Client Address Question

[Victoriacol]

Elderly dementia client living in nursing home, working with his niece who is POA. The address used for his return up until now was his home, however house was sold in January of 2025. Client is in one state, but POA is in another state, so if I use the POAs address it doesn't look right when I file the state return since the mailing address state does not align.  Not sure what to list for address or what issues it will create - can you use 'c/o' in the address line?

[IRonMaN]

I had a similar situation with Minnesota and Wisconsin and never had any issues just using the daughter's out of state address.  But you should be able to sneak in the C/O in the address line if it will allow you to sleep better.

[BobKamman]

It doesn't look any different from a return for someone who is 25 years old and moved out of state in January 2025 for a job that pays twice as much.  Don't overthink it.  However, if the niece lives in California, consider filing a nonresident return showing zero California income, since the FTB can be vicious about pursuing anyone with a California address.  I've had that happen with a California daughter using her address to file a return for her mother, an Arizona resident.  Same situation may apply to New York.  

Or, ask the nursing home if they can accept and forward mail for patients.  Without charging too much for the service.  And what mail are you expecting anyway, if you have the refund deposited directly?  Alternative, file with the nursing home address and then follow up with an 8822 to IRS.  

[dascpa]

Due to ongoing problems with kids using their parent's address, or similar situations like yours Maryland added a line of physical address at 12/31 if different than the mailing address.  Rare that my state does a simple solution to a simple problem.

[BobKamman]

@dascpa  That helps Maryland when one of its residents files a Maryland return with a Virginia address.  But it doesn't prevent IRS from sending Virginia "here's a list of everyone who filed a federal return with a Virginia address," which is the cause of most problems.