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Little old lady brings papers to office. Long time clients. Retired. Under filing threshold. No return required. What do I owe you ? No charge. No really, what do I owe you ? Really, no charge. I insist. OK, a cherry pie. Two hours later ( in a driving rain storm ) knock, knock, knock. A cherry pie at the door. I guess I will have to look at their income every year from now on.

Oh good...you brought me all of your goodwill donation receipts that proves you donated a "truckload of clothes, 31 books, and a box of VHS tapes". Splendid! I now dislike you more than I did before.

People....If you're going to come into my home....first bathe.

Sounds like at least a $2,000 deduction, maybe more if those VHS tapes are collectors items (which they almost certainly are). Truckloads of clothes don't come cheap, you know. And I'll bet most of them were hardly worn.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_12?url=search-alias%3Dlawngarden&field-keywords=flamethrower&sprefix=flamethrower%2Cgarden%2C368

Our latest forecast is for more snow starting tonight into tomorrow afternoon -

I think I can beat that, my client brought in a payment

Anti-rant: Client that thought yesterday's appointment was today was able to reschedule to today and brought me napoleons & chocolate mousse cupcakes from one of the finest bakeries in town. All is forgiven....

No we DON'T. Here's a link to the IRS due diligence requirements. http://www.eitc.irs.gov/Tax-Preparer-Toolkit/dd/lawandregs Note that we only have to comply with what is specifically in the actual regulations. Not what the auditor or even Karen Hawkins herself says. And note that the actual regulations only require us to ask certain questions and record the client's answers. There is NO requirement to document anything or even determine if the client is telling the truth. If I am wrong, please quote the requirement.

You can also change the color of the input boxes. Preferences.

I decided to devote some time this morning to updating several macros I had written last year to speed up several data entry steps. I was thinking I'd have to re-write the macros. But when I went to edit, I found that Drake had moved my existing macros into the 2013 program, so all I needed to do was edit a few line entries and I was done. It's really nice to work with a program that anticipates things like this and does them for you.

The IRS is federal and pays no attention to state court rulings such as divorces. Yes, the bottom line is where did the child spend the most nights, with the mother or with the father. Paper file with your client in the correct manner. Tell him what type of supporting documentation to start gathering now, and tell him to contact you as soon as he gets an IRS letter. Let him consult with his lawyer about what his ex is supposed to do or not do per their divorce decree.

I think I see him on other tax boards using Ranger. Maybe he forgot what board he was on. Tom Hollister, CA

Margaret, Jack was referring to the ATX tech people offering the BS to users, not you of any of us.

Jack, my message may have been a tad bit different from the op's message. I didn't really copy it down. I just thought I would tell my little story and how I avoided a third message. All turned out well. I closed the program and opened it again with no problem. As I said, I just thought ATX was busy with lots of folks trying to log in simultaneously. I believe I understand that server has more than one definition as you have explained a multitude of time in a variety of ways. I don't believe you had to SHOUT to express yourself. Lower case works fine, too. I'm not sure why you are reviving your favorite phrase about male bovine scat regarding my system (if that was your intention). Mine is, as yours, well above the recommendations. It seems you get your shorts in a bunch whenever this issue arises and feel compelled to, again, let posters know that you are the expert in this area. Most of us know it and appreciate your expertise. I venture to state, however, that showing your irritation at repeating yourself is not always a welcomed response. Perhaps you might save a pre-written response somewhere and simply post it whenever you see this request/comment/complaint appear, yet again. I fear for your stress level and would dearly prefer that you maintain your composure and willingness to continue to assist those of us seeking help with new issues. I wasn't asking for advice or assistance in this case. I merely related my experience on the chance that someone else may find such a simple solution, at least once, and not have to halt work. It worked for me - once - might work for another. Don't know if not tried. Thanks for your many efforts to assist in so many ways. They are appreciated most of the time. Shouting via upper case and bold type is not always so appreciated, in my opinion. If a colleague in your office asked similar questions, even repeatedly, would that also be your response?

These two statements are inconsistent.

Verrrry interesting . . . witness protection program?

Tabby: The court decree of their divorce carries no weight with the IRS. The IRS sets the rules to who can claim who. And "Court decree" is NOT in that language. Rich

Yeah, my guy that aggravated me taking a call from his boss the other day didn't threaten my ego, and I did other things. But he talked to his boss for 15 minutes about a project he is behind on. He didn't go in to work that day because of the snow and taking unnecessary risks and all. But luckily, he was able to get to my office and pace around for 15 minutes talking on his cellular. He was unable to step out and sit in his car because of the danger of an icicle falling on his head en route. Then of course, he took the time to explain it all to me. I really appreciated being in the loop like that.

The IRS looks to the parent who had the kids the most nights during the year. File on paper and tell your client to gather documents that show the children lived with him: report cards, doctor bills, even pages from divorce decree which carries no legal weight with the IRS but may help with their reluctance to believe the father had physical custody, letters from his church and neighbors attesting to the children with the father, magazines or mail in the childrens' names arriving at his address, his 2013 calendar with notes about after-school events/parent-teacher-conferences/doctors' appointments/all the things we schedule for our families, everything you/he can think of for 2013 so he'll be prepared when he gets a letter from the IRS. By the way, a letter from his lawyer to hers might cost only 15 minutes of the paralegal's time and make his ex think twice before filing for 2014, unless she has more money than him to spend on lawyers and enjoys being the defendant in a lawsuit.

Not true, the one who has the child living with them gets the dependant, but it will take time for that to be settled.

Trailers are listed under Asset Class .26. The recovery period is 5 year GDS or 6 year ADS. I believe that is regardless of whether it is big trailer or little trailer. In regards to construction machinery, the recovery periods are still 5 GDS and 6 ADS per Asset Class 15.0. The IRS doesn't consider what you estimate the useful life to be. There are trailers out on the road which are over 20 years old.

Here in NC we know how to have a snowstorm. We had 8" of snow over a 24-hr period, accompanied by some sleet and freeing rain before & during. Driving was risky even for those of us who know how to drive in the mess. I hunkered down at the office during the sleet & ice, waiting for the snowfall so I'd have good traction on the way home. Everything ground to a halt for about 36 hours, then by noon yesterday temps were in the 40's and people were back to work. Today's high will be mid-40's and next week it will rise by about 10 deg per day until it hits the 70's on Thursday. Atached images are from the back porch at noon on Thursday and noon on Saturday. One week we're complaining about the snow, the next week the problem is the heat & humidity. I had to go back and add the "Charlotte" photo, in light of the small earthquake near here in the past 24 hours.

Yep, I'm in the Just Kill Me range, too!

I bet it costs less than my plow guy. Think I'll look online.

I have toys for the kids to play with and I love it when they bring their dogs in. I sometimes have treats for them. As for cellphones, my clients often have to call for info, so it comes in handy. I suppose they could use my my office phone, but.... germs.

Where might I order one of those?

Catherine, you shouldn't have planted this idea into my head. I have this cool kerosene 75,000 btu flame thrower/heater that has some potential to clear a nice path through our mountain of snow.

So does "various". It's just like "unknown" only not. Sheesh.

Parents.......if you are going to bring your two adorable toddlers into my office and home; please think about it first. I love children too, but this is business and I cannot discuss your taxes and watch your children touching all of my equipment at the same time. Not to mention turning summersaults in my good chairs. I am happy that you send me their pictures at Christmastime. I do not need to meet them in person.

There is this cell phone signal jammer they sell online, honestly I would like to donate one to my church for those knuckle heads that forget to turn off their phone during service.

I love it....and brilliant ideas on changing the appearance of prior year programs...As soon as I get home, I'm gonna change the input box colors and increase the zoom on 2012.

Until you have heard Karen Hawkins speak about preparer responsibility, you have no clue how that department is being run and the lengths they will go to in order to "catch" a bad preparer. However, having heard her, I have compliance audit proofed my operation and office. As far as an auditor being there when my clients are, I do NOT have to allow them in my office (home) until I am ready unless they arrive with a warrant. Just because they are IRS, does not mean I have to tremble in fear.

When they start, I reach out and say: "Just give me the whole stack. I have seen hundreds of whatever document you have." It works.

Now if I can just figure out how to get people to hand me their papers and not explain, "This is my W-2 from Fred. This is my W-2 from Bob. This is my wife's Social Security W-2. This is my wife's W-2 where she worked, and I don't reckon they held out tax (otherwise known as a 1099-Misc), and this is my W-2 from Amazon where they are wanting me to pay sales tax. Don't know if we can deduct that or not."

Awww,shucks! I don't know about the genius part. You know what they say...even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

I've done this before, too. So frustrating. Now in order to differentiate between them I set the zoom on my current year software to 125% and leave the zoom on the older versions at 100%. That way I know if I'm having trouble reading the print I'm in the wrong year!

It gets back to KC's question. If the company includes the value of the vacation hours into the employee's gross wages, it is a deductible contribution. If the company just takes 3 days away from the employee's accrued vacation time and makes a donation with a notation that it came from this employee, not deductible. Tom Hollister, CA