What possible due diligence can there be when a married couple has their own child living under their roof at an age qualifying for the CTC? I realize their scenario is highly unusual but what does the IRS expect me to include on Line 5 of the 8867 to show I performed "due diligence"?
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There is nothing "highly unusual" about this situation, in fact it is the most common. The instructions for 8867, Line 5 have a long list of documents you could rely on. I would only require one or more of these if the clients were new and I did not know them (whom I no longer accept anyway.) If these are long-time clients of mine and I know their situation, I most often answer this question with "NONE." It does not say you HAVE to rely on other documents. If I have child care statements from a pre-school, or other entity, I sometimes put that. I usually have a copy of SS card on child which only proves age, not residency, however. I once had a client for whom we claimed CTC for years for her child, until he turned 16. Then IRS rejected it. Turns out he was born in the early days of Jan, and the hospital staff put down the previous year on his information reported to Social Security when they sent it in. It wasn't discovered until this happened. We had the SSA correct it, and reapplied for CTC. -
Uuhhh, Burke, I believe that comment in the OP was 100% tongue-in-cheek.Originally posted by BurkeRoland Slugg
"I do what I can."Comment
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Yeah, we need a little emoticon for sarcasm.....Comment
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The Washington Post ran a word-play contest a few years ago, that has been widely circulated on the internet (and incorrectly credited to Mensa), in which the contestant starts with any legitimate word, then adds, deletes or changes one letter to come up with a new word, which he then defines. One of the winners was:
Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
For those who haven't seen the entire list of winning submissions, it's highly entertaining and creative. One of the winning entries is even about taxes. Here's a link ... one of many. http://www.washingtonpostsmensainvitational.com/Roland Slugg
"I do what I can."Comment
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