 is now calculated based on whether all members of the tax family listed on the 1040 ACA Wkt have the "Full" box checked;
c) A "None" box was added to the 1040 ACA Wkt - use this ONLY if someone has no coverage all year AND is above the income thresholds on 8965 lines 7a and 7b AND has no applicable Exemptions for all 12 months of the year;
d) 8962 box 2b is now calculated from the corresponding box on the 1040 ACA Wkt

Note 2: Jan 24 - More TawWise updates caused changes to screens and calculations:
a) The wording at the top of the 1040 ACA Wkt is much clearer (and no longer misleading for the new “None” box).
b) 8962 box 2b is no longer calculated from the corresponding box on the 1040 ACA Wkt (The make sense because the definition of MAGI is slightly different for form 8962 (PTC reconciliation) than it is for the 1040 ACA Wkt (SRP calculation)

Note 3: Jan 27 - Recent guidance from IRS SPEC about how to calculate Sch A amounts for Marketplace policies caused change to several returns.

Note 4: Jan 27 - We just discovered that TaxWise does not handle Sch A line 5b Sales Tax calculations properly for Public Safety Officer health insurance exclusions on 1099-R. The Howe return is affected by this - See the Sales Tax worksheet.

Additional things to look at before doing the problems:

You must use the TY2014 version of TaxWise/Training, NOT the TY2013 version.

The first set includes three separate, but related problems. We have three generations that all live together: The suggested order is to do the first generation (The Rowes) first, then the third generation (Linda Lowe), and the second generation (The Howes) last. Note: if you did these problems before the TaxWise updates (see above), you may need to revise some of your entries.

Problem Intake Changed Scenario Changed ScreenShots Changed Printed Changed Notes
Rowe click 12-15-2014 click 12-23-2014 click 01-27-2015 click 01-27-2015 1st generation
Lowe click 01-09-2015 click 12-23-2014 click 01-11-2015 click 01-11-2015 3rd generation
Howe click 12-15-2014 click 12-23-2014 click 01-29-2015 click 01-27-2015 2nd generation

The following pair of problems show an example of how to handle a "Shared Policy" allocation.

Problem Intake Changed Scenario Changed ScreenShots Changed Printed Changed Notes
Gilley click 01-07-2015 click 01-09-2015 click 01-27-2015 click 01-27-2015 ex-husband
Jilley click 01-07-2015 click 01-09-2015 click 01-27-2015 click 01-27-2015 ex-wife

The resources are not the same as the usual Proficiency problems.
  - the Intake sheets are separate from the rest of the Scenario writeup (is this a better way to go in general?)
  - there is a page with selected ScreenShots instead of the usual Refund Monitors.
  - printed returns - some pages may not be legible (due to non approval when printed).

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  09/03/2015 12:44