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I did! Left Monday evening at 8:00 PM. Went to a luxury suite at a hotel 60 miles away and did not get back till yesterday evening at 8:00. BTW, yesterday was my 19th wedding anniversary. We ate at nice restaurants, went to a movie at an IMAX theater and were the only people there!! No phones, no computers. Did not want to come back home!!!

All clients scheduled for this evening have re-scheduled...I might actually get some work done and get a quick run in!

It's aggravating that you click "IRA deduction" and go to the "Summary", not the "Contribution" worksheet. Yes, it has always been this way. Yes, there are worse problems. Carry on.

My back has been in knots so I took an hour today to get a massage. THAT was a mini-vacation!

I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with a client asking me if they should split the kids or what. They both have houses and pretty much stay at his place. He has a child with his ex, but can't claim it this year. I asked it either child had spent more nights with her than him and she didn't think so, but wasn't sure. So I went down the tax tool flowchart for her asking questions and telling her how much I expected she would get. Now she wants to bring him to her appointment tomorrow so that I can tell him what I just told her so he doesn't think she's trying to screw him over. He is not and will not be my client. Fortunately, she makes too much for EITC to come into play. Her parent's are great clients, or I wouldn't spend so much time on a short form return. Thanks for listening. Rant over.

All the more reason to send her to someone else. I do not need "cute playing house family drama" in my tax practice.

Doctor, I have this irresistible urge to sing 'What's new, pussycat?' Ah. You're suffering from Tom Jones disease. Is that common? Well, it's not unusual.

That's only because you have never had a call in June: "Miss Rita, we still haven't received the direct deposit of our refund, can you check on that?" Thank God it was a refund, and they are very gracious people. I am looking at their paperwork right now. Seriously, we all make mistakes, and nobody here is stupid. I just took 15 checks to the bank, and I thought: I don't even know how I do this and keep a smile on my face. Have 30 meetings to take this amount of money to the bank when I know doctors and attorneys who can't find their butt with both hands and a flashlight. It's kind of ridiculous really. My advice is just always own your mistakes. Tell the truth and make amends (see what I did there - "amends"?). If the client walks, you have 14 others in three days alone. And Tom, my friend who pretends to be afraid of me, I think this probably is the fault of ATX, and your client won't care, but I do.

Think we've seen this before but it's still fun:

For all those that do not think they should be issued, be ready for the CP2000's in about a year when the companies report the transactions to the IRS. From my experiences, this happens many times. The investment company does not send the 1099R to the client, but reports it to the IRS. Time will tell...

Go down to the corner and order a warm corona...Yay!

I had a slow enough day that I was able to take a couple hours off and make a quick trip out of town. It felt good!

And how about printing the Sch B because I checked the box at printout time instead of making me go to the Sch B and check that box at the top? Oh, you thought I didn't really mean it? It reminds me of EFTPS asking if I'm really, really sure I want to log out. Well, yeah, I think so.

Agree. They sound like a cute couple. My opinion is that somebody is going to be mad. Period. Unless one preparer sits down with both and does four returns to really spell it out. I hate these situations. I hate EIC.

Why don't you show them the door then from the very beginning if you feel you have a conflict of interest? The other preparer will maximize your clients return, even if it means that the other parent claims the child and your client has to pay instead of getting a refund. Conflict of interest? I don't see any conflict of interest because they are not married and you can do both returns. Do we agree that your client will decide what maximizes her return in these scenarios: Parents not married Child slept in the same house for more than 183 days with each parent refund for the mother if claiming the child 2K, if she doesn't claim the child she will pay $500 to the IRS Refund for the father if claiming the child 3K, if he doesn't claim the child he would get a refund of $300. All I do is to demand last years return from both parents then I can see why the other person doesn't change preparers. If the other preparer is honest, I will be able to compete with him. If the other preparer is not honest, I tell them that I won't be able with him and I point out the possible inflation of expenses or credits. For EIC, all you have to do is determine if both could qualify for the credit. Then I use my clients profile and then I enter the income of the other person and then see the refund and the close the return and not save it. Then I go with my clients info and then I prepare that return. It doesn't take a long time. Tie breakers are designed to be used only with both parents claim the child.

No, I was not talking about two different jobs, but rather segregating the assignments into 'local' and 'out of area' groups, and taking travel only on the second group,

I'll bet a hot fudge sundae.........with nuts!!! (Sure could go for one right now)

I think that comment is integral to the conversation.

I'll bet you a banana split???

I had not seen that Catherine. Thanks for sharing! I know my husband will get a kick out of that one too - if I ever see him again!

Remind him those 'farm losses' offset 'ordinary income' and what he has now is a 'capital gain taxed at a lower rate. And if that's not enough, tell him "it is what it is, you and I don't get to write the tax law, we just have to live with it." Putting it that way reminds him you and he are on the same side, while still letting him know you will do it right or not at all, without actually having to say that.

I have to share this with my accountant friends.

Catherine, that was perfect. Thousands on a degree, no time to use the bathroom or shower. ROFL

Thats the way I saw it. TP read somewhere? he could add land to house and sale as long as it was within 2 years of each other. Don't you just love it when they know more than you.

And clicking on the "Jumpto" Arrow on the Education Expense tab takes you not to where you can enter your expenses, but to the Dependents screen... Stupid. Rich

Rita: You're off just a tiny bit, but I'm betting you got that percentage from a Pi Chart.

Can't help about the family, but you have friends on this board. And we ask each other for free advice all the time!

Website says: We now have Tax Software for PC or Mac I'd say they have two different programs? Can't imagine who would be so uninformed as to buy that junk. Last year the last time I checked was late March and they still didn't have a working version of my state software. Which was one of the problems I noticed back around 2005 that I had with the original TaxExact. They never did have a working copy of my state software even though they promised to have one.