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On March 14th, we should all eat pie. I'm going to have apple pie for breakfast, chicken pot pie for lunch, and Shepard's pie for supper.

My husband has it memorized to 28 places - which, at the time (no longer due to an expanding universe and better telescopes) was accurate enough to calculate the diameter of the visible universe within an error of 4 feet. He says he'll add a couple more when he gets around to it.

IF YOU save the prior return then you just updated it and do not have an accurate version of what was filed, I look at prior years and even might change numbers to see something but I NEVER save it on exit. Even if you don't change anything the program will change the return for maybe updated form versions or corrected calculations etc.

I think I'll run around in circles eating pie throughout that day, strictly to celebrate the occasion. Incidentally, how many of you have all the digits of pi memorized (like I do).

This contains some great points that apply to ALL, OF ANY AGE. I thankfully avoided most of this as I had the several years after Don's stroke,to sort things, but still had a few of these issues bite me in the butt. Letter written by a wife after her husband's death in an accident "Few things I learnt after my husband's death:- We always believe we will live forever. Bad things always happen to others. Only when things hit us bang on your head you realise... Life is so unpredictable.... My husband was an IT guy. All Technical. And I am a chartered accountant. Awesome combination you may think. Techie guy so everything is on his laptop. His to do list. His e-bill and his bank statements in his email. He even maintained a folder which said IMPWDS wherein he stored all login id and passwords for all his online accounts. And even his laptop had a password. Techie guy so all the passwords were alpha-numeric with a special character not an easy one to crack. Office policy said passwords needed to be changed every 30 days. So every time I accessed his laptop I would realize it's a new password again. I would simply opt for asking him 'What's the latest password' instead of taking the strain to memorize it. You may think me being a Chartered Accountant would means everything is documented and filed properly. Alas many of my chartered accountant friends would agree that the precision we follow with our office documents and papers do not flow in to day to day home life. At office you have be epitome of Reliability / Competent / Diligent etc but. At home front there is always a tomorrow. One fine morning my hubby expired in a bike accident on his way home from office. He was just 33.His laptop with all his data crashed. Everything on his hard disk wiped off. No folder of IMPWDS to refer back to. His mobile with all the numbers on it was smashed. But that was just the beginning. I realised I had lot to learn. 9 years married to one of the best human beings. With no kids. Just the two of us to fall back on. But now I stood all alone and lost. Being chartered accountant helped in more ways than one but it was not enough. I needed help. His saving bank accounts, his salary bank accounts had no nominee. On his insurance his mom was the nominee and it was almost 2 years back she had expired. But this was just a start. I didn't know the password to his email account where all his e-bill came. I didn't know which expenses he paid by standing instructions. His office front too was not easy. His department had changed recently. I didn't know his reporting boss name to start with. When had he last claimed his shift allowance, his mobile reimbursement The house we bought with all the excitement on a loan thought with our joint salary we could afford the EMI. When the home loans guys suggested insurance on the loan. We decided the instead of paying the premium the difference in the EMI on account of the insurance could be used pay towards prepayment of the loan and get the tenure down. We never thought what we would do if we have to live on a single salary. So now there was huge EMI to look into. I realised I was in for a long haul. Road accident case. So everywhere I needed a Death certificate, FIR report, Post Mortem report. For everything there were forms running into pages, indemnity bonds, notary, and surety to stand up for you. No objections certificates from your co-heirs. I learnt other than your house, your land, your car, your bike are also your property. So what if you are the joint owner of the flat. You don't become the owner just because your hubby is no more. So what if your hubby expired in the bike accident and you are the nominee but if the bike is in a repairable condition. You have to get the bike transferred in your name to claim the insurance. And that was again not easy. The bike or car cannot be transferred in your name without going through a set of legal documents. Getting a Succession Certificate is another battle all together. Then came the time you realise now you have to start changing all the bills, assets in your name. Your gas connection, electricity meter, your own house, your car, your investments and all sundries. And then change all the nominations where your own investments are concerned. And again a start of a new set of paperwork. To say I was shaken. My whole life had just turned upside down was an understatement. You realise you don't have time to morn and grieve for the person with whom you spent the best years of your life. Because you are busy sorting all the paper work. I realised then how much I took life for granted. I thought being a chartered accountant I am undergoing so many difficulties. What would have happened to someone who was house maker who wouldn't understand this legal hotchpotch A sweet friend then told me dear this was not an end. You have no kids. Your assets will be for all who stand to claim. After my hubby's sudden death, I realised it was time I took life more seriously. I now needed to make a Will. I would have laughed if a few months back if he had asked me to make one. But now life had taken a twist. Lessons learnt this hard way were meant to be shared. After all why should the people whom we love the most suffer after we are no more, sorting some paperwork before we go will at least ease some of their grief. Check all your nominations: It's a usual practice to put a name (i.e. in the first place if you have mentioned it) and royally forget about it. Most of us have named our parent as a nominee for investments, bank accounts opened before marriage. We have not changed the same even years after they are no longer there with us. Even your salary account usually has no nomination. Kindly check all your Nominations. Bank Accounts and Bank lockers Fixed Deposits, NSC Demat Accounts Insurance (Life, Bike or Car or Property) and other Investments PF Pension Forms Investments: Every year for tax purpose we do investments. Do we maintain an excel sheet about it. If so is it on the same laptop of which the password you had not shared. Where are those physical investments hard copy Passwords: We have passwords for practically everything. Email accounts, Bank accounts, even for the laptop you use. What happens when you’re next in kin cannot access any of these simply because they do not know your password... Put it down on a paper. Will: Make a Will. I know you will smile even I would. Had I not gone through all what I did? It would have made my life lot easier. A lot less paperwork. I wouldn't have to provide an indemnity bond, get it notarized, ask surety to stand up, no objections certificates from others... Liabilities: When you take a loan say for your house or car. Check out on all what ifs. What if I am not there tomorrow, what if I lose my job? Will the EMI still be within my range? If not get an insurance on the loan. The people left behind will not have to worry on something as basic as their own house. My battles have just begun...But let us at least try and make few changes so that our loved ones would not suffer after we go. We do not know what will happen in the future. But as the Scout motto goes: "Be prepared" NEVER TAKE LIFE FOR GRANTED DO THINGS APPROPRIATE FOR THE ONES WHO DEPEND ON YOU WITH LOVE

I'll bet he actullly has ALL the digits memorized. That's where I am right now. The problem isn't memorizing the digits - it's getting them in the right order...

If it was such a dumb question, why didn't the presenter know the answer?

What stability, this expires in 8 days. Stability would be if this was extended thru 12/31/15 !

As a general rule, 3 conditions must be met for income to be considered UBI: The revenue generating activity must be a trade or business, and The activity must be regularly carried on, and The activity must not be substantially related to the organizations exempt purpose (even if the funds are used exclusively to further exempt activities). 'Not substantially related' means that the activity that produces the income does not make an important contribution to the exempt purposes of the organization other than to provide funds to advance those purposes. It does not matter that the income is used exclusively to fund exempt activities. The deciding criteria is whether the activity (itself) that generated the income is directly related to the organization's exempt purpose. It seems to me the church did not regularly carry on a trade or business of investing in real estate. Therefore, the income would not be subject to UBIT.

And if he does not agree to amend, you just wash your hands of him.

Request of the Taxpayer to amend and pay the tax due. It is the CORRECT thing to do. If he chooses not to, I would draw up a simple document stating that you recommended the amendments and he chose not to do it. Have him sign it. You can only inform him. The note is a CYA if the IRS comes calling for some reason.

Which is why I use alternating external drives for all of my system backups. Your post is timely because I had issues last night with a brand new external HD. Haven't solved the problem yet so will back up with a different drive today.

Twice. am and pm.

I agree with everything you said cbslee.....I should have caught that myself. Sometimes I should preview before I post. It would be very rare to see a note from unrelated parties to have no interest. What in the H3!! was I thinking. Tom Newark, CA

Sounds like the seminar could have found a much more competent presenter. That kind of arrogance is NOT indicative of a good teacher or presenter.

I remember that being a problem too. If the preparer wants the program to NOT update the return with the current date in that signature line, the date can be manually entered in that field and that will stop the ATX program from changing that date any time that tax return file is opened.

if I recall from using ATX, the complete box still will allow the current date to print so if you use a "completed return" to resend letters, or invoice or even a copy of the return, all dates will be the current date. I only send clients copies from a pdf done at the same time I print the return thus they get an exact copy of what was filed.

Well, with the latest updates for the program. On general info worksheet the check box for full year coverage is working. I'm just working with my return of course but in checking it, it goes to line 61 and seems to work.

Look how far we have come. When I first started in this industry, we could take classes in the summer and learn what was coming up in the next tax filing year year. Now, we have to wait until summer to find out which tax returns we prepared need to be amended. Tom Newark, CA

Once I've given the return to the client to review and sign the 8879, I Lock it. My company copy was a .pdf. And, any further opening in the tax program does NOT get saved upon exiting. (We're talking looking at something I couldn't drill down to in a .pdf, finding out where I entered something last year, that kind of stuff; not a real change before transmitting or an amendment.) I click on No.

of course!

Always timely advice. Having watched others go through this, as well as family, our kids have told us to get our stuff together. We worked through a sucession plan for work as well - as our customers deserve it. This is something many small operations forget to plan for. Plan to be replaced!

There was interest on the note. TP just never bothered to report it in all the closed years. tp did receive those payments. Yikes what kind of animal have I discovered when all questions are asked?

Here is the link for ALL the IRS Webinars http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Webinars-for-Tax-Practitioners-1

From the original post, it is not clear whether the loan had a stated rate of interest or not, and also not clear whether or not interest was actually received. All we know from the way the post is worded is that interest income was not reported by the TP on tax returns.

Is the loan fully documented? If so, what is the interest rate on the note? The payments A made to TP included interest, whether TP took them into interest income or not. Sounds like TP needs to amend the open years to reflect the interest. It is conceivable that there is no interest on the note, and therefore no interest to report, but the note will tell you that. The next part, the foreclosure, is pretty simple. I assume TP is cash basis tax payer, so the interest owed at time of foreclosure is irrelevant. A owed TP X number of dollars on the note. A transfered the property to TP in full satisfaction of the note. TP has "purchased" the land in the year he foreclosed, for the amount owed on the note and this is his basis. When he sold the land, he has gain or loss calculated in the normal way. There was no sale at the time of the loan being made, it was just a loan, not a transfer of property, so there is no installment sale. There is no sale until the time of the foreclosure. Tom Newark, CA

TP should have been reporting as an installment sale and reporting interest. TP must show the sale of the land using his basis and a sale price of $35K. Any gain would be taxable. Facts and circumstances would determine whether it is ordinary income or capital gains. TP must also claim all interest received as interest income. FMV at time of the sale has no bearing whatsoever. This is another situation not to overthink.

Tassc is a Section 105 plan. 125 plans are not allowed to reimburse employees when they purchase their own insurance. NOT ALLOWED! 125 plans can only be used in conjunction with an employer provided medical plan. This is very clear in the newly released regs. Tell the employers to stop looking for ways to reimburse employees for insurance pretax. It is simply and totally not allowed. Tell them that the ACE is responsible for these rules and the current administration and all the elected democrats are responsible for ACA. I am using this as a springboard to talk to those people that chose not to vote.... "If you did not vote against him/them, you voted for him/them. Not voting casts a vote for the winner.

Judy, you are correct. I always enter the date manually at the bottom of the 1040. It will stay unless manually changed again. Clears much confusion when looking at old returns.

Interesting personal development over tha past few days while I was reading and responding to this thread. I had a client who came on board about 3 years ago whom I was reluctant to take on from the start, but social circumstances & church connections simply did not permit me to say "No". (Long story - we all have them). Last week, a couple of days after I sent out my client letter, this client called to let me know they were changing preparers. I happily didn't ask the reason and just told them to let me know if the new preparer has any questions about the prior 3 years. I strongly suspect the reason was that each year I had insisted on filing extensions (because their situation isn't simple and I don't want to fool with it before Apr 15.) I had emphasized in this year's client letter a blanket statement that even more, and longer, extensions might be necessaary, especially due to continuing late/revised brokerage statements and potential ACA issues. Lessons learned: 1) Adopt a strict extension policy and let the clients know up front they cannot control your time. 2) More importantly, learn to say "NO" at the outset, regardlesss of the exterrnal pressures. I have #1 perfected, but unfortunately still working on #2 even at my age & proximity to retirement.

I don't even have a smart phone. I use a tablet with a fine tipped stylus. Sometimes that is even difficult. I don't use the tablet as a computer either, but find it a great source of information.

I knocked on the door of age 70 several years ago. I agree with Jack. I have no desire or intention of quitting yet; but for when I do, I am always looking for some ONE person to carry on my business and my client load. If the gal I had helping me the past two years had paid attention, she could have HAD the entire package one day. However, it was either boring, over her head or just not her cup of tea. I have a new helper this year who is my age; so together we will continue to carry on and keep looking for that certain someone for SOMEDAY. Jack said it very well.

I guess it depends upon what legacy you want to leave with your clients. I would NEVER dump them to the "no customer service" world of H&R. If you don't care, then it can be a profitable "exit strategy." My professional reputation is much more valuable than that. When the day comes I choose to exit, I will interview perspective purchasers and find someone who will provide the same level of customer satisfaction and professionalism as I strive to have.

My fee for amendment by taxpayer choice is 125% of original preparation fee. Besides, if a client does not have the forms needed to properly document insurance purchased through an exchange, to file a return without that information or to input incorrect information is not allowed by Circ. 230. If my clients don't have all the information, I will not do the return. If they are in that all fired of a hurry, H&R is just across town.

jklcpa, THANKS! Just registered. If this is similar to one the FLA group gave it is well worthwhile. Also, given it will be in January, we should be given the "latest" information. Again, Thanks for sharing.

The vortex model is still not totally accurate. The planets only go around the Sun due to physical viewpoint; the reality is that the planets, asteroids, comets, dust, gases, and the Sun itself, all vortex around a "barycenter". Often this barycenter is within the Sun, since the Sun has 98% of our system's mass. But the Sun's path through space wiggles since it also goes around this barycenter point (which is itself wiggling). All mass effects a gravitational pull on all other mass. The planets tug on our star, just like it also tugs on them. Heck, the planets raise TIDES on the surface of the sun. It's an interesting universe. Mass warps space, and the warp of space alters how mass moves. It's beautiful.

Thanks for this post. If I understand it correctly: Assuming less than 50 employees. If the S Corp continues to have an eligible group plan, no change, process the shareholder W2 as in the past, take the above the line 1040 deduction. If there are more than one employee with insurance paid or reimbursed and plan is not an eligible plan, no deduction for the shareholder/employee. If there is only one shareholder or only the shareholder employee is being reimbursed, general indication is that the deduction is available as in the past. But this is still debatable until further clarification. Recommendation from the report is that there should not be a deduction as a precaution.