1099 Question on 1065 Return

[Sam55]

Is there an override or another way in Intuit Proconnect Tax to leave the boxes blank for questions 16a and b? Right now, it only lets me choose yes or no.

[TaxGuyBill]

Question 16a is a required entry (and depending on the answer to 16a, then 16b might be required).  Why would you fill out an incomplete tax return?

Or am I misunderstanding what you are asking?

[Sam55 · Accepted solution]

In public accounting tax work, it is common practice to leave boxes 16a and b blank when the client does not follow instructions to file 1099's timely and correctly. Sometimes, clients don't file 1099's at all, even when instructed to do so. We are engaged to file their income tax returns, not their 1099's. Thus, we don't always know a definite "yes" or "no" with regard to this question, because the client may say they'll file their 1099's later and they never actually do.

[TaxGuyBill]

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@Sam55 wrote:

In public accounting tax work, it is common practice to leave boxes 16a and b blank

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I don't know what your common practices are, but you aren't supposed to pick-and-choose which parts of a tax return to fill out.  Do you really sign a tax return that you know is not "complete"?

Just like many other things on a tax return, you ask the client the question and record their answer on the tax return.  If you don't believe the taxpayer, are you sure you want to be preparing their tax return?

[Accountant-Man]

If the client answers your question: "Have you filed any required 1099s?" and they respond "Not yet." then the answer to your question is "No."

(ps And then they might get audited.)