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Before the final, final rush, to express my deepest gratitude to this group as a whole and to each member as an individual. First let me state that if I have offended anyone in anyway during these last thirteen weeks I offer my deepest apologies. It was never my intent to offend. But enough of that. I know in my heart of hearts that I would have made it through this season in your absence, but I would not have wanted to. I have gained such great insight to the software, tax issues, office practices, and other issues from you. And as a whole the season has been made tolerable and at times enjoyable because of you. As has been often said, this group is a family, and it has never held more true than during this convoluted season. Thank you all for the comraderie, the fellowship, the sharing and yes, even the scoldings. I am better for having spent this time with you. I wish for each of you nothing but the best of everything good in every aspect of your lives and a very, very bright future. May God Bless you in every way imaginable!

You are right, of course. We have to keep answering their rants, even though we know we won't penetrate THEIR ignorance, we may be able to dilute their influence on those uninformed listeners/readers who are not hearing the contrary facts from the mainstream media. So keep on doing it on BOTH issues. The ignorance on the Constitution is as bad as the ignorance on 'climate change'. Maybe worse, because at least their own common sense will make the average person question the sort of idiocy Gore was pushing, just be looking around at the real world. But most young people today have not even been exposed to anything about our Constitution.

Thank you, my friends!!! I had a lazy day, the first time in many years when I did not even THINK about taxes all day.

And, questions re all our extensions! My more complex returns, big investors, new clients, etc., that didn't get me info early enough are on extension. All you smart people please stop by from time to time!

Same here and ditto. And when this board goes quiet in a week or so, I miss y'all! Someone stay around to answer my payroll questions, please.

I'm in.

Which is what I said. I was trying to show you the difference between the 1045 and the 1040X. The 1045 can be only used within the 12 months after the loss year. The 1040X has to be used thereafter. You can use the 1045 as a supporting schedule to the 1040X. It will help if you have intervening years.

There are a couple of mule routes at the Grand Canyon. One begins early in the morning and takes about 5 hours down, an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch, and 6 hours back up the next day. If you're in more of a hurry, the other one begins at the same time, but it only takes 20 seconds and two bounces to get down to the ranch.

Yet, "silence gives assent" and I will not give assent. I thought there may well be something to "global warming" -- years ago, until I did my OWN investigation and concluded it was hokum for political purposes. There may also be those who read the emotion-laden and fact-poor tirades who will be swayed if there is no rebuttal. Or perhaps I just have a compulsion for tilting at windmills. On the bright side, the US Constitution study group I started four years ago has grown from 3 people per month (including me) to over three dozen (and not the same folks every month). So some windmill-tilting has an effect. Thanks, KC

ATX sales is reaching out to those that requested refunds and are trying to get us back by offering the 2012 program for free. He did apologize for the program and the problems it had early on, but he tried to tell me that the problems are fixed, no slowness, no crashing. He wanted me to reinstate my account, download the updates, and try to do some returns so I could see how much better it is working. He wanted me to rejoin the ATX fold. He would not acknowledge that it's even possible that the errors with 2012 would affect next year's work, whether the preparer continued on with ATX or converted to another software provider. He told me that because I'd only processed the one return, that I had no idea whether I would have had other problems or not. That's simply not true. I did have several other easy returns that ALL had problems that I chose not to finish with the ATX program. When time is money, I chose to move to the other software and complete the returns there, and to get up to speed before the larger and more complex returns started coming in. Why on earth would I want to recreate a return over again with software that might continue to have ongoing problems? I did have corrupted files, crashing, inability to reopen a return I'd worked on, inability to save a return before closing, lost data. It was my choice to discontinue using software that wasn't working well for me. This rep just didn't want to accept that. He wanted to know if I had hard documentation of my problems. Maybe this was part of the point of the call, ya think? I don't, I simply deleted those returns and I've moved on. When I expressed concern that if I did renew I wouldn't be eligible for any refund of the product's cost, he said that wasn't true and that I could get my money back. He said that isn't their policy. Here is the last sentence of the very first section of the CCH refund policy: "To prevent abuse of the refund policy, a refund of tax preparation software may only be requested once in customer’s CCH SFS account history (as of April 1, 2010)." That seems pretty clear to me. He also said that it wasn't necessary for me to return the materials, and that just isn't true that I needed to do that. From the very last sentence of that same refund policy: "C. Return of Materials: Final approval of the refund request will require the return of all tangible materials that had previously been sent to customer. Customer will be responsible for all shipping fees associated with the return of such materials." After 5 weeks, multiple calls to the CCH A/R dept and a few emails to Kimmie, I finally received my refund today. Why would I ever want to do business with a company such as this again? Why would I want to do business with a company or a sales rep that thinks it's OK to call during our busiest final few days before the deadline?

Client tells me she had an HSA from which she took several distributions to pay for med expenses. I told her I need Form 1099SA. Her plan provider tells her they don't issue 1099SAs--that all the info she needs is on her W2 (at 77 she's still working)! I told her we had to have a 1099SA. So she downloaded a blank from the IRS web site and sent that to me. She said she thought all I needed was a copy of one to fill out! This is one of my clients who calls me at least 10-12 times every tax season and then wants me to stay on the phone while she runs a few totals on her adding machine or she reads to me every word of a letter she received from a retirement plan provider (including the address header!)--just to make sure I understand what they're dong with her account. Arrgghhh!!!!!! I know I should fire her but she's a little old lady with no one else to help. I just can't quite bring myself to do it.

Do they have kids? She needs to pay estimated taxes, no matter how she arranges it. But a good divorce lawyer seems like the BEST advice.

Husband-Wife partnerships can elect qualified joint venture and still file Sch C instead of 1065.

>>Wife has real estate brokerage license. Husband does the actual selling<< Sounds like a partnership with guaranteed payments.

Got a call on my VM at 7:30 am. Urgent need to see me by Monday to get her tax return done. This is a lady who told me i was too expensive last year. Guess what, she went to HRB and when the bill came to $235 she took off bitching at them. She thought that the $120 I was charging her with a Sch A for the last 2 years too much. I am still doing her parents and brother's and gave her the family rate!! She lost her job and went back to school so HRB wants to charge an extra $75 for the 8863 according to her. Well i am doing it free for her!

Says who that 2106 mileage MUST be approved by the employer?? Employer does NOT approve a taxpayers tax return. It is up to the taxpayer to decide if the deduction is justified and can be supported under current law. Please keep the employer out of the taxpayers tax return!

Yeah, me too! I have thought so many times this season that it has been a great blessing to have you all. I've learned a lot and laughed a lot because of you. Thank you.

My policy....I don't take on "little old ladies". I had one "tentative new one" (retired college professor) who had done her return on Turbo Tax...but had "an issue" so she wanted a professional. She printed out the Turbo Tax return on the back of paper she had already used to print "other things"...and had her chicken scratch on all thirty pages. I told her that I need originals of things such as 1099-Rs...and she said that was impossible (for whatever reason) and that I could trust her figures. So...I said..."Thank you but no thank you."

A blonde city girl, named Amy, marries a Colorado rancher. One morning, on his way out to check on the cows, the rancher says to Amy, 'The insemination man is coming over to impregnate one of our cows today. I drove a nail into the 2 by 4 just above the cow's stall in the barn. You can show him where the cow is when he gets here, OK?' The rancher leaves for the fields. After a while, the artificial insemination man arrives and knocks on the front door. Amy takes him down to the barn. They walk along the row of cows and when she sees the nail, she tells him, 'This is the one right here.' The man, assuming he is dealing with an airhead blonde, asks, 'Tell me, lady, 'cause I'm dying to know - how would YOU know this is the cow to be bred?' 'That's simple-by the nail over its stall,' Amy explains very confidently. Laughing rudely at her, the man says, 'And what, pray tell, is the nail for?' The blonde turns to walk away and says sweetly over her shoulder, 'I guess it's to hang your pants on.'

Just had one of my monthly write-up clients drive in from about 20 miles away to pick up her tax return and she said "you know Ron, we have been together for 17 years". My response after picking myself up off the floor was, "are you kidding me?" So hard to believe - and we have been through a lot together including the loss of her late husband. A celebratory hug was in order. Would that they were all that nice and appreciative of our services.

Note there is no time estimate for the return trip on the second option, since they never know how long it will take for the morgue's helicopter to show up.

A policeman pulls over a driver for swerving in and out of lanes on the highway. He tells the guy to blow a breath into a breathalyzer. “I can't do that, officer.” “Why not?” “Because I'm an asthmatic. I could get an asthma attack if I blow into that tube.” “Okay, we'll just get a urine sample down at the station.” “Can’t do that either, officer.” “Why not?” “Because I'm a diabetic. I could get low blood sugar if I pee in a cup.” “Alright, we could get a blood sample.” “Can’t do that either, officer.” “Why not?” “Because I'm a hemophiliac. If I give blood I could die.” “Fine then, just walk this white line.” “Can’t do that either, officer.” “Why not?” “Because I’m drunk.”

I agree with everything rfassett said except for one part. I'm not sure I would have made it through this season (or any other) without this forum. As a sole practitioner, I really rely on y'all to help me with my questions. Thanks so much.

He said it well, and I agree entirely. Thank you, everyone, for everything!

Thanks for the clarification and confirmation Maribeth!

You are not alone. I have at least 3 of these little old ladies. One is a new client and a recent widow, her husband died in Jan 2013 and she'd never had to deal with any of the financies. What a struggle it was to get all of the information. She has no children and no relatives that live close by. When she finally came for the appointment, she brought a 5 inch stack of bank statements from a variety of banks all mixed together with the 1099s. The 1099s from SSA were missing. She found them later in an end table drawer after she requested duplicates from SSA. Then she didn't want to spend the cost of the first class stamp to mail me the 2 forms! The topper was when she said she'd like her original documents returned to her in their envelopes. Arrrrrgh! She's a nice lady and I think she will ultimately be a good client, but she surely did test my patience.

Right now, going anywhere other than the office sounds inviting!

what he said

If the year of the loss is still open, you can carryback the NOL to the prior two years. 2010 is open until at least 4/15/14. You do not amend the 2010 return. You amend the 2008 and the 2009 return (using 1040X) to carryback the NOL to those years. You can only use the 1045 within the 12 months following the end of the loss year. For example, in your case, you would have had to file the 1045 by 12/31/11 in order to use that simplifed method.

It must be just you OR the other side of the issue must be just me. The days seem to get longer about now. More daylight, less sleep, more work. Well I guess only new part of that is more daylight. :)

>> "Oh, just put me down for the standard charitable deduction"<< Just say "OK, that would be zero".

Or we can just drag you around on those stretcher-type deals made out of poles and saddle blankets they had on Gunsmoke when somebody got snake bit. How about that? I'm pumped.

So, you enter his actual expenses or SMR and then enter his reimbursement, your software will calculate the 2106 amount. Sounds like first and last trips are commuting. At least you know he has a mileage log and a good paper trail with his expense accounts.

Of course! We can do a movie: "The Unofficial ATX Board: Grand Canyon or Bust"!

Cat, I love your post. But you know the facts will have no effect on the "believers" You can point out the evidence of tropical plants in Canada in ages past, etc, and they will just ignore it as if you did not say it.. They WANT to believe that if we just change how we behave, we can change eons of climate change overnight. That sort of illogic just can not be penetrated

She just called to tell me that she was mistaken. She's a non-resident alien here on a J (student) visa. Now I know what to do.

Is this rental property? If yes, then the flood insurance is deductible as a schedule E deduction. If it is his personal residence, sorry, no deduction for flood insurance.

Vaseline survey A man doing market research knocked on a door and was greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet. He says, 'I'm doing some research for Vaseline. Have you ever used the product?' She says, 'Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.' 'And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?' ... 'We use it for sex.' The researcher was a little taken back. 'Usually people lie to me and say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you tell me exactly how you use it for sex?' The woman says, 'I don't mind telling you at all... My husband and I put it on the door knob and it keeps the kids out.' And you thought it was gonna be a dirty joke...! Shame on you !