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6:15PM 6lbs 11.2oz 20.5 inches Caleb David Schlafman Mom & Baby are doing great!! Grandpa is doing an AWESOME job of being Grandpa!!

And having a son who is 20+ IQ points smarter than his Dad get us this...

The worst thing about those peas is that they usually spit them right back at you, and they stain whatever they land on.

He looked like he had big hands until the video got to the picture of him holding Grampa's finger!

Here is our six month old last night with his first taste of peas!

Congratulations! And, how thoughtful to wait until after tax season so you have time to spoil your new grandson.

Gee -- maybe the bonuses were so they could pay their back-due taxes? In which case, I have a couple of clients who could use a job at the IRS themselves - they might finally resolve pesky tax problems.

By Ted Needleman Sometimes the most difficult aspect of repurposing an older PC is finding some place to put it. Older PCs tend to be larger PCs, and these days (as always) office space is at a premium. But if you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse you’re not using, you can have a spare office PC that doesn’t take any more room than those three components, can run a Microsoft Office-compatible office suite, and will cost you about 80 bucks, or possibly even less. It won’t run Windows, but it will do word processing, spreadsheets and the like. The heart of the 80 Buck PC is a small microcontroller card called the Raspberry Pi. Microcontrollers were introduced several years ago primarily for engineers, who use them for prototyping devices. The Raspberry Pi was developed by a nonprofit foundation in England to bring computing into schools at a very affordable price. It was released about two years ago in two models, a $25 board and a $35 board. Most people buy the $35 model, as it offers more frills for very few additional bills. Because the Raspberry Pi was intended for the educational market, a complete hardware illiterate can have it up and running in 15 minutes or less. The Raspberry Pi hardware is incredibly easy to get up and going. It has an HDMI video output so you can just plug in an HDMI cable between the Raspberry Pi and an HDMI port on a monitor or TV, and have high-resolution video output. Two USB ports let you plug in a keyboard and mouse. There’s a microUSB connector to connect the same kind of power supply you use to charge your cellphone or tablet, and a socket for an SD card, like the ones uses in digital cameras. That SD card socket is the key to the second part of the easy setup. The Raspberry Pi’s operating system, programs and user files are all contained on an SD card that plugs into it. Another reason why the Raspberry Pi sets up so quickly is that the process is almost completely automated. Check YouTube for step-by-step instructions on how to set up the software. When you place the SD card into the socket on the Raspberry Pi and turn the Pi on for the first time, the system sets itself up and gives you a choice of operating systems you can install. All of these are variations on Linux, and the most common one, and the one I think is best for office use, is Raspbian, which gives you a nice Windows-like interface and a bunch of utilities. And, if you want, you can skip a lot of the setup -- many sellers of the Raspberry Pi let you buy a 4GB or 8GB SD card with the files already installed. Just power up the first time, choose the version of the OS you want, and you’re good to go. Lots of stuff in a small space There’s a lot to like about the Raspberry Pi, and value is probably at the top of the list. The $35 computer is loaded with connectivity. It has 1080 HD HDMI video, a Gigabit Ethernet port and two USB ports. You can use these to connect the keyboard and mouse. If you have more USB devices that you want to connect, like Wi-Fi, use one of the USB ports to connect a powered USB hub, giving you additional ports. It needs to be a powered hub — the Raspberry Pi’s power supply doesn’t provide a lot of power to the two ports on the card. I have my Pi hooked up to an Apricorn NetDock. This gives me four more USB ports (two powered), a DVD burner and room for a hard disk. I haven’t dug into the Linux OS to enable the optical and SSD drives yet, but instructions for doing so are on the Internet, and I’ll get to it eventually. The Raspbian installation provides icons for the Pi Store and the Midori browser. On the Pi Store, you’ll find all sorts of apps, just like in the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android. One of these is the LibreOffice office suite. It’s free, and after you’ve downloaded and installed it, you’ll have a Microsoft Office-compatible suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, and PowerPoint compatible presentation manager. Depending on what you already have and where you shop, you should be able to pull this additional PC together for $80 or less. Here’s how it breaks down: Raspberry Pi $39 Case $10 Power supply $10 HDMI cable $7 SD card $8 ____________________ Total $74 Add in tax and shipping, and you’re just about at the 80 buck mark. Places to purchase the above are easy to find. I’ve dealt with adafruit.com and sparkfun.com with good results. Though I haven’t dealt with them in the past, Canakit has what looks like a great offer listed on Amazon. For $62 and free shipping, you get pretty much everything you need except the free LibreOffice download. So give it a try. If you think you’ll need an extra PC for office-type tasks, it’s going to be hard to beat this approach for economy. And, if you want to be able to use your new 80 Buck PC to use online apps such as TurboTax, just install the Chromium Web browser — It’s Google’s open-source browser, almost identical to Chrome, and works fine with just about any browser-based online application.

After some choice words, I offered him the option of going on extension or cutting the line at 3x the fee. He opted for the extension.

It takes at least as long to do the data entry for an amended return as it does for an original return. Amended returns also allow you to base your fee on the refund, which you cannot do on original returns. If you pick up a new client, and notice a previous return was done wrong, get them $2000 back and charge them $400 (as an example), they are ecstatic and you are well compensated for your knowledge and they also become your client going forward.

A smart and a CREATIVE son, Jack. Wonderful video to celebrate the big day. The entire family looks wonderful. And, Marilyn, those baby peas are always the most awful color of green that you can't help but make a face!

Have you ever tasted those baby food peas? It is no wonder he has that look on his face!!

Congratulations JACK!!! And to Caleb and his mama, too!

Here's your sign... Amazon.com - Retro Style Sign Saying, "I'm Called PAW PAW Because I'm way too Cool to be called Gran.pdf

It's a wonderful feeling. holding your grandchild for the first time. Congrats, Jack !

Knowing how you were looking forward to this event; and having a 6 month old Great Grandbaby; I am aware of the overflowing elation and love that you are feeling right now. Congratulations

Congratulations Jack. Being a grandpa is great.

Congratulations on your grandson, Jack, to you and your family.

From the LA Times, hardly a right-wing source: The disclosure that 1,146 employees who had been disciplined for not paying taxes received a total of about $1.1 million in bonuses draws bipartisan outrage. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-irs-bonuses-20140424,0,7198534.story#ixzz2zwFSbJs9 From CNN Money: The tax problems include willful understatement of tax liabilities, late payments and under-reporting of income, according to the report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The report says that providing awards to employees who fail to pay taxes "appears to create a conflict with the IRS's charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration." (Appears? You think?)

I always use Tenenz. Usually order when they have the early bird discount, but due to the flow of business, this year had to order extra mid season. They always arrive the next day. They will send you a catalog and free samples of any product that you want to see before purchasing.

we go to: http://www.minespress.com/tax-folders We order varieties of folders from them. Some with the current tax year, others generic for different purposes. Reasonable prices. Nice selection. Also, we go to a local printer who designed a large 12" x 13" envelope that we use to return the folder and all client materials. We save a lot of money going local for those.

I got a renewal notice from Drake and jumped at it. Their program gives you a $400 discount for renewing early, dropping $100/month-ish until you get up to full price. Fully refundable by 12/31. Refundable minus some kind of fee if you bail before e-filing any returns. FWIW

My thinking is similar to Jack's, that it's not really about the time involved in the amendment but about your knowledge in knowing how and why and when to amend. And as he said, basing it on time alone will Penalize you for experience. Time may be a factor in the way you set your base fee for a schedule, but it should not be the only factor. Or even the primary one, when it comes to amendments, especially. Likelihood of needing followup correspondence is, IMHO, a more important factor, for example.

http://www.smallbusinessdelivered.com/hourly-pricing-9-reasons-to-stop-charging-hourly-rates.html 9 Reasons To Stop Charging Hourly Rates When’s the last time you walked into your dentist’s or accountant’s office and said, “I want to buy some hours”? I’d bet some pretty good money that it was never. Instead, you ask to have a painful tooth checked or your taxes done. That’s because people don’t buy hours…they buy solutions. Hours are an expense…solutions are an investment. And you always want to be talking about the investment. In fact, hourly rates are rarely in your client’s best interest-or yours. For you, hourly rates… · Double the trouble. Giving estimates with hourly rates means the prospect can take issue with both the rate itself and the number of hours you estimate. So now they have two fronts to try to needle you about when they want a lower price. · Cause sticker shock at invoice time. Folks who don’t do the type of work you do or who don’t bother to track how much time they spend on similar tasks are often shocked at the number of hours it takes. · Instantly brand you. Prospects want a fast and easy decision. If your hourly rate is much lower than the competition’s, you must be an amateur. If it’s higher, then you’re the “expensive” option. Remember, the prospect doesn’t know it’ll take the competitor take twice as long to do the work or that you automatically include something that they don’t. And since quality of work is so subjective, they may not even bother trying to judge it…because it’s much easier to judge based on price. · Penalize you for experience. It’s ironic-the more you work with a client, the faster and better you’ll naturally get at their projects…but since you’re paid by the hour, you end up making less. Maybe I’m crazy, but that kind of math just doesn’t add up. · Involve tracking every smidgen of time. Every phone call you take while you’re in the middle of something else. Every email you write. Heck, even the time you spent brainstorming on the way to the grocery store…are you having fun yet?! · Mean renegotiating. If you’re going to keep paying the bills, hourly rates eventually have to rise. But telling clients you’re raising them is about as much fun as a root canal. And if they’re a particularly big client, you may end up having to justify the increase, negotiate your new rate, sign a new contract and so on. Every year or two. · Occasionally spark jealousy. A client once made a snide comment that I should be rolling in the dough, given my hourly rate. So if you work with folks who get a salary, inevitably some will divide it out to an hourly rate and compare it with yours. Of course, they don’t get that you’re factoring in health insurance, taxes, expenses and so forth that they get in addition to their regular paycheck. All they see is that you seem to be making more than they do. And the resulting attitude can be a pain in the arse to deal with-especially when they DON’T say something and you’re wondering what’s wrong. · Undervalue what you provide. What’s a new $20,000 client worth…especially over time? Or to have a professional-looking website presence that builds credibility and trust? To finally be pain-free? Or to finally find the career or relationship of their dreams? Granted, it’s harder to judge worth in some cases. But the value of the solution you provide is certainly worth more than an hourly rate. · Mean your income is forever limited by the number of hours you can work and the hourly rate you feel comfortable charging. Enough said.

Lion is correct that if the state starts with federal AGI, it really doesn't matter how the W2 is broken out. The states all give the taxpayer credit for taxes paid to other states on the same income (where it was earned). All the fancy math is to apply the highest tax rate to that income. For example, say you earned $100k altogether. You made $1k of that income in one state. Normally, if you only made $1k that state wouldn't tax you at all. But it wants its piece of the cake, so it calculates your income tax rate as if you made $100k there and then applies that rate to the $1k you really did make there. The state where you live and made $99k will do the same thing, but it will give you credit for the taxes you paid to the other state. This is where it gets tricky. Say the first state taxes you 5%, so you paid them $50. The state where you live taxes you 7% on that high income of yours, so the tax on that $1k is $70, and you owe them $20 more after the credit. If the W2 isn't broken out, it doesn't matter because the one state will still give you credit for the taxes paid to the other, and tack on more if its own rate is higher.