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Your CPA is completely wrong and honestly sounds incompetent when it comes to crypto taxes. I've been filing crypto taxes since 2016 and here's what you should know: 1. Accuracy absolutely matters. Even if you're overpaying, you're signing the return saying it's accurate to the best of your knowledge 2. Unrealized gains are NOT taxable - that's a fundamental misunderstanding of tax law 3. Missing a Schedule 1 for staking rewards is a clear error 4. Incorrect cost basis will cause headaches in future years when you sell those assets I wouldn't pay full price for work that was fundamentally flawed. Maybe offer to pay a reduced amount for his time, but make it clear the work product was unacceptable. And definitely file the correct return that you prepared yourself.
Do you think the CPA could get in trouble if OP reports him to the state board? My tax guy messed up some stuff too and I'm wondering if I should report him.
Yes, CPAs are licensed professionals who can face disciplinary action from their state boards for substandard work. The severity depends on whether this was a simple mistake or represents a pattern of incompetence. Before formal reporting, I'd recommend clearly documenting the errors in writing and giving the CPA an opportunity to correct the issues or adjust their fee. Most licensing boards want to see that you attempted to resolve the issue directly first. If they're dismissive or refuse to acknowledge clear errors (like taxing unrealized gains), then reporting becomes more appropriate. Make sure you keep copies of all communications and the incorrect tax documents to support your complaint.
Not a CPA but I've been doing my own crypto taxes since 2017. What software did you end up using to figure it all out yourself? I'm going through a similar situation this year with way too many transactions to track manually.
I tried a couple different options but ended up using Koinly for tracking all the transactions and calculating the gains/losses. It was pretty intuitive for importing from different exchanges. Then I just took those totals and put them into FreeTaxUSA for the actual filing. The whole process was definitely time-consuming upfront but now that I understand it, next year should be much easier. I also created a detailed spreadsheet where I documented everything so I have backup records. The most annoying part was figuring out the staking rewards since they count as income at the fair market value when received. The tax software I used makes it pretty clear where to report everything.
Don't panic, but don't delay either. This is almost certainly identity theft, and you need to take immediate steps beyond just responding to the CP2000: 1. Pull your credit reports ASAP (annualcreditreport.com) 2. Put a freeze on your credit at all three bureaus 3. Change passwords on your financial accounts 4. Set up credit monitoring 5. File a complaint with the FTC at identitytheft.gov 6. Consider filing a police report THEN deal with the IRS using the advice others have given. Trust me, I work with identity theft victims, and the quicker you address the wider implications, the better off you'll be.
Thanks for this advice! I pulled my credit reports right after reading this and thankfully don't see any suspicious accounts or inquiries. I've already frozen my credit at all three bureaus and filed the FTC complaint. Would you still recommend filing a police report even though there don't seem to be any other signs of identity theft beyond the fake W-2s?
Absolutely still file a police report. Even if there aren't currently other signs of identity theft, having an official police report will be extremely helpful if anything else pops up later. It creates a timeline and official documentation of when you first discovered the identity theft. Some identity thieves are specifically targeting tax fraud without touching credit because it can fly under the radar longer. The fact that they've filed W-2s using your SSN at multiple law firms suggests this is a sophisticated operation, not just a random scammer. These operations often sell stolen identities on the dark web, so other issues could surface later. Having that police report now establishes you as a victim from the start.
Anyone else think it's weird they picked law firms specifically? Like why not just random companies? Makes me wonder if the scammer works at a law firm and has access to the payroll system or something.
Quick clarification: if you do decide to create a special allocation agreement, make sure it has "substantial economic effect" as others mentioned. This means: 1) Capital accounts must be maintained properly 2) Liquidating distributions must be made according to capital accounts 3) Partners with deficit capital accounts must restore them Without these elements, the IRS could disregard your special allocation and default back to the ownership percentages. Also, you can't just allocate tax benefits without allocating the corresponding economic benefits - that's where many partnerships get in trouble.
Is there any simple way to handle this retroactively? We're in a similar situation where one partner did 80% of the work this year but we have a 50/50 split. Tax filing deadline is approaching fast.
Unfortunately, retroactive special allocations are problematic. The IRS generally requires that allocations be established in advance of the economic activity. Making changes after the fact often raises red flags. Your best option at this point might be to ensure your operating agreement is updated for future projects, while accepting the default 50/50 allocation for the current tax year. Another possibility, depending on your specific situation, is to consider guaranteed payments to the partner who did more work - this is essentially a payment before profits are calculated. However, this has different tax implications and should be discussed with your tax professional before implementation.
Has anyone actually amended their operating agreement specifically for varying distributions vs allocations? Our CPA is telling us we need to pay her $1,500 to draft language for this, which seems excessive.
I did it last year with my 2-person LLC. We used a template from our legal service subscription and then had it reviewed by our accountant (much cheaper than having them draft it from scratch). The key elements were: 1) Special allocation provisions that meet the substantial economic effect test 2) Clear tracking of capital accounts 3) Language about how profits from specific projects can be allocated differently Cost us about $400 total for the review and filing the amendment. You definitely don't need to pay $1,500 unless your situation is extremely complex.
This transcript/WMR disconnect happened to me last year too. The transcripts finally showed up about 2 weeks after WMR said "received." Most likely your return is just sitting in the processing queue. One thing to check - did you claim any tax credits like Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit? Those returns automatically get held until mid-February regardless of when you file, which can delay transcript updates.
Does this also happen if you claim education credits? My transcript is taking forever to update and I claimed the American Opportunity Credit.
Education credits like the American Opportunity Credit don't trigger the automatic mid-February hold like EITC and ACTC do. However, they do often get flagged for additional verification, which can slow down processing. Education credits have been subject to higher scrutiny in recent years due to increased fraud, so returns claiming them sometimes go through additional review steps. This doesn't mean you did anything wrong - it's just an extra verification layer that can add a week or two to processing time and delay transcript updates.
Has anyone tried calling the tax advocate service instead of the main IRS line? I heard they can sometimes help with figuring out what's going on with returns that seem stuck.
Tax advocates are only for hardship situations now. They don't take cases just for checking status or transcript issues unless you can prove immediate financial hardship (eviction, utilities being shut off, etc). Found that out the hard way last month!
Mohammed Khan
What tax software are you using? I ran into this exact situation last year with TurboTax and was able to file both returns at the same time but schedule my federal payment for later. Got my state refund about 12 days later and used it to pay federal.
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Gavin King
ā¢Does this work with H&R Block online too? Trying to do the same thing.
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Nathan Kim
Just a heads up - while this strategy works, remember that if your state refund gets delayed for any reason (audits, verification, etc.), you'll still be on the hook for paying federal taxes by the deadline. Might be good to have a backup plan just in case. And definitely e-file both returns for fastest processing!
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