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You are correct in saying that they cannot file MFJ. Filing status is determined by their marital status as of the last minute of the year. Local judges cannot change that.

mcb: I am using youcanbookme.com for that. It is on my website, and you can get there from my facebook page, and it is at the bottom of my email. It is free, and ties into my google calendar. I have the times that are available on there, and they can search for a time that makes sense for them, and I am out of the loop. Second year. Works great. Rich

In my own divorce, the Judge said, "The house was sold and a gain of blah, blah, blah was realized." Yep, he said the gross selling price was the realized gain. Hey, don't use phrases like "realized gain" if you don't know what they mean. I sat there, the only one in the entire room who knew the truth. The whole truth. And nothing but the truth. So help me God.

Do you have their birthdate entered?

I saw The Who in Worcester some years ago. *Fabulous* show. Remember your earplugs!! Having them meant I could enjoy the music rather than end up with a three-day headache and ringing ears.

For many years I refused to give out my cell phone number. But now I give it to anyone who wants it, and I encourage them to text me (or email, as they prefer). Any amount of back-and-forth associated with text/email is still much more convenient than speaking with them by phone, which is the second-biggest time waster in our business. (The biggest time waster by far is having the client sitting in the office) Texting and email leave me in control of when it is truly necessary to have a phone conversation. There are times when I reply by telling the client I'll give them a call. But that decision is mine, not theirs.

I don't know about all the other work-arounds you suggested, but you can always paper file. Just attach the explanation staement to the return. If the client uses direct deposit, the difference in time for them to receive their refund will only be a couple of weeks at most. If they owe, who cares if the return is paper filed? Maybe you would give them a small discount on the fee to show your appreciation for their business while you wait wait for IRS to sort this out. Consider the discount an investment in client relations that will pay off in the future. You might even find necessarily to have them actually write you a check (what a burden!), but at least you keep everything clean and simple in this transition period.

In 2016, schools are going to have to list the amount paid. About time.

I agree John. The only other thing I also did was to download Drake's ACA guides and saved to my desktop for easy access.

I have to hand it to Drake - this program is nearly impossible to beat. I was out of the country much of January, and decided today (Jan 29), it's time to get serious about taxes. Went online and renewed Drake in about 5 minutes. The download took about 10 minutes, I entered some basic information, then loaded my states and immediately ran updates. The whole process took less than a half hour and I was up & running. Completed a couple of returns today and am now tweaking some macros to update them for 2015 so I can gain more speed in the data entry phase. All that is to say that nothing in its price range can touch this program. Its speed and efficiency are unequaled. Learning to use it will make any tax preparer more efficient and thereby put money in your pocket. The only thing necessary is to break that addiction to the vastly overrated "forms based" entry process and to recognize bells & whistles for exactly what they are - expensive, time-consuming, resource-hogging gimmicks.

Here's another macro for times when the taxpayer has no ACA issues. It jumps to the screen, checks full year coverage, and returns to the main screen. HC>x>~

Most of my macros are state-specific or unique to my practice. For example, I have one macro which opens Form 8948 and fills in my E-flinging Waiver Number & some other info, then returns to the main screen. I have to do that on every return I file, and the macro runs so fast I'll miss it if I look away. I also have macros which jump to the state returns and check the boxes for paper check refund (not debit card), and "no use tax". Here's a simple one. It opens the Social Security benefits screen, marks it for "taxpayer", prefills the box for Medicare Premiums paid, then backs up to the box for benefits and waits for an entry. It works for any taxpayer who pays the basic $1259 for medicare premiums. I listed it because it shows how a macro can prefill info down the screen and then revert back to an earlier entry box to await more info. I launch it with an Alt-S, although that is strictly user-determined. It can also be modified to do the same for a spouse when there is one, but the macro gets a little more complicated. SSA>T>>>>1259><<

I agree the Judge is wrong. Boy this really makes it difficult as folks see a Judge as an authority figure who "should" know and if he/she doesn't then silence is golden in these situations or at the very least, don't rule until they find out.

This is from page three of the "Instructions for Forms W-2c and W-3c" - Revision of April 2010 which is the latest I could find: "Boxes 15 through 20 - State/local taxes. If your only changes to the original Form W-2 are to state or local data, do not send Copy A of Form W-2c to the SSA. Instead, send Form W-2c to the appropriate state or local agency and furnish copies to your employees." This is what the link below says - I couldn't get it pull up from inside this post (maybe you can), but that's the text. So anyway, it looks like NECPA is right. https://www.drew.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/iw2cw3c.pdf

cPaperless's "Signature Flow" is excellent. Encrypts, confirms identity, e-signatures, then automatically returns to you all validated. Fee is only per-signature so it's worth signing up for even for 2-3 clients (unlike some services that charge a hefty monthly fee plus a per-signature fee). I have out-of-state clients, travelling clients, or folks who don't have convenient access to scanners or faxes so while they can *get* a file share document with no trouble, they can't send it back to me easily. I'd rather pay to have their sign's than have them go to a self-service fax place where the chip SAVES their confidential information (name & ssn) for heaven only knows how long and with heaven only knows who gets access.

Texting: One reason not to give your clients your number, I had a number of clients save my number after returning their call while working out of the office, I attend their call just once and as soon as it ends, boom I block their number. Then they have the nerve to call my office number and say I've been trying to call you but your phone is not working, I am like hello I am talking to you!!

Email is allowed --- BUT --- make sure you encrypt. (pfill.com is a good encryption program - my opinion). Snail mail is OK but as the name says ---- slow. Just do not fall into the "I sent it, please file, etc." -- make sure you have the signed copy before filing. Chance of being checked on this is slim --- unless you have my luck -- then it WILL happen. Fax is OK too, you just have to worry that you received it and it was not sent somewhere else. Also, you can use programs such as "dropbox" or if you want, try cubby.com . Good season

Dale Griffin, drummer of my fave band Mott the Hoople, died the same day as Glen Frey. He had early onset Altzheimer's. I bought tickets for The Who a year ago because I realized I'd never seen them. The show has been postponed twice now...hopefully I'll finally get to see them this May. We are getting of an age where age just catches up to us.

Thanks, Ron and Rita, but I have looked over the entire data entry screen and do not see a place to put in what was actually paid. His 1098-T does not show payments received in Box 1. If I put it into box one, it adds that to Box 2 which is incorrect. Further down scrolling the options are for the amounts NOT paid. I ended up adding the difference to the Fees lower down but that isn't precisely correct. Hah! Abby just showed the answer. I was foolishly trying to input the figures as shown on the form. Wrong! Thanks, all! Sometimes we just have to do whatever it takes to get the right answer.

My yakking client who also talks non-stop is running a "business" of selling Pampered Chef, in addition to her real job. "Oh, I am making so much money. I am so excited and my sales were so good that I even earned a trip this year!" Whoa! Backup! Do you realize that you will be taxed on the value of that trip? Her: "But, I earned it!" Me: Key word; EARNED! Her: "Oh, my Gosh!, we are so glad we came to you because you know everything!" Well, some days I feel like I don't know anything. However, this lady truly wants to file a complete and honest return. She has that going for her. She said that the best times to talk to her are Saturday or Sunday. Well, those are the worst times to talk to me. Most Sundays you may find my phone unplugged and if you don't have my cell #, you are out of luck.

We already know. It isn't really very much. Not enough to even bother with. Just go ahead and complete the return without it. But NEXT year it's going to be HUGE. And she will keep meticulous records. No doubt about it.

Hahaha oh she was embarrassed and said she had no idea barter was taxable. I'm sure she did not or she would not have been saying "barter" every two minutes.. She said it was really not much and she'd get me the figure. Can't wait.

So far, history does not record. So tell us, @RitaB -- how much of a hissy fit DID she throw?

And.....

My client who yaks and yaks today kept mentioning that she's been working for barter. And gives me this look like, "I'm so smart, I'm working for barter. Yep, I have outsmarted IRS, sure have." I let her go on and on with that (well, I had no way of stopping her, she's amazing, I don't know when she breathes). Anyway, she gets up to leave: "Anything else you need?" Me: Yes, I need the Fair Market Value of the barter items you received for working. You know, the amount of cash the items would sell for. Just the total, no need to itemize everything. Thanks.

Ethics and sincerity: once you can fake those, you have it made... Seriously - thanks for the link. But my problem with most "ethics" courses is that anyone NOT ethical can fake their way through them - and the ones who are ethical don't need them. UMass Tax School has a guy who does this portion of their annual tax school and he's very good: he shows where the slippery slope can start between helping long-standing clients and going too far. Usually using situations that sound normal until you add in a very believable twist. Sometimes left-out details that one would not usually think to ask a long-standing client about - then he goes through the clues that should get you poking around some more.

This is interesting --- follow along here --- technically BOTH are correct. IRS wise, Randall is correct. If you read the ACA (not really advised --- lot of headaches, etc.) they require in their description of "minimum essential coverage" that labs and such OUTSIDE the hospital be covered at no cost, etc. and a lot of other side factors here. Medicare part-A only covers HOSPITAL (inpatient (admitted only - NOT under observation ///but that is another discussion) and NOT out-patient) so VERY technically part A by itself and definition of the ACA is NOT -- minimum essential coverage. HOWEVER the IRS "lists" Medicare part A as being acceptable as minimum essential coverage ---- so //// Randal is correct for our purposes. Interesting that the "law" and what is allowable can be (/s) different when the government wants. Keep taxing and stay "the good preparers" NOT the ones the government says take advantage of the //poor public//.

This helped answer some of my "procedural" questions on the ATX software --- From a comment on the ATX site made 11/17/14: The software will include the IRS instructions and forms, however there are several pieces of data that you must obtain from the client and enter manually. If the taxpayer had full coverage all year, then you will just need to check the box on line 61 of the 1040. If the taxpayer receives a 1095-A, you will need to complete Part II of the 8962. If there is a difference between the Premium Tax Credit calculated and the Advanced Premium Tax Credit received, it will flow to line 46 if the taxpayer received too much or line 69 if the taxpayer did not receive enough. If the taxpayer didn't have insurance or is claiming an exemption, you will need to fill out form 8965. If the taxpayer claimed an exemption through the marketplace, then the preparer will enter the Exemption number in Part I. (The taxpayer would provide that exemption ID number to you) If the taxpayer is claiming an exemption on the tax return, then you will select the exemption in Part III. If the taxpayer did not have insurance, then you will have to complete the Shared Responsibility Payment worksheet for each member of the household that didn't have insurance and the total amount will flow to line 61 of the 1040. Note: Part I, Part III and the Shared Responsibility Payment worksheet could be filled in the same return depending when the exemptions or lack of coverage apply. It is also possible that a 8962 and 8965 could be completed in the same return if the taxpayer had insurance for part of the year. Stephanie B Customer Care Director