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It's also sweet how attorneys know your case inside out and you only have to drag them six years to get to the Halls of Justice. But the court reporter grinned when I said, "This is not Calculus, y'all." You know why Justice wears a blindfold? So you can't see that Justice is asleep.

In seven days --- Remember to pass this on -------

My office is 12 miles from my house, and sometimes that is not far enough. You all working out of your homes have my utmost respect. And sympathy. I used to come in and work with the office door locked on Saturdays. It was infuriating how people would still bang on the door. I gave up and now leave it unlocked. Life is too long to be shooting at people through the window.

I assume you stood up and corrected the judge. They are usually very receptive to being corrected since their goal is to see that justice is done, even at the expense of their personal egos.

I thought I was the only one that had the 'still in my pjs' problem!

Oh, it I could hide the car on Saturdays I would! The closest place to park is 1/4 mile away and I'd get killed crossing four lanes of traffic. I hate when that happens.

My office is about 12 miles from the house. And we have Saturday office hours. And evenings. But not Sunday. Occasionally, I come in to work on Sunday afternoons to catch up. And yes, people will show up. But I have started parking at an apartment near here so that my car is not apparent when I am in the office catching up, and I don't turn any lights on if I can help it. That cuts down on the banging on the door business and they use the drop box because they don't think that I am here. I should be more like Rita instead of sneaking into my own office. *sigh*

Me too. I've sent hubby to get the door, even though he's in his pjs too!

I thought I was the only one!!

My standing desk is the only one in my office connected to the internet. It also runs my tax software. So I'm at it most of the day. I do have a bar stool at the standing desk, so probably 1/3 of the time I'm half-standing/ half-sitting. And the little pedal exerciser gets a workout when I'm sitting on the bar stool However, I have my workspace & monitor height arranged so that I'm most comfortable standing. I think it's great for circulation and alertness.

I thought you were going to say that you solved it by sleeping in your clothes.

I (mostly) solved the PJ's problem by getting my little office a mile from my house. Why "mostly"? - Because some folks still show up at the house to drop papers off.

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.

Only for naps! Like in that amazing workstation recliner that @easytax linked in another thread.

For those who like the ideas here --- here is another that will "blow your mind" with versatility: It is an youtube video from altwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHdShyF9x7U&feature=player_embedded If you do not want to click link you can visit altwork.com to have a different starting point. Yes, it seems pricy to me BUT maybe not, innovation at start costs.

The first thing to do is to erase the macros that Drake provides. That frees up some additional keys that you might want to use because the letter is intuitive. I don't think I use but one or two of their pre-loaded macros, which are there just to show how to write one.

I have been busy with year end payroll forms etc. Just downloaded and installed the ATX Program ( 15.3 ) Rolled over a variety of returns, 1040s, 1065s, 1120s & 1120S s. Opened about a dozen returns and checked to make sure everything rolled over, i.e., depreciation, K - 1 info etc. Prepared an 1120 S and the companion 1040. No problems and everything is working smoothly. Actually the program seems faster than last year. Hopefully it stays that way.

That's been my experience too. I want my answers when I am ready for them. I constantly go back and forth with email unless I ask them a specific question. Sometimes, by the time I get the answer, I forget what the question was and the client is on the bottom of the pile. Also, KC, that is easy to say, but when you have OIH (my own choice) it is irritating. This is Sunday. Trust me, this afternoon, the phone will be unplugged. I have a good excuse this year; "I had surgery in June and I have to rest some time.)

Yeah, I tried encouraging someone to send email for their questions because they tended to ramble on about a lot of unrelated stuff when they called. Now I get email from them. "Can you give me a call? I've got a question."

Damn, it's going to be Woodstock all over again in Rock n' Roll Heaven.

It varies but I stood most of the morning this morning. I usually try to stand at least 1 hour in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening.

Yep. Divorced is when you can actually split the child benefits that usually stay with the child. The physical custody (using IRS rules) parent retains things such as HOH and EIC and childcare credit that require custody but she/he can sign away the dependency exemption with 8832 to the noncustodial parent who could then take the exemption and child tax credit. Each can take the medical expenses they actually paid, I think. This summary was off the top of my head, so jump in to edit. OP had a child who paid more than half her own support. Are you sure? Did you have them fill out a support worksheet? In my area, I've yet to have a college student who paid more than half her own support, even last year of college when getting a full-time job. Between housing and insurance and food and car/insurance/gasoline/maintenance and clothing and sports equipment and trips and...I've yet to see one of my Fairfield County clients have a kid who paid more than half her own support, even if she used student loans to pay tuition.

I do have the run-into-my-home-office-to-just-check-on-something moments when I would love to stand at a desk, even though those moments turn into hours and days when you move on to something else or another client calls. As it is now, I lean over to make that quick check and stay leaning much longer than I intended to. And my usual sitting position, no matter how hard I try to concentrate on my posture, degenerates quickly into hunching over my computer. I love that chair and would probably even pay the $1,400 for it -- if I could find time to clean up my office so I could use such a chair, or even a standing desk, and have a credenza system to hold my piles or other office clean-up to handle storage and active files and reference materials and.... (I have a desk I bought on Craigslist that ends in a mini-conference table that's still in my basement years later. It has no drawers, so I have to rearrange, move things around, etc., to fit the desk in and still retain enough storage drawers/shelves. I just haven't made the time to measure, move, reshelve, clean out, straighten up, etc., to put it to use. Luckily, I didn't pay much for it. But, I do want to work it in someday.)

I stand sometimes when my weak hip starts aching.

And now Joe Cocker, again after a battle with cancer. BBC article on Joe Cocker

I just went back and re-read this entire thread. So, is it correct that a divorced parent can claim the EIC even though it is not her year to take the child as a dependent. She qualifies, father does not. She is filing HOH though they have joint custody, but if she had child for more days it qualifies her for HOH. My mind is just a'churning here.

Wow, @easytax what a concept! I recall trying to work after my appendectomy; somehow they managed to wrench my weak hip and sprain it and I could neither stand nor sit comfortably, and I alternated between those two positions and laying down on the sofa when my hip just hurt too much to continue. With that reclining function I could have worked in comfort And *not* have needed to move to catch a snooze, either.

We haven't heard back from Mr Lenore.

Only exception would be if the legalities *finalize* after the turn of the year. Then they are required to file as married (joint or separate). Here in MA divorces are not final until 90 days after the judge signs off. So an Oct sign-off means final in Jan.... and one final year of married filing.

Oh yeah....HR Block left town too.

walked away 4/30/15...........collecting social security now

That one's easy to respond to.... "Sure, I can call sometime. What do you want to talk about?"

I've had a few kids text my landline and wonder why they didn't hear from me. They didn't think anyone still used landlines. I was dying at supper tonight because my son was talking about the old days when people had to memorize phone numbers. I also got phones for my OIH that have a do not disturb button. I push it whenever I don't want them to ring and they get my voicemail. What I really hate is when clients show up and I still have my pjs on. I am really going to have to start putting on my exercise clothes first thing, instead of running downstairs to finish something up before getting ready for the day.

Don and I went to see Etta James in 2010, it was our last time to attend a concert together. She was amazing, even at the age of 72. When she sang "At Last" the entire place went wild after it. So glad I have that memory.

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.

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.

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.

I saw this last night, I would love to get away with putting this on a card and handing it out as needed...

Yes. Support isn't taken into consideration for determining whether a person is a qualifying child for the EIC. It's the residency, relationship, age, and joint tests that are used for the EIC. In your client's case, the child is under 24 yrs of age at the end of the tax year and is considered a full-time student for that year if he or she was a full-time student for at least 5 months of the tax year. The child also meets the residency test because that requires the child live in the home more than 1/2 the tax year.

Terry, Even if the earnings were enough to pay for all of the educational expenses, taxpayer can choose to have some of the earnings reported as income and then use the expenses qualifying for the AOC as an education credit. The AOC is at 100% of the first $2k, etc.. while the income that is taxed is taxed at either 0, 15, 25%, etc... The thing to remember is that the taxpayer cannot do both: exclude as income the earnings on the QTP that paid for expenses that qualified for the AOC and then use those same excluded earnings for the AOC.

We have seen some. They come when the amount of the gross distribution on the 1099-Q exceeds the tuition minus scholarships on the 1098-T and there are earnings on the 1099-Q - the default IRS assumption is that the earnings are taxable. We have to send in a detailed letter along with receipts showing the additional qualified education expenses to be factored into the equation for determining whether the earnings are indeed taxable. From the simple computer matching game, the IRS default assumption makes sense as they don't have the other information to factor in. See Publication 970.

OK -- I have usually put down full amount with a 2nd line backing it out again, to prevent the "hey, you didn't report this; you owe $$!" letters.