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No pics? Being a Grandpa is the best thing in the world!!

First chance I've had to get on here this season because I've been busy holding my first grandchild. He is perfect.

Ok, you started it! Granddude pics for your viewing pleasure. 3 of the current 4 with one on the way in July.

Cutie pies, every single one of them!

NOW.........wait for the Great-Grandchild. We are expecting our second one in June.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Bob. I agree with Jack, being a grandpa is the best. I'll have to dig up some pics. We have a total of 16 grandchildren. We have five children all who have kids. I think they are all done. Spoil the heck of out him and buy him things that makes lots of noise to payback the parents for all the irritation they put you through. Just kidding, love em to pieces.

9 out of 10 I do, the 10th usually have books that can be used to clean something "insert word"

If I'd know how much fun being a grandparent is, I'd have tried to figure out how to skip being a parent altogether and go straight to being grandpa.

Congrats to all!!

What a beautiful boy -- and you look so happy, JanitorBob!

Congrats, JB you even look happy..... I love Jacks shirt pocket contents.....I Remember when mine looked that way.

Great Pics! Congrats to all!

Congratulations! He's a good looking boy. I'm grateful for the three awesome ones that we have from my step-children, because I don't want our son to have any for a few years.

Beautiful boy there Bob!!! Let the spoiling begin!!

Welcome to the club!

Yes, and "old" is always 20 years older than I am.

Yes, you are correct on both points. If you want a reference, it's #22 on this IRS page.

Congrats to Janitor Bob, and all the other grandparents! Rich

These children are all so beautiful! My son is 10, so I'm not in a hurry for grandchildren yet, but I am enjoying yours.

Congratulations. Become a grandparent changes the way you view everything in life. Especially the long view. Every new grandchild is the best one ever born. Enjoy them at all ages. Sooner or later they'll be old enough to get their drivers license, and my oldest of 3 grandsons just did. All of a sudden you're thinking "2 more years and it's college time."

Congress' definition of wealthy is someone with a job who's not on EIC.

Yes, I have two in college and I'm too rich as a single mom to take credits. Really? I mean, really?

I agree with Catherine. I often take the income so I can get the credit for clients. They often end up several hundred dollars ahead.

Agree totally. My youngest just started college. Once these babies start coming, life is all about them.; just as it was about our children.

Saying no to a client is not the Kiss of Death. Rather, what will certainly lead to some issues in business is saying yes when you can’t deliver — or your gut has told you that the prospective client and/or their project is not the right fit. Although as a business owner, you don’t want to turn anyone away, sometimes it makes more sense when it comes to the welfare of your business to decline a business relationship at an early stage with a prospect if the relationship between the two of you is not mutually beneficial.

I do not want to work on your return this year!

His needs do not fit your business model. You do not specialize in his type of return. He would be better served by someone with more time/different expertise/larger staff/pick what fits. You are not taking new clients. You do not accept new clients after January of each tax season. Keep it short and sweet with no detail he can argue with. Smile, and look a bit sorry!

and has a dance party in the elevator... Sheriff's deputy dance party

Got it in one. Take the income so you can get the credit. And your use of "wealthy" really does belong in quotes. I have seen far too many clients get *nothing* for grants or scholarships because of income that is "too high" and also have AGI "too high" for credits, who have a 80-year-old 3-bedroom house that needs a new roof they cannot afford to replace. Too high my hindquarters.

I fill it out so when it sells, it'll be in my program. And, so I don't get nagged by a future preparer.

I also fill it out except for very, very small partnerships that I did not set up.

I do the same.

I wasn't referring to Rita. I was referring to me.

I am not an insurance agent. Have the taxpayer contact his employer and ask for documentation that the plan offered to him met MEC. If the employer indicates that the plan did meet MEC specs, then the taxpayer is out of luck. It is not likely that the plan did not meet MEC. Obamacare regulations require that any employer provided plan be MEC compliant. The person at the marketplace has no possible way to determine if the plan offered by the employer is MEC compliant or not. There is missing information in this story. It is not our place to police the insurance part of the law. I refuse to do so.

And most people's definition of wealthy is "someone who makes $30K more than we do" or similar. Works whether they make $30K or $330K.

Identify something unique about his return or his filing situation. Then just tell him you think he needs someone who has a focus in that area and it isn't something you are interested in pursuing. That's what I tell people with EIC. Or else you could just tell him you're fed up with his nonsense and you know he won't want to pay 4 times last year's fee for the same work. Either of the above is effective. Just be sure to slam the door shut on any possibility that you'll change your mind. He has 10 weeks to find someone, so he'd better get busy.

The test for affordability of MEC through an employer's plan is 9.56% of household income. The premium to be used is the lowest premium that the employer offers and must include all discounts such as for non-smokers. It isn't unusual for taxpayer to give the Marketplace incorrect information when determining eligibility. For example, the taxpayer may have given only wage information, but for purposes of determining eligibility for the PTC, household income is used. For this test, household income is MAGI (AGI plus excluded foreign income, n/t soc sec and tier 1 RR benes, and t/e interest) for the taxpayer and anyone else that is claimed as a dependent. Is the taxpayer eligible to contribute to an IRA or HSA before 4/15/16 for the 2015 tax year that would lower the household income enough that the employer's premium would then exceed the 9.56% threshold and thereby qualify the person for the PTC? If the person is able to do so and can come up with those funds, that would be preferential than to pay back the APTC because she gets to keep the funds in her name than paying the government. See items 5 through 10 on this page at the IRS site.

Now!...That looks illegal.........

I always fill them out -- if nothing else, I assure myself that there is nothing egregious I have missed by seeing it all tie out nicely.

I complete it.

Option #1 saves the family $980. Parents get $1,000 AOC and kid pays $20 by reporting the interest. Obviously that's what I did. But I'd like to know if I have it correct in my mind now - that Option #2 is not even possible. If they save the tax on the earnings, they in essence waste the AOC completely. I think that's why ESA are pushed on the "wealthy" - here's your only chance at saving any money on college expenses cause your income is too high to get credits.

I had one or two - I think they paid the estimated taxes via credit card only once or twice; after they learned that the user fees were greater than the value of their points they went back to other ways to pay them.

I always fill out the balance sheet, M-1 and M-2. OK - not exactly always. I have one - very, very small (revenue wise) partnership to which I do not prepare the aforementioned schedules. But it is just that one.

Got my answer to #2, Gross proceeds reported on 8949. Selling expenses on 8949 go to columns F (with code E) and column G (amount of selling expenses)

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.

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.