FY for individual

"Kurt Ullman" wrote

I wouldn't change accounting methods for this.

If it's a closely held investment, talk to the other owners to see what the hold up is. Accounting for 2011 isn't something to delay till the summer of

2012. If it's the tax guy, get someone whose plate is less full and can get the return out faster. If it's a publically traded entity, then maybe consider selling out from it. The gains and profits would have to be worth the headache.

Thanks. The problem is well known and nothing we can change, God knows we have tried. This is probably going to going on forever, I was curious at to whether the change is worth the hassle. Apparently nkot.

< Thanks. The problem is well known and nothing we can change, God

I just wanted to know if there was a third, and it appears that there isn't. Thanks.

Kurt

Excellent information and great advice. Thanks Gene.

___ Stu

Technically, accounting PERIOD, not method.

Aside: There is another way which does not need IRS permission: Marriage to someone on a different tax year month than yours. One spouse is allowed to file a short year to synchronize up with the other so that they are on the same FY and can file jointly. This can happen only for the first married return. The only time I've ever seen this is when there was an alien spouse and her country had a different tax calendar than that of the U.S. and him.

Agreed.

SNIPPED

Aside: There is another way which does not need IRS permission: Marriage to someone on a different tax year month than yours. One spouse is allowed to file a short year to synchronize up with the other so that they are on the same FY and can file jointly. This can happen only for the first married return. The only time I've ever seen this is when there was an alien spouse and her country had a different tax calendar than that of the U.S. and him.

Kudos to my esteemed colleague, Mr. Stussy - he is quite right. If you marry someone who's on a fiscal year one of you must adjust and you could elect to use the fiscal year.

On a more practical note, I cannot imagine how much I'd charge to "adjust" all the calendar year documents my clients get. Consider that every W-2,

1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, 1098, 1098-T, 1098-Q, 1099-SA, 1099-SSA, even the 1099-Gs issued for state refunds would have to be manually recalculated to come up with the correct fiscal year information.

Now factor in that even though this is allowable there is little chance that anyone at the IRS or the state will understand how to handle it. So not only are we talking about hours of work for the preparation, but you are almost guaranteed at least a correspondence audit because the system won't be able to tie what you report to what was reported by third parties.

And good luck getting ANY third party to report YOUR info on a fiscal period. Even now, we can't get most companies to reissue incorrect statements that are done a calendar period. I would guess that at a minimum my fee to do a personal return on a fiscal year would be AT LEAST TRIPLE my regular fee and it could easily be more.

Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA

recalculated

The same thing happens, to a lesser extent, to calendar year accrual-basis taxpayers.

That's why such a taxpayer generally includes a "white paper" schedule of reconcilation of the W-2/1099 documents to the return, which also happens to disqualify such a person from e-file until the IRS permits e-file with such attachments. It's too bad that the IRS doesn't have a check-box on form 1040 for accounting method like they do on other forms (including Schedule C and F).

They would not be required to. In fact, all such documents are required to be issued on calendar-year cash-basis accounting.