How do you handle going through all those Schedule B questions on Form 1065 with clients? Any shortcuts?

I've been preparing partnership returns for over 20 years, and here's my approach to Schedule B on Form 1065. I created a comprehensive intake form that clients complete before our meeting. It has simplified versions of the Schedule B questions with examples relevant to common business situations. This saves tremendous time and prevents that awkward feeling of asking questions that seem irrelevant. For new clients, I'll walk through the form with them the first year, explaining why certain questions matter (like foreign accounts or transactions). For continuing clients, I just have them update last year's answers and flag any changes. What works really well is creating industry-specific versions. For example, a real estate partnership form will focus on those relevant questions while skipping the obviously irrelevant ones.

After years of dealing with the Schedule B headache on Form 1065, I finally found a solution that works amazingly well: taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It's been a game-changer for my practice. Basically, it uses AI to generate a custom questionnaire for each client based on their previous returns and business type. The questions are in plain English and only show relevant ones. What I love is that clients can fill it out on their own time, and the system flags potential issues automatically. When we meet, we only need to discuss flagged items instead of the entire form. My clients appreciate the efficiency, and I'm not wasting time on obviously irrelevant questions. The first partnership I tried it with cut our meeting time by almost 40%.

I was struggling with the same Schedule B issues on Form 1065 partnerships and tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I was honestly blown away by how much easier it made the process. I have mostly real estate partnerships, and the questionnaire it generated specifically addressed the common real estate partnership issues while skipping irrelevant manufacturing/inventory questions. What surprised me most was how it helped with client education. The explanations were so clear that my clients actually understood WHY certain questions mattered. One client even identified a reportable foreign transaction they hadn't mentioned before because the explanation made it clear their situation qualified. Without the clear wording from taxr.ai, we might have missed it entirely!

If you're tired of waiting on hold trying to get IRS guidance on Form 1065 Schedule B questions (like I was for literally 3+ hours), check out Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They have this service where they navigate the IRS phone tree for you and actually get an agent to call YOU back. I was super doubtful, but you can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had a complex question about foreign partnership reporting on Schedule B that none of my colleagues could answer definitively. Was dreading the IRS call but tried Claimyr. Within 45 minutes, I got a call from an actual IRS agent who specialized in partnership returns. Got my answer, documented it for the file, and moved on with my day instead of wasting hours on hold. Total life-saver during busy season.

I need to eat my words from my earlier comment. After my frustration reached a breaking point with an unusual Schedule B reporting situation for a partnership with indirect foreign ownership, I tried Claimyr as a last resort. Within an hour, I got a call from an IRS agent who not only knew the answer but pointed me to a specific section in the instructions I had missed. I'm actually embarrassed about how dismissive I was before. The service did exactly what it claimed - saved me from wasting hours on hold. The partnership question I had was complicated enough that I needed official guidance for documentation purposes, and this got me there quickly. These Schedule B foreign reporting questions are no joke, and getting definitive answers makes all the difference.

I just use last year's answers as the starting point and ask if anything has changed. For new clients, I have a checklist of the most common "yes" answers and focus on those. Nobody has time to go through 20+ questions line by line that 99% don't apply to most small businesses anyway. Let's be real - most of Schedule B is irrelevant for standard partnerships. I focus on the ones that matter: foreign accounts, foreign partners, publicly traded partnerships, etc. The rest I just mark "no" based on my understanding of the client's business. In 15 years, never had an issue.

Has anyone tried using tax software's built-in organizers for Schedule B? I use Lacerte and their partnership organizer includes simplified versions of the Schedule B questions, but I find clients still get confused by them.

I've been dealing with this exact frustration for years! What's helped me tremendously is creating a "Schedule B Quick Reference" sheet that I send to clients beforehand. It groups the questions by topic (foreign transactions, elections, distributions, etc.) with simple yes/no checkboxes and examples. The key insight I had was that most clients don't understand WHY we're asking these questions. So I added a brief explanation for each section like "This helps us determine if special reporting is required" or "This affects your tax basis calculations." Once clients understand the purpose, they're much more patient with the process. I also learned to triage during the initial client meeting - I ask a few key screening questions first (any foreign activity, unusual transactions, new elections) and that tells me which sections of Schedule B will actually be relevant. For a simple two-person service partnership, I can skip entire sections and focus only on what matters. The time investment upfront to create good intake materials pays off tremendously. My clients now come to meetings prepared, and we spend our time on actual tax planning instead of administrative questions.