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We had our mini-split air to air heat pump installed in September this year. Definitely not a new house (built in the 1860s) They go for about $3000 installed, (and then a $600 rebate from Efficiency Maine, bringing it to $2400) and ours heats our entire downstairs until it gets down below -5 degrees or so outside and then we need to run the furnace (oil, forced hot air). It'll actually keep heating down to -15 degrees but it gets less efficient at those temperatures, and can't move enough heat to keep up in our old house. We spent about an extra $100 in electricity in the month of December and used almost no heating oil (about 1/16 of a tank since October) Compare that to last year which was a lot more mild, we went through about $300 in fuel oil in December. It won't be long before the thing pays for itself. As a bonus, it'll do air conditioning and dehumidifying in the summer, and a quite a bit more efficiently than a window or floor unit.

Good grief, is there nothing you can not find to criticise? I did not suggest using candles as a regular source of heat, but if you are without heat in a storm, it's certainly healthier to breath a little smoke than to freeze! And for such a situation, that link is irrelevant, because, 1 tea candles do not use lead wicks, 2 tea candles do not contain incense, and 3 we are not talking about prolonged use, plus they said in your link "studies regarding potential human health effects associated with soot from candles were not found in the literature search." If you are in a real serious situation, of course you are going to choose a small space to keep warm, and breathing in candle soot is a lot safer than most other options like propane or sterno.

One day a man decided to retire He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life, that is, until the ship sank. He soon found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing, only bananas and coconuts. After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore. In disbelief, he asks, Where did you come from? How did you get here? She replies, I rowed over from the other side of the island where I landed when my fishing boat sank. Amazing, he notes. You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you. Oh, this thing? explains the woman. I made the boat out of some raw material I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum tree branches. I wove the bottom from palm tree branches, and the sides and stern came from an Eucalyptus tree. But, where did you get the tools? Oh, that was no problem, replied the woman. On the south side of the island, a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock is exposed. I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in a volcanic vent I found just down island, it melted into ductile iron and I used that to make tools and used the tools to make the hardware. The guy is stunned. Lets row over to my place, she says and Ill give you a tour. So, after a short time of rowing, she soon docks the boat at a small hand built wharf. As the man looks to shore, he nearly falls off the boat. Before him is a long stone walk leading to a cabin and tree house. While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man can only stare ahead, dumb struck. As they walk into the house, she says casually, Its not much, but I call it home. Please sit down. Would you like a drink? No! No thank you, the man blurts out, still dazed. I cant take another drop of coconut juice. Oh, its not coconut juice, winks the woman. I have a still. How would you like a Jack Daniels neat? Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk. After they exchange their individual survival stories, the woman announces, Im going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to take a shower and shave? Theres a razor in the bathroom cabinet upstairs. No longer questioning anything, the man goes upstairs into the bathroom. There, in the cabinet is a razor made from a piece of tortoise bone. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to its end inside a swivel mechanism. This woman is amazing, he muses. Whats next? When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but a bandana around her blonde locks and some small flowers on tiny vines, each strategically positioned, she smelled faintly of coconut oil. She then beckons for him to sit down next to her. Tell me, she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him, Weve both been out here for many months. You must have been lonely. When was the last time you had a really good ride? She stares into his eyes. He cant believe what hes hearing. You mean he swallows excitedly as tears start to form in his eyes, Youve built a Harley?

I had exactly the same problem on the new laptop. Jack, you need to take this one as you fixed mine.

I'm really glad that you are home safely and hope that you stay there. Everything here is closing for the deep freeze tonight and tomorrow.

If you want to e-file as an LLC/partnership, you must go through the steps at http://www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/e-File-Providers-&-Partners/Become-an-Authorized-e-file-Provider. IRS says it can take up to 45 days after you open the account and submit fingerprints and so on. Why don't you as a sole proprietor contract with the new LLC/partnership to be the e-file provider? You will probably want to have further agreements for use of computers and so on, because it's a nuisance to transfer them in a short year. (As always, I strongly recommend you get legal advice in your own state before forming a new entity.)

I do indeed. We missed the storm itself, as we were in NY state visiting Gwen at college (she was at Wells for her freshman year; now at Keene State in NH - MUCH closer). Got back the day after the storm. We still had power but the block behind us and the block across from us were both bereft for a week. Had two neighbors' freezer goods in my freezer for that week. Folks across the street borrowed by kerosene lantern for light at night. No gas in our neighborhood; the line stops about a 1/4 mile from here. When we moved here oil was $1.18/gal. Last delivery we got was $3.90/gal -- up almost four-fold in ten years. Makes propane look intriguing, I'll tell you. Three times in ten years folks surrounding us have had week-long power outages. First one was a truck that took out a pole that brought power across Rt 2. Then two storms - one of the hurricanes took out the whole area behind us, then the Halloween snow/ice storm took out behind us and across from us. We have a working fireplace, gas grill (and gas burner than I use for canning as my electric stove can't handle the prolonged heat needed), candles and kerosene lanterns -- and skills honed by years in the hinterlands of central Mass where the power went out all the time. A week without power with an infant and a toddler grows you some mighty coping skills. Double when you get that once in summer and once in winter in the same year.

My initial reaction would be to let sleeping dogs lie. Report the transaction as it stands - a sale in the current year, with basis reduced in the amount of depreciation claimed during the rental period, etc. The prior years are the responsibility of the client and the previous tax preparer. If you try to unwind the rental and amend prior years' returns, you are taking on responsibility you don't need to accept. Even in an audit, I don't think IRS would likely reclassify the transaction because the net tax is about the same no matter how it's handled. The fact that the selling price was substantially renegotiated is pretty strong evidence that a valid sale never took place to begin with. They had an agreement of some sort, but once it was breached the seller also had the option to walk away and look for another buyer. But you should advise the client that things are a bit fuzzy here, IRS might take a different view, and let them know that you are not accepting responsibility for anything that happened in the past. If they aren't comfortable with that, maybe they need to go back to the other preparer (or anybody other than you).

If you do need to use the candle-heater trick (great idea!) choose a smaller room and if it's that cold hang blankets over doorways. Have also heard of folks putting up a tent in living room and camping out; body heat will keep a tent warm inside a house. When I lived in central Mass., we would have the power go out for days at a time in winter, several times a season. Anytime a storm was predicted, we had clean plastic buckets i the tub, full of water. Wood stove ready. Long-burn candles ready. You can cook lots of stuff on a wood stove top - and more in a gas or charcoal grill outside. Annoying for many days but completely do-able. Easier in winter in some ways as there are no worries about food spoiling; put it in a cooler full of snow!

Which is how they should do it. Giving a copy to the client is never a problem. But those days when a client called up and asked, and we then faxed a copy to the bank, are behind us. Cir 230 now makes that an impossible option.

This dog has been incredibly well-trained and you can see he enjoys his tricks too! http://www.flixxy.com/jumpy-the-dog.htm