My father-in-law fell for this exact scam last year with his "accountant" and lost over $24,000 from his business account. The person seemed totally legitimate - office, website, everything. After getting his login info, they slowly transferred money out over several months while sending him fake bank statements showing the correct balances. By the time he discovered it during tax season, the bank refused to cover the losses because he had willingly shared his credentials, which violated their terms of service. Please tell your brother to run away from this accountant and find someone legitimate who uses proper accounting software and secure document sharing. This isn't just unusual - it's a common scam targeting small business owners.

This is absolutely a red flag and your instincts are correct! As someone who works in financial fraud prevention, I can tell you that legitimate accountants NEVER need full login credentials to bank accounts. There are multiple secure alternatives like QuickBooks bank feeds, Xero connections, or simply providing monthly statements. The refusal to provide her SSN for read-only access is particularly suspicious - any legitimate tax professional is required to have a PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number) and routinely provides identification to financial institutions. This is standard practice, not something to avoid. Your brother should immediately: 1) Find a new CPA or EA with proper credentials, 2) Change all his banking passwords if he's shared them, 3) Monitor his accounts closely for any unauthorized activity, and 4) Consider reporting this person to your state's board of accountancy. Small business owners are frequent targets for this type of scam because they often feel overwhelmed by tax requirements and trust too easily. Don't let him brush this off as "normal practice" - protecting his business finances is worth more than the inconvenience of finding a new accountant.

Has anyone used a joint check to make their gift? My husband and I want to gift $32K to our daughter for a house down payment, and we'll write a check from our joint account. Will this make it more obvious that it's intended as a split gift, or do we still need to file the darn 709?

Just went through this exact situation last month! We gifted $28K to our son from our joint savings account and I was hoping we could avoid the paperwork too. Unfortunately, what everyone else is saying is correct - you absolutely need to file Form 709 even when the gift comes from a joint account. The key thing I learned is that the IRS doesn't look at WHO owns the account, but rather WHO is making the gift election. Without filing Form 709 with both spouses consenting to split the gift, they would attribute the entire $30K to whoever signed the check or initiated the transfer. That would put you over the $17K individual limit and could trigger gift tax implications. The good news is that Form 709 isn't as scary as it sounds when you're just doing a gift-splitting election. We used a tax preparer but honestly, it's mostly just basic information about you, your spouse, and the gift details. No gift tax owed since $15K each is under the annual exclusion. One tip: make sure you keep good records of the gift (bank statements, check copies, etc.) because you'll need those details for the form. The IRS wants to know the exact date and amount of the gift.

I'm paranoid about this too! My parents send me like $500 a month to help with expenses while I'm in school and my roommate Zelles me for utilities. Probably over $10k in total Zelle payments. Am I screwed??

Great question! I see a lot of confusion about this topic. The key thing to remember is that the $600 threshold is just for reporting requirements - it doesn't mean everything over $600 is taxable income. Here's what you need to know about your specific situations: **Rent splitting with roommates**: Not taxable. You're acting as a pass-through - collecting money to pay a shared expense. This isn't income to you. **Concert ticket reimbursements**: Not taxable. Friends are just paying you back for money you spent on their behalf. **Gifts from parents**: Not taxable to you as the recipient. Gift tax rules apply to the giver, not the receiver, and even then only for very large amounts. **Computer building hobby**: As long as you're truly not making a profit and just getting reimbursed for parts, this isn't taxable income either. The important thing is to keep good records showing what each payment was for. If you ever receive a 1099-K, you may need to explain the difference between the total reported and your actual taxable income when filing your return. Most tax software now has sections specifically for this. Don't stress too much - the IRS isn't trying to tax legitimate personal transfers and reimbursements!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with vintage watches. One thing I wanted to add that might help others - if you're selling items that have appreciated significantly in value over many years, make sure you understand the difference between short-term and long-term capital gains treatment. Even as a hobby seller, if you held an item for more than a year before selling, any gain might qualify for more favorable long-term capital gains rates rather than being taxed as ordinary income. This could make a big difference on high-value collectibles. Also, I've found it helpful to take photos of items before packaging them for sale - this creates a visual record that can help support your basis calculations if you ever need to reconstruct your records. Just another small tip that might save headaches down the road!

This is such a timely discussion! I've been selling vintage records and had no idea about the capital gains treatment for items held over a year. Like Alice, I've been reporting everything as ordinary income. One thing I've learned from experience - if you're selling collectibles regularly, even as a hobby, consider setting up a separate checking account just for these transactions. It makes tracking so much easier when tax time comes around, and you have a clear paper trail of all the deposits from sales and withdrawals for shipping/packaging expenses. Also, for anyone using PayPal or other payment processors in addition to eBay's managed payments, make sure you're not double-counting the 1099-K income. I almost made that mistake last year when I received forms from both eBay and PayPal for the same transactions during their transition period. The record-keeping tips in this thread are gold - I'm definitely implementing the photo documentation and detailed note-taking going forward!

This is exactly the kind of situation where having proper documentation from the start is crucial. I went through something similar when my aunt in British Columbia passed away last year. One thing I'd emphasize is to get copies of ALL Canadian tax documents - not just the final returns, but also any T3 slips for trust distributions, T4RSP slips for RRSP withdrawals, and documentation of any capital gains reported in Canada on the property deemed disposition. The Canadian estate executor should provide these. Also, don't overlook provincial taxes! Each Canadian province has different tax rates, and Ontario (where your parents' rental properties are) has its own additional considerations. The foreign tax credit calculation gets more complex when you're dealing with both federal and provincial Canadian taxes. I found it helpful to create a timeline of when each asset was transferred to me, the fair market values at death, and the Canadian taxes paid on each. This made the US reporting much cleaner and helped my tax preparer calculate the foreign tax credits accurately.

I'm dealing with a very similar situation right now - my mother passed away in Toronto last month and I'm inheriting her RRSP and a condo downtown. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful, especially the points about getting proper appraisals and documentation. One thing I wanted to add that I learned from my cross-border tax advisor: if your parents are still alive, consider having them convert some of their RRSP funds to a TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) if they have contribution room available. TFSAs are treated much more favorably for US tax purposes when inherited - the US generally recognizes them as tax-free, whereas RRSPs create that double taxation headache you're worried about. Also, for the rental properties, ask about whether your parents have been claiming capital cost allowance (depreciation) on their Canadian tax returns. If they have, there could be "recapture" of that depreciation that gets added to the capital gains calculation when the properties are deemed disposed of at death. This affects both the Canadian tax liability and your foreign tax credit calculations. The whole process is definitely complex, but getting the right professional help upfront (whether it's the AI tools others mentioned, professional tax advisors, or both) can save you major headaches down the road.