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Every word that he said is so true! For the past several years, I have seriously wondered about getting into another line of work. I love what I do, some of the time. But the constant change to becoming an auditor for the IRS rather than an advocate for my clients, and the clients who don't understand why I don;'t finish their return the day they drop it off, and then call to check on their return and waste more of my time. Trying to hire people to help, and getting no one who can actually think for themselves, of if they do think for themselves they decide they don't need to do things the way I told them to cause they know a better way. But then along about November, when the classes are going on and I am learning new stuff, and I get to order new office supplies, I start thinking I would not do anything else. (I love office supplies, by the way.) Obviously, I am seasonally bi-polar.

Great blog post I was just referred to: Starting to hate this crap... LOL Rich

This blog summed up my feelings for the last few years. It has ceased to be fun for me, but I'm too old to do anything new and with my husband's and mother's health, I hesitate to work away from home again. I did much better this year about not beating myself up when client's didn't understand why it takes so long to get their returns back. I worked harder and smarter this year, but it was rough, because most of my clients were so late this year. I don't know what the heck was up, but I really thought that I had lost a ton of them and then wanted to scream when they all showed up at once. I do love most of my clients, so I was glad to see them, but what were they doing until the third week of February? I am making my health more important than ever before, so I exercised every day and did not lose as much sleep this tax season. I love my family and want to stay around as long as possible to enjoy them.

Gail: I like this: LOL

I made this point on a Facebook post last year and you would think I killed a puppy and his unicorn best friend. I compared it to buying homeowners' insurance after your house burns down or asking your neighbors who have paid insurance premiums for 30 years to build you a new house. It seems completely logical to me for people who get more health care to pay more than those who get less. If you get three gallons of milk at the store, you should pay more than someone who gets one gallon of milk. Safety nets yes. Hammocks no.

As promised. "Unfortunately, I can't find those particular documents." Eheu, litteras istas reperire non possum. "I know why the numbers don't agree! I used Roman numerals!" Scio cur summae inter se dissentiant! Numeris Romanis utor! "This amount here, is that what I made or what I owe?" Haec summa, estne quod merui aut quod debeo? "Where do I sign?" Ubi signo?

It sums up my season perfectly.

GREAT article. "something that resembles reality" yeah, that's the trick, isn't it?

I don't thing you are crossing the political line Tom. The House version would remove the enforcement of health care cover off the shoulders of tax preparers. That is significant, but I won't make any comments on what I think is fair in regards to the surcharge.

You and my younger daughter (age 24). She has a self-imposed restriction of NOT going into an office supply store without direct adult supervision. But, oh, you should see the beautiful filing and work flow systems she devises. *All* my systems for tracking documents and work flow have been refined to amazing precision by Gwen.

@rfassett - you say the sweetest things. A friend gave me a post card with those phrases on it a couple of years ago; I mentioned it in another thread yesterday but decided it needed its own topic.

Avogadro's number is fixed; the standard deduction changes annually. Even if I memorized it, I wouldn't trust that I was remembering this year's number instead of last year's number (or the one from seven years ago, for that matter). So I just look it up, every time I need it.

I know this is venturing into politics, and I will stop if you tell me to, but I really think this is the way the penalty should work. It is the insurance company that is taking on the risk of the person who goes without insurance until they get the sickness that requires big health care layouts, then they sign up and go to the doctor. Once they are well, they drop out again. So, by making the penalty part of the insurance premium to make up for the time they did not have insurance, I think that is fair. Sorry Judy, I could not stop myself. Tom Newark, CA

This kind of mirrors my experience (where was everybody in February?) and outlook. While I still have some fun, it's just not as much. But, as actor E. O'Brien said in Peckinpah's movie "The Wild Bunch": "It's not like the old days, but it'll do." I stopped going to seminars a few years ago (correspondence/online CPE now). At the last one I asked "Where's (old acquaintance) Jack So-and-So?" and somebody said "Oh, I went to his funeral last summer." The audience (dwindling each year) was gray and (mostly) white heads -- makes me wonder who's going to be doing taxes in a few more years. If it's Turbo Tax, the government will likely either go broke from handing out so much improper/fraudulent EIC or make a killing from so many balance due mistakes and erase the national debt. Oh well; chin up I suppose. What else can we do?

Proof positive - it does not sound good in ANY language! Did I mention that you are a sick woman?!

1 mole = gram weight of substance equal to atomic weight of molecule, contains 6.023 x 10^23 molecules. For some reason, I remember Avogadro's Number, but I haven't memorized this year's standard deductions. Don in Upstate NY, EA, BSEE, MSEE, MBA, NCI.

I am aware of the process Judy. I write a weekly column and a lot of the readers are interested in hearing about what's going on in Washington as it relates to taxes and health care since the two have been so closely tied together. Some actually write to their congressman and attend town hall meetings.

I never knew what a mole was, but once I wrote a program in Basic in which you could enter the mol percent of methane, ethane, propane, butane and pentanes and it would calculate the BTU, the gallons per thousand cubic feet, the amount of 26# gasoline in the sample.

I know! I know! My clients are constantly asking me about these things...(although occasionally preceded by "How much is my refund?")

Agree 100%.

Yes, You have to do a policy allocation. They can agree on the percent, if they can't agree on the percent then it is 50%. The instructions for form 8962 has an example that will assist you in reporting the 1095A correctly for the dad, and I would make a copy and give it to the Son so that his taxes can be completed. IRS does require each to reconcile the credit. There is actually nothing wrong with dad getting insurance with son thru exchange, but now comes the reconciling of everything and depending on the outcomes possible having to pay back some of the subsidy.

It's the equation of the ideal gas law. (Pressure) times (Volume) is always equal to (the number of moles* of the gas present) times (universal gas constant**) times (temperature in degrees Kelvin). * 1 mole = gram weight of substance equal to atomic weight of molecule, contains 6.023 x 10^23 molecules. ** relates energy to moles and temperature; used all over in physics and thermodynamics. Really useful equation; starting point for all manner of things. How much helium to put in your weather balloon so it won't pop until it reaches altitude X. How cold your can of duster will get as the gases expand when you push the button. How much escaped gas it takes to displace oxygen making a lab's air unbreathable. And more! Aren't you glad you asked?