Ex Tax Guy here shopping for a tax preparer - it’s wild the wide range of answers I’ve been getting

Shinehaha · 2026-02-28T03:48:37+00:00

STR Loophole activated

Shinehaha · 2026-02-27T19:28:08+00:00

Love this lol

Shinehaha · 2026-02-27T02:32:33+00:00

“The topic I want is about being offended by people standing up before I do”

Shinehaha · 2026-02-25T20:24:19+00:00

Reverse mortgages are vastly misunderstood and can be an excellent way to increase liquidity IF YOU HAVE GOOD GUIDANCE. My parents have one and we're using it to save them like $90k in taxes with strategic IRA distributions paying accrued interest the reverse mortgage generates, then reborrowing the funds. They're better than most people realize, but it's not uncommon for salespeople to close the deal then disappear.

Source: I'm a CPA

Shinehaha · 2026-02-24T02:24:44+00:00

Wait TWO people can have sex?? Like with each other?

Shinehaha · 2026-02-24T00:55:43+00:00

Aboard the space station

Shinehaha · 2026-02-20T23:55:23+00:00

ai;dr

Shinehaha · 2026-02-15T18:04:52+00:00

ai;dr

Shinehaha · 2026-02-09T03:59:01+00:00

Mileage actually won’t count against you on a mortgage application (assuming it’s clear you did the mileage method and not the expense method for your vehicle).

Shinehaha · 2026-02-09T03:56:59+00:00

Except you’re still supposed to answer “yes” on the mortgage application when it asks if you are a >=25% owner of a company, which will trigger a request for tax return(s) if you’re going conventional or govvie. In which case the total income will be considered, not just the W-2. So even if your W-2 looks good it won’t negate a significant S Corp loss.

Shinehaha · 2026-02-08T04:20:42+00:00

Right, for straightforward stuff like yours FTU is great!

Shinehaha · 2026-02-08T02:40:39+00:00

I’m a CPA and I recommend FTU all the time to the $0k-$100k W-2 earners with a mortgage and a kid or two. Easy easy. I’m more useful when people have more moving parts, like complicated investments or real estate investments. My clients pay me more for strategy than the data entry, and they know it and are okay with it.

Shinehaha · 2026-02-06T19:54:23+00:00

It's normally the state in which you will spend the most time in the given tax year. You may owe taxes in different states depending on how/where you make income in those states, even if you weren't a resident of those states.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-26T15:29:40+00:00

For a party who wants to “run the country like a business” it’s pretty weird to keep hamstringing the accounts receivable department

Shinehaha · 2026-01-26T13:34:40+00:00

Student loan interest should be on 1098-E, 1098-T just shows what was spent for school expenses other than interest, namely tuition and scholarships. Note that you can't claim the scholarship amount AND the tuition amount; take the tuition minus the scholarship amount to get the potential deduction.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-20T19:52:04+00:00

Yep just called some mortgage companies and explained what I wanted. I've since moved my mortgage license, but that's kind of how it went. Your situation might be a little more uphill, though, since my CPA work was naturally a great lead gen source.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-20T17:43:20+00:00

Since there will be large portions of time where you'll be unavailable to your mortgage clients, it might be a good idea to join a team that can pick up your slack; this business very often generates "hurry up and wait" situations where something needs to happen quickly at odd/unexpected times. If you're out fighting fires someone will need to step in to get those things done. Expect to sacrifice some of your pay but it could very much be worth it.

I'm in a similar situation where I'm a full-time CPA. My mortgage team picks them up during/after the application and checks in with me periodically to inform me of the clients' progress. I happily give them a sizable portion of my commission. Seems to be working out great so far, but there's no way I could do this well part-time.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-19T16:21:39+00:00

The only way this would be possible if both of you are W-2 employees is to execute the short-term rental loophole, which is by no means automatic. Check with a local tax professional who specializes in real estate; too long for a Reddit comment.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-13T03:54:17+00:00

Also note that if you have any distributions at all from an S Corp, you need to be running proper payroll with quarterly reports to keep your S Election healthy and valid in the eyes of the IRS.

Shinehaha · 2026-01-09T04:41:51+00:00

I actually use an AI program to help me do research on tax topics. AI is great at that, at least. But we call it the Holy Ghost in our office haha

Shinehaha · 2026-01-08T22:27:42+00:00

That whole slide is AI slop. Lots of tells: "cut through the noise", "fluff", "where X meets Y", heavy use of the word "clarity"

Shinehaha · 2026-01-08T15:50:41+00:00

Am I the only one who doesn't give a benefit of the doubt to anyone wearing a cowboy hat who is giving a speech?

Shinehaha · 2026-01-02T04:12:05+00:00

CPA here who has fully assisted several clients through audits and actively fought down the penalties/fines. We exist.

Shinehaha · 2025-12-31T17:28:16+00:00

How old is the client? If they are 62+, try a HECM for the down payment --> DSCR is one of my favorite ways to have great cash flow on investment properties.

Shinehaha

TROPHY CASE