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First time in the 10 years I've been doing taxes. Sure, I have had dreams (and occasionally nightmares), but never this. Walking around the house in the middle of the night asking everyone about whether or not I checked the box on the 1040. " Did I check the box?" "I better take a look 'cuz I don't know if I checked the box on the 1040." "Do you know if I checked the box on the 1040?" I am undoubtedly referring to the health insurance box. The next day, I had no recollection of this incident.

Hang in there Rita. And find some reason to bump his fee a bit more! He deserves it.

4) Guy with $37,000 in dividend income (and SS and pension): How can I pay less tax? Me: Put your money in the bank at 0.45% interest. Or the stock market may take care of your problem if you're lucky. This type client is so annoying to me. Came from NY where he paid $360 for tax prep in 2008. I'm just now getting up to $350 and he's bitching about my fee, too. This is one of those days. Glad I brought cookies.

I think that one of the points Terry was making is that if the daughter was a full time student for at least some part of five months of the year, under age 24, and parents provided more than 50% of support, her income does not matter and she could be claimed as a dependent. They may choose not to claim her since she made that much money, or she may have provided over half of her own support in which case they cannot claim her, but the gross income test does not apply in this case.

I'm telling anyone new that calls or emails that I can take them on but they would be going on extension. If they are ok with that, fine. My my returning clients that haven't sent in their stuff, or did it in the last week, well they already know form 4868 is their friend.

Today: 1) Blah, blah, blah, (long @$$ story about a credit card), and will that hurt my credit score? 2) Mortgage lender: Do you know how much [our mutual client] will be paying for homeowner's insurance? 3) So, are you real busy? (New client, just now calling for appointment). I'm so glad I asked that last one who did her return last year. Jackson Hewitt. Cha-ching, thanks for calling, I'm never too busy for a new client.

Who needs a reason. PITA fee - we assign those as needed (or deserved) in my office.

I will make room for new clients, but they want them done now. I turned away two today, because they wanted them done before the 18th. I don't even have my head above water with the ones that I have. I still have a little over 100 in house that I have not started. There will be some extensions and 10 of those returns are past years and will be done after 4/18. It seems like this year I am missing lots of information or the returns are just way more complicated than normal. Lots of people starting businesses that didn't ask questions before they did it.

I too will always make room for a new client. More often than not, there is a risk of incomplete information with a new client coming in this late in the season. I don't put them ahead of anyone else for any reason either. Drop offs are processed in the order they are received.

First, you need to find out how much the scholarship paid and how much the tax payer paid so you know what you are dealing with. What are the reasons the daughter cannot be claimed as a dependent? Did she provide more than half of her support? Did she change residence? Before she graduated, was she enrolled as a student at least half time? Was the daughter under 24 at the end of the year? The only way the parents can take the education credits is if they are able to claim an exemption for their daughter. If the daughter claims and exemption for herself, she can use the education expenses for which ever credit applies to her situation. It does not matter who paid them but they are reduced by the scholarship amounts.

If their info is complete, I can get it done. If not, extension. I will not put them ahead of anybody here whose info is complete.

Thanks. It's a moot point now. They've decided to file jointly. Save almost $3k with the dependent child care credit. Were concerned with the student loan payback schedule. But I guess the difference for filing separately helped them decide.

Thank you both. I'm just exhausted and under so much stress (as I am sure others are) and can't seem to think through this stuff) I understand what you are saying and am awaiting details from client so I can move on.

Size DOES matter - and here's the antithesis of @Elrod's tiny beer. Carlton Draught - "Big Ad"

We sent an email last week to ALL clients whose returns are not complete stating they would be put on extension and we would try to get payment coupons out by 4/18 for those who owe. Couple of folks who think they will owe called to say "fine but payment coupon please!" so we'll make sure that happens. The few we had heard nothing from yet got a different email stating they would NOT be put on extension unless we heard that they intended to have us do taxes for 2015 for them. All but two replies have so far been "yes please" and those two were no surprise. I have found that folks who make bone-stupid mistakes (and then desperately look for someone to fix the un-fixable) frequently don't come back - don't know if they're embarrassed or what. The ones we're waiting for 8979's from will get another email the end of this week stating if we don't have those asap then THEY will be put on extension. Our fax number and link to SecureSend will figure prominently in that email.

I process in the order the LAST piece of information is received. For example I have one young couple who came in mid-February "we have all our stuff!" then they get here... "except for her W-2, one of our two mortgages, grad school expenses, bitcoin details...." and I'm still waiting for some of it. Won't even touch them till that last bit arrives.

SIZE does matter, when driving.....

Unless it's egregious enough to make headlines. Then we can break out the popcorn!

If the parents agree, you can do it either way. If they do not agree, you need to do the worksheets to determine who can claim them. Just CYA, and get a signed release if you are giving them both to one. I used to ask them to sign a Form 8332, just for my file. We know they can revoke it, but it at least protects you, should they later dispute how the spouse filed.

Thank you! I have the instructions and completely missed it or I wouldn't have asked the question. Onward!

Everything would be big enough to read at least! I'm sick of scrolling constantly because I've got the fonts blown up.

In reading the instructions for line 9a, it says that you can deduct the investment interest expense included on line 14 on Schedule A. There is a 7K amount there, but they had so much of their deductions limited, that they ended up with standard deduction. So---they don't get to deduct any of their investment interest expense on form 8960? That seems like a ripoff to me, but then nobody asked me what I thought about the ACA. Thanks! Bonnie

aaahhh - that was a real stress reliever... thank you

I am in the third year of a mission to correct this untenable situation!!

@Lion EA the one that made me laugh out loud was "High capacity magazine"/"Standard capacity magazine".

So, what exactly is the point of drinking water not filtered through coffee grounds? Water needs to be filtered. Don't you know all the disgusting things fish do in water?

Sadly, this is absolutely the truth. Same thing with the people we laughed at preparing their own returns. 99% will get away with the errors. Hey, I ate a vegetable yesterday, and drank eight glasses of water. Not filtered thru coffee grounds either. It will change your life. Carry on.

I think that is what I need, these eyes are tired and there are two weeks to go

I have a classmate from my undergraduate days who not only made it through undergrad with no loans, but also med school. Even in those far off days, that was a feat. But she's been sitting pretty ever since.

THAT's just what I need!

Wow, I have put three kids thru post secondary school (one in graduate school now) on less than these two make. We have no debt to repay. Yeah, we eat beans and rice, rice and beans, and drive twelve year old vehicles. I can't get my head around $400,000 in student loan debt. There is something wrong when you think it's a good investment to pay $400K (plus the interest will probably be another $400K if you don't get moving on it) for a degree. If I were guessing, I'd say the loans went toward excessive living it up fees. You're right, they better step up the payments as soon as possible. And they owe the money, they need to pay back the money. I don't understand the apparent confusion with so many these days, thinking loan debt is some burden put on them by society. No, you did that to yourself. Pay what you owe. In the long run, reducing the payments just prolongs and intensifies the agony. People don't understand it, do they?

>>it appears as if the shareholder (reduced his basis) was repaid X amount of dollars, but technically he didn't<< No, technically he DID. When he loaned money to the corporation he increased his basis, so now he can't keep that higher basis when he is repaid, even if the repayment is in the form of debt relief. On the other hand, corporate debts owed, even to a shareholder, did not decrease his basis like they would in a partnership, so cancelling those loans can not bring his basis back up. Frankly it looks like he artificially increased his basis with offsetting loans so he could deduct losses. Now he is on the other end of the same deal. And frankly, I think he knows all about it. He's just hoping you don't. "Clean up the BS" indeed!